Vintage Silverware from Wooden Hive

During my etsy shopping sprees/etsy stalking I stumbled across Wooden Hive a store that sells vintage silverware. I loved it. What I loved best was that you could personalize this vintage silverware. I emailed Kerri who owns the shop who immediately responded and explained my options. I could have the forks stamped with "Mr." and "Mrs." or "Bride" and "Groom" and our wedding date on the handle. I chose the option of Mr and Mrs because we could continue to use them for the rest of our lives or we could display them in some way.
I expected a bit of a waiting period since the forks were being customized, BUT almost instantly they shipped! When I got the package I opened it to a lovely smell. and beautiful wrapping. Kerri put a lovely scented package in with the forks. It smelled absolutely delicious. The forks were absolutely perfectly vintage and I am crazy about them!
Thank you to Kerri from Wooden Hive for one of my most satisfied etsy purchases ever!
Check out Wooden Hive's etsy shop! Here are some pictures of my forks! Yay!

It's all about FASHION!

Fashion! I love it. <3
I have been searching etsy long and hard for a bracelet that will compliment the pearls I will be wearing as a necklace on my wedding day. They are my grandmother McGlynn's pearls and I am so happy and excited to be wearing something that was so close to her on my wedding day. It will really be special and a way of keeping her in my heart and mind on that day. The necklace is a simple string of lovely ivory pearls. To go with this, I knew I wanted a little more flare with a chunky bracelet on my wedding day. I searched many hours trying to find something that would compliment the look of the pearls and still be stylish enough where years later I don't look back and say, "what the hell?"

I am trying to keep as much of my wedding DIY and handmade. That will make it more unique and more me. So finally on etsy I found Melanie of Damselle. I found a bracelet in her shop that I absolutely loved. When I emailed her with questions, her responses were immediate and very helpful. I even asked if I could see a picture of the bracelet being worn, to which she immediately sent one. When my bracelet came, I was more than happy with it. It sparkled just like it did in the picture, fit perfect and was just the right size of chunky and the color matched the picture. It is just lovely and I would tell anyone looking for custom jewelry on etsy to check out Damselle first! Her style is romantic, unique and in my opinion has some awesome vintage qualities with some of the looks. Check her out! And here is my awesome bracelet. It is going to be hard to wait to wear it until Wedding Day!

Damselle- Etsy

Damselle- Etsy

Her Etsy Shop: Damselle

Dress shopping minus Quacks

Yesterday was dress shopping! Unfortunately, the Quack side could not make it but maybe it was better that way. There was a LOT to try on and a LOT to look at. More people may have been overwhelming.
Our first appointment was at David's Bridal at 11:30. We started off with mom dresses. Right off I told my consultant, my mom is NOT going to wear those mom styles. You know, the one's with the jackets? My mom is hip, good looking and young! She does NOT need to dress like some dowdy lady. She needs to show off her cute figure and good looks! We found one favorite for her at David's but we were not ready to commit for her. Next up was my sister. While I am trying to allow her to have a say, it's hard because it's the one dress I DO REALLY care about besides mine. I wanted her to try on styles she likes and loves and styles I love. In my mind, prior to seeing ANY dresses I had the idea of a cute cocktail length dress that flared out and had fullness in the skirt. My style leans towards vintage with a little modern edge while my sister likes more modern dresses. Well, at David's there was no common ground. There were dresses I liked and dresses she liked but no mutually liked dresses.
Next up was an appointment at K's Wedding Center. This store had brands like Alfred Angelo, Bill Levkoff, Eden, Mori Lee and so forth. So this meant more options, more designs and styles. Well, we walked in and raided the racks. My sister tried on AT LEAST 30 dresses! We have two contenders. One I am calling the Tinkerbell dress and the other is classy and has a 50's edge to it. My sister liked both. One was an Alfred Angelo and the other is a Mori Lee. Both had wide ranges of colors for us to choose from.
My mom also tried on dresses here and found one in the Bill Levkoff brand that was absolutely stunning on her. Like if she doesn't buy it, I am going to go back and force her to buy it! lol! We had a MUCH better experience at K's. Our consultant had more personality, gave recommendations, showed us new looks and styles we wouldn't have considered and really was all out wonderful. She helped find dresses that brought together my sister and I's looks and styles and it was such a huge help. She wrote down all of our favorites and we are probably going to go back there to get the dresses.
We had lunch and then my sister had to go to work, so my mom and I went to Reginella's in Montgomery. We walked up to the store and a man was outside smoking. We went to open the door and he stepped in front of us and said "Do you have an appointment?"
Mom and I: "No, do we need an appointment?"
Bouncer: "You must have an appointment to shop in our store"

Well, at that point, I was done. I turned to walk away but he sweet talked my mom into coming in only to give her the store card and tell her to make an appointment. Well, excuse me. We made appointments at both of the other stores but I guess appointments are mandatory here. We wont go back.

Anyway, in my mind there are three top picks for my sister. The two we saw at K's and one dress that I got from the fabulous Kiley Mullen. Her bridesmaids wore the most amazing vintage style dresses. I asked her where they were from and she sent my the direct link! Now, this is a sign of an amazing photographer! One who is willing to  "Copying be the highest form of flattery" rather than be annoyed and tell me NOT to get that dress! I really love that one that Kiley sent us and my sister loves it too. Honestly, it most likely will end up being that dress but I want to see as much as I can since I want my sister to agree 100%.

On the whole, dress shopping was a success and I know in my mind more clearly the style I want. Now it is just decision time!

Kiley Mullen Photography

So, earlier in this blog, I wrote about photography and choosing a photographer. Well, I didn't name names when I wrote about my photographer because, well, there was some hesitation on my part to do so.
When we looked at photographers, I emailed SO many my mind was spinning and I was forgetting who I had contacted. It was that bad. I felt that the photographer was one of THE top MOST important things about my wedding day. I could care less about things like cakes, hairstyles for bridesmaids, flowers etc. But pictures! I need my pictures to be AMAZING! I wanted a vintage, natural, photo-journalistic feel to my pictures. Part of the reason I think it was so important to me was because it really captures your day and I scrapbook. I scrapbook obsessively.

Ok so, I wont name names because that's mean and bad for business for photographers and I will not do that BUT, the first photographer Michael and I interviewed was great. Personality-wise he was fun, enthusiastic and all about making the BRIDE happy. (what about the groom? or so i thought) Well, I liked him and felt completely comfortable with him but his pictures were too modern for me. They were harsh, clear and very magazine styled. By magazine, I mean they looked like a picture of a cake in Better Homes and Garden. His pictures were not bad by any means but just not my style. I would still recommend him to anyone who asked.
Then, Mike and I interviewed a couple team whose pictures I was excited about. They were natural, had great lighting and a somewhat vintage feel to them. However, when we walked in the door, from that first moment it felt SUPER awkward. I mean, whoa. The husband greeted us and invited us to sit on the couch. He then disappeared to find his wife and when she came back in with him, it seemed like she was in a REALLY bad mood. She sat on the couch and put her binder in her lap and folded her arms and said "SO?" I felt like I had to start the conversation which for me, is HARD! I am typically VERY shy and awkward when I meet new people so this to me was a HUGE downer. Then during our chat, a child screamed from the other room and the wife turned to the husband and snapped "Go check on that." When he came back she snapped, "what was that about?" and he gave a detailed response about a child getting hurt in the garden oustide? I don't know but it seemed like there was underlying tension for the couple towards each other. After an awkward hour of questioning, Mike and I left and summed it up to they were just really socially awkward but we loved their pics. Before leaving, we asked that they give us a quote to print out about 250-300 4X6 prints so that I could scrapbook our wedding. Well, a week later I got my quote that was to be added to our contract. I was happy and okay with the quote. I went home talked to Mike, we decided it was good. I emailed her and asked that she revise the contract and email it to me to sign. The next day, I checked my email and I had an email from the wife who had given me the quote. I will copy and past it here:
Hi Erin,

Sorry for the delay. Been super busy w/ portraits this week. Anyway, I told my husband the quote I gave you for the prints, & he said that was way too low. His offer was $***. Attached is the new contract, thank you.

Well. For me, changing a quote after GIVING a quote is rather unprofessional. I took a week to think about it and then Mike called and talked to her. There was no apology, no regret, just plain, well sorry but thats what it is. For me, it was a deal-breaker. For Mike, he wanted to forgive and hire.

I waited another week and then told Mike I was just plain NOT comfortable with this and them. They were not only awkward but plain unprofessional. While their pictures may be great, I would never be comfortable with them.

SOOOOOO, then began another many weeks of researching

 

and emailing and then a LIGHT at the end of the tunnel.

 

 

 

I found Kiley Mullen.

Her pictures were amazing and made me really excited! I emailed her and got a great response back. She was informative, enthusiastic, and had the same style I was looking for. She answered all my questions and dealt with Bridezilla tendencies. Her packages were PERFECT and included everything I wanted. So I set up an interview, Mike couldnt make it that night because he got stuck working $OT$$$ BUT! It was a great meeting. She answered all my questions and her style was what I was looking for. All I can say is THANK GOD I did NOT hire the other people. When I asked what her style of photography was, her response was VINTAGE!! I was beyond happy because with every other interview with photographers that was the one key word always missing. Her pics just are so great because they capture those special moments. I truly cannot say enough! She has answer all of my questions with honesty, openness and is willing to basically make her clients happy. Something I felt was truly lacking in other photographers I interviewed. She even sent me the website link to her bridesmaids dresses that I had admired from her OWN wedding! 

Here is the link to her website:

http://www.kileymullen.com/

And her blog:
http://kileymullen.wordpress.com/ 

What it comes down to is feeling comfortable with your photographer and finding someone who wants to make you happy and feel beautiful on your special day. Anyone who asks, will get this *opinion* and advice from me: Go with your gut! pick a photographer who matches your style and expectations but makes you feel comfortable!

But hire Kiley! Oh! And she loves animals, like me! *remember my donation favor?! :)

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!