Loves

Every week on Etsy, I create a treasury to inspire themed weddings. From carnival to vintage, if there's a theme that you want to see, please comment below. Here's my first treasury of loves...

i do love vintage

Click on the mosaic above for a direct link to the treasury on Etsy for pricing and shop information.

Music Note

I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. Last night, I passed the late-late hours with...

Garrett Dutton aka G. Love.

G. Love & Special Sauce are always worth the extra pot of coffee. I've never seen an audience so alive. There wasn't a single person in the whole building who didn't have happy feet during 2 point 5 hours of the Philedelphonic sound. What a great end to Thursday! Did you notice that G. Love looks a lot like my favorite obsession...

Duncan Sheik <3

ZING! It's highly possible that I have a thing for 6' 3" dark haired men with blue eyes and guitars. If you don't know who G. Love is, jam out to these videos ::

Baby's Got Sauce [1997]


Peace, Love, & Happiness [2008]


Wishing everyone a fabulous weekend of good food, sunshine, and surprises!

6 Wedding Write-Offs

Weddings are expensive, it's too bad you can't write them off on your taxes. Or wait.... can you? With careful planning, you can say "I do" to these six wedding write-offs.

1. The church. If you are paying a ceremony fee, it may be tax deductible. If not, ask whether or not the church waives fees for members who donate at a certain level. It may be worth upping your donations for the year to get a triple benefit: a fee waiver, a tax write off, and good karma.

2. The venue. If you are having your reception or getting married at a historical garden, museum, or national or state park, the fee you are paying may be deductible as a donation. Check with the site for more details.

3. Flowers and food. Once your wedding is over, have a friend take the leftover food and flowers to a homeless shelter, women's center, or similar non-profit organization. Not only will you have done a good deed, with a receipt, but you'll be able to take a deduction for the value of the items donated.

4. The gown. Donate your wedding gown to a non-profit organization like Making Memories or the I Do Foundation and you'll help others enjoy their day in style. The same goes for the flower girl and bridesmaid dresses, as well as candles and other decorations that won't spoil.

5. Wedding favors. Instead of soon-forgotten trinkets, make a donation to a charity on behalf of everyone in your wedding and your guests, and you'll be helping others while garnering yourself a tax deduction. You might even let your wedding party choose the charities they treasure.

6. Gift registry. Create a wedding gift registry through the IDFoundation.org and 10% of gift purchases will be donated to your favorite charity. You can harvest charitable rebates with wedding purchases through the foundation, and even create a charity registry where guests can donate to commemorate your special day.

Be sure to document these wedding write-offs with receipts and contracts, so you'll have the back up available at tax time. Then you can claim your deduction, boost your tax refund, and have extra funds to toast your wedded bliss.

*Turbo Tax notes these wedding write-offs on their blog.

It's a Love Story...

Congratulations to...

Megan + Nick!

This adorable couple sent in their love story and were chosen as the winners of our Glitter Contest and I am so excited to be a part of their journey to the aisle!

Thank you to everyone who sent in their stories, we had a great time reading them and will be sending you a special offer this week. Keep an eye on your inbox!

The Proposal

March 20th is Proposal Day! According to The Knot, one out of four women surveyed were not happy with how their S.O. proposed to them. Complaints about their proposals included that it wasn't romantic enough, wasn't original enough, that it was too over the top, or that the dude came to the party sans ring. I would guess the woman pictured {with the petrified face} here would include herself as part of that 25 percent.

A proposal is just a moment and some moments don't go as planned. The point is the lifelong commitment you're choosing to make. The only proposal I've ever gotten involved a toilet, which should have been an indicator of how the rest of that relationship would go. How about you? Were you satisfied with how your proposal went?

Special Reminder

Don't forget!

Today is the last day to submit your dream wedding wishes for the opportunity
to win a full style package valued at $1800.
A winner will be chosen and announced on Monday.

It's also the last day to take advantage of our spectacular 20% off any package special! Book today!

DIY: Bridal Bouquet

Bride, Allie, is currently working on her Masters in Victorian Literature and these bouquets had her name all over them. Aren't these book page flowers awesome?!

The 'How To', if you'd like to create your own...

Supplies:
*book pages
*paint
*sponge brush
*file folder
*scissors
*glue
*wooden skewer
*pipe cleaner
*hot glue gun
*rhinestone
*pipe cleaner
*floral tape
After you tear out your book pages {you'll need 3 pages per flower}, mix your paint color with water to make a "wash". Using a sponge brush, wash the book pages and allow to dry completely.

While your pages are drying, create a 6 petal stencil {shown here in orange} out of a file folder {or cardboard, cardstock, cereal box, etc}. Trace onto the back of your washed pages and cut out.

Next, fold each flower three times making creases between the petals.
Flower 1: Leave whole. Flower 2: Cut out one petal. Flower 3: Cut out two petals {as shown above}.
DO NOT DISCARD EXTRA PETALS!

Glue the pages with removed petals back together, one petal on top of the other, as shown above.

Using a wooden skewer, curl the each petal on all three pages.

Stack and glue the pages in size order from biggest to smallest.
TIP: it may help to snip the bottom point off the two smaller flowers.

I hope you remembered to save those snipped petals!

Loosely curl one side of the largest snipped petal. Fold and glue two sides together, leaving the curl on the outside. It should resemble a funnel shape. Cut off the bottom tip and glue into the center of your flower.
Curl both sides of the remaining snipped petal, snip the bottom off and glue to the center of the funnel, which should already be glued to the center of your flower.

Using a wooden skewer, going from top to bottom, pierce through the flower's center. Now flower is complete without a stem!
Make a spiral on the top of a pipe cleaner {shown above} and then squish the spiral together to make a "knot". Using your hot glue gun, adhere a rhinestone to the top.

Thread the pipe cleaner through the flower's center where you pierced it.

Almost done!
Using floral tape, cover the pipe cleaner completely and VOILA! A paper flower.


If you'd like to add leaves, as I have here, repeat steps 1 and 2 using green paint and a leaf stencil. Glue paint side up to the underside of your flower and allow to dry.

Don't forget to make a tossing bouquet!



This project was adapted from the tutorial found here.