the make-up trial {bridal beauty}

Well, I'm now just 40 DAYS away from my wedding day. Today I'm making a special trip to Swell Beauty for my make-up trial. Prior to being engaged I didn't really think make-up trials were necessary, but now I've changed my tune. If you have the opportunity to get a make-up trial done by the person who is doing your make-up on your big day then DO IT! Not only will it save you time (explaining what you want), it will also give you piece of mind so you can relax and enjoy getting ready with your girls. Have you ever googled "bridal make-up?" Oye, some of the image results are horrendous!!! Why do some brides think more is better? I think a natural look is the most desirable.... and I don't mean "no make-up;" I mean wearing enough so that you still look like yourself, not a Vegas show girl ;-)

My decision to go with Swell Beauty was simple: I attended my friend Ashley's wedding recently. It was 103 degrees that day and her make-up looked FLAWLESS and lasted through the entire reception! When she got back from her honeymoon I called her and asked for her make-up artist's number.

photo credit: left & right 

Here are some tips Dee from Swell Beauty gave me to prepare for my trial:

-SWELL BEAUTY'S HELPFUL PREVIEW TIPS-

- Have a clean face if necessary.

- Bring pictures/ magazine tear outs of Makeup that you admire (not required) we will have some inspirations.

- Have Dress/Jewelry or pictures of these things,helpful to you during Preview Pictures.

-We will discuss your ideal look for your Wedding, ask you questions, such as colors,including bouquets, dress and color of your jewelry and/or accessories, to coordinate your overall look.

 - Once we complete your first desired Makeup look, we will put your jewelry on, and take Pictures and if requested we will do one more Makeup look and take another set of pictures.

- We will spend a bit more time on your Makeup during your Trial appointment, so we can get to know your skin type and what products work best for your desired look and discuss Details.

Do you have any bridal beauty tips?? Feel free to share!

I'll let you know how my trial goes!!!! :-)

Gold Glitter Mason Jar DIY

I'm sure you have seen the gold spray painted mason jar by now, right? Well, I wanted to take it one step further and glitter-ify one. Beware, this one can get a little messy (if you consider having glitter everywhere "messy". I prefer to think of it as fabulous.

Supplies Needed:

• Glitter (Any color, any kind. I used Martha Stewart "Smoky Quartz" found at Michaels.)
• Glue (I used Martha Stewart Glitter Glue. Regular glue works but it doesn't hold on the glitter as well over time.)
• Mason Jar ( Or any jar for that matter!)

Start by painting the entire area with glue. Glitter Glue has a built in brush making it easy to slap a coat of glue quickly and easily over the whole area.

Pour glitter over the mason jar and roll it around in a pile of glitter. I confined my glitter in a box as you tend to pour much more than is needed. With your fingers fill in any missing spots so the entire thing is glittery awesomeness.

And there you have it! Easy as pie :) A finished glittery mason jar to make those flowers even prettier than they were before! Check it out:

Anyone up for trying a fun DIY? Woud love to see what you do with a little glitter and glue! Instagram a photo and tag it with @engagedinspired so I can see it!

Cruising Through Your Honeymoon

Have you ever considered a cruise? Until recently, the concept didn't seem all too appealing to me, but with a short amount of time to getaway and a huge list of "must-sees" I started warming up to the idea.

The locations on my agenda are Italy + Greece. Ideally, I would like to fly into Italy, stay there for 2 nights, then embark on a fabulous 12 day cruise to the islands of Greece. After much research of all the cruise lines, packages, prices, etc. I became partial to Holland America. Cruise ships are super small so I want something that is at least luxurious in the process. They offered tons of packages (although none were totally exact) I found a few I would   Mediterranean Romance was nice, but Mediterranean Tapestry was the clear winner. Road map listed below:

The prices are affordable (since ship quarters are tight, I would opt for at least Ocean View if not Verandah). Total trip cost: under $6,000 for two people. Not to mention the lack of stress that occurs when you choose the all-inclusive route.

Would you cruise for your honeymoon? How about as an anniversary trip?

Girly Time {Flower Girls}

Last week I sent cute little cards to my four flower girls (my 2 nieces and Kyle's 2 nieces) officially asking them to be in my wedding entourage, and they agreed! Lucky me! They're all so adorable, I cant wait to see them all dressed up and ready to lead the way down the aisle. Now I get the fun task of choosing what they're going to wear. And I love shopping. Particularly virtual window shopping. (Does that make me a bit strange?)

I really love this modern, sort-of bohemian princess look with the long tulle skirt and the the flowers in their hair.

sourced from Style Me Pretty, photos by Sara Donaldson

Or I can go with the always-a-good-choice clothing shop, J. Crew. I mean, let's face it, everyone else in my wedding is wearing J. Crew. I may as well put everyone in their beautiful clothes!

top: Style Me Pretty, photo by KT Merry; left: Brides, photo by Jose Villa; right: Style Me Pretty, photo by Veil and Bow

I really love all of the white dress options and their sparkly flats!

J. Crew dress and shoes

I've also heard of brides who are way cooler than me that let their flower girls dress up as their favorite character and dance down the aisle. How great would that be for them?!

What are your flower girls wearing? Which style do you like better of the two above? I need to start making some decisions!

Choosing a Hairdo for "I do"

One of the biggest things I worry about for the big day is my hair. Folks I'm gonna be real honest with you here, my hair kinda sucks.The color? Great!So blessed! But styling is a no-go the majority of the time. I actually wear my hair down most of the time and it's just straight with a mind of it's own. Hairspray only seems to anger it and it laughs at my pathetic attempts to curl it. It gets a great frizz when on the beach and even takes what would be a nice wave for some people to the "did she put her finger in a light socket?" level. So what's a girl to do? If you're answering scour the web for options and including a "please let me hair not suck that day" in my nightly prayer, you would be correct (and a tad overdramatic...). So here's what I'm loving...

Down with curls and a hairpiece. I'm initially drawn to this option since down is sort of my signature. But with uncooperative hair and lots of dancing, I doubt this will be a realistic option. But look at these options! How can you resist?

Source: Green Wedding Shoes, Martha Stewart Weddings

Braids! There is something so romantic and sweet about braids. I  love that you can do something sleek and sophisticated or messy and beautiful.

Source: Delightfully Tacky, Style Me Pretty, Hair and Make-up By Steph

Half up seems like a great compromise to having my hair down, but I still worry about what the ends would look like at the end of the night.

Source: Martha Stewart Weddings, ImgFave

Up, up and away! These are something beautiful to look at  and and with a great hairstylist should look great the whole night.

Source: Style Me Pretty, MODWedding

I'm in the processing of getting the info for a potential hairstylist and I have lot's of time to decided what I want, but it's one of the big unknown's right now. (Which I hate unknowns!)

Which is your favorite?  Any advice you could offer me?

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Candid Photography {worth a thousand words}

This week I'm looking at photographers and discovering I'm drawn to all the amazing candid shots. Don't get me wrong, I love posed photos just as much as the next girl, but I think what sets great wedding photographers apart are the moments they are able to capture when no one is expecting it.

Sources: all Style Me Pretty

This week I'm going to Mexico for a friends' combined bachelor/bachelorette party. Finding a photographer will be next on my list when I return from vacation. I can't wait to keep looking! I am hoping photographers will be open to Skype meetings, at least until we narrow it down.

Follow up to last week's post - while I loved the dresses at Amy Kuschel, I don't think I found the dress for me, so the search continues!

Until next week!

falling in love with {fall weddings}

Ok E&I brides, I am now just 47 days away from my wedding day- that's just 6 1/2 weeks away, people!  Here's what I've been up to lately:

• The invitations have been sent out! They're gorgeous and I LOVE them :)
• I had my first wedding dress fitting- if I wasn't nervous/excited before, well, I am now!
• We met with the wedding singer (live Italian opera singer btw)
• I had my GORGEOUS bridal shower in LA hosted by Vinnie's aunt Teri, Debbie, and Sally :)
• Vinnie got fitted in his custom suite

There is still plenty to do, but as you can see these last couple weeks have been BUSY for us.

To give myself a little break from my own wedding planning I chose to blog about fall weddings in general. Living in LA we don't have the luxury of having a TRUE Autumn season... at least not like the beautiful foliage I enjoyed while living in Eugene, Oregon :)

Enjoy this fall wedding inspiration!

Photo Credits: Martha Stewart

Photo Credits: Martha Stewart

Photo Credits: Left, Top Right, Bottom Right

Photo Credit: Green Wedding Shoes

Thanks for reading everyone! Stay tuned for my next few posts.... I'll be cake tasting; taking you through Vinnie's custom suit fitting, and giving you some work out tips from a personal trainer at the Biggest Loser Ranch! ;-)

See you next Tuesday!

It's Here.

Nearly a year of blogging. Two years of planning. Nine and a half years together. I can't believe that after all this time, our wedding day is upon us. We're now in the final days and my house is a disaster, covered with craft projects, spreadsheets, wedding gifts, and beauty products. I pick up the dress on Wednesday, nails and facial on Thursday and then head up to Sebastopol on Friday!

Remember where we've been? Our inspiration, obsessing over the wedding dress, the bridesmaid dress dilema, making save the dates and invitations? It has all come together and I can't wait to see the end result.

I'm so excited for the big day. I know once Saturday rolls around, the stress will melt away, the excitement and joy will set in and we'll get to enjoy being surrounded by our favorite people. I have a feeling I'll feel a little bit like this...

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

And, if all else fails, we're heading to France a week from today! :)

So any advice for the big day?!

Crazy for Confetti

Now that our venue is about 98% booked (just waiting for them to confirm that they received our check in the mail), I can start to think about some of the smaller details for our wedding, like confetti! Who doesn't love confetti and the awesome photo ops it provides?

Source: Tamara Lackey Photography

For our wedding, I would love to have something colorful thrown at us our way back down the aisle after we are pronounced husband and wife. Colorful possibilities include flower petals, colorful sprinkles, paper confetti (would have to be biodegradable for our venue), pom poms, dried lavender or streamers.

Source: EP Love

So, how did the rice/confetti tradition come about? Throwing rice at a newlywed couple is an ancient tradition that is meant to bring good luck, and more importantly, it symbolizes fertility. Sounds great to me! Unfortunately rice throwing is an ancient tradition now mostly because venues don’t allow it.

Sources:1, Braedon Flynn & Diana Rush

If you have spent anytime on the Pinterest wedding boards, you have probably already seen the above pin that tells brides to throw sprinkles at their wedding instead of rice because the photos will turn out amazing. I love anything sugary, so incorporating sprinkles sounded fun to me until I read wedding coordinator Danielle Pasternak's advise. She points out that, "if any of your guests hands are sweating as they are holding the sprinkles – or if it’s a little humid out – the color from the sprinkle will loosen and very likely end up on your gorgeous, white gown." So, sprinkles are off the table for us.

Sources: Closer To Love & KT Merry Photography

I am leaning towards having lavender tossed because it would be easy to acquire (locally it grows like a weed), it fits with our venue, and has an amazing color and aroma.

 

Sources: 1, Dixie Pixel Photography &  Shell de Mar

Are you planning on having anything tossed, thrown or shaken at your wedding? How did you decide?

Coral + Teal DIY Wedding

It looked like a beautifully sunny day in Virginia for Annamarie and Ryan's wedding day at the Virginia Center for Architecture. The gorgeous couple got especially creative and crafty! Look at the details of their wedding, coordinating such pops of quirky color to capture such a country-themed wedding! They used the effect of a bright teal truck in their background, gave away jars of jam, a cute DIY themed photobooth, and fun floral arrangements. Thanks to Katelyn James for shooting these images.

All the stunning photography is done by Katelyn James.