Who says a wedding dress has to be white? Below are my top 5 picks for black wedding dresses! I thought this would be fitting since today is Halloween!!!! I have done a Halloween themed wedding and I wholeheartedly believe that it can be accomplished without being cheesy, gutsy yes! cheesy? not necessarily. Check out the options below and keep an open mind, remember with an all black dress it can definitely be worn again!
Happy Halloween!!!!!
Brooke
This gallery contains 4 photos.
Feeling much better thanks for asking!!!! This week’s tip is regarding your wedding ring’s. With all the hoopla and details that go into the planning and prep for your wedding there is a small detail that should not be overlooked. … Continue reading
Saturday evening here at Farina’s we had the pleasure of hosting a fundraiser to raise money to help find a cure for breast cancer. Mike Hull used to be an employee here at Farina’s years ago (I am pretty sure he predates me!!) Last year he lost his mother to breast cancer and he has been fundraising for a cure ever since. We had the privilege of helping him host the Ha Ha’s for Ta Ta’s Fighting Cancer with Comedy night here on Saturday, when he first contacted us to see if we would be interested in helping it was a no-brainer. My cousin had just had a recent battle with breast cancer and I knew first hand how hard a fight like that could be. The event went great, the comedians were hilarious and I believe they raised quite a bit of money! To get involved check out http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MSABC_FY13_FindAnEvent and find out how you can make a difference in fighting breast cancer.
Get involved!
Brooke
Me, Kelly and my cousin Amy.
Amy’s been Cancer free for almost 4 months!!!!!!!
A favorite client came into my office this morning with the finished photos from her daughter’s wedding that we did back in July, I have been looking forward to seeing these because they were an adorable couple who are very photogenic and I am getting ready to do my next’s years ad campaign. She had her computer with all the photos as well as actual prints and what she called her “brag book”, I was intrigued! The book was a 10×10 hardcover layout of her favorite pictures from her daughter’s wedding and it was adorable! It had all kinds of cute sayings and was personalized with names and dates, I assumed her photographers had made it for her but she told me she had made it herself. Of course I had to know the how’s and why’s! Apparently she went to a website called Shutterfly and was able to do an entire layout page by page as well as add her own colors, sayings and tags! I had to check it out for myself and OMG!!!!! I love this!! It’s great for super creatively impaired people like myself who wish we had the patience for scrapbooking but get fed up after 2 minutes of pasting and glitter! You can click and drag until your heart’s content creating a unique and personal book but you don’t actually have to do the hard part (putting it together). I love websites that let you pay someone else to creatively put together the things you can’t. Shutterfly is easy to use and I recommend it for anyone looking to add a personal touch to their wedding pictures. Check them out at www.shutterfly.com
My shutterfly inspiration Carmen and her daughter Lindsey!!!!
Carmen, I hope you get a chance to read this and thank you so much for the inspiration! I am already working on one for myself!
Brooke
me super sick!
Being incredibly sick for the last few days has kept me in bed and away from anything tech related, so since my brain is a mess of NyQuil infused mush I am going to make my tips for this Tuesday short and to the point! Antibacterial hand sanitizer is your friend!!!! Invest in tiny to-go bottles ( www.bathandbodyworks.com ) they are called pocketbacs and they are wonderful!!! That and some OJ and hopefully you won’t be up to your ears in Puffs like myself!
Smells yummy and protects against germies!
Stay healthy!
Brooke
So here I am 2 weeks from my wedding, no dress and in the throes of a complete meltdown. Where was I going to find a dress that didn’t require weeks of alterations and more importantly how much was this going to cost me? Off to David’s Bridal we went, they were the only place you could buy off the rack and take it with you that night. Walking into their lobby I finally started to get emotional about what exactly we were there to do, I was buying my wedding dress!! MY WEDDING DRESS!!!! where did I even begin? Hours of parading back and forth in front of my dad, mom and sister (via I-phone) finally led me to what I had been looking for all along, how did I know this was my dress? I couldn’t stop crying while I was in it! Dad had tears in his eyes, mom was all choked up and my sister kept chanting “That’s the one, That’s the one”. The dress made me feel gorgeous it fit well, hid the parts I hate and enhanced the parts I love but most of all I knew that it was gonna stop Shawn dead in his tracks. Thank God my mom was waiting for this moment so her and Dad were prepared when I looked in horror at the price, quick stop at the Universal Bank of Amazing Parents and the dress was mine! The best part of the story is the dress fit perfect so all it needed was to be hemmed up for my shoes (I wore flats because I am a baby!). I got lucky, really, really lucky this story could have ended so much worse but didn’t. The moral here? be honest from the beginning and get started early and you won’t be having a mental breakdown on your mother 2 weeks before your wedding because your dress is hideous and the idea of wearing it in public makes you feel pukey!
Good luck and happy shopping!
Brooke
Don’t be afraid to chop it up!!!!!!!
Brooke
Buying my wedding dress was a fiasco, I am sure that not only did I make my mom nuts but also my sisters and my best friend though I went off the deep end. Let me backtrack, when Shawn and I got engaged back in March we decided that we didn’t want to wait to get married. We had been together for almost 5 years and as he s eloquently put it he didn’t need a big party he just needed me to have his last name (hallmark moment!). The general consensus was that because of what I do for a living my own wedding would be some huge over the top party, but that couldnt;t be further from the truth. I never really wanted a big wedding I had always envisioned us alone on a beach somewhere with a judge and a few handfuls of friends and family. I was so tempted to do a destination wedding but I didn’t want to put that kind of financial burden on the people I loved especially because we would not be giving them adequate time to plan and prepare. I knew I wanted a wedding this year so I began looking at open dates at our hall as far as I could tell I had 2 options either June 8th or Dec 22nd. I needed to plan around the hall’s schedule because obviously mom and I would be gone also Kelly would be attending the wedding as well and that left no one to look after Farina’s. I wanted December 22nd but was overruled because it was to close to christmas, so we settled on June 8th. because we were doing a very low-key intimate party (the guest list was 21 people including us) I didn’t think much a bout a dress.I knew we were planning on hosting a large party on our 1 year anniversary and was going to wait to purchase “the dress” so I went online… cue the scary music. From the start I downplayed the importance of my wedding I was so focused on the being married part that I forgot about the fun included in the getting married part. My mom knew from the beginning that I wasn’t making choices based on what I wanted but based on being practical but she wisely stayed silent. I decided no cakes, no centerpieces, no linens and no dress. I just didn’t want to burden anyone with the financial responsibility especially since I was trying to get this all done in 3 months, anyway fast forward to 3 weeks before the day. My dress had arrived about a month prior but I didn’t try it on, I was losing too much weight to fast and I wanted to wait till just before it went in for alterations to see how it would look… HUGE MISTAKE! I tried it on in front of my mom and best friend and instantly hated it. I don’t mean dislike I mean hate as in get that ugly thing away from me, what was I thinking, there’s no way in God’s green earth I m wearing that hated it but I forged on. I plastered on a smile and try to look for things that I liked, I truly believed I had my mom and Kelly convinced that I loved it. That night I went to bed miserable, I hated that dress and now I felt stuck, the next morning I admitted defeat, at 8am I called my mom and in hysterical tears told the truth. I hated the dress! I did want centerpieces! I needed to have chair covers and I couldn’t live without a wedding cake! I was sobbing like a child in the middle of a full-blown meltdown and she starts laughing and says Finally!!!! I have been waiting for you to get emotional about this. She hated the dress, Kelly hated the dress, my dad hated the dress and everyone agreed Shawn would really hate the dress.
Time to Shop!
Brooke
Weddings basics 101…. here’s a quick tip to help your planning go a little smoother. This may sound simple but get organized!!!! You do not need a 20 pound bridal binder, however get a small notebook or folder to keep your most important stuff organized in. I am not speaking of color swatches and photos of your favorite flowers, I am speaking of the legal BINDING contracts you sign when you recruit your vendors. Make sure you keep all the copies of the documents that you sign when you agree to use their services, it’s important to know deadlines for payments and dates for when final decisions need to be made. Make sure you read these carefully and always have a copy of it with you when you meet with your vendor. Remember unnecessary surprises can put a damper on your big day! Know where your money is going and make sure you always get all contracts in writing!!!
Happy Planning!
Brooke
Ah how I envy creative people like Martha Stewart, Candice Olson and Ty Pennington. They can take unused crap that lays around your house and turn it into something amazing! Old letters and photos become a découpage piece of artwork, unused wood lying behind your shed becomes a one of a kind coffee table, honestly I wouldn’t believe it was possible if I didn’t have friends (and 2 annoyingly darling little sisters) who are capable of making that kind of magic happen. I love the end result of these types of projects but I wouldn’t even know where to start. If you drew me a step by step map on the how to’s of making unique pieces I would get frustrated half way thru, throw down my paintbrush and end up at Target shopping for something to soothe my beat-up confidence.
Never fear creatively impaired people of the world I have found a solution!!! Well at least for your wedding invitations!!!
Want something creative and unique but don’t have a crafty bone in your body try www.weddingpaperdivas.com
This site allows use to use preset invitations but change things like, font color and structure so that it’s uniquely yours! They have hundreds of different layouts and the choices and options seem endless. They are awesome for any type of invitations or even notecards and thank you’s. If your like me and like to still send hand-written thank you’s then check these guys out because you can personalize it to make it yours.
Perfect for the creatively impaired!
Happy shopping!
Brooke
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