happy wife, happy life

bracelets: Alex and Ani || nail file: Similar || nail polish: Ulta

For the bridal shower we threw in May, I decided to gift the bride-to-be with a less traditional gift which is shown above.  Now, I know that shopping from the registry is always appreciated, however you still have the actual wedding to give the happy couple an item off their registry so I feel that it's okay to "shower" the bride with a more personalized gift at the bridal shower.  

I do have to give credit where credit is due, and that would be to my friend who got me a set of these Alex and Ani bracelets for my bridal shower.  I thought it was such a neat idea that once Holly got engaged I knew I wanted to get her some of these gorgeous bangles.  The "B" initial is for her new last name once she has tied the knot and the stone is the birthstone for September, the month of the wedding.  I purchased these ones from the Shoe Closet Boutique , a local boutique in Wichita Falls.  I paired them up with a pretty nail file & an Essie nail polish which is appropriately named "happy wife happy life", both items I got from Ulta.  

This DIY gift is a perfect reminder to the bride to take a little time out of her busy wedding planning life and just relax a little while giving herself a fresh mani or pedi (or both!) before getting back into the stressful business that involves planning a wedding, aka; the start to happily ever after.  

I hope this helps you in your quest to find the perfect gift for that bride-to-be! 

~Amy

Bridal Shower!

In May, Mary & Amy threw a bridal shower for soon to be married sister, Holly.  Since weather in Texas has been pretty crazy lately we were so thankful that it was sunny and clear for the whole party!  We had a fantastic time throwing this party & the bride loved every minute of it.  We hope you all enjoy seeing some pictures of this special day where we celebrated such a wonderful lady as she prepares to marry a great guy!  Thank you so much to everyone who came & partied with us! 

P.S.

We want to extend a HUGE thank you to our other sisters who were such big helpers with food preperation, helping decorate, gift wrapping, etc.  You girls rock!!

~ We had decided early on that our theme for the party would be shabby chic with touches of gold & glitter. We did a lot of DIY projects (which we will be posting tutorials for!) and we were thrilled with the results!  

The wedding date. September 5th, 2015

We decorated a scrap book for each guest to write a special note to the bride.  A photo spot was on each page as well so she can put photos from the party inside next to the notes.  The tabs are places for the bridal party, mother of the bride, mother of the groom, etc. 

We made all of the favors, which were scented tea lights wrapped with some cute Washi tape. 

The food table, yum!  We hung some streamers, ribbon & cord behind the table at uneven lengths to decorate the food space.  We also hung some pictures from the couple's engagement session.  We threw the party at Mary's house and it just so happened that she had this gorgeous picture of the Colorado mountains above her table.  The bride and groom are getting married in Colorado. so it was perfect for right above the pictures!  

We served lots of finger foods including delicious & adorable cupcakes made by our sister, Emily.  Also, how adorable are those cupcake stands?  We found these ones at Target! 

Above the drink table we hung pictures of the happy couple.  The ones in the middle are from their engagement session and the ones on the side are random shots which we hung using strips of burlap.  We printed some from the bride's Instagram as well.  Leaving the captions on with the pictures helped to add a cute & different look from the rest of the pictures.  

The lovely bride-to-be with party planner, Mary! 

The drink station.  

We used Modge Podge to add gold glitter to the bottoms of the glasses - aren't they adorable?! 

A delicious bowl of sangria; we will be posting the recipe soon!  

Mary had the clever idea to decorate the water bottles as well, some with ribbon & lace and the rest with chalkboard tags & hearts!  

Party planner, Amy, with the lovely guest of honor.

We found these adorable pink vases in the $1.00-$3.00 section at target and decided they would be perfect as center & accent pieces.  Baby's breath & pink spray roses made the perfect bouquet!  

The hostesses & party planners! 

**note from the future bride: I can't believe how much sweet effort these two put into my bridal shower.  They did so well with the whole theme -- and they didn't even have to ask me what I like!  I felt so loved by my awesome family, wonderful future in-laws, friends, and most especially my fellow blogger sisters.  They made me truly feel blessed with the hard work they put into this lovely bridal shower

xoxo

DIY Gift Basket for a Bride-to-be!

One of the three sisters behind this blog got engaged recently (woo-hoo!), so the other two sisters decided to create a fun gift basket to celebrate her engagement and get her started on the path to planning her perfect wedding!

The inspiration for this idea came from Pinterest (where else?).  We found some good tips and then put our own spin on the idea.  Assembling the basket was fairly easy and, fortunately for us, it shipped and arrived in perfect condition!  Here are a few photos and descriptions of what her cute gift basket contained:

The contents of the entire basket were: Bridal magazines, a Starbucks gift card, a personalized cell phone case, "Mr. & Mrs." luggage tags (for the honeymoon!), a monogram coffee mug with her soon-to-be last initial, a small sign that reads "To have and to hold from this day forward," a ring dish, some ring pops (for a funny touch), nail polish in wedding-themed colours, a cute basket to hold it all, and some personalized cards!

The ring holder came from an Etsy shop.

All of the items had a tag added to them with a cute quote or saying!

This sign was actually made by one of the sisters; hand-painted, stenciled, and added the ribbon to hang it up!

What bride doesn't need a caffeine boost during wedding planning?

All ready to be packaged up (in yards of bubble wrap and foam)!

She absolutely loved the gift basket and we were very pleased with the way it turned out.  If you have friends or family members who are newly engaged, this is definitely a great way to show support and love to them following the news of an engagement!