Let’s just say that I could not be happier. The wedding weekend was absolutely the most perfect thing ever. I keep replaying everything in my head and just smile constantly. Not to mention that the honeymoon was fabulous, relaxing and gorgeous.
Even more, I am beaming that I officially am Mrs. Alan Keith Carnes, Jr! We are so blessed.
Can’t wait to share this time with you all as I venture into life as a wife!
Tags: Lauren Locher Carnes, marriage, married, wedding, wedding planning
We. Get. Married. This. Weekend. (!!!!!)
Couldn’t be more thrilled! It’s finally here!
So as I plan for my own wedding in a little over 20 days, I thought I would say “happy almost 2 month anniversary” to two of my dearest friends and post a couple photos I shot from a their wedding in December. It was in lovely Sarasota, Florida and the weather was ideal. The weekend couldn’t have been more perfect, and I was so blessed to be a part of it (and Chip was in the wedding party with me, to boot!)
Check out those flowers pre-bouquet:
Love this one of a few of the bridesmaids watching as the bride had her hair done:
And how about the most precious ring bearer I’ve ever seen. He and his siblings were definitely the hit of the party (besides the sweet couple, of course):
Her wonderful parents as they watch the pre-wedding photo shoot:
My personal favorite of Cinderella herself:
And finally, a photo of the beautiful Mrs. Karempelis and me:
Courtesy of one of the bridesmaids...
What a beautiful day! Now I’m so looking forward to celebrating with Mr. and Mrs. Karempelis on my wedding day! Coming soon!
Tags: photography, photos, Ryan Orobello, Sarasota, wedding, wedding planning
As you may remember in my post about our Save the Date card, I designed the stationary for our wedding. It was so important to me that the paper goods had a special meaning to them (more on that later).
After creating, printing, cutting and hand addressing (and cursive is not my strong suit) every invite and envelope, I realized one thing… that I was going to need a return address label – because I sure as heck was not about to write our address 200 times.
After much searching on Etsy, I came across this lovely store, Save the Date and was immediately sold on this self-inking, eco-friendly, customizable stamp.
From http://www.etsy.com/listing/65762998/custom-address-stamp-eco-friendly-self
I was so thrilled at how quick and easy it was to have our own stamp custom designed by Tiffany from this shop. I was even more thrilled at how quick and easy it was to stamp every envelope and response card when I promptly received the return address stamp in the mail. Happy to avoid the hand cramp from writing…
Plus, it was so exciting to see the new address on each of the envelopes and to receive response cards in the mail every day. I always look forward to the fiance telling me who has sent them back to his new home (soon to be our new home!).
What could you see a stamp like this coming in handy for? I’m thinking house-warming gifts, shower presents, etc. Do share!
Tags: crafts, DIY, Etsy, invites, presents, return address label, save the date, wedding, wedding planning
Now that I have a moment to breathe after everything that came along with this time frame, I thought I would post something that I realized I never posted about way back when – our Save the Date card!
You may remember when I created a Save the Date card for my bridesmaids, but shortly thereafter, I put one together for all wedding guests to mark their calendars! Typically Save the Date cards go out about 6 months ahead of time. However, with our engagement photo shoot in October, ours went out a bit delayed, but I think it was well worth it for some amazing photos from one of my dearest friends!
Check out how our Save the Date design turned out. Considering I made it as a random tester one night on Powerpoint, I am pretty impressed!
Front
back
In case you’re interested in printing your own Save the Date cards, try out VistaPrint! They allow you to upload your own image and it is significantly cheaper than ordering them through other websites! I just printed them as postcards, added a little postcard stamp and off they went!
What have been neat Save the Date cards you have seen? I’d love to see!
Tags: create, design, DIY, engagement, on a budget, planning, save the date, VistaPrint, wedding
So apparently a combination of:
makes one girl a very busy-bee. I promise I still exist and will resume blogging, but it may be a bit of a hiatus until March 10…
Can’t wait!
We officially close on the house on Wednesday! We have had our walk-through (basically to learn how to work the house and not break it). I have about 4 pages worth of notes, so hopefully as first time “homeowners” we will be able to take great care of it! The fence is in and kitchen appliances have been hooked up. Now all we need are the keys!
To document the momentous occasion of the fiance and I being in our new home for the first time together, the agent shot this photo for us. How sweet…
As the final few days come to a close, we are trying to get a few things re-done and organized before the moving truck transports everything to Athens. Stay tuned for some furniture makeovers!
And in other news – it’s officially 3 months until the wedding!
A couple weekends ago, my sweet (recently engaged) friend threw me a bridal shower with her mom and it was absolutely so fun. I really have realized now why people call them showers… because you just feel like you are being showered with love. I am so blessed and grateful for such amazing friends and family in my life!
Since she and another Hartford roommate just got engaged (!!! yes – half of Hartford is officially engaged!), I am taking notes on throwing bridal showers for them. It should be quite fun to host them in the new house once it’s up and running. Beth and her mom did an awesome job with the shower! Here’s a little recap:
A fun bridal shower game idea:
Bride Jeopardy – Beth asked me a series of questions ahead of time and split the party into teams. The teams were divided evenly to make sure that people from the high school years and college years where distributed well. Questions included everything from: “What is Locher’s favorite Pandora station?” to: “How long were Chip and Locher dating before they got engaged?” (“King of Anything” radio and a little over two years, by the way…)
The team who answered the most correct won a sweet little Starbucks prize! Yum! Plus, Beth was the perfect Alex Trebek.
Beth also asked me for photos ahead of time to put on a decorated cork board for all to see. Let’s just say that someone thought my eighth grade picture was my senior portrait… they could only see a difference in the bushiness of my eyebrows… ek.
Finally, we ate a delicious lunch and opened gifts! We got some pretty awesome things, including this incredible handmade burlap wreath that I’ve been eyeing from here!
Don’t you think that will just look perfect with the DIY Christmas Doormat? I can’t wait to hang it in only a couple weeks!
What is your favorite thing about wedding showers? Do you have any fun games to suggest? I’ve got to start planning for the friends!
Tags: bridal shower, Bride Jeopardy, burlap wreath, games, planning, wedding planning
Happy Thanksgiving, friends! As many people prepare for a feast this afternoon and Christmas decorating beginning tomorrow, I am preparing for Christmas decorating beginning Dec. 16.
As we near the closing on the house, I am doing any little things that I can to make it “ours” right off the bat. Although we know decorating and re-doing furniture will be an endless process, there are a few things I have in mind that will make it home-y and Christmas-y for the holidays.
I found the first project on this blog and just couldn’t pass it up. I knew that I wanted a way to welcome people into our new home, have some Christmas cheer and to describe the sentiment of how blessed we are. What better word than “joy“?
Not only is this super easy and festive, it’s also $5, so don’t be surprised if I switch them out for each season!
You can find these doormats at Home Depot, which we actually came across while registering.
(Side note: Home Depot really should get with the technology times. We actually had to write out each UPC code for what we wanted to register for and then the employee had to hand-key it in. It was tiring. We also tried Lowe’s since the fiance wanted Kobalt tools, but Lowe’s doesn’t even have a registry at all. Wouldn’t that be a gold mine for hardware stores in this crafty/DIY age? I think so!)
anyway… You can find them at Home Depot. As I’ve done before with the Fun(d), I created a stencil out of paper. Since I didn’t have an Exacto knife handy, I just very meticulously cut out the letters with scissors. As per the original suggestion, I used American Typewriter Bold. Font size was 440, in case you’re wondering.
Once the letters were cut out, I placed them in the proper spot on the doormat and taped them down. I also had a little help from the fiance’s family’s dog, Katie. She is quite the crafty pup.
I found that the tape didn’t stick very well on the doormat material, so I improvised and decided to use a Sharpie with the stencil as an outline for the letters. Worked nicely!
Then, with a small paintbrush, I simply filled in the letter outline with black paint. Be sure to get the paint down into the texture of the material for the most success.
Now, I just can’t wait to place this on my new front porch complete with a wreath on the door and rocking chairs on the side. I’ll post once it’s set-up so you can see the final product!
What Christmas touch do you recommend for any home?
Tags: Christmas decor, Christmas doormat, DIY, doormat, home, on a budget
He put a ring on it! It is absolutely so exciting for me to share that one of my dearest friends, Beth, is officially engaged! Chip and I could not have been more thrilled to be a part of the engagement celebration, as Beth was staying at my house that night in Athens. What we expected to end up in a night of playing our freshly purchased Scrabble game, ended up in a whole lot of this for the sweet couple:
And giddy photographing for us:
The Yellow House roommate’s reaction:
Now, I am just thrilled to be able to plan showers, parties and the wedding at the same time as her! What a sweet treat! First stop, an engagement party next Saturday!
Tags: Barrett Grant, Beth Bettis, Bible with names engraved, engagement, friends, photos, proposal, relationships, ring, Scrabble, Scrabble photo
