Wedding Items for Sale!!

Now that the big day has come and gone, I am trying to sell all my gently used wedding things! Since I did everything for the wedding myself, I was left with so much after the wedding, and I don't really have a use for these things anymore.

My primary color was navy blue, with pops of lime green and I used navy/white stripes on pretty much everything I could :)

They still have a lot of use left in them, so I'm hoping I can help out another bride (brides?!) who is maybe having a similar themed wedding :)

1. Cardbox and basket (this was supposed to be for the flower girls but ended up holding direction cards at our ceremony)

The ribbon and flower on the basket could easily be removed and swapped out for something else.
The card box has a slit on the top of the box that says "cards" and is hollowed out so the cards fall all the way to the bottom. We had 165 guests and probably received 75-80 cards and they all fit!

2. Misc. Wedding Pieces :)

Starting on the left, are the Mr and Mrs plaques that I made for our table, I will also sell them with the stand holders.
Next are the Ikea Tolsby frames, I have 20 of them.
Next is my bouquet holder. I used it on our sweetheart table.
Last is the guest book frame, it has an anchor and the words "well wishes for the new mr and mrs"

3. Vases and Candle holders

These vases and candles made up my centerpieces. The tallest one was filled with blue hydrangeas. Then I surrounded the vase of flowers with two of the next tallest candle (vase is filled with sand) and then two of the smallest hurricane holder. I have 18 tall ones and at least 30 of each of the other two sizes.

4. Pew Bows!

I wanted something different for pew bows, so I found a seller on Etsy who made me these cotton bows. They are attached to a standard pew clip. I added the anchor and striped ribbon with a safety pin, I can sell them with or without the pin! These were a nice affordable and different alternative to flowers or tulle! I have 10. 

5. Escort Card Table

I made the sign in the back myself, and will sell it with the holder to sit on. The boxes in the front were filled with sand, and my tented escort cards were placed in them. You can fit 20-22 in each box. I have 2 of the ones on the left, and 4 of the ones on the right. 

6. Table runners!

I am selling 15 of the striped table runners you see in the photos above. I had them made for me by an Etsy seller after searching high and low for striped runners. They measure 14x72. 

If you're interested in any of the items, make me an offer! I can also send you more close-up photos of any items you are interested in. You can contact me directly at gentel.smith@gmail.com

Thanks for looking! :)

In Review -- A Shellac Mani

In preparation for my upcoming wedding, I'm trying to get my beauty routine in order. I figured I would start with my nails. I've been growing them out, because while I want them to be long (er), I don't want to have to get fake nails, I want to be able to use my own, real nails.

I plan to give gel nails a go at some point, but decided to first try Shellac. I've tried Shellac several times before, all with horrible results. Maybe it's because Shellac was still brand new then, and salons were still getting the hang of the application process, but I wanted to try it once more before writing it off for good.

The color I chose for this application was called Strawberry Smoothie, because I wanted something light, and bridal-like.

Not bad huh? They look pretty good! The color seems to be a little too "pink" for me I think though, and I don't like how you can see my natural nail through the polish. It's a great color in general though, but just not for my wedding day.

In my previous Shellac experiences, my day three --- and definitely by day seven --- my nails were chipping and half peeled off. Not this time though!

How good do they still look?! I am so incredibly impressed with how my nails are still holding up! And I put my hands through the ringer too --- I am constantly washing them, and doing tons of projects. I've been painting a lot too --- but you would never know by how well the Shellac has held up.

I still want to give gel a try, but I think I may have found the solution I'm looking for. This is going to be perfect for our wedding and honeymoon! Now to just find the right color....A french maybe? I heard that OPI has come out with a Shellac line in their best selling colors, so I'm thinking about trying Bubble Bath :)

The girl in pink :)

I promised new and different non-wedding related posts, so here is my first one.

Pinterest has really changed my life. I'm obsessed. The inspiring photos are endless and so I put together this look thanks to an outfit I had seen on a blog called Really Petite.

Today was an exciting day...I promise to fill you in on why very soon but in the meantime, here is what I was wearing today. I needed to be dressed up, polished and stylish but still comfy.

Skirt and Top-NY&Company, Belt- Nordstrom BP, Shoes-Target, Watch-Coach

I later threw on this jacket, which was a STEAL from Nordstrom Rack for $9!

 I think my outfit made a great impression and was the perfect look on this amazing spring day! Temps topped 66 degrees today! :)

Stay tuned for more details!!

Where I've been....

I know I've been quiet on the blog-front here and the truth is, it's because life has been downright crazy elsewhere! Wedding planning is in fullswing! I'm less than 5 months out, and it's all coming together. I'm also blogging over on BridalBuds.com!

I was heartbroken after getting my rejection letter from weddingbee but I realized that they're looking for two types of bloggers and I'm way too phenomenal of a writer to be put into a mold. Not to mention when I asked for feedback (twice) I was ignored. But it's ok, I'm happy where I'm at and things are good :) I still love the bee and love the boards and am on it daily, but am happy sharing my wedding journey on BB. So if you're interested in taking a peek at the rest of my wedding-life, you can follow me at www.bridalbuds.com I'm Lotus Bud :)

I'll still be here...I love blogging so much now, I want to use this as an everyday kind of blogging forum, so look for more interesting and exciting posts that aren't just wedding related!

Thanks for stopping by and checking in!

XO.

A Ring for the Groom

It's no secret that I care a lot about my ring set. In fact, just last week, I was able to convince my sweetie to let me have not one, but two diamond wedding bands. They were originally out of our budget, but my jeweler friend offered us a great deal on the second band, a deal that we just could not pass up! Here is my entire ring set:

Aren't they pretty?

Searching for a ring for him, wasn't something we had put much thought in to. He's not very particular and has never worn a ring before so he wanted something simple and comfortable.

We looked at some white gold rings, but I wasn't 100% sold on them. The price of gold is INSANELY expensive right now and gold scratches easily. My wedding set is gold, and while I can see scratches on the back side of the ring, it's the back ... no one else sees that. His ring will be solid gold, and I was afraid the scratches would bother him after a little bit.

Then there's platinum, but that is double the cost of gold, and since he really doesn't care that much, I think that was out too.

So I began researching other options, and came across Tungsten. I learned that Tungsten is one of the most durable metals and it's super shiny. Better yet, it's next to impossible to scratch and never loses its shine, so it always looks brand new. Even better, the price is incredibly affordable. (I need to step in and say here that this decision was not driven purely by price. We spent a lot of money on my rings because they were important to me, and while the significance of a wedding ring was important to him, the actual ring was not. Makes sense right?)

We found InfinityTungsten.com and after looking at their different styles, these were his top three picks:

So, what do you think? Has anyone ordered a Tungsten band for their honey? Which of these do you like the best?

Let them eat cake!

So on the heels of my post about our adorable cake topper, I guess I should next discuss the actual cake that we will be having. Makes sense right?

I knew that I wanted a simpler cake....while I love looking at gorgeous elaborate cake designs, sometimes I think they are too pretty to eat.

See what I mean? Who would want to cut into and destroy this gorgeous cake?? / Image via hottestbirthday.info

The look that I think we were going for, is something more like these cakes

All images via theknot.com

I think that the third one is my favorite (I mean, you do know about my obsession with anchors!) but we loved the simplicity of the first two as well, so we figured that we would show these to the baker and see if they could put something together for us. And they did!

We met with Cake for Occasions on the only snowy Saturday we've had this winter (of course) but it was so worth the trek out in the snowy weather. This bakery is the only one I ever even thought of considering. They are very well-known around here as having the best cake, so I was excited to schedule our tasting!

She let us try several samples too, and by samples I mean full pieces of cake. It was unbelievable. Oh, it was also 10am too, so cake turned out to be our breakfast.

Doesn't it all look so yummy??

And of course, the "after" shot,

Not sure about the blurriness, but you get the point! :)

In the end the three flavors we ended up choosing were 1) vanilla cake soaked in Grand Marnier with fresh strawberry and buttercream frosting 2) the traditional red velvet with cream cheese buttercream frosting and 3) chocolate cake dusted with espresso and filled with ganache and mocha buttercream frosting. My mouth is seriously watering just thinking about how yummy these cakes are going to be!!

We also opted to have the cake plated and set up as a station so that our guests will be able to choose their own flavor. Although, I'm not sure how anyone is going to be able to choose. Someone please remind me to eat the cake that day ok??

So there you have it ..... probably the easiest wedding decision we've made to date! How did your cake tasting go? Anyone else going the route with multiple flavors?

And the men wore grey....

I've talked an awful lot about my dress and my bridesmaid dresses. I struggled over what we, the girls, would wear because there are so many freaking options. For the guys, I really didn't give it much thought. Sorry boys!


My colors are (just to refresh your memory) navy and white with pops of a lime-y, apple-y green color. My girls will be in floor-length navy silk-shantung gowns. Since our wedding does fall a bit on the fancier side, I knew that I wanted the guys to be in tuxes. But not black tuxes. I personally don't like the way that navy and black look together, I think that it kind of looks like a bruise. Not exactly the look we are going for :/

 

 

Not loving this look so much..../Image via picasaweb.google.com

Plus, both are really dark colors for a mid-July wedding and I didn't think it flowed with our overall theme. I still wanted it to be "summer-y". Then one day, a few months ago, I fell in love with these photos:

Image via Charlotte Geary Photography

 

 

Image via red ribbon studio

I loved the grey! And so did Keith, which is even more important since he is the one wearing it. They look light and summer-y but because they are tuxes, they still look formal. And as much as I love the stripe ties in the second photo, I love the solid navy better.


So we went to our local Men's Wearhouse a couple Saturdays ago to see what we had for options. We chose MW because they have locations everywhere and because they advertise a free tux rental for the groom with 5 other rentals. Since we need a total of 9 rentals, Keith's will be free. Score! Anyway, back to our visit...it turns out, we only have ONE option, so the choice was pretty much made for us.

Calvin Klein tux/ Image via menswearhouse.com

We decided against the vest, and opted for a white tie for Keith (to match me of course) and navy blue ties for the groomsmen. I am so excited to see how handsome the boys looked all dressed up!

Anyone else agree with me on the whole black/blue thing? What are your guys going to wear? 

Burlap is not my friend --- a DIY tale

If I never see burlap again, it will still be too soon :)

This past weekend, I set out to make my table runners for the reception. Sure I could have rented them through my venue, or bought them online, but where's the fun in that? So instead, I purchased 17 yards of natural burlap fabric from Joann's Fabric for $43 (!!) and figured it couldn't be that hard to do. Right? Wrong. Here is my story....

It arrived at my office (which is where I have all my purchases shipped to) in a rather large box.

Maybe I underestimated how big 17 yard is? I'm really not so great with math and measurements. :)

Ooh, looks pretty enough, right?

Ok, now I don't have any pictures of me actually cutting the burlap because it's kind of hard to take pictures and cut at the same time. You understand. I wanted my runners to be 14x72. I didn't feel it was necessary to have them hang down to the floor, and with 60" rounds, I figured that 6" on each side will be enough. I really hope it is!

So I measured and cut 7 large pieces, each 72" long. And that is when I realized.... "Houston, we have a problem". Aww crap. Apparently burlap does not cut straight. No matter how tight you are holding the fabric, or how slowly you are cutting. Most of my pieces had crooked edges. So then I googled it. And came across this amazing article. Aha, so that's how they do it.

I measured across 14" and made a small 1/4" cut.

Considering I didn't have a seam ripper, I improvised. With a paper clip. (Go ahead and laugh, it's ok!) It took hours to do it this way though.

Once an entire thread was pulled out, I was left with a perfectly straight line to cut.

And then you repeat. Over and over again. In a matter of 6 hours I got about 8 or 9 table runners done. I only have about 21 total to do! Looks like it's going to be a long week for this gal!

Anyone else have any experience with burlap? How did your project come out?

Furbaby Represent!

In case I haven't mentioned this yet, Keither and I love our furbaby. He is the funniest, craziest, sweetest dog either of us have ever known. He is truly our "child".

He likes to open presents on Christmas with his cousin Beckette

He likes to take naps with me!

He poses for family photographs

When we got engaged, we really wanted him to be involved in our wedding. However, we are a) getting married in a church and I'm pretty sure they don't allow pets and b) he is a little bit of a psycho. Gunner gets anxious around lots of people, and is somewhat obsessed with Keith and I, so we know he would never be able to sit quietly during our ceremony. He would probably bark and howl through the whole thing. Still, I couldn't help but wish that we could have photos like these:

Love the tuxedo! / Image via cathiefilian.blogspot.com

Love the tuxedo! / Image via cathiefilian.blogspot.com

So adorable! / Image via myheartshapedlife.blogspot.com

Then, one day while I was reading Weddingbee, I came across Mrs. Elephants recaps and in one of her posts she talks about her customized cake topper. It was like a lightbulb went off!

Source

I immediately turned to Etsy and typed "personalized wedding cake topper" into the Search box. After scrolling through several pages, I came across Keren with Mud Design. I emailed her photos of Gunner and explained to her what I wanted, and in just a few short weeks, it arrived!

How cute are they?!

Side view, love the veil! 

 

I absolutely love them and I can't wait to see them on the top of our cake! I think it'll be a huge hit at the reception :) 

Do you have any furbabies? How are they involved in your big day?