Category — {Details}

Hello, dahlings.  As most of you know, today marks the beginning of what has become an incredibly anticipated series.  [Read more →]

Happy Monday, you crazy kids.  How were your weekends?  Do anything special?  Fiancé and I spent a nice, calm summer day with my Popsicle et al and, all in all, it was pretty relaxing.  (Plus, I made a cake!)  By the way, to all the brides who got married on Father’s Day: I couldn’t imagine a more wonderful gift to your dad than to let him walk you down the aisle on such a meaningful day.  Both my Dad and I are major proponents of the idea!  So congrats to any of you who got hitched on Sunday – well played!

(Like the shoes?  You might love the Badgley Mischka Randee featured in this post.  Btw, if you like ruffled things, here’s my fave quilt EVER.)

Alright, today I’ve got a couple of things I thought I’d share with you, the first of which I’m going to pepper in throughout all the chatter of the second one…

So, number one = totally stylish bridal look inspiration, as photographed by the endlessly creative genius that is Elizabeth Messina and;

Number two = details about how my Dad spent his Father’s Day.  Plus, I’ve got a comment on good parenting at end of this post.  Well, more like an excellent quote on the topic.  Not that you care, but I’m sharing anyway.  (;

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Ok, I am obsessed with this bride’s style, and think you might be, too.

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Back to Dad’s Day… some of you might remember that little bit of unsolicited advice I dispensed about Father’s Day at the very end of this post right here; well, I like to make a habit of taking my own medicine, which translates into the kind of Father’s Day we gave the ol’ patriarch.  So, how did he spend his day?  Exactly the way he wanted to (most activities done with his loving wife by his side):

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Gorgeous.  You MUST check out more on Elizabeth Messina’s blog, Kiss the Groom.  You MUST.

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Because yesterday was Father’s Day, and because proper parenting is so important and so little advice is given to those who don’t actively seek it out, I thought today would be the perfect day to include a passage my fiancé brought to my attention.  It’s by the great Kahlil Gibran, author of “The Prophet.”  I don’t have kids, so I’m no authority by any stretch, but I’ve got to believe this is one of the smartest bits of thought on the subject of parenting, imo:

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Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you,

For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends with you His might that His arrows might go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

~ Kahlil Gibran

Hope you enjoyed both bits of this post!  I’m curious, what do you think of today’s bride’s style?  Are you into the ruffle-mania, the statement headgear, the whole shebang?  Share your thoughts, either way!

xoxo!  -Alison

{Credits: Sweet southern nuptials via Elizabeth Messina’s Kiss the Groom}

Happy Monday!  Hope everyone had a marvelous weekend!  The boy and I spent some time at Renegade Craft Fair on Sunday and aside from the gale-force winds and intermittent murderous rain droplets, it was a pretty fun experience.  More on that a bit later in the week.  And by the way, no I didn’t drag him.  He came willingly.  But I should note that I’ve sat through my – and your – fair share of uneventful baseball games.  (I say “uneventful” because I rather enjoy the eventful ones.  No matter the sport.  Well, save for soccer.  “Uneventful” games are those that even the guys don’t really enjoy, but they watch, just in case something happens.  They are a FUN FAIL.)

Ok, so here’s the news: I love banners.  Look, if you will, at the banner-related adorableness below, which I plucked from a past post.

Everything about that lovely mustached couple’s dessert table is perfection, but, for me, the “Sweet Love” banner takes the cake. (:

And here’s a little e-sesh banner action, which I scoped out on Love and Lavender:

Ohh, the many fine uses of grocery store doilies.  They aren’t just for tea overflow anymore!

(Click here to see the rest of this e-session if you’re digging it!)

{Photos: SoCal wedding photographers Gabriel Ryan and Carlie Renee}

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Ok, so given my penchant for the above, I think it’s quite obvious why I lurve this DIY project from Martha.  It combines my unwavering obsession with beautiful, easy DIY projects with my love for all things involving and/or related to typography.  Hence, my happiness over this find.

By the way, you do know how much I love typography… right?  Here’s your proof.  Here, too.  And here.  If you needed it.

Also, I’m pretty sure there’s no confusion out there over whether or not I go batty over beautiful, eye-catching DIY ideas and free printables meant to make a bride’s wedding day that extra bit of special we all crave… but here’s the proof on that, too.  Want some more?  No problem; why don’t you check out this partial list of my posted projects and printables!  Hope you enjoy!

There’s this one, which is SO cute…

I LOVE this one – it’s labeliscious (:

This one’s LOADED with inspiration for your own pretty packaging…

Here’s some more Martha DIY project love…

Ooh, and another a lovely labels find…

Some of my favorite holiday DIY + free printables…

You can scroll down to the last four project pics of this post; they are just sooooo perfect…

Love this treat packaging idea, which is also ideal for your wedding favors…

… And the list goes on, of course.  So, yeah, I really enjoy doing it [my]self.

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Wedding banners have been around for a long time; everyone has seen the words “Just Married” – the most traditional phrase – on at least one rear window, bike seat, or even cake topper in their lives…

Oohh, speaking of toppers…

(Click the topper to go to that post!)

However, maybe you’re looking for something much more unique in your wedding banner, but don’t really want to have to make it yourself?  Or, maybe you’re searching for a less classic/traditional look in your banner.  Of course, that’s no problem at all these days, given the choices that have come out of the woodwork over the past several years.  There are a number of vendors out there who would be thrilled to help you out with that.

Here’s today’s alternative idea: howsabout a wedding papel picado banner, or maybe some custom flag centerpieces?

If you likey, check out aymujer’s Etsy shop for these and more!

Hope you enjoyed this one!  Let me know – are you a fan of wedding/e-session banners?  I think it’s obvious that I am, but I’m super curious what you guys think.  Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!  And if you’re ambivalent, you can just tell me about your weekend.  (:

xoxo!  -Alison

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Ok, before I get into what the above is all about, I just wanna say that I really hope everyone had themselves super enjoyable/rewarding/relaxing Memorial Day weekends!  For the most part, the weather ’round here was ridiculously gorgeous, and it seemed pretty hard not to have a good time, regardless of what we were doing.  In fact, just stepping outside made my day.  Though playing a little tennis and getting half my body into a pool certainly didn’t hurt matters.  What does that mean?  That means that I was faced with frigid pool waters, and I was the only one – among numerous children – who could not get my body to dip past the belly button point.  What I had always believed to be the most difficult body part to submerge, the “undercarriage,” was already safely tucked beneath the icy surf.  But the water remained intolerable.  Mind you, six-year-olds with arm floaties were all around me, having a collective ball.  And I’m sure none of them quite understood or cared about what I was going through.  I seriously hung there, perched with my ass beneath the water line.  Oh, the shame.  (For the record, it was really, really cold.)

But I did push the fiancé in the pool about five times.  That was awesome.  Mainly because I always waited until his body had warmed sufficiently to make the cold water startling again.  Good times!!  (;

Anyway, y’all know how much I love Martha Stewart, right?  Well, it’s almost as much as I love southern dialects.  But seriously, I cherish Martha Stewart Weddings for all the DIY goodies and inspiration the resource always has to offer.  So I decided to sort through it all and I’ve collected a hefty bunch of my favorites for your consideration.  I hope you love!

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So, you see those jam jars up top?  Ok, well I am OBSESSED with their lid labels.  Completely obsessed.  Jam jars are such a popular idea for weddings these days, and these labels are my current favorite way to top them!  Get the clip art here!

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Totally in lust with this idea.  Make your girls their very own lace clutches!  How gorgeous are these?  Not to mention crazy simple to create – all there is to do is print the clip art onto heat-transfer paper, then just iron the designs onto fabric!  Get the clip art here!

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I seriously covet these monogram labels; they’re just perfect for your favor boxes, and whatever else you’d like to monogram!    Get the clip art here!

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I absolutely adore these place card designs and highly recommend them for your wedding.  They’re really quite elegant, and all you need to do is print them on preperforated card stock.  Done and done!  Get the clip art here!

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How much do these lil cupcake flags rock?!!  Get the clip art here!

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Also loving these miniature gift bag prints!  Get the clip art here!

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How about creating your own uniquely designed cookie tins with Martha’s download-and-print doily labels?  I know – so cute.  They come in red, blue, and green, too.  Get the clip art here!

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I am in love with the beauty of these custom Blueprint wrapping papers!!!  I think they’d look amazing as part of your decor.  There are five in all, and only Martha has them.  Pretty rad.  Get them here!

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Last but not least, there’s this too adorable cookie gift sleeve label.  You have a whole bunch of different label options, for pretty much any occasion (for a wedding, go with “for you to enjoy“).  All you’ll need besides the clip art are CD envelopes and adhesive paper.  Get the clip art here!

So, what do you think?  Do any of these catch your eye as a fabulous DIY?  I’m curious what you guys think!

xoxo!  -Alison

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By the way, check out some of my favorite posts from the recent past:

• Extremely unique “dessert” table inspiration
• How ’bout balloons at your wedding?
• Vintagey e-session inspiration by Simply Bloom
• Bridal headpiece obsessions – a run-down of the best
  
• Real wedding ENVY by Stephanie Williams

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WIDESPREAD PROBLEMS WITH GODADDY’S SERVERS

After at least a month of server error messages, random admin logouts and a constantly spotty at best site connection, GoDaddy FINALLY admitted yesterday that it’s their servers, and not anything we’re doing wrong.  This, after being told upwards of 40 times that it’s something we’re doing wrong.  I kid you not.  Upwards of 40 times.  Finally, after much anguish and through-the-night-every-night-troubleshooting on our part, downloading and restoring databases, uninstalling, installing and reconfiguring plugins, tears (yeah, I cried a lot, I’ll admit it), GoDaddy revealed yesterday that “certain servers are not functioning properly.”  That my site “is on the list of affected sites.”  That they’ve “got their best guys on the job.”  Progress thus far?  “Umm, well we haven’t solved it yet.”  When will it be solved – ballpark?  “We can’t seem to pinpoint the problem, because, you see, we aren’t seeing the error messages that everyone else is seeing outside of our network.  So we’re having trouble figuring out why the servers are malfunctioning… but we’re hard at work on it.”  Can you do something, like migrate me to a new server that isn’t shitty?  “No, nope, we can’t do that.  Sorry.”  Really?  “Yeah, sorry.  That’s not something we can do.”  Oh.

Can you stand it?

I can’t anymore.  So I’m letting the world know, after too many sleepless nights and lost traffic.

GoDaddy is dishonest and chooses to blame the customer for its own failures.  The people on the front lines have been as kind as possible, but their supervisors have perpetuated a cover-up, and are hardly if at all concerned with customer satisfaction.

That’s all for now.  Just thought I should spread the word at this point, since I am now aware that this is a widespread problem, and that GoDaddy is not making efforts to alert anyone affected.

Lastly, THANK YOU to everyone who contacted me to see what was wrong with the site and where it disappears to at random times throughout the day.  I can’t tell you how much we’ve appreciated your concern.  Thanks so much for caring!  At least we finally have the knowledge that weren’t doing anything wrong this whole entire time.  But it certainly doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

I’ll be providing updates, mostly on twitter, regarding GoDaddy’s behavior and how things progress as far as how we decide to proceed from here.  I hope there aren’t too many of you experiencing these same issues!  It’s traumatizing, truly.

‘Til later!

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People, LOOK what you can do with doilies!  I mean, flimsy freaking doilies!  It’s seriously a thrill and a half sometimes, to see what my fellow bloggers have come up with.  Two Brunettes teamed up with Cyd from The Sweestest Occasion and Ami of Elizabeth Anne Designs and came out of the whole thing with all the delicate loveliness you see below.

I’m really feeling everything about this table design.  But there’s a special place in my heart for those lovely wide cyan ribbons they’ve added as accents to the dessert jars...

Two Brunettes created the place cards and gift tags, and Ami was responsible for an inspiration board that brought this little shoot to life!

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