Donation Favors

So, I am really excited about our favors! Now, I am not saying this about all wedding favors, but have you ever gone to a wedding and the favor was some awful thing with the couple's name or wedding date on it and you thought, "when will I ever use this?"

Well, that is exactly what I did NOT want to happen when guests came to my wedding. I did not want to waste money buying and creating a favor that would just most likely end up in the trash anyway. So I decided to do a donation favor. What that is, is the giving of a donation in the wedding guest's names. So instead of spending $5-$15 per guest on a favor, that money is donated to a cause or a charity close to the couple's heart.
Mike and I love animals, we are practically cat hoarders and have three lovely darling kitties whom we have adopted from an amazing Shelter, Mohawk Hudson Humane Society.

Our kitties came to our home in great health and were clearly well cared for. The volunteers and workers at the shelter clearly took good care of every animal and were so kind and sensitive to everyone. While there I saw a young man who had to put his dog to sleep due to cancer diagnosis and the volunteers were so very compassionate.
Anyway, after seeing how wonderful the staff was and how great the shelter was, we knew we would return there to adopt a dog some day. So, when discussing which charity to donate to, we knew that Mohawk Hudson Humane Society would be it. I contacted the shelter and let them know what we would be doing and got an instant email back that was great. The woman gave suggestions on how to let our guests know and even provided a PDF image of their name.
Since then I have gone on Esty (LOVE) and used Esty Alchemy to put in a request for an artist or crafter to create something that would let my guests know what we are doing. Erica from Peacock Printing caught my eye with her thoughtful suggestions, ideas and her own love for adopted animals. (She has adopted two wonderful dogs) After much collaboration back and forth she has created a beautiful card that will be printed out and given to each guest telling them where we donated to. I am so excited. As much as I am truly tempted to showcase Erica's beautiful work, I want to wait until we have the design completely finalized. But it's gorgeous and she is such a talented woman. I cannot wait to see the final version.

For the love of the dress

As much as I want to blog about my wedding dress....I WONT! I am going to try to follow the tradition of not talking about, showing or pretty much anything. Have to be traditional about it all......
soooo instead let's discuss maid of honor dresses!!!!! Mike and I have decided in order to keep our wedding small and intimate we were not going to have the HUGE bridal party that some have. While we would love to incorporate our best friends, we just felt it would get to hectic and expensive too! So, we asked Mike's father to be the best man and my little sister to be the maid of honor.
Mandy already knew she would be wearing purple and she was a trooper about it! When we went dress shopping at David's Bridal, I asked her to try on some styles so I could get an idea of what she liked compared to what I liked. I want her to be happy in the dress too. I don't want to stick her in a dress she hates because then she will look uncomfortable. I was unsure whether I wanted a darker purple or a lighter purple. I still am unsure. I like darker purples but I feel that they are more of an autumn color. Whereas the lighter purple's may better fit the summer season. I really only have two main points in which I don't think I would change my mind. It has to be purple and it has to be cocktail length. I am not sure if I like flowy or more structured dresses... Here are some favorites and inspirations I have seen lately and hope to go on when we go shopping.

We are going shopping the first weekend in October, so I am really excited. Most of all I want her to be happy with what we choose. After that she can pick her own shoes, jewelry, hairstyle etc...
I am so excited to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Great Lantern Search continues...

So this past weekend, my fiance and I, yet again, stopped by Pier One to check out the lanterns we had spied a few weeks ago. We wanted to see if we still LOVED them. Well, again, we felt they were too tall. The woman at the Middletown, NY store was just wonderful though. She let us know that there were only 3 in stock at her store and then looked up all local stores and provided us with the phone numbers of each store and how many they had in stock should we choose to purchase. I just dont want to rush into it and buy them and worry about them being too tall...
So again, we looked online and I found these lanterns and they are just as gorgeous AND cheap! In my opinion they are the perfect height and have the right look. However, I am going to wait till after I go to the Country Folk Art Show at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, NY. Because, if I can find lanterns there then why not!? But I am still thinking about those Pier One Import one's. Even the wrought iron ones there are beautiful.
Again, I dont know! I am waiting to find the one's that I LOVE!