Happy Friday, my dears!  How are y’all doing today?  The humidity seems to have dissipated in these here parts (which you’re probably thinking are in the deep south what with the dialect I’ve employed today) and I’m excited to announce that the a/c units in our home have officially pseudo-sickened each and every one of us!  We’ve got that sniffly, stuffed up feeling only an a/c unit can deliver, and it’s so great!  I mean the feeling is just amaz-kidding, this sucks and I’m hoping it goes away soon.  We’re all sneezing in each other’s faces up in here.  And you should see what happens when the wee one sneezes.  He’s only three years old, but he’s got more sneeze goo coming out of the holes in his face than I had previously  believed could come out of a child’s face.  He’s breaking records here.  It’s like in that movie with Adam Sandler (Big Daddy I think) when that little boy sucks up his loogie.  You remember that scene?  Except with my nephew it’s coming out of all orifices and it’s just hanging there, and if you don’t get a tissue fast enough he starts to whimper and cry and freak out a little bit.  But if the tissues are miles away like they always seem to be in these situations then he does start to suck it up and it’s soooooo ickyyyyyyy.  I mean, where does it go?  I’m going to stop talking about this.  I hope you aren’t gagging right now.  I’m sorry.

Massive necessary subject change: everyone randomly started salsa dancing early this morning in the kitchen.  How did this come about?  I’m Alison and this is my family, that’s how.  But seriously, weird dance competition breakouts are par for the course, and I’m alright with that.  But for the sake of an explanation: we’re visiting my parents, and as you know the sister and her family are in town, and you know those salsa lessons the boy and I have been taking?  Somehow, someone got a hold of the special “salsa for beginners” mix we brought home from dance class last week (which, btw, was a burned cd yet it cost me a WHOPPING $10.  Say whut?).  Ok, if I’m honest, we left the cd on top of the boombox in the kitchen.  So my bad.  But not really, because a dance competition in the am is exactly the way my mornings start in my dreams.

Ok, WTF.  This is getting ridiculous.  I’m getting to the Fab Finds right now.

That GORGEOUS ring shot and Vivienne Westwood pump coupling up top is a stunner I found over on Rock My Wedding.  And y’all know how much I {heart} those heart shoes.  If you don’t, it’s this much.

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Keeping with the heart theme, I’ve just GOT to share with you some incredible details from one of my most beloved blogs, Once Wed.  Oversized heart pillows never looked so good. And that decor… it’s just, I, I just… I… well just look:

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Next up, we have some serious dress love, courtesy of the lovely Glamour and Grace!  Check out these ruffled stunners designed by Chloe Dao :

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Ice cream trucks make killer wedding pictures.  Obvs.  Check out the color in this stellar shot:

And by the way… why not have them throw money?

Yes, this happened in New York.

{via Wedding Chicks}

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Moving right along – I LOVE THIS CAKE:

I also love these bottle cap messages – how freaking PERFECT are they?!!

{via Wedding Chicks}

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Oh, and by the way, here are some UNBELIEVABLY ADORABLE LITTLE SUCCULENTS ESCORTS!!!  AAAAHHHHH!!!!!  Love.  But you already knew that, didn’t you.

{via Para ti Novia}

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And check out the cutest DIY Cocktail Party Invite of the week, crafted by Rifle Design for 100 Layer Cake…

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How ’bout a little chandelier/unique dress love courtesy of my lovely friend over at Magnolia Rouge?  Couldn’t hurt.  (;

I love this next one; it’s one of the coolest (though a bit labor intensive unless you pay someone to make it for you) ways to add some serious fun to your wedding photos.  (You might remember the last time I featured something this awesome.  Ooohh and here’s some more AMAZING backdrop inspiration.  I’m very much into these things.)

My affection for this couple doesn’t end at picture frame photo backdrops.  Check out the gorgeous decor of their day:

Sigh.  So lovely.

{via Wedding Chicks}

So, peeps, what’s your favorite Fab Find today?  And what are you plans for this weekend, pray tell?  Tonight (duh) we’ve got another salsa lesson and we’re really excited.  We feel like we’re catching on nicely, though that may be actually be some false confidence offered up by our teacher.  Whatevs, we’ll see when we hit the Latin clubs in a month or so. 

Riiiiiiiiiiight.

xoxo!  – Alison

Today I’m kind of really excited because I’ve got a twofold treat for you guys.  For starters, I get to feature a photo shoot chock full of super fun, colorful details that can really make your pictures pop.  Have an engagement shoot coming up?  You might want to pay close attention. 

What’s the other part of the treat you ask?  Well, do you recognize those faces?  They belong to Nick and Aleah Valley, the remarkable couple behind The Good Life Special Events – my good friends and a wedding planning power-duo!  And this is their shoot!  Not that they planned it that way or anything.  It sort of just… happened…

I’ll let Aleah take it away with how it all came about:

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A few months back, we styled a flower market shoot for Nonpareil Magazine, shot by the lovely {and super talented} Shannon Lee.  Naturally, she kindly insisted that we spend the better portion of the day hanging out around Mission Beach, San Diego snapping shots of us!  Well, of course we obliged and let her have her way with us!

The first part of the shoot was done for fresh head shot purposes and Nick {the smarty pants that he is} thought we should dress up a bit and ride around on beach cruisers.  Genius!

The latter part of the shoot was a bit out of our zone — we let Shannon style us in some retro clothes, wear crazy fun glasses, and play with an old school camera.  The result = pure fun!

The moral of the story is: think out of the box during your engagement shoot {or married shoot, as we refer to ours!}.  Get a little bit out of your comfort zone and we think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Thanks, you guys, for sharing your gorgeous and inspirational shoot with us!

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So, my dear readers, would you consider using one of these props for your own shoot?  And are you down with leaving your comfort zone behind if it stands to up the cool factor in your photos?  Chime in below!

xoxo!  – Alison

Hello, dahlings.  As most of you know, today marks the beginning of what has become an incredibly anticipated series.  YOUR PROPOSAL STORIES!  And we’re easing you into it with a simple, fun story about a boy who was really good at keeping his plans a secret from the love of his life.  (That is seriously hard to do, for reals.)

I present to you, the story of Heather and Travis’s engagement…

♥

Take it away, Heather:

The story behind my engagement might be a typical one, but of course to me it’s totally fantastic and amazing   I’ve known my fiancé since we were in junior high, and we were always just friends — but, of course, he has always been in love with me.

We remained friends through high school and college, both moving out of our little Southern California town to San Diego.  We eventually started dating three years ago…

For our entire relationship the only kind of clues I could get out of Travis about marriage was that it was going to happen “WAAAAAAYYYY” down the road, or not at all.  In fact, the week before he proposed he uttered the words every girl dreams of, “We should just be like Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel forever.”

Let’s just say I was SHOCKED…

… when he proposed a week later on a trip to Las Vegas!  We road-tripped it out there to celebrate my birthday, and he dropped down on one knee during an amazing dinner at the Bellagio.  All I could say was, “Are you serious?  Is this a mean joke!?”  I couldn’t believe it.  Well… of course now I do and we’re planning our September 5, 2010 wedding!

We decided to take our engagement pictures in our hometown, Redlands, around landmarks and in the orange groves.  Redlands is hugely known for their oranges and the entire city smells like orange blossoms once a year – we thought it was fitting.

Photography: He & She Photography / Venue: Redlands

Congratulations, Heather and Travis!  So excited for the two of you… we can’t wait to see your wedding!

☛ So, what do you guys think of Travis’ trickery?  And, by the way, how darling is this couple???!!!!!

Quick note: there are SOOOOO many more proposal stories to come, people.  Funny ones.  Tricky ones.  Effed up ones.  Come-on-already-and-DO-IT! ones.  Oh, and romantic ones, too.  Obvs.  (:

xoxo!  – Alison

↑ That shot’s pretty damn exemplary of what I have in store for you in the near future.  If you think that’s hot, just wait ’til you see what I’ve got coming… ↓

♥

A few things on the docket today – including a couple of SERIOUSLY AWESOME ANNOUNCEMENTS – certainly not in order of importance…

First: ladies, great news!  Playboy launched a “work-appropriate” site.  (What????)  It’s great because now men who like staring at naked bodies in magazines don’t have to wait until their lunch breaks or their commutes home to pull it out (the magazine, pull out the magazine…).  Now they can read those articles at work, too!  By the way, I meant to say “men, great news.”

Second: I’m premiering the Proposal Story Series this week!!!!!!  I am extremely excited.  Beyond measure.  It may not show, because I find excessive exclamation a bit childish (even though I just did it above, and I do it all the time) and somewhat boy who cried wolf… but TRUST, I’m over the moon.  You’re gonna LOVE.  Reader-submitted proposal videos, proposal photos (yes, of the actual proposals themselves) and, of course, the incredible, heartwarming, funny, fantastic, tears-will-fly-out-of-your-eyes written accounts of just how it all went down.

Third (and most “wedding porn” related): many of you responded to an innocent little request I tweeted for some majorly rad and especially HOT (but tasteful, of course) boudoir sessions.  Well, you brought your A-games.  I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE THESE BOUDOIR SESSIONS.  Not to mention the stories behind them, written by the gorgeous brides themselves!

Fourth: is Hanson really back?  I saw some old men singing like them in a pretty ridiculously fun and upbeat music video yesterday.  I coulda sworn it was them.  They’re singing under the name Hanson, and I recognize Isaac… because he’s very unique-looking and just very recognizable.  So I guess it’s them?  Here’s the vid; judge for yourselves.  (Please, no hatemail for posting a Hanson vid on the blog.  This is sort of the first one ever that I feel I can tolerate… even bop to.)  (:

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Are you guys excited?  What are you looking forward to more?  Magically delish boudoir hotness or the reader-submitted proposal stories/photos/videos?  Or both?  Or none?  Or whatevs, I don’t care, just show me the pictures?

xoxo!  – Alison

{FYI: The hot shot up top is from this post.}

… And if you want a taste of boudoir passion right now, check this out.