Jordan + Lanae's Sweet, Yellow Wedding

Another post, LONG overdue. I have been dying to share photos of my sister's wedding for over a month now! I was honored to help out with lots of the decor as well as work with a lot of great people while putting everything together - especially my parents, Jordan's parents and our families. 

Jordan and Lanae were married at the sweetest venue and a place I had never heard of until now - The Mystical Rose Gardens in Baldwin, Wisconsin. The atmosphere was oh-so sweet, including a gigantic greenhouse (used for her reception) and beautiful gardens and landscaping (used for the ceremony). The venue is maintained by a sweet and extremely accommodating family. 

We put a lot of work into making the wedding decor DIY-friendly and as affordable as possible. We made and used quite a few crafty projects - including a dozen more hollow yarn balls (just like the ones I made last December - DIY Fabulous Hollow Yarn Balls), DIY Ruffle Poms, DIY Cupcake Liner Poms, wedding programs, a fantastic escort card frame and farewell ribbon sticks - plus, I made over 600 feet of paper flag garland following her yellow, black and white + lemons inspiration. 

The outdoor decor was fairly simple. We suspended the hollow yarn balls between pillars on a patio overlooking the gardens. Instead of using balloons to make them, this time we used large, round kick-balls (ranging $1-$2.50 a piece). The escort cards were a little trickier.. Lanae found a huge frame which she painted black and she picked up. Coordinating her invites and programs, we printed out all of her guest names and attached them to matching paper used for the flag garland. After rounding all of the corners, I spent a couple hours trying to attach horizontally (and evenly!) for the cards to rest on with mini, black clothespins. And don't forget, alphabetizing all of the guests! It was worth the time.. It turned out absolutely adorable! We also suspended the frame (using ribbon) at a great height for the guests to pick up on their way to the reception area after greeting Jordan and Lanae. So perfect!

Their "guestbook" was one of the cutest, original ideas I've seen! I can't take any credit though.. Jordan's uncle helped make this happen, by printing Minnesota and Wisconsin "postcards" for the guests to write a message to J & L. After painting a mailbox the perfect yellow, it was mounted on a post and ready to go. I can't tell you how many times I heard "Aww, cute!" and "So cool!"

These sweet, little farewell "ribbon sticks" were totally a last minute project. We had played around with ideas of sparklers and other fun farewell things, but almost decided to skip it all together to save a little money and time. Using mini dowels/kabob sticks, Lanae began tying strips of ribbon to each one - about an hour later, she was done and they were so stinkin' adorable!

After a lot of trial and error (and time!), I helped Lanae design these fun programs. Over years of attending other's weddings, I always love saving programs and invites for inspiration. We came up with the design based on a few that I've saved and included a couple fun details of our own. Lanae hit the jackpot after finding a stack of clearanced, high-quality, yellow cardstock with just enough for her programs. We completed each one with wrapped, black twine. We endured quite a bit of frustration printing them evenly and efficiently.. However, the outcome (again!) was definitely worth the trouble.

Displayed with the sweet, damask invitation

Getting ready! Hair was done by Jordan and Lanae's friend, Katie Mikels - Embellish Salon.

It was fun to do makeup for Lanae's wedding as I did for Vanessa's last September! It hit me hard that my little sister was actually getting married.. I still can't believe it. 

Lanae actually embellished her garter! She designed Vanessa's for her wedding as well. How cute is that?!

Since I was extremely occupied with the Lanae, my mom and bridesmaid's makeup, I barely managed any time to get ready myself! Poor Katie threw my hair together in about 15 minutes and I had less than 5 to get dressed. As my getting-ready-chaos began, Lanae and Jordan saw each other for the first time in the garden for a really special moment.. Even though I could have only seen it from the window, I'm sad I missed it!

Flowers were done by a good family friend - Christie - who owns a shop called Kissing 2 Lips. The bouquets and arrangements were absolutely incredible. 

Lauren, Me (MOH), Vanessa (MOH), Lanae, Nicole and Kirsten

Each of the maids were given a different belt and jewelry as a gift from Lanae. I loved that our dresses had pockets - so cute!

The bridal party headed down the road to a wide-open field for some sweet shots!

The fam.

Ushers (including my hottie hubby!)

And for a little more decor..

This summer, Vanessa and I had conquered our techniques of sewing paper for Lanae's Yellow Bridal Shower invites. Our new motto quickly became: "You can never have too many flags!" and with that in mind, I began by designing and printing the table number-letters. Time began running out and in our frantic rush to finish everything, Vanessa ripped these babies through her sewing machine the night before the rehearsal dinner. Unfortunately, her sewing machine quickly said "NO!" and she - read it and believe it - hand stitched each string of table numbers by HAND. Poor thing! Luckily, there were only 12 tables, but still! We kept the table decor fairly simple by using cylinder vases wrapped in transparent, damask paper and twine and filled with a lemon and a half to work as a base for the dowels. It all turned out pretty cute, don't you think?? Runners were long, strips of heavy paper, made by Lanae's sister-in-law, Emily. 

View from the head table, you can see all the hard work put into all of the decor and setup! 

I made these little MR and MRS signs for the backs of their chairs.

For the bridal party, I made little name tag cards and tucked them into their forks. Favors were matching chocolate bars provided by Shauna Younge.

The dessert table was a gift from Jordan and Lanae's sister-in-law (and my new sister-in-law!) and photographer, Emily. The table was designed by Shauna Younge and was kept a secret from J & L until right before the ceremony.. Their faces were priceless! I had the honor to meet Shauna and be a small part of the plan, although I ended up being surprised as well! Very cute. 

Jordan and Lanae actually designed their cake (pineapple flavored!) and it was created and made by Cup-Cake. 

The dessert table was full of tons of yellow, white and black treats - including chocolate-covered pretzels, cake pops, macarons, cupcakes, popcorn, lemon candy, rock candy, truffles and sugar cookies.

Before we knew it, we were walking down the aisle. We walked to River Flows in You by Yiruma. 

I cried like I knew I would. Despite the bugs and chilliness, the ceremony was SO very beautiful. During Vanessa's ceremony I cried my eyes out and needed Lanae to continue whispering gibberish to me to keep me from losing it.. We still laugh today about her rambling, "Cowboys and rhinos..", "tacos and jellybeans..". This time, it was Vanessa's turn to keep me sane as she whispered the most random things she could think of. This time, it was, "Willie nelson riding a bike.." and "toejam" and "Jack Black forgot his wallet.." What?! Haha! I definitely laughed more than I cried!

The reception was sweet and charming, full of candles and twinkle lights. Everything turned out so beautiful!

Vanessa and I finally survived through our dreaded speech (I was terrified!!) and it went smooth. We kept ours light and fun, while the men went a much more sentimental and emotional route. The night went so fast with dancing and mingling.. It was great to see more people and relatives we haven't had the chance to visit since our move. The whole evening was so sweet and memorable.. I am so lucky to be a part of it all. Love you, little newlyweds!

Additional credits:

All photos by Emily Steffen Photography

xo

Chanel, Brides & Babies, Fried Food and a Whole Lotta Diapers

I feel like I keep rambling about how busy my life has been in the last 6 months. Well.. It HAS been busy. Overwhelmingly busy. We had our huge move in June, lots of baby showers and bridal showers, babies being born, Laura's wedding & planning my sister's wedding, the MN State Fair (obvi.), brand new jobs and the nightmares of having unfixed pups.

Obviously, I it's hard to blog about all of these things in one post, but I am doing my best to stay caught up with this little blog as best as I can! Can you believe this blog is going on 2 years old? It seems way longer than that..

So.

Brand new jobs. I think I've already talked about Justin and his job a few posts ago and I've mentioned that I took a freelance job for Chanel. In August, I met with my previous Account Executive for Chanel to discuss possibly working as the Business Manager for the downtown Minneapolis Chanel counter at Macy's. The meeting went well and I was offered the job! I have been there a few weeks so far and enjoy it for the most part. This fall, I will have been working in the cosmetics industry for 8 years - whether at a counter or freelance. For the last 4+ years I was a full-time mental health counselor, so it's definitely interesting to be at a counter again (especially in management), although sometimes I still feel like I'm counseling with all of the interesting people I interact with everyday. Retail can get old pretty quick, but somehow I make an exception since it's Chanel. I mean, c'mon. I love Chanel.

Before I accepted the job at Chanel, I was on a desperate job hunt and even had an interview set up for a job focusing on adults, home placement and family crisis situations. After submitting my resume, I received a voicemail (on a Friday) from a man, who I could have sworn said his name was "Stew". I called back to set up the interview time and graciously asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.. Was it "Stew"? And she crustily responds.. "No. It's Sue." OOOPS. Why in the world didn't I just ask them to repeat her name, instead of guessing it? Idiot me! I played it cool and continued to set up a time to meet. In my excitement of being offered an interview, I took the first time available (the following Monday) and went on with my day. Little did I know, I had a meeting scheduled at the same time for something very important to me, so I weighed the pros and cons and decided to call Stew/Sue back and ask for a later time. She never returned my call, so I attempted to call her again Monday morning and we finally connected. The first thing she said to me was this: "I'm sorry-- What could possibly be more important than this interview?" I was a little caught off guard by her tone and apologized again for the inconvenience. She continued to respond sharply to me as I offered to come in at any other time and she refused to budge or swap her lunch hour and told me she would still see me if I cancelled my already scheduled appointment. I thanked her for the opportunity and that was that. Thank goodness I didn't go to the interview, get the job and then realize the person I was working for. That woman needed a vacation or a serious nap.

Now that I'm moving head first into my position at Chanel, I'm getting to know the ups and downs of transportation and the value of my time. Did you know it takes me - on average - an hour and a half (in rush hour) to get to work in the morning? Did you know it costs me 13$ to park in the garage each day I work? It's definitely been a challenge, but I'm not giving up. It's so funny how I've spent most of my life living in the Twin Cities and I don't know left from right when I'm downtown. I am so twisted! I'm slowly getting it though..I've met some fun people so far, including the ladies at my counter. One is a serious veteran who's worked for Chanel for 15 years (wow!) and completely reminds me of Candace Azzara from In Her Shoes.  The other has fantastic experience and started the same time I did, not to mention we totally have a similar sense of humor. Aside from the ridiculous drive and expensive parking, I like it.

I've always loved the Minneapolis skyline.. (Click for source.)

Showers and babies. Mulder finally had her two, little twin girls a couple weeks ago! Her shower was one of the first parties I hosted since living back in MN and I am super happy to share the the shower will actually be seen in an upcoming feature at Baby Lifestyles -- I'll share more deets later! It has been really hard for me to be able to see Mulder and the babies since I accepted the new job. I hate that my new schedule has basically taken over my life! I finally was able to see her last week and make a fun little dinner to celebrate her birthday (with Jade and Nate too). The babies were absolutely breathtaking. Seriously.. The tiniest, sweetest little things. They have the cutest names -- Kendall and Hartley! It's so adorable how one has dark hair and the other is totally blonde.. I can't wait to see them again!

Bachelorette parties & a beautiful wedding It's been really great catching up with new and old friends since the move, especially celebrating my good friend Laura's bachelorette party!  It just so happened to be the same night my sister was hosting a Lady Gaga-themed bachelorette party! It was fun to help her create her costume over a couple weeks and as I headed to Laura's bach party, I stopped to do Gaga makeup for some of the girls! Laura's sisters threw a memorable and fun Girl's Night Out (and In!) to celebrate.. We began at a hotel in Bloomington and headed downtown Minneapolis to Zelo for a super delish dinner.. then back to the hotel for gifts and games! It was such a fun night.

We made this insane skirt out of an old belt, tulle, peacock feathers and tons of hot glue.. 

For the wedding day, I was really honored to do makeup for Laura, her mom and the bridal party as well. She gave me the sweetest, unexpected, little thank-you gift and I died when I opened it -- So stinkin' cute and thoughtful!!

After pure chaos of running home to change and dealing with some unexpected craziness, I made it back just in time for the big event. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. It was at the University Club in St. Paul - I had never been there before. It was such a charming venue for a wedding, I loved it. The ceremony was beautiful, and I cried a little of course! She looked fantastic and they were adorable together during the entire evening. The reception was special and there were some sweet moments with all of the glass-clinking and kissing and an emotional song/video her dad shared with her. Unfortunately, Justin had already committed to going to the bachelor party for Jordan (Lanae's fiance) happening at the same time. Boo. Attending a wedding alone is stinky, but it was great to see old friends - some who I haven't seen since High School.

A few minutes before the ceremony --  No crying.. God bless waterproof mascara!

The moment I lost it.. She looked INCREDIBLE.

I've never seen Laura so happy!

Our little girl is now a 'woman'. Back up a little bit.. After I finished with Laura's wedding-day makeup, I rushed home to change and get ready for the wedding. On my way, I called Justin and received some dreaded news: Coco went into heat. GREAT. Since neither Romeo or Coco are fixed, we didn't want to risk pregnancy for her - especially since she's so tiny and it would be hard for her to carry Romeo's puppies. Before making it home, I flew into Petsmart to find some puppy diapers and hoped to quickly talk to an expert on what we need to expect and what was actually happening with her. I found a bunch of diapers (holy expensive!) and went up to the Banfield counter where there were 2 women sitting behind the desk. I told them I had some questions about my 9-month old puppy who just began heat and one of the women responded with willingness to help with any questions, seeming to know what she was talking about. She explained how all puppies are different but if we don't plan to breed, that we should keep Romeo somewhere else for the next 4+ weeks. Uhhhh no? Where the heck am I supposed to keep him?! I explained that we could keep them separated and she would have diapers on to prevent from any mess and the woman told me this:

• Woman: "They need to be in separate kennels - far away from each other, or she will get pregnant."
• Me: "Of course..We will keep them separate". 
• Woman: "No. If they are in separate kennels, but the kennels are near each other, she will get pregnant."
• Me: {Laughing} "Wait. How? He can impregnate her from another kennel? Wouldn't that be pretty unlikely that he could reach or.. "
• Woman: "Yes. She will get pregnant. {Touching her temples} They can connect." 
• Me: "Ok. So you're telling me that she can actually get pregnant by just thinking about it?"
• Woman: "Yup."

Are you kidding me, lady?! She was serious, too. I can't believe I actually believed it for a minute, but get out of town! Dogs can't get pregnant by just "mentally connecting". Sheesh.

Regardless of Banfield-crazies giving us false advice, we had been debating whether or not to get her fixed (when we adopted her) because we really wanted to have puppies. We're still kind of unsure about it all, but will most likely have them both fixed - and soon. We don't know much about heat or pregnancy or breeding (gah!), but obviously it's expensive to get a pup fixed (not to mention two!). So that's the plan. It's been a ridiculous nightmare to keep them separated though. Romeo is so intense to be near her, while she just sits and looks at us, as if to say, "Oh, please." I know it doesn't compare to being a parent of a human baby, but diapers are expensive! It's definitely worth it to use them though, since they prevent so much mess (and hopefully pregnancy!).

Poor baby girl!

They barely fit her! They were too big and too small in some places..

Her diapers are hysterical though. So cute and little! I do feel really bad for her.. She seems so bummy since it all began. Romeo has been exhausting us with trying to keep them apart - He's seriously lost it. Poor little guy!

The good ol' MN State Fair. This year, we were lucky to go to the fair TWICE!

My handsome hubby and his gyro

My mom tried to adopt this guy at the mini donut stand, after he said he was from Guatemala. Oh, Mom!

And for round two.. 

We got 'Lloyd Christmas' during our wait for food at the Hollywood Diner

Boys hanging at Heritage

Instead of tossing the mullet through the hole, Vanessa gladly took my dare to go peek her face through  --  hehe

Thanks to my mom and The Current, I have liked Tapes 'n Tapes for some time now! It worked perfect for us to be at the fair the same day they were playing a show! My mom and some girls from work saved good seats for a while before people started going to the front to dance, despite being in the way. Security kept trying to kick them out, until we all jumped up and rushed the stage (a total Footloose moment!) and jammed out the rest of the song! It was pretty exciting! The show was awesome.. of course, we were front and center!

Tapes 'n Tapes

Other than that, I have been helping my little sister plan her wedding and my new party-planning site is in the works!! More details coming soon (duh!)!

Goodnight, dolls.

xo

DIY: Fabric Ruffle Pomanders

As I've been in the midst of party/shower planning all summer, I have spent quite a while trying to come up with ways to create new decor. In my golden list of DIY sites and blogs I love to follow, I stumbled across the easiest-looking DIY pomanders. Last March, my good friend, Jody and I, created about a dozen cupcake liner poms for a Rockstar Party we threw for her sister and hubby's birthdays. We took our cupcake-liner-pom-creating skills to the next level as she helped me create evern more liner poms for the Anthropologie-inspired bridal shower I designed. I have been wanting to try making poms with fabric for some time now, and the last 3 showers I've been planning for have given me the opportunity to give them a shot.

There are hundreds of tutorials out there because they are so easy, but the one I used for inspiration was found at Once Wed. Vanessa and I decided to take on the project together, since we were planning 2 of Lanae's bridal showers and definitely wanted to incorporate them into our decor. I've made lots of fabric flowers before (so had Vaness!), so this came a little easier to us. For this DIY, we used styrofoam balls instead of mini paper lanterns. It seemed a little more practical my my "storage situation", not to mention.. I already had a bunch of leftover styroballs from previous parties.

All you need:

Fabric of your choice 

Scissors

Pen/Pencil

Small piece of cardboard (for original circle, to trace)

Hot glue gun & glue sticks

Styrofoam ball

Unfortunately, these beauties are extremely time-consuming. They take lots of patience, so you might as well throw some Friends episodes on (like we did!) and rip through them! 

First, you need fabric circles. Tons of them. With any sturdy piece of paper - cardboard is perfect - cut out the size circle you want, corresponding with the size of the styrofoam ball. We chose to use 5", 4" and 3" styroballs, adjusting the size of the circles for the bigger sizes. We found the most strategic plan was to trace the cardboard circle onto the fabric - hundreds of times - and then began cutting them out (with fabric folded, to go twice as fast), being careful to cut inside the pen/pencil marks. 

Next, fold the circles in half twice (or 3-fold). At the folded point, add plenty of hot glue before holding in to the styroball. Honestly, getting started is the trickiest part. Once the glue dries, it's easy to pack the folded circles in more securely. Depending on how ruffly you want your pomanders, spread the "petals" out or pack them in as much as you want, as long as the styroball is covered up. 

Next, fold the circles in half twice. At the folded point, add plenty of hot glue before holding in to the styroball. Honestly, getting started is the trickiest part. Once the glue dries, it's easy to pack the folded circles in more securely. Depending on how ruffly you want your pomanders, spread the "petals" out or pack them in as much as you want, as long as the styroball is covered up.

We also made them in white, black and lace.. They turned out SO CUTE! Tip: I planned to hang these little lovies, so I covered one end of a paper clip in hot glue and found an empty spot to press it into the styrofoam ball. Make sure to let the glue dry before hanging.

I loved the mixture of textures.. Lace, fabric and cupcake liner poms + hollow yarn balls.

Credit for inspiration:
Once Wed - DIY Fabric Poms


xo