Hello lovely and patient blog readers. Lately I have been living in the coziness of my bed with two cats, and a lot of cold medicine. My only connection to the outside world was Facebook and Twitter on my phone. I have blown my little, red, raw nose so much that I have strained my neck muscles. I have watched several old seasons of Friends. So, there is good and bad. But, I really hope to be back up and running like normal next week! But for now, here are this weeks highs and lows!
Highs:
- A patient husband and loving cats. The cats have kept me company, and my hubbie has taken care of me. I am a lucky girl.
- Friends. What a great show.
- The warm weather! I have sessions coming up, and I am hoping the warmth sticks around!! Im done with wishing for snow!
Lows:
- Being sick. Boo.
- Tissues with no lotion. Why would you make any other kind?
Happy Weekending!!
Something I really want to blog more about this year is cooking. If you follow me on Instagram, you will notice that about 50% of my pictures are of what I am currently eating. I love to cook, and I certainly love to eat. Its even one of my goals for 25 before 25. I also happen to drool over gorgeous food photography. I certainly do not consider myself a food photographer, but by blogging about it, I can get better!
Im excited to start sharing this part of my life with you guys! And, feel free to leave links to fun recipes you have on your blogs! For now, here are this week’s highs and lows:
Highs:
- Jared’s car is not dead! This is literally a huge answer to prayer! We need that little clunky car and we definitely didn’t want to have to go back to a car payment!
- We cruise in 35 days! We are going snorkeling and taking a long guided bike tour as our shore excursions. Im so excited!
- I am loving my new facial products. I got a moisturizer from Kiehls, and a coffee bean eye cream from 100% Pure. Love them!!
Lows:
- I read the end of Little Bee, and this book is guaranteed to break my heart. (Don’t worry, I always read the ends of books before Im supposed to. Its okay.)
Have a lovely, and chilly, weekend friends!!
This is turning out the be the booking season for 2012! I am getting inquiries almost daily! Im sad to say that for a lot of them… I am already booked. So, I wanted to take some time today to talk about booking vendors on your wedding day!
First things first, do some research! Get some recommendations from friends, family or on Facebook! Once you have a few names for caterers, photographers, florists, etc… Take the time to really look at each one. Consider what you like, and dont like. Maybe that caterer doesnt seem to have enough options, or the photographer does a post process that doesnt feel right. Its okay! Everyone has their own unique taste, and its okay to not like something that your best friend did.
Pick 2-3 vendors that you might like to meet with. Sometimes, you just KNOW. A lot of my brides book me because they already know they want me to photograph their wedding! I love when that happens!! But, its okay if you need to meet with a couple different DJ’s/Bands to find the right fit. Also, dont forget to ask questions! If you looooove top 40 dance hits and hate mo-town, make sure to ask your DJ about that! More than likely, they will play a nice mix and you will get all ages on the dance floor!
Remember there are a lot of other brides booking vendors too. I am not saying this to put pressure on couples to book and book fast! I am only bringing it up because in the past two weeks I have had to turn away more than a few brides because I am already booked on their wedding day! It is so sad for me to write that response email! I hate it! If there are vendors out there that you absolutely want, email as soon as youre able. Sometimes you dont have a lot of time between getting engaged and saying I Do, so make sure you dont waste time if you have to have somebody! Photographers and venue’s tend to book 9 months to a year in advance, sometimes longer!
And, lastly, ask your vendors for help if they offer! We are all connected in this industry and we love working together! If you are having a hard time finding the perfect cinematographer, ask your photographer, florist, or wedding stylist! They have more than likely worked with one they liked, or know of one who is awesome! Trusting your vendors is key to enjoying your wedding day stress free, so ask them for help if you need it!
I hope this can help a newly engaged couple out there! Wedding planning is often times stressful, so I hope this can help guide you a bit!
by Lauryn on January 18, 2012 in Personal
Remember when I asked all of you for your opinion on some new specs? And people voted? Well, I was totally on board to order a pair of those glasses…but one day while catching up on my blogroll, an ad on someone’s sidebar caught my eye. It was an eye wear company called Bon Look. And the pair of glasses on the ad were EXACTLY what I had been looking for. And, within a few minutes I purchased them. So, I need to apologize for fakin’ ya’ll out with that poll! But, I loveeee these glasses. I am so glad to have them! They are a bit nerdier than anything I have ever worn, but sometimes its fun to be trendy. You can see them on my face, in this post.
Purchased, here.
Also, ten points to the first person who can name the magazine, and month published, featured in the pictures.
by Lauryn on January 16, 2012 in Personal
The touch, the feeeeel of cotton…the fabric of our lives. The cotton we grew this year is all finished. I displayed it with my cookbooks. I know it serves no purpose this way, but I still like it.
Pretty, no? In case you are new around these parts, the traditional 2nd year anniversary gift is cotton. Jared gave me cotton seeds (he is so clever,) and we grew ourselves some cotton plants.
Anyone have any other ideas that I could do with it? I dont think there is enough to make actual thread…
I did something very interesting this week. Something that I didnt do even when I was a vegan. Yes, you read that right. I was vegan for almost an entire year before I met Jared, Ill tell you about it sometime. What did I do? I bought vegan cheese. Yes….fake cheese. Normally I would turn my nose up at this, because as a food lover nothing compares to real, fatty, smelly cheese. But, when your health is starting to be affected (or effected?) by a certain food, you might consider cutting it out for a bit. So, for now I am milk and cheese free. Dairy free I guess. Do eggs count? Im not so sure. Today is day one, and here are some of this week’s highs and lows:
Highs:
- Finding a dairy free cheese that I actually like.
- I ordered a new facial moisturizer and eye cream. I can’t wait to try them!
- I am almost done cleaning up all the files on my computer and in the filing cabinet. Things got messy at the end of the season last year and it feels good to clean them all up!
Lows:
- Jared’s car is acting crazy. I think we bought a dud!
- Some alley kittens have peed on our porch. The lovely scent wafts in your face every time you open the front door. I can’t be too mad though because they are so. dang. cute.
An image from the archives… I hope it snows at least once this year!!
Happy Weekending!
by Lauryn on January 12, 2012 in Personal
Im ashamed to say that not everyone on our gift list has received theirs yet, but I just couldn’t wait to share these any longer!! For the past three years Jared and I had given food related items, like cookies and chocolate dipped pretzels. And, while I love to eat and give yummy treats, I wanted to do something different this year. I wanted to give something that people could actually use in their home. I did a lot of research trying to find a project that we liked aesthetically, but also would be a project we could actually do.
We found this DIY on Design Sponge, Handmade Trivets! Only sad part was the PDF offered on the site is no longer available so I had to freehand the stencil. I think I did okay!
Im not going to explain the DIY because they do it very well over on Design Sponge. I will say that you should let the motor enamel dry to more than just tacky. I had some leaking issues when I pulled the contact paper off too soon. And, for any curious minds out there, you need to use motor enamel and not spray paint so it can stand up to the high heat of a pot, or pan. We used the Orangey-Red from Chevrolet! You can find the enamel at any automotive store.
We put little bumpers on the back of the trivets. And tied them up with some pretty ribbon I had leftover from a project!
As Design Sponge says, each trivet came into be about $1.00. We gave them in sets of two. They are not perfect, but I think they are still pretty great! Did any of you make any gifts this year?
Have you seen this chair? Yes? Yeah, me too. And its awesome. It totally matches me and not to mention, my brand. I want two of them for the office. I know that is a normal price for a chair, but it makes my stomach drop when I think about spending over 500 clams on something that doesn’t have Canon written on it. Yowza. So, tell me. Do you think it will go on sale?
Someone please say yes.
by Lauryn on January 10, 2012 in Wedding
This is an incredibly hard post to write. I didn’t want to overload the blog with a ton of images from each wedding, so I had to narrow it down to my favorite 2-4 portraits from each. Huh? How am I supposed to do that? I give my clients a few hundred of my favorites, you want me to pick 2 or 4? Okay, sure, fine.
So here they are! Just a few of my favs. HUGE thank you to all of my 2011 couples. You are the bomb dot com. And I don’t every really say that, so it must mean something. Enjoy!
Something new for LGP this past year was the Handmade Weddings Series. I think it went over really well! It was a lot of work, and money, but it was a unique thing for the blog each week. Only downside is now I have all this stuff sitting in my craft room with no wedding to actually do. Hmmm.
Since the series was such a big part of the year, I thought it would be fun to review some of my favorite projects! Some I like because they were so pretty, and some I like because they were so yummy. I have picked two projects from each theme! Here are my favorites!
We started out with a Pink and Green Garden Party theme. I really loved the low cost and color impact that our Drink Flags had. You can also call these swizzle sticks!
I also loved the Chair Swags for the same reason, low cost and a punch of color!
Our next theme was all about bold colors and graphic shapes and lines. I lovvvedddd the Confetti!
And, who could not love the Popsicle Champagne project? They tasted goooooewd.
Our next theme was one of my favorites ever! I really loved our Blueberry Cake mostly because the icing smelled divine.
The next project might be a favorite of everyone’s, and it definitely was one of mine too! The Glitter heels!
And, our last theme of the year was all about the cozy yarn, and a fresh fall color palette. The Yarn Covered Chargers were a big hit!
Last but not least, I loved the Sugar and Spice Nuts, because well….I got to eat them.
Do you have any favorites from this past year?
Handmade weddings will be making a come back, but in a slightly different capacity this year. Yep, I just wrote something super vague that tells you nothing, and only serves to increase your curiosity. I will explain in good time!! I promise!
Happy Monday-ing!
