Wedding Wands

Whether it is leaving your ceremony or your reception, it is always exciting for the guest to have some way of "sending you off".  In the past many people have thrown rice, blown bubbles, etc.  I like all these ideas, but I had to be difficult and have something that is unique.  I have since noticed that many brides are using the wedding wand idea, but I still think that it is wonderful and unique.

Our first sendoff idea was sparklers which look amazing in pictures, and lets face it they are just down right fun! However, our venue would not allow the sparklers because of the risk of fire.  So we started doing research on other ideas.  The first idea that I found was to have your guest ring a bell as you leave....that was a cute idea, but I was not sure how to make it happen.  Then we found the wedding wands and we were in love! The wedding wand had some movement factor to them and they incorporated the bell, so it was a win win situation.  

                 My beautiful mother (purple) and mother-in-law (blue) anxious to "Wave us goodbye"!

           

Here is the easiest way that my mother and I found to make these adorable wedding send off/favors.  

What you will need:

• Bells
• Ribbon
• Wooden Dowels
• Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Ruler
• FrayCheck 

Your First step is going to be to measure out your ribbon cutting 22 inch long strips.  If you would like for yours to be shorter/longer feel free to adjust the length.  

Your Second step is going to be to place one of the bells about 3.5 inches from the end of the ribbon.  You will do this by inserting the ribbon through the loop on the top of the bell. 

The Third step you is to wrap the ribbon around the dowel.  You will first want to put a circle of hot glue around the top of the dowel.  Before that has time to dry you want to press the part with the bell on it into the hot glue, and wrap the shorter end of the ribbon around until it meets back up with the bell.

The Fourth step is to tie a double not right near the edge of the bell so that the ribbon is secured around the dowel.  

The Final step is to "FrayCheck" both ends of the ribbon so that the ribbon will not fray. :) 

One final note about these...you could also use these for Birthday parties, graduation parties etc. :) Be creative! 

I hope that this has been really helpful!! Please leave any comments with your questions, or other ideas that you might have.  I would love to hear from you! 

Ashley 

Walking In a Wedding Wonderland

On May 19, 2012 I married my best friend Ryan Howell.  We were engaged for almost 2 complete years before we got married, so as you can imagine we were very anxious for the day to arrive!  However, having a long engagement gave me the time to plan the wedding that I always dreamed of.  Our wedding was a complete DIY wedding.  My mother, husband, and bridesmaids (thank you Jennifer, Nicole, Amy, Cresence, and Marisa) were all part of the wedding planning process.  In saying that, we decided to save money and not hire a wedding/event planner for the day.  In the end, I was exhausted for all the work, but I felt so proud that our wedding was something that was completely crafted with out a wedding planner.  Also, in saying this, I did have an event coordinator at the reception site the day of my wedding because we had to have a representative on site and our wedding ceremony was at a church not the reception venue.  However, the event planner did not design the wedding...just decorated (and she was great at the decorating we were very thankful to have her).
Our wedding could easily be categorized as a budget wedding.  Weddings are expensive, and while it is an EXTREMELY important life event, there is no reason to completely break the bank in the creation of your dream.  Before we started buying wedding items we made a budge of how much we could spend, and how much items would probably cost.  In the end we were almost half way under what we were expecting to
have to pay for our wedding.
I want to help other brides who are working within a budget for the wedding.  Therefore, I am going to dedicate my next few post to DIY projects that I did for my wedding along with tips on how to plan your wedding yourself.  First of all, I have nothing against wedding planners and I think wedding planners are wonderful and there are many benefits to having one.  However, when you are on a budget hiring a wedding planner is not always the best financial decision especially when you have many wonderful people to help you plan.


Some tutorial I will be posting include

• Making Wedding Wands
• Decorating the Head Table
• DIY Popcorn Bar
• Photography Checklist

There will also be many others that I will be posting so check back often, and PLEASE let me know if you have any specific questions about my wedding day! I can not wait to here form everyone!

Frozen Fruit for Your Puppy!

So, Ryan and I just recently had a new addition to our family....a puppy! We are far from ready to have children, so we thought that a dog would be fantastic for us.  Since we got our puppy (whose name is Linus) we have had many sleepless nights, a thousand potty breaks, and numerous accidents in the house.  Needless to say, having a puppy could be comparable to having a baby :).  However, Ryan and I have enjoyed every minute of our new puppy.  Having a dog below our feet and in our lap constantly is a wonderful feeling.  When we leave and come back home there is always a tail (or nub as we like to call it) wagging to see us!

Okay...so here comes what the real point of this post is about.  Friday, Ryan and I took Linus to his second puppy vet appointment.  While we were there the vet gave us a great idea to give our puppy ice cubes to chew on.  She said that this would help him while he is teething, and hopefully distract him from chewing on furniture, cords, etc.  Then on the way out of the vet, a wonderful lady (wish I knew who she was so I could give her credit for this idea) told us to freeze chunks of fruit for the dog to chew on.  She said she did this with her puppy and she never had any problems with him chewing on the furniture.
I though this was a fabulous idea, and seeing as Linus just lost his first tooth and has begun to chew on everything I decided to give it a try.  Ryan and I had some left over cantaloupe in the refrigerator that I just placed on a plate in the freezer.  I will give Linus on of these ever so often and he LOVES it! Chewing on the frozen fruit keeps him occupied for a good while.

Now before going and freezing fruit for you dog it is important to remember that dogs can not eat everything that humans can eat.  Before feeding my dog cantaloupe I did some research and everything I found said that it cantaloupe is okay for your dog to eat, and it even has good vitamins that can help strengthen your dog's immune system.  In saying this, I would advise you to do some research before you freeze certain fruits (or any other "human" food) for your dog.  For example, grapes, raisins, peaches, and plums are a few FRUITS that are dangerous to your dog (this does not include the multiple other food that are dangerous).
Some good ideas of fruit to freeze for your dog would be:

• Cantaloupe 
• Watermelon
• Honey due
• Apples
• Oranges
• Bananas

Also, before feeding your dog fruit make sure to remove all stems and seeds that can also become dangerous to your puppy :)

Until next time,
Ashley

Bridal Pictures By Megan Geiger

My amazing photographer, Megan Geiger, has done it once again.  Megan knows just how to use the lighting, the weather, and props to produce amazing and breathtaking pictures.  I wanted to share my whole bridal portrait session with all of you.  The pictures were taken at my grandmother's house.  My grandmother's house is full of beautiful, one-of-a-kind antiques and a beautiful color pallet of soft teals, pinks, and bronze.  Some of my favorite pictures, however, were the pictures taken by her rod iron gate.  This gate is absolutely beautiful, and offers so many picture opportunities.  We got a little creative and moved one of my grandmother's antique velvet red/pink chars outside in front of the gate.  This created a pop of color against the black of the gate, and the green of the grass.  Finally, a picture with Laloney, my grandmother's dog statue, was a must! I have loved this dog ever since I was a very small child (I actually use to think that the dog was real).  Having this dog as a prop in my bridal portraits was a way of incorporating something that has been meaningful to me for my whole life.  These little personal items are what really make a photo session something special.

                                                            This is the famous Laloney

"I Do" created by my wonderful mother!

Waitting

Psalm 33:20 "Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield"

There is a sense that everyone is always waiting on something.  Nervously waiting on the results of a test, waiting for that right person to come along in your life, waiting on a phone call, waiting on a job offer, waiting on someone to change, waiting on your self to change, waiting for your dreams to come true.  But what does it feel like to wait for the Lord.  Just being still, listening, feeling, and waiting on the Lord.

Psalm 33 continues to say, "Our hear is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.  Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us even as we hope in you"  (Psalm 33:21-22).  Waiting is not always about getting results, but rather, feeling the spirit of the Lord move with in our heart.  Feeling the spirit of the Lord bring us overwhelming peace and gladness.

I pray today that we all might take the time to wait upon the Lord.  To feel the gentle tug of God on our heart.  To feel the overwhelming peace God in our life.  Even if it is just for a moment, that one moment with God means everything to a restless heart that is waiting.

Be still..and...wait

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too!

So I just wanted to share with every one just how amazing my mother is with making cakes.  She recently she made a wedding cake for my friend Cresence.  The cake turned out amazing! If you are ever in need of an amazing cake for any occasion this is the lady to see! 

These photos were taken by Carolina Portrait Designs!

Hey guys!
Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post! I was looking through my engagement pictures from this last fall and wanted to share a few with you! Our photographer was amazing! She really knew what to take photos of! Here is a little walk through of some moments of the day!

 I love this picture, because right as the first picture was being taken Ryan and I about got trampled by people coming out of the door!

 Love the tall trees!

 He is the love of my life!

This picture remind me of my first birthday that I spent with him where he played and sung happy birthday to me on the guitar! Awww...