Morning After Brunch - yay or nay?

Planning a brunch for the day after a wedding has become very popular especially if you have a lot of out of town guests. This can be a nice way to share stories about the night before and see your guests one last time before they head home. It can be hard to determine whether you should take this extra step for a few reasons.

First off, depending on your budget this additional "event" can be costly, so if it is not an expense you can swing it certainly (in my eyes) is not frowned upon if there is no brunch then next day.



One thing you may want to consider is that the next day your guests may need to get on the road or dare I say it, not be in the best physical condition and need that time to recover!  Make sure to give guests ample warning and think about including an invite to the brunch with the wedding invitation, adding an additional response for this can be helpful so that you can plan accordingly.  You certainly do not want guests to feel obligated to be there but want them to know that you are honored to have them share this special weekend with you and want to make their stay comfortable and enjoyable.

So what do you think, do you like going to brunch the day after a wedding or would you rather party the night away and keep the wedding festivities to just one day?

See you swoon,

Eco-Chic ideas: vinegar for beauty & home

Vinegar is not just for salad dressing - it is an inexpensive, effective and green way to beautify and clean your home and hair!  I know it sounds crazy, but bear with me.

* Vinegar as home cleaner:  I have a confession to make: I have not purchased all-purpose cleaner in years.  Ever since I found my cat licking the pool of cleaner off the spot on the table that I missed, I started to worry that maybe I should be using something a little safer for cat and kids.  When my son was born, keeping scary chemicals out of our home became even more important to me.  Enter my friend Jennie's recipes for vinegar based cleaner (note: I will blog more about Jennie's wonderful blog soon, and it is a funny coincidence that she happened to blog about her vinegar-based cleaners this week, too!).  I admit that it took a little while to become accustomed to the vinegar scent, but I don't notice it anymore.  And I love that because it is all natural (and I make it myself), I save money and know that if my cat or kids happen to ingest it, it's totally OK.

-The all-purpose cleaner recipe:

2 cups water, 2 cups white vinegar, 5 drops lavender oil, 10 drops sweet orange oil, 10 drops tea tree oil.  I pour into a large spray bottle.  One bottle lasts me a good month or so, and can be used on most surfaces (except stone), including stainless steel and glass.

The essential oils will help to degrease and sanitize.  Give it a try!  One bottle of essential oil lasts me well over a year and a gallon of vinegar is only $3, which is at least what you would pay for a bottle of cleaner on the mass-market.

- The soft-scrub recipe:

Mix ½ cup liquid castile soap (now available at Target! I use the one pictured in the link because I always have it on hand for my kids' baths), 1 &  2/3 cup baking soda, ½ cup water, 2 TBSP white vinegar.

I use this for scrubbing tubs, sinks and when something needs some extra cleaning.  I will note that it does a fantastic job of removing crayon from surfaces.  I store in one of those glass containers with attached lid and vacuum seal (available for just a few dollars at Target).  You only need a little bit of this stuff - it is very effective.

* Vinegar for hair: Once a week, I use an apple-cider vinegar rinse on my hair.  It makes my hair shiny and gets rid of any build-up.  It's really that simple, too.  I keep a plastic container (which held some Chinese takeout won-ton soup we ordered , which I saved from our recycling bin) and the vinegar under my sink.  I measure out about 1 TBSP of vinegar into the container and bring it in the shower.  After I shampoo & rinse, I fill up the container with warm water from the shower (about a cup) and pour it over my hair. Then rinse through and condition as usual.  The result is super shiny hair!  I do it just once a week, but you can try more if you want.

What are your tricks for greener products around the home? Stay tuned for future posts on other super cool uses for more household items, like baking soda, sugar, honey and of course good ol' vinegar.

See you swoon,

What Would Jamie Wear: Accessories & Shoes for outdoor summer wedding

I am loving the requests I am getting for advice on what I would wear to certain events, this is so much fun so keep them coming! My most recent shopping quest came from a reader who is attending a wedding but already has most of her outfit completed. She wanted some help with accessory and shoe choices to go along with her outfit that sounds classic and beautiful.

I will describe what she has so far so you can get an idea of what she will be wearing and if you have any ideas to add we would love to hear them. The dress is black with a v-neck wrap top and a fuller skirt, she plans to wear a white cardigan over her dress that has pearl detailing.

Here are my thoughts. I would love to see a pop of color in the shoes and accessories that add a summery feel along with making them stand out against the black and white.

Necklaces:

Bracelets:

Shoes:

I just love how these items can be statement pieces all on their own but you can mix and mach the colors in each shoe, necklace or bracelet, not to mention you can wear these pieces time and time again!  So let me know what you think, and for all of you going to weddings this weekend have fun and happy shopping!

See you swoon,

Real Events: Jamie & Kelly's Rehearsal Dinner (Part II)

Jamie and Kelly's rehearsal dinner in August 2009 was one of my favorite events ever to style ... not only because of how fun it was, but also because we were officially welcoming Jamie into our family.  So, as I thought of what we would do, I wanted it to be pretty and special but also meaningful.  In the end, we decided to welcome Jamie into the clan with an Irish themed event:  it was important to me that we keep the event classy and contemporary vs. covered in shamrocks and leprechauns.  I did a little research and discovered what the O'Neal family tartan looked like; I was happily surprised to discover it was a lovely combination of burgundy and gold.  And with that, I had my color palette: gold-burgundy-cream-black.  Once I had the colors down, I thought we would have some fun with the phrase "good luck," which seemed perfectly suited to a rehearsal dinner, with the wedding the next day.  And since I love a good project or two or twenty, I went a little crazy with all the details.  Here's what we did:

* "Good Night & Good Luck" cupcake flags. Using the template for the custom drink stir sticks from Style Me Pretty, I created a bunch of little flags for cupcakes that we served for dessert.  One side of the flag said "good night ..." and the other side said "and good luck" -- I cut the sticks a little shorter than the above template recommends to accommodate the smaller sized cupcakes.  I used store-bought cupcakes and just bought some edible gold glitter sprinkles for the tops.  Easy and super cute.  They looked especially cute all grouped together.  Who doesn't love cupcakes?

* Menu/Welcome Signs for Tables:  Rather than put a menu at each person's seat, I decided to place two double-sided menu/welcome signs at each table.  One side was the dinner menu, and the other side gave a brief explanation of the event and our hopes for welcoming Jamie into our family with true Irish hospitality.  Creating these was so easy: I used gold cardstock and then pasted the menu and welcome on each side.  Voila!

* Chocolate Horseshoe Favors:  I am a big proponent of edible favors: it's less waste and they are usually pretty easy to buy or make.  In our case, I wanted to carry on the "good luck" theme with a chocolate horseshoe for each person, as I read that Irish brides carry a horseshoe on their wedding day for good luck.  I could not find chocolate horseshoes that weren't ridiculously expensive, so I ordered a horseshoe candy mold online for around $3 and made my own with melted chocolate chips.  It took no more than an hour and they were pretty yummy!  I put each horseshoe in a candy bag, made a little tag that said "good luck" on it and tied it with a gold ribbon.

* DIY centerpieces:  I am not a florist - not by any stretch of the imagination! But if I keep the florals really simple, I can make centerpieces look pretty good.  For Jamie & Kelly's rehearsal dinner, my centerpieces were totally DIY.  I picked up the sunflowers & babies breath from the grocery store the morning of the party.  I wanted to buy whatever was on sale, and they happened to be.  I kept each flower with like flowers - if I had mixed the sunflowers & babies breath, they would have looked like they were straight out of 1982.  Keeping the arrangements simple and fresh made them work successfully. The centerpiece "vases" were just coffee cans, soup cans, jars, and other food vessels that I had asked family to set aside.  I cleaned them out and then covered them with cream fine wale corduroy fabric and the O'Neal tartan.  I mixed up the fabrics so they had some texture and interest and to break up all the burgundy. I was thrilled with the end result.

There you have it!  A completely DIY rehearsal dinner that's both easy on the eyes and the wallet.  Let us know if you'd like some help or ideas with your rehearsal dinner.  We would love to help!

See you swoon,



{all photos courtesy of Doug Burns, Candid Moments Photography}

Real Events: Jamie & Kelly's Rehearsal Dinner (Part I)

In a recent post we featured Doug Burns, the photographer that was responsible for all of the beautiful and memorable shots that we have the pleasure of looking at every time we think about our big day.  Most photographers offer engagement photo sessions along with the package you purchase for the day of your event which can be very helpful so that your photographer can get to know you and your soon to be husband or wife.  The engagement session (if all goes well) can produce intimate and fun shots that a couple can cherish and use in save the dates or thank you cards.

Now consider this: you may have the option to trade in the engagement session and have your photographer join you and all of your closest family and friends at your rehearsal dinner.  They can be there to capture all of the excitement the night before you say I do!  My husband and I chose this option, and to be perfectly honest, it was his idea.  I wasn't so sure at first but when we talked more about it we knew that not many people would be snapping pictures all night long and the details of the night would eventually turn into foggy blur that could be hard to remember (for those of you who are married you know what I mean).  Looking back at the pictures of our family and friends relaxing, and having those shots of the two of us just hours before we became husband and wife are priceless.

If you had the choice of what to do with your photo session what would it be?

See you swoon,