The Makings of a Memorable Wedding

Weddings that are planned and personalized down to the last detail are all the rage these days. As I’ve written before, it’s really hard to live up to those expectations when you’re on a budget and don’t have endless time to DIY everything.

Now that my wedding is over, I’ve realized that it’s not making every little detail personalized that makes a wedding memorable, it’s about the one or two things that really stand out in people’s memory. Think about it. When you recap your experiences at someone’s wedding, do you say “they had 10 things that were hand-painted with their monogram!”

Probably not. You likely WOULD say though, “They did XYZ that I’ve never seen done at a wedding before. It was so cool.”

For Luke and I, the special things we wanted to stand our from our wedding were our swing dance, the personal notes we wrote to each of our guests and Batman-themed table names. Everything else was just icing on the cake.

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I think it worked too, because we’ve gotten a lot of comments from people saying they remembered our “details” and were impressed with the level of thoughtfulness our wedding had.  Honestly though, we really didn’t focus on the little things like favors, monogrammed matches or centerpieces at all! It was just those few personal touches we paid attention to.

What aspects of your wedding did you focus on? What ended up being the things your guest remembered most?

Anniversary Gift Ideas For Him

Earlier this week, one of my readers asked for anniversary ideas for her husband. I always find it difficult to buy for men, so I know the dilemma she’s facing!

I asked Luke to think of some ideas and here’s what he came up with:

For the coffee drinker:

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a nice french press

For the Trendy Techie:

bag

Shoulder MacBook Sleeve

ipad

Pocket Ipad Case

phone

Leather phone case

For the Day Tripper:

duffel

5–Day Duffle

pass

Leather passport holder

For the City-Man:

watch

Vintage Field Army Watch

shades

Aviator Shades

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Galoshes

For the Outdoorsy-Type:

knife

18-Tool Knife (a little scary, but Luke insists any guy would love one)

jacket

Light Down Jacket

For the Man-Foodie:

whisk

Interesting Whiskey (bottle can be engraved too)

rub

Good Grilling Rubs

scotch

A Bottle of Scotch

I am also a big fan of DOING something together to celebrate an occasion. That could be a steak dinner, comedy show or weekend getaway…just something that give you some uninterrupted QT together.

What do you think? Any ideas you’d add? I’m interested to hear from the men – would you like to receive something on this list for a present?

Engagement Gift Idea

When Luke and I got engaged, I was  lucky to have my friends and family surround me with excitement and support. Looking back, those first couple weeks were probably when I needed them the most – having a new ring  on your finger and starting the wedding journey can be  a little bit intimidating!

I remember one friend in particular sent me a little congratulations gift, which I LOVED and use every single day. It was a tiny, silver elephant whose trunk was used as a ring holder. I remember it meant a lot to me that she had gone out of her way to help me feel special.

I was on Etsy the other day and came across these adorable personalized ring holders, that I had to share with you.

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How cute are these? Any newly-engaged girl would probably just love this little, personalized home for her new bling, right?

Now will one of my friends PLEASE get engaged so I can buy this for them??

Where We Go From Here

Since my wedding, I’ve been asked several times if I plan to keep blogging  and what I will be blogging about. I do plan to keep blogging, but what about is still yet to be worked out completely.

I really enjoyed finding adorable gifts, decorations, dresses ect. as they related to weddings, but now I feel like my scope needs to broaden.

So in addition to writing about my day-to-day life and adventures in cooking, I plan to continue to share some of my favorite party finds. For example, I came across this “Vintage Toy” child’s birthday party theme on www.thoughtfullysimple.com and had to share.

The party was designed by Bella Grace Party Designs and has to be one of the most adorable themes ever! I need someone in my life to have a baby so I can have a reason to buy one of those vintage radio flyers. Any takers?

Anyway….expect more of this from me.

Also, if there’s topics you’d like me to tackle, (like how I snagged a good man or how I am eating like a caveman or what it’s like to be taller than your teachers in 5th grade) let me know.

Now that our wedding is over, I will be looking for content to keep you all reading. :)