hostess with the mostest

March is here! Guess what that means?? It's almost shower time!

[As a side note: With all of these big wedding milestones coming up, I keep telling myself that the wedding will finally start to feel more "real" - but it has yet to happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will finally hit me either with these showers coming up or when I finally start my dress fittings.]

If you remember, I had a small shower back in October when my bridesmaids came into town for some dress shopping. But coming up I have a shower in Pennsylvania for all of my family and then we have a couples' shower in North Carolina with the future mister's side.

That being said...I need to start looking for some hostess gifts!

A paper-source catalog came in the mail the other day and I was impressed with their array of cute gift items:

(Lucia Soap Set)

(Bath Tea)

(Practically Perfect Tea Towel)

(Lotus Flower Apron)

(Reusable Tote)

Definitely a great jumping off point - I'm sure I'll be able to find something fabulous for the special women who are planning these events. I truly am blessed to have them in my life.

What did you get the women who hosted your bridal shower(s)? Do you have any more gift ideas to share?

omg

Seriously. I'm not sure I can even get out the words to describe how amazing this is.




This is our ring bearer pillow. Nancy (the hankie lady) made this. Out of antique linens. This was the example my mom showed her:

(source)

Sorry Martha, you lose this one. Honestly, I'm not sure I can even express how beautiful I think this is. All I keep imagining is my future daughter(s) and granddaughter(s) using this same pillow at their weddings, adding their names and wedding dates to the back. Passing down a piece of history - that started with me and the future mister. Such an amazing heirloom piece. Such a beautiful gift.

Do you plan on passing down any of the items you used at your wedding? Or do you have any heirloom pieces that were passed down to you?

card "box"

Nancy "the hankie lady" has turned into a true friendor. Yesterday she and her husband had my parents over for lunch so she and my mom could brainstorm table decor and centerpieces. I'll touch on all that a bit later, but first let me introduce you to our card "box", or rather, birdcage.


It's kind of funny. To my knowledge, Nancy doesn't read wedding blogs or look at wedding magazines, yet all of her ideas so far seem so in tune with much of what I've seen floating around wedding land lately. It was she who suggested using lace doilies underneath the mason jars on our tables - and now I'm seeing photos of similar centerpieces all over the blogosphere!

Anyways, back to the topic...My first impression of the birdcage was that it was rather large - perhaps too large to be used as a card box. My mom agreed that it was pretty big for a birdcage, but that it would look great outside at our reception and wouldn't overwhelm the space. I trust her judgment. So Nancy and her husband are going to clean it up, repaint it and decorate it with some ribbon.

What are you using/did you use as a card box?

breaking tradition

Last night I decided to make black bean soup for dinner. It calls for pureeing black beans and chicken broth in a blender. Our old blender is sadly missing it's lid, so the last time I made this recipe I just used our immersion blender (i.e. the future mister's protein shake maker). Well this time, the immersion blender was dirty and I didn't feel like cleaning it. And, well, why would I take the fifteen seconds required to clean it when I could use our fancy NEW blender?! This thing is amazing and I'm already trying to come up with more reasons to use it (THANK YOU KATIE!).


Now, I have heard the old wives' tale/tradition of waiting until after the wedding to use your shower gifts - just in case the wedding ends up being called off. Call me a bad bride, but I clearly broke tradition with this one. First of all, what if the gift doesn't work? Or is broken? Usually you can only return/exchange things within so many days of purchase. Also, with kitchen appliances it is always a good idea to register the product for warranty purposes.

That being said, did you come up with reasons to use your shower gifts before the wedding? Or did you follow tradition and wait until after?

winner, winner chicken dinner

Just the other day I posted about wanting to find a unique way to display some of our engagement photos. Well today I found out that I won a contest hosted on Brooklyn Bride for a free Memolio photo deck! I'm excited that we'll finally see some of our e-photos in print.

(source)

Did you enter or win any contests during your wedding planning?

groom gift guide

We're still over six months out from the wedding, so this post is probably a bit premature. But, with the future mister's birthday quickly approaching and the holidays coming up I thought I would share some of the gift ideas I've been compiling as they could be great inspiration for groom or groomsmen gifts.

for the eco-conscious:

Alex Bottle

for the stylish techno guy:

macbook skin by Karvt - made out of real wood!

(they also make iPad and iPhone skins)

for the history buff:

shaving kit

vintage toiletry kit

pocket watch

for the world traveler:

world map with pins

for the (forgetful) outdoorsman:

polarized sunglasses

and croakies so that they don't get lost (again*)

Since I don't think I have to worry about the future mister reading this before his birthday on Wednesday, I ended up getting him the Alex Bottle. Ever since taking up running, he's been mentioning that a Nalgene would be nice to have because he currently uses a pretty beat-up plastic Gatorade bottle. I considered just getting him a Nalgene (they are less expensive), but the Alex Bottle was too neat to pass up. First, it comes apart at the middle, so it's super easy to clean, unlike most bottles. The other great thing is that when not in use, it's super compactable - just take it apart, invert it and twist back together. Hopefully he'll be just as excited about it as I am.

What unique or thoughtful gifts have you gifted your guy?

*Yes, the future mister bought himself that exact pair of L.L. Bean sunglasses in the summer and as of September they were nowhere to be found.

my Atlanta shower

After a fun-filled Saturday of dress shopping, we topped off the weekend with brunch/my shower on Sunday morning. I picked murphy's in the Virginia Highlands area of Atlanta at the suggestion of a co-worker. I'm pretty sure that we all agreed that the food was delicious.

I really enjoyed how casual and intimate this shower was and, as you can see, my friends were extremely generous (thanks again ladies!). It was great to be able to chat and catch up with everyone, especially since most of them live 8+ hours away. It was also a great precursor to the two other showers I'll be having - one in Pennsylvania (my hometown) and one in North Carolina (the future mister's hometown).

What was your shower like? Did you/will you have more than one, like me?

peachy keen

As you all probably know, the future mister and I had some of our engagement photos taken in a peach orchard.

photos by Heidi from Our Labor of Love

Well, FSIL/Bridesmaid Katie sent these peach favor inspiration photos earlier this week. What cute ideas! And a great way to incorporate the future mister's *insane love for peaches.

mini peach pies (source)

peach preserves (source)

My only concern with something like these is that they could be pretty pricey. And to be honest, I was considering cutting favors all together since a majority of our guests will be from out of town and I plan on delivering OOT bags to the hotels. Having one favor per couple or family is always an option.

What did you do/are you doing for favors? Do you think guests expect them?


*I'm not kidding. He could probably eat an entire bushel in one sitting.

something borrowed and something blue

Over Easter weekend I received two fabulously thoughtful gifts from my future sister-in-law. And they just happen to be something borrowed:

(source)

and something blue:

(source)

The sweetest thing about the etiquette book is that it has been used by my FSIL and some of her friends and each bride wrote her wedding planning advice in the front cover. So I'll have to do the same before passing it on to the next bride. Such a great idea! Thanks again, Katie!

What are your olds, news, borroweds and blues?

santa

Santa came early to our house! A few weeks ago, a package arrived on my doorstep, which silly Santa forgot to disguise. So I already knew what it was, but was under strict instructions not to touch it until next Wednesday, the day before we fly home for Christmas. It was difficult to resist the temptation to open that box, but I did. Then I was hired yesterday, so Santa (mom and dad) is letting me open it up early! Take a look at the new toy I get to play with:

(source)

The Epson Artisan 800 All-in-One Printer. My old printer, an HP All-in-One, was doing just fine, but the quality is not all that good. You better believe I'll be using this for many, many wedding projects! First up - menus and place cards for Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house.

Have you asked for any wedding related gifts for Christmas?