Wedding Wednesday - Burlap and Lace

Wednesday, August 31, 2011






I absolutely love the rustic look of burlap paired with the daintiness of lace. I haven't figured out exactly how yet, but I want to incorporate it at my reception in some way. I especially love the burlap table runners, but I'll be having round tables so I'm not sure how that will look. I can't wait to play around with the tablescapes and figure out a way to make them personal and beautiful!

Weekend Recap

Monday, August 29, 2011

Sneak peak at what I've been working on this past week

I had a nice but busy weekend trying on more wedding dresses (although I still haven't found 'the one', boo), hanging out with Kacey, and working on a little DIY project which I can't wait to finish! I also can't wait for this weekend because it means an extra day off work! On our agenda is camping, beer tasting, and general sightseeing as Kace and I take a mini vacation to western Wisconsin. 

Wedding Wednesday - Photography

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

More exciting decisions! I booked my photographer this week! I'm super excited to say that we'll be having Kelly of Kelly Sweet Photography shoot our wedding.





All photos from Kelly Sweet Photography 

Her work is so soft and romantic, I can't wait to have her capture our special day. I'm almost giddy with excitement over our choice and I'm so happy we have another big decision checked off our list! We are on a roll! Wedding planning's got nothing on us.

5 Things I Love Right Now

Monday, August 22, 2011

My Grandma gave me these butterfly appliques from her mother's wedding dress in 1918

Wearing bows in my hair to work

Shopping for the perfect wedding dress

Being swept off my feet by my fiance at the Renaissance Faire (oh yeah, check out that cheering crowd)

Yummy cream puffs at State Fair

Happy Monday! After a crazy few weeks I had a fantastic weekend relaxing with Kacey and getting to see my best friend who was in town visiting from Iowa. Lately Kace and I have been talking a lot about being content with what we have so I thought it'd be nice to write about a few things that have made me happy recently. 

Falling for Fashion

Friday, August 19, 2011






Summer in the midwest has been absolutely insane this year! It's like bloody Monty Python - winter changed into spring, spring changed into summer, summer changed back into winter, and winter gave spring and summer a miss and went straight on into autumn. It was freezing until around the 4th of July and then it became so unbelievably hot and humid that I'm ready to say adios to summer and go to a nice normal season like fall. The nights are starting to cool off and I'm already thinking of cozy sweaters,  tall boots, chunky scarves, and crisp blazers. Also, apparently I have a boot fixation.

Midweek Mini Update

Wednesday, August 17, 2011


No Wedding Wednesday this week, I had one planned but things came up so I'm holding off until next week (ooh so mysterious isn't it?) I'm going a bit crazy this week. I have an interview today for a possible promotion which would be AWESOME if I got it, but it kind of came out of the blue so I have no idea if I'm properly prepared. I've had my eye on this position for a while but was told there wouldn't be any openings until January. Then I found out last week that they had space available in September so I've been doing all I can to get ready. This may blow up in my face which would be sad because I would rock at this job. I did my research so fingers crossed it goes well! But in case it sucks, the day won't be a total waste because we're going to meet with a caterer tonight. That means free food! I have to admit, food and cake tasting are some of the things I'm most looking forward to about wedding planning.

I've been thinking a lot lately about my life, my job, what I want to be doing, why I'm not doing it and the ever present question of how to be happy. Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty happy person in general, but the stress of planning a wedding (can we just elope?)  has me wanting to run for the hills. Which is pretty much the only reason I posted the picture above. Right now, that looks like paradise. Vacation anyone?

Pickling Pickles

Monday, August 15, 2011







Last weekend I crossed another item off my 25 While 25 list, my roommate and I visited my grandparents and made pickles! My family used to make pickles every summer with my grandparents but we hadn't done so in about 7 or 8 years. I was driving past a field when I noticed the workers were harvesting pickling cucumbers so I called my grandma up to see if I could use the recipe to make some of my own. Turns out she had been thinking of making pickles this year and invited us right over!

I'm not posting the recipe because it's a super secret family recipe for the best freaking pickles you've ever eaten. I keep trying to convince my family to either sell them at a farmer's market or enter them into a contest of some sort but alas, no one listens.

However, if you'd like to make your own pickles, there are tons of recipes out there and the process is fairly easy.  I also have these tips for you:

1. Wash the cucumbers, even if the people at the market say they're washed. We soaked and scrubbed them and discovered that the water was positively filthy when we were done. Washed my foot.
2. You will smell like vinegar when you're done. You'll also smell vinegar for the next 2 days.
3. You can make 28 jars of pickles from 200 pickling cucumbers. If you're as awesome as us, you can do this in under 4 hours from start to finish.
4. While technically you can open these up and start eating them in a few weeks, leaving them until Thanksgiving is the golden ticket to freaking fantastic pickles.
5. I don't even like pickles. At all. But I will eat several of these at a time.
6. Ok so that last one wasn't a tip, and I guess neither is this one. Ok I'm done now.

DIY Ideas

Friday, August 12, 2011

All these wedding pictures and inspiration boards that I've been hoarding lately have put me in a DIY mood. I have several projects lined up, but I keep finding more! Here are several DIY projects I'd love to work on for my new home with Kacey. So what if that's almost a year away? It'll probably take me that long to find time to do any of these anyway!




Wedding Wednesday - Color Inspiration

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Column 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Column 2: 1, 2

Now that we have a venue it's on to the fun stuff - colors and decorations! I made a color inspiration board so I could see how everything looks together and I'm loving the direction we're going. Our main colors are going to be a beige and charcoal gray with a blush pink and light aqua blue as accents- mostly for flowers and centerpieces. I may add a smattering of gold and silver throughout for a little shine since the venue has a gold theme anyway, but the jury's still out on that.  


I'll most likely be using some these pictures for other inspiration boards since they were all in my wedding file anyway, but I love the neutral colors with the natural fabrics like burlap and I adore blue mason jars so I'm going to try to collect enough to use as centerpieces. 

In other wedding news, I'm in the process of speaking with photographers, I think I found a DJ, and I'm setting up dates to meet with caterers. I'd love to have everything done by the end of August, because that means I just need to focus on my dress, flowers, and decorations - the fun stuff! 

Deutschland Fest

Monday, August 8, 2011







Festival season is in full swing, and last weekend (yeah it's taken me a while to post this) Kacey and I went to Germanfest. It was ridiculously hot that day so we didn't stay long, but we indulged in goulash, drank beer, and had a chocolate torte that was to die for. Not to mention listening to some awesome polka, teaching Kace to dance, and trying on all sorts of funny items that were for sale. Prost!

Fashion Sketches

Friday, August 5, 2011






Aren't these illustrations fantastic?! I wish I had half the talent of Inslee Haynes who drew these amazing fashion illustrations. She sells notecards, prints, and calendars and I'm really considering buying one. Anyone want to get me an early birthday present? Wedding gift? Engagement gift? No? Ah well.  But seriously, I can't stop looking at them and I want to use them for my own wardrobe inspiration!

Wedding Wednesday - Venue Love

Wednesday, August 3, 2011




I have a venue! I am so completely thrilled to tell you this! There was much more drama than I would have preferred to deal with when it came to finding a place to have the wedding. We want to get married next year and we were a bit late to the game when it came to booking a summer date. Then it was a matter of getting the place approved by the 'rents who are generous enough to fund our little get together, but had definite opinions on where they wanted it to be held. So I am beyond giddy to say that our wedding reception will be at Cuvee in downtown Milwaukee!

It has this great vintage vibe with exposed cream city brick walls, a wooden floor, pillars, and a great loft like feeling to the place. Plus, we are renting out the bar area as well so we'll have a separate place for cocktails and dinner/dancing. And if that wasn't enough, I found this wedding on Style Me Pretty and I just about died.




It's exactly what I'm picturing in my head! They even have similar colors (more on that in a later post)! It's beautiful! I'm definitely using this as a jumping point for inspiration. Now that we have a date and place it feels so real. Next June will be here before I know it!
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