Engagement picture outfits!

Oh how I love wedding Wednesday's!! Today I need your help in deciding what outfits to choose for our engagement session! And what collars I should buy for my doggies! You may remember my Engagement Pictures with Dogs post a few weeks back.

A friend of mine is letting me borrow this dress (thanks Ali!), I am so in love with it! It definitely will be one of my outfits! With my good ole cowgirl boots!

Not sure which outfit Jack should wear? I really love his thermal shirt that is navy blue and  ivory striped. 

#1

Or 

#2

I am not sure if in #1 above has too much ivory in it - ivory dress, ivory and navy stripes?  

I want to have a second outfit where I wear jeans. I am struggling on which shirt to choose! Which is your favorite?!

#1

#2

Or

#3

I really love the ivory lace shirt in #2, but should I change it up and wear the mauve colored sweater in #3? 

Lastly, I want to buy matching collars for my two dogs to wear. Currently have a gazillion options. Help!

#1

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#2

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#3

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Or 

#4

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Would love to hear your thoughts! Happy Wednesday!


Linking up with Macy at To Travel and Beyond and Nikki at MakUpHER for Wedding Wednesday!

What a weekend!

I am going to need about 5 cups of coffee to get me through this Monday morning. It was a eventful weekend to say the least. I had a bachelorette party for a friend of mine. 

It started of Friday night, girl talk, food,  + Cards Against Humanity. The girl hosting made her own photo booth props and a selfie stick. Such a fabulous idea and really makes me what to have photo props and selfie sticks at the wedding, see my DIY Photo Booth post.

When we got there they had a little gift bag for all of us.

Which had a matching shirt for everyone to wear and a mason jar mug. 

Saturday morning started with mani/pedis, spray tans + a large pasta lunch to prep for the night ahead. 

After lunch we spend a few hours trying on 10,000 different outfits. It was great. The bride to be had no idea where we were going which made it hard for her to pick out and outfit. She decided on a white dress (perfect for the bride!) with a pink sash and a "bride" crown. 

We left for Foxwoods later in the afternoon. We got ready and headed to Shrine, a night club in Foxwoods. Definitely not my scene, I have never been a club go-er. I am way to awkward for that! Lol! I am pretty much a 50 year old in a 27 year old's body. And my body just doesn't dance, I am like a telephone pole in the middle of a dance floor. But sometimes it's good to do things outside your comfort box (and act more like my age).

Sunday morning we needed to check out by 11:00am. Let me tell you, 11:00am came way to quick!! And the room was a mess... Picture 8 gals getting ready for a night out in one hotel room. There was stuff everywhere. E.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e 

When we got home, my mom and her boyfriend house sat / babysat our doggies for us because Jack was at the Bachelor party all weekend too. My mom was still in town so I got lunch with them. Then Spent most of the evening sleeping! 

How was your weekend? What did you do for your bachelorette party?

Linking up with Bella + The City Showered with Design for weekend recap! 

Five little things

I am loving these cool mornings and warm afternoons! Also loving that today is Friday and I have a fun packed weekend ahead!  It's a bachelorette weekend for a good friend of mine.

Today for Friday favorites I am going to do something a little different.  I am linking up with my friend Linley over at  Life as a Noel. Linley is a new-ish mama to a sweet baby girl, and documents about her fabulous little family.  Definitely check out her blog, it is full of cuteness overload! She has a link up from yesterday, five little things.

Is is so true that sometimes life goes by so fast and we often forget about the little things.  I am a big support in that it's the little things that mean the most in life.  So here are few little things that mean a lot to me. *Warning- I am going to be a little corny and old school here!*

1) Greeting Cards.  Okay so this may sounds a little silly, but whenever I give a gift I always spend the longest on picking out the card...or even making one.  And when I receive a gift, I love to read the card.  I always say to Jack that I don't even need a gift, just a card.  To me it is a meaningful gesture. I also enjoy sending and receiving a "just because" greeting cards in the mail.  It is a thoughtful gesture that isn't done often anymore.

2) Phone Call.  How many of you actually pick up the phone can call anyone these days? Everything is electronic now, e-mails, texts, etc.  I am guilty of it too.  But I do love a chat on the phone with a good friend, or my mother, especially my sister because she lives far away and I don't often get to see her.  

3) Surprises. Like when Jack will surprise me and make my lunch. Doesn't happen too often, I am usually the lunch maker in the house, but when he does I am always grateful :)

4) Sunday morning coffee.  Jack and I have been trying to spend Sunday mornings together getting a coffee and breakfast at a local coffee shop by our house.  Sometime we get it to go and drive to the Town beach and sit by the water, or we eat there and share a breakfast.  It is something so simple, yet so wonderful.  We are both always pulled in 1,000 directions all week long between work, class, wedding planning, family, etc. it is nice to just slow down and enjoy each other.

What are the little things that means so much to you?

DIY Photobooth

Happy hump day + first day of fall!  I love Wedding Wednesday! I love anything to do with weddings! Not just because we are planning our wedding, but I love weddings, everything about them.

I love the idea of having a photo booth, but because I am a bride on a budget, renting a photo booth just isn't in the cards.  It seems lately I have been seeing a lot about DIY photo booths, so naturally I have been doing a little bit of research on it to see if we can make it work.

I found that there are a lot of different options out there: 

i) Photo Apps! You can download different apps that you can use for a DIY photo booth, like Custom Booth or Wedding Party. If you set up a tripod, with an iPad, open the app, and viola.  You can upload the pictures the next day and share to social media sites.  Or I have even thought about printing them out and including in the thank you cards?   Another option is to have guest take pictures with their own phones and have them upload and to social media - be sure to use hashtags.  Wedding Party App has a cool photo booth feature where it takes pictures and you can arrange like the classic photo booth strip.

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ii) Selfie Sticks!  Place a selfie stick on each table, with a few props and a cute sign encouraging guest to take pictures and post to Instagram or even a wedding app such as Wedding Party. You can find a selfie stick for just $5 at Five Below.  

I really would love have a DIY photo booth area and use on of the two back drops!

i) A blush rose back drop.  How dreamy.  It would tie into the romantic theme of the wedding, and the go with the blush color I want for the bridesmaid dresses. You can purchase this over at Swooned Magazine.  It does come at a hefty price.  Possible I could make my own? Lauren Conrad's DIY Rosebud Garland tutorial may be the way to go.

ii) I really like the idea of having some kind of frame that guest can hold and snap a picture.

Did you or are you going to have a photo booth at your wedding?  What do you think about the selfie stick on each table? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Linking up with Macy over at To Travel and Beyond!

Baby + Fall = Weekend Fun

What a fabulous weekend! We started off Friday night just hanging in. Dinner + a movie, jammie's + pizza = perfection. Unfortunately, Jack wasn't feeling well so he didn't enjoy any pizza, but I had myself a small pineapple pizza, mmmmmmm. 

Has anyone one see the movie Warrior? It is a boxing movie. It was really good. I think it was from 2011. 

Saturday started bright + early. I met my mother and brother, Joey, to make our way to my sisters house to visit with her and baby Ava. 

When we arrive this was the little peanut. Can't even take the cuteness with that headband. And she had jeggins on, yes baby jeggins.

I don't think I took this smile off the entire day. She is the most precious baby.  She literally states are you. 

The connection she shares with people is incredible. She stares right into your eyes, as if trying to capture every detail about you. She was awake and alert almost the whole day! I couldn't believe it for only being 3 weeks old.

Sunday we just stayed in. I cleaned the house. A really good clean. Like take all the food out of the fridge and wipe it down kind of clean.

And then I started to break out some fall decorations! I absolutely love the fall. Love love love!

How was your weekend? Are you as excited for fall as I am?!

|friday favorites|

So excited for Friday. I thought Wednesday this week was Friday so it has been an extra long two days.  Not to mention, I am going to see my sister and baby niece tomorrow so the week feels like it is dragging! 

Favorite Food: Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.  I have been obsessing lately over mac n' cheese.  Good news though, "9g of protein per serving and a good source of calcium". Not even going to look at the rest of the nutrition facts. 

Favorite Clothing: Graphic Tees. This is perfect. I seriously have said this numerous times.

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Favorite Accessory: I have been obsessing over a monogrammed necklace similar to the one below.  I don't have one but want one! 

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Favorite Song (at the moment):  Old Dominion - Break up with him. Obsessed with this song right now.   OBSESSED.

What are some of you favorites this week?

How I chose a wedding photographer

I don't know about you, but for me this was one of the most important decisions to make. It was third on my list, date and venue being first and second. When making our budget I was insistent on being able to splurge on a photographer. In my opinion these photographs are going to be keepsakes of our wedding day that we have forever. 

Before even getting engaged when I saw photographers Facebook pages or blogs which I loved the style of photography I would bookmark it! So when I first started my search I started there. Not to mention I had a bunch of recommendations from family and friends. 

Once I narrowed down a few of my favorites that was in our budgeted amount I contacted the photographer to set up a time to meet or talk on the phone. I did a lot of research online on the types of questions to ask your wedding photographer before you book. There are a lot of helpful a sites out here! There were so many questions I would never have thought to even ask!  

I would definitely recommend doing your own research before you start calling, for two reasons: 1) you don't want to waste the photographers time if you can tell from their online portfolios or bio that is isn't the right fit, and 2) you want to be able to tell if they're a good fit.

One site that is always a go to for me is TheKnot.  They have a nice article on the types of questions you should ask, you can find it here.  Another guide I used can be found here.

To help me keep organized before I got a wedding planner I found it extremely helpful to keep tract of contacts and such in an excel workbook.  I created a “photographer” tab and listed at the top a list of 10 questions that I narrowed down from the two articles I listed above.  I then listed out my top 3 photographers that I would be calling. I would use this to keep track of their answers to the questions, or if I needed to leave a message the date I left a message, etc.  I also listed out each of their packages that I was interested in (all found from doing some research on their websites) and their prices.  And I wrote down few things that I like about either their style or from their “about me” sections. I also wrote off to the side a few things that I knew I was looking for in a photographer and their style! Be prepared because they will ask your questions too (three words to describe the theme of your wedding, etc.). 

The 10 questions I asked were:

1) Do you have my date available? 

This an obvious, and sadly, I did run into a few of my favorites already being booked, but don’t get discouraged!

2) How would you describe your photography style (e.g. traditional, photojournalistic, etc. )? 

This is really important!  And you can usually tell by looking at their website, but definitely good to ask the photographer. It is really helpful to know the differences between wedding photography styles so that you can make sure you will hire a photographer that will naturally take pictures that you love! For descriptions of the various styles visit here.

3) Are you shooting in digital or film format or both? 

4) Are you the photographer who will shoot my wedding? 

So important to find out.  Because you might be feeling a connection with the person you are talking with but then later on you find out that they are not the photographer for your wedding.

5) Do you have a travel fee? 

6) Have you shot at my venue before?

7) Are you photographing other events on the same day as mine?

8) Do you have backup photographers who will shoot the wedding if you're sick?

9) How much of a deposit do you require and when is it due?

10) What is your refund/cancellation policy? 

I found that we really wanted to have romantic photos with natural light that capture the emotions of the day and tells a story as the day unfolds and less of traditional, formal poses.  When I was on the phone with the photographer we chose, I could feel an instant connection.  She was visioning our wedding day as we spoke. It felt right! 

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Linking up for Wedding Wednesday with Macy over at To Travel & Beyond and Nikki over at MakeUp Her!  

What I've been up to lately

Gosh, it has been a few days (okay maybe a week + ) since I have written a post.  My schedule has been completely off since the end of August!  BUT things are getting back on track!

First off, my little baby niece was born on August 29th!  That really threw me off, as my sister lives a few hours away.  I traveled there to be with her and her husband during the delivery.  She needed to be induced, so the process was .... long to say the least!  The process started Friday afternoon, and sweetie pie was not born until the following afternoon.  So we were up basically all night.  We did sleep about 2 hours, from midnight to 2:30-ish when her water broke.  It was all fun and games from there! It was such an incredible experience to be there by her and my brother-in-laws side.  I will most definitely post about that experience soon!

And then it was Labor Day weekend!  Which we had such a busy and fun weekend!  I know I am very late in posting this, but there was too much that went on that weekend to not share!

We started the weekend off with a rehearsal dinner for a wedding we had the Saturday of Labor Day weekend (September 5th).  Jack was the best man in the wedding.  It was really a low-key and fun dinner at a local restaurant in the town we grew up in.

Friday night I spent with my doggies.  It was a much needed relaxing night.  Jack spent the night with the groom - to - be.

Saturday was our friends wedding.  It was a blast! Every little detail was so beautiful and perfect. The wedding really displayed their couple's personality.  Because Jack was in the wedding party and I wasn't, I felt dateless for most of the night!  I didn't really know many people. Thank goodness for one of Jack's former co-workers. We were at the same table so I  spent most of the "downtime" hanging with him (neither one of use really knew any one).

My handsome date, who did an amazing Best Man speech.  He had the whole crowd laughing.  I think just about everyone came up to us all night saying what a great speech it was.

The beautiful head table, loving the lacy over lay.

The cake, how awesome is this cake. I mean look at the detail.

They played a short game to see who would win the center pieces.  Jack won :)

Our good friends came up form North Carolina for the wedding.  They spent the entire weekend here, so we got to spend some quality time with them.

Sunday we mostly just relaxed and cooked out on the grill.

Monday, was so hot!  But we ventured to the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence RI.  So. much. fun.

It was such a great weekend with this bunch.  Love them to pieces <3

Oh and then to top off the weekend. I got poison ivy/oak/sumac.  So that is what I have been dealing with.  I have it pretty much all over my legs.  It. is. miserable. BUT it is getting better!!  But, boy, it is bad.