This weekend is my bridal shower. Well actually there’s 2. We had so many people want to celebrate that we had to have 2 separate showers! It’s gonna be a crazy weekend. My bridesmaids are all going to be there- which is the first time they all get to meet one another. I’m so excited to see all of them. I’m so grateful to have the most wonderful friends. Marissa, Miranda, Julie and Angela- thank you so much for being there for me through it all. Sometimes, when I get stressed out, I lose sight of how lucky I am to have all these wonderful people in my life.

The first shower will be on Saturday, held at my mother’s house and hosted by my sister and Matron of Honor, Julie. It’s a “The Big Apple” theme. My only request was apple martinis! Tasty. The second shower is being held at a winery in Niagara, hosted by my future Mother and Sister in Laws. We will be doing a wine tasting!

We will also be having our engagement photos done this weekend. I can’t wait to meet our photographer, finally! I feel like we know each other already from the past year of talking on Facebook and helping her with some SEO on her blog.

I can’t wait to come back and post some pictures! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

No, I’m not talking about the political affiliation. I’m talking about being smart and environmentally friendly while you get showered with love (and presents!) during the many wedding celebrations in your name! Whether it’s your bridal shower, bachelorette, or wedding a great thing to do is go green wherever you can. With all the tragedy happening with the environment and around the world lately, simple things can make a big difference.

Going green is huge trend right now and there are many great fun ways to incorporate being green into any party.

My favorite green idea is the “No Wrap” party. This is where you politely ask your guests to skip the gift wrap and “congratulations” cards. Instead your guests can bring their gift with a small gift tag on it or you can supply small post-its for guests to write their names on. You can then display your fabulous new housewares for the entirety of the shower and let people check out your new loot as they wish. This also allows you to spend much more quality time with your guests, talking with them and having fun as opposed to unwrapping tons of gifts and oooing and awwwing over every cup or piece of silverware. Another way to showcase your gifts without gift wrap, is to have your guests present their gift while also sharing their favorite memory or story about the bride. It’s a nice way for your guests to get to know one another and also help the bride feel special with her closest friends and family telling their sweet, personal memories.

Macy’s registry even offers a “Go Green- no gift wrap” option where it actually tells your guests that you requested no gift wrap. Genius!

Another easy way to go green at your parties is to use real plates and silverware. No paper or plastic. This is the same for table linens and napkins. Use cloth whenever possible. Yes, you’ll have dishes and laundry at the end of the day, but this is a very simple way to help reduce a lot of unnecessary garbage. An added bonus to using the good plates and linens- your party’s aesthetic will be more luxurious and elegant.

Try using e-vites (email invitations) or use invitations printed on recycled paper. The same goes for your thank you cards. My personal favorite green thank you, is to take a picture of yourself and/or your fiance using your gift and then emailing it the guest who gave it to you with your thank you message. It’s a creative, thoughtful way to go above and beyond to say thank you, while saving money on postage and stationary AND being green! Love it!

If you’re using a caterer or having your party at a restaurant, try finding one that gets their supplies from local farms using seasonal ingredients. If you’re home cooking- try hitting up the local farmer’s market for your food. It’s a great place to find favors as well!

For favors that are relatively inexpensive as well as green, try herbs, flower bulbs, seeds, or donations to help reduce the carbon footprint of your wedding. All great ways to thank your guests for their attendance.

An informed, environmentally conscious bride is a chic and fabulous bride! For more info for us tree hugging, granola eating, hippie brides- check out GreenBrideGuide.com! (No dreadlocks or hemp required!)

Photo Courtesy of Elisha Orin Photography and one of the most gorgeous green weddings I’ve ever seen.

So I came across this photo while practicing my favorite method of procrastination, reading PerezHilton.com.

Now, I know I don’t exactly have the same skin tone as the gorgeous Zoe Saldana, but her make-up in this photo is flawless. Her skin is glowing, her eyes are piercing, and the subtle pink lipstick and blush balance out the sexy smoky eye perfectly. STUNNING.

I’m thinking it’s the perfect look that I’m going for and I’m employing Josselyn at Bhivebridal.com to get it done for me! I’m so excited I found her. She’s a fabulous make-up artist in Buffalo who’s portfolio is totally impressive. I trust her to make me look and feel absolutely gorgeous- exactly the way you should feel on your wedding day.

I’m hoping to do a trial run with her on the day of my engagement photos in 3 weeks. I’m thinking I’ll be taking this photo along for inspiration.

This is not the newest idea but I still love using magnets as Save the Dates! In fact we just ordered our Save the Dates from MagnetStreet.com. I particularly love the style we chose because it’s fun to showcase a few photos from all the years we’ve been together as well as provide something slightly useful as opposed to a piece of paper. Magnetstreet’s design tools were very easy to use and their customer service support has been great, especially considering that I had special requests for their designers. I can’t wait to see them in person when they hit my doorstep in a week or so!

This particular design is offered for $1.49 a piece when you order 100 pieces. Price varies if you want more or less. I also snagged a coupon code after some Googling and got an additional 10% off. Major win.

What do you think??

So we got our cake!!! I’m so happy. I originally saw this design on an episode of Cake Boss where buddy was designing it for a Brides Magazine photo shoot. I saw the photo in the magazine and immediately ripped it out to add to my “inspiration” photo pile. I didn’t think there was any remotely possible way to get this cake knowing that the detail work would be incredibly time intensive and therefore expensive. (According to the magazine photo, the cake is about $15 per slice.)

But thanks to the AMAZING bakery, Muscoreil’s, here in Buffalo and the wonderful owner Dave, we have worked out a version of this cake that can be mine all mine AND still stay in the budget!!!

Our cake will be a square, 4-tiered version of this cake with no flowers. (In your head remove the bottom and top layer from the picture and that is what our cake will look like.) We wanted to keep it simple yet striking and stay with our classic black and white theme. The delicate black piping is almost lace-like which fits in with the lace textures we are working into the design of our wedding. We picked buttercream icing and chose 2 cake flavors in alternating tiers- white almond cake with raspberry filling and chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and raspberry filling. And Muscoreil’s doesn’t just make gorgeous cakes… they make gorgeous cakes that taste just as delicious as they look.

I just had to share this photo because the cake is unbelievable. I couldn’t be happier!!!

But- just a heads up who share my black and white vision- the bakery told us to make sure you don’t have too much black on your cake because there’s so much dye in the black icing, it can turn yours and your guests’ mouths black!