Milkfed Press Stationary Giveaway

Victoria, the design genius and creator behind Milkfed Press is one of the most raved about stationary and invitation work in Northern California. All her work is custom designed that is catered to her client's needs and combines every bit of craftsmanship possible: binding, typography, design, and letter press printing- with a very antique touch! Look at some of her work:

We love her! And we want to share some of her work with you with another giveaway! Here's what you have to do:

Like the Milkfed Press Facebook page & our Engaged&Inspired Facebook page,

Email me your name and address to EngagedandInspiredNatalie@gmail.com-

and the first to do this will have 7 Shake It! 8 1/2 x 11 Letterpress Prints mailed to them!

Good Luck!

and congratulations to Dalena Nguyen for winning last week's Milk&Honey Shoe Competition!

Here is her shoe design here!

What To Do With Your Wedding Dress After

I got married a year and a half ago. To this day my dress has been hanging around my house waiting for something to happen to it. This day and age, what do people do with wedding dresses?!

There are a few obvious options, preserving it, selling it, or keeping it in the closet with hopes that your daughter will "say yes to your dress".

Unfortunately I am not one of those sentimental people that wants to hold onto my dress for my future daughter. I hope to heavens that she is cool enough to have her own style and her own wedding day look. I really don't want to force it upon her because I have been holding it for 30 years. The whole concept just doesn't seem all too practical to me.

As for the sentimental side, I did take some of the petals from the bottom and add them to my wedding shadowbox in the form of a flower to keep a piece of my dress forever. But the whole thing? I don't really need it sitting around!

Another idea was to preserve it. I feel like that is even less practical seeing as it is sitting in a box that you can't even open! That just seems like a real pain.

I tried selling it with little luck. Maybe I should try that one again. I was hoping the concept of used wedding dresses would become a much bigger ecosystem. Not just for my sake, but for practicality's sake.

After months hung on the door to my crafting closet, I HAD to move it. My office is far too full as it is. Finally I nailed a nail into the wall of the guest bedroom and hung it there so it was out of the way and added a tinge of decor to the room. It is fine there, but of course I worry about it.

So now what? What is everyone doing or planning on doing with their dress after the big day? Would love some ideas or suggestions to help me out a little as I am starting to feel a little stumped on the whole thing.

Holman Ranch Wedding: Where To Stay

I am incredibly lucky that I have the chance to go to my wedding venue all the time. After getting married at Holman Ranch I started doing a lot of wedding coordination, planning and design work there and I absolutely love every second of it. After getting insanely familar with the area, I now would have done some things different for my own wedding. I don't regret what I did at all, but I thought I would share for all you Holman Ranch or Carmel Valley brides that need a little direction with booking rooms

We stayed at a small cottage style hotel in Carmel-By-The-Sea for the wedding. It was super cute & quaint and all my girls and I fit into the suite at the hotel. Though it was utterly my fault, in the end, that was my biggest regret. First, I wouldn't have put myself in the suite. People were coming in and out of there all night the night before and all morning the day of because it was the only room that could fit 20 people and it has cute balconies. All I really wanted was just a little peace and quiet, but unfortunately the big suite turned into the party spot!

Second, we booked out the entire hotel. I really like the idea of everyone staying in the same spot, and I used to think booking out the hotel was awesome, but I have since changed my tune a little. At night, everyone wants to hang out with the guests of honor in the biggest room on the property. I'm not saying I didn't want to hang, but it would have been nice to escape for 5 mins to a little peace and quiet if I wanted to. The morning was equally overwhelming the morning of the wedding (becuase of all the people that wanted to hang out in my room while I was trying to get ready!)

If I did it again, I would have booked my room at Bernardus Lodge, and left it as option for people if they wanted to spend that kind of money. It is very close to Holman Ranch and it has since become one of my favorite spots to go.

There aren't tons of rooms but the grounds are large giving people a few more options than hanging out in my suite the morning of the wedding. They have a pool, bocce ball, huge patios with firepits, and a restaurant which would have given me the fun factor I wanted, but also the space I needed at times. Since it is only 10 minutes from Holman Ranch instead of 30, it also would have been much better for the schedule. :) Which I was a crazy person about following.

That is what I would have done. Another great option is the Carmel Mission Inn. It is pretty nice and actually fairly inexpensive giving a good alternative to Bernardus pricing.

Watercolor Wonderment

Tomorrow will be the 3 month mark for our wedding day. EEK!! Time to start thinking about our invitations. We want to somehow relate them to our fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants Save the Dates, except without all the pirates... I'm really in love with the idea of incorporating watercolor, because that brings in a little of the water element of the Save the Dates, and, well, it's just darn pretty. Watercolor stationary is popping up more and more, and I just think it's so romantic.

love & lobster

Plus the watercoloring adds that handmade element that we loved (and loathed) about our Save the Dates.

source: jtru designs; invites by wedding paper divas (left and right)

Here's even a cute little DIY for that beautiful white font look I love!

Check out the step-by-step for these gorgeous "Will You Be My Bridesmaid?" cards over at Glamour & Grace. Just stunning! I wish I had been that creative for my girls.

What do you think of the new watercolor trend? Yay or nay?

My Guide to Bridal Shows

My first experience with a bridal show was an awful one. I don't know if there was one definite thing that made it horrible, in fact I'm pretty sure it was several things. During my visit to a bridal show I made several mistakes from when I arrived and not preparing for all of the information I was going to have to carry around. I was lucky enough to have the Mister to accompany me and carry everything and since I am an introvert, he also started the conversations with most of the vendors we wanted to talk to. At the end of it all, I vowed never to return to one EVER again. [Spoiler alert! I'm going to another one!] I don't want anyone to be discouraged from attending bridal shows upon reading this. In fact, I want to encourage people to visit them no matter what stage of planning you're in. Not only are bridal shows a wealth of information, but many vendors offer discounts and many times you can be entered into drawing for free stuff! So here are my tips!

Source: My photo, Agape Creative Studios

Who - It's important to consider exactly who to bring with you to the bridal show. You're going to want to bring someone who is interested in your wedding planning and someone who can help you think things over and keep you from booking things impulsively. Bringing friends can be fun and it can make a great girls outing. Bringing family members such as your mom, mother in-law or sister can help make them feel included but they can easily overwhelm you with their own opinions if they're out spoken. Bringing your fiancee along can be fun, but remember that some guys aren't too interested in things like that. First consider if your guy would be okay going with you in the first place. If he doesn't don't take offense! I'm sure he will help in other ways! If this is the case sit down and discuss with him what you'd like to get out of the experience and what your plan of action should be if you find a vendor your're interested in. If your mister does come, remember that he may find other guys that were drug to the event by their significant others and catch up on the score for the big game. (There always seems to be a game of some sort that fall on these days.) If your man stands by you the whole day (congrats!) make sure to reward him! Treat him to a guy movie or beer after and let him know how great it was to have him by your side.

What - So what exactly should you bring to this? Remember that many vendors are going to want your information! So bring a pen (and your willingness to write the same info many times) or even prepare ahead with label sheets containing your information. It should be your name and contact information (mailing address, phone number and email). Bonus points for adding your wedding date also! This will save you time and save your wrist! I also recommend bringing a bag of some sort or have extra room in your purse. Most bridal shows provide you with a bag to store your goodies, but if they run out you don't want to be stuck lugging piles of paper from booth to booth. Lastly, you're going to be on your feet for several hours, so make sure you have shoes you're comfortable in!

When - When you attend the show (and which show if there are multiple in your area) really depends on how good you are with crowds and what features they have through the day. (I should note that the Mister compared it to a girls version of Comic-Con). Sometimes there are several different shows put on during different times of the year. Make sure to look into which vendors will be attending the upcoming show and which will meet what you're looking for. For example there is a local bridal company here in Fresno that put on a bridal show twice a year. One is smaller than the other which would be better suited for those who tend to shy away from big crowds but may not have some of the smaller vendors in attendance. If you choose the bigger show and are not a fan of crowds, try attending earlier in the day when less people are likely to be there.

Source: Premier Bride Showplace

I plan on attending another bridal show and hope to apply these tips. I anticipate having much more success this time around and will report back on how it goes!

Does you have any bridal shows local or travel to attend any? What was your experience? Do you have any other tips I may have missed? I'd love to hear your feedback!

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{Wedding Planning} : What I Leaned From Planning My Dream Wedding

Did you like the sneak peek I shared with you? A big thanks to Cassi Claire for those beautiful images. Also for this incredible graphic she made for my facebook page.

Amazing, right?

After planning our wedding for the past 17 months, I'd like to think I learned a thing or two. Overall I am happy with the result but there are definitely a few things I would have done differently.

{Wedding Day Advice}

Be Prepared for the Unexpected...

Everyone always tells you that things will go wrong. Deep down I knew this, but truly didn't believe that much could possibly go wrong after all of my meticulous planning. Well- let me tell you...I felt like a million things went wrong! Starting with the day of the rehearsal, I left an important bag at my florist, an hour away from my house! She called me and left a voicemail which I received shortly after driving the hour home from our initial meeting. I for the life of me could not understand why this was happening on a day when I had so much to do, but, of course, it ended up working out. My dad offered to drive me there to pick up the bag, and then we went to lunch. It was a perfect little father-daughter afternoon on my last day as a single lady and one of my most treasured moments from the weekend : )

Other things went wrong too. During the ceremony, our reader read the wrong passage first and then abruptly stopped in the middle of the second reading and just sat down, I forgot props I made and pictures I wanted to get, and we had about 10 minutes to take bride/groom photos but the funny thing is that everyone kept commenting how flawlessly the entire day went. Nobody knew the difference when it came to the readings and thanks to our awesome photographer, we only needed 10 minutes to nail the shot. So I guess the take away here is that nobody even noticed all the little things I thought went wrong.

*A Word About Contracts Be careful what you agree to in your contracts. Agree to the minimum you think you will need. Vendors will always let you add more services, but not all vendors will be flexible in removing services from an agreed upon contract. For example, the minimum number of people to reserve the room we got married in was 50, which we knew we would have. So when the hotel asked us for an estimated number of guests we told them 125-150. They went ahead and listed 125 on our contract as our minimum number of guests and held us to that number when it came time to pay the final balance. Luckily, we were only 3 people short, and they allowed us to use those 3 people to count as vendor meals, but then the night of the wedding, an additional 4 people (who we already paid for) just didn't show up. Live and learn.

On the other hand, when I originally met with our florist, I ordered church altar pieces. After meeting with our church, they expressed a preference for a different florist, one they usually work with. I called my wedding florist and asked to remove the altar pieces from the contract and they did it no problem. Just something to be aware of.

*People Will Surprise You People will disappoint you. People who I thought wouldn't miss our wedding for the world weren't there, people who told us they were coming, just didn't show up and people came to our wedding, stayed over in the hotel and didn't give us a gift. It happens. There were also those people were amazingly supportive, and sometimes its the last people you expect it to be.  Your true friends and family will support you no matter what and those are the people you want to celebrate with.

Thank you for reading, following and encouraging me during this process. I will miss blogging here each week!  I hope you will keep up with me over at The East Coast Bride or on Pinterest.

Personalized Wedding Invitations

This past week my fiance and I have been working on our guest list...one of the toughest tasks thus far in wedding planning. On the positive side, it has made me start thinking about the invitations. I'm really excited to pick how ours will look and figure out ways to make them personalized to us and our wedding location. I love paper goods so the invites are important to me. They are also one of the first impressions your guests will have of the wedding and include some very important details for making sure everyone makes it to your big day (or weekend)! I don't really know what I want to have them look like beyond going with our venue (outside, bed and breakfast near Mount Hood in Oregon) and fitting with our personalities and wedding color palette. So, I did some searching for inspiration. I like a wide variety of styles, from casual and quirky to more formal and traditional, colorful to black and white, and so on.

Here are some of the invitations that are inspiring me...

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At first glance these seem more traditional, but when you look a little closer, there are some great details and unique aspects like the accordion-folded invite.

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I love when maps are included!

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Liking the calligraphy and lace on these.

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These are super fun and personal - they used their dog! And took inspiration from chalkboard writing since the couple met in grade school.

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Incorporating the mountain that will be the backdrop to our vows. ?

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How did you pick your wedding invitations?

The Second Most Important Attire {Grooms Wear}

The bride's dress usually steals the show, but I think the groom also needs to get a little love in the attire department and what he is sporting on the big day.

Source

My Mr definitely had an opinion about what he wanted to wear, which I love. No, he did not pick out a powder blue suit, but he did have an opinion on what the groomsmen wore and how coordinated all the guys looked. We decided to rent the suits for the guys as our bridal state is spread throughout the state. To help us in the decision making we also brought along the best man so we had a final decision maker.

Source: Left, Right

I am very pleased to report that both guys picked the same suit and tie the minute that we walked into the tux rental shop. I automatically loved what they picked and couldn't be happier with the choice. Here is a little inspiration board that I put together before we went searching just to give the people at the store an idea of what we were looking for and styles the guys preferred.

 

 Source: 1, 2, 3, 4

Here are a few tips that will help make getting your groom outfitted an enjoyable and easier processes:

• Bring a swatch of the fabric that matches your dress. You wouldn't believe how many shades of white there are out there. Having the swatch with you will allow you to see how your dress is going to look next to your groom and the groomsmen and ensure that you compliment each other.

• Along with a swatch of your dress also bring a swatch of the bridesmaids dresses. This will make it easier to match colors and ensure they don't compete.

• Book an appointment! Not only does this ensure that you will get in and out of the store in a reasonable time, but some store give you a kick back because you booked an appointment. In our case, the whole party got their shoes upgraded.

• Even if you didn't attend a bridal show, ask anyways about bridal show discounts and specials. Often times the salesperson will extend the offer to you even if you didn't attend. In our case, we received several gift cards and the Mr's tux complimentary. It doesn't hurt to ask!

• Ask if the store actually has samples available for your guy to try on. This was a big thing for me and my Mr. I am a very visual person an ordering an entire outfit from a small swatch of fabric scared me. Not to mention you don't see how the whole thing will look  until a few days before the wedding when you pick up your rental. We actually ended up changing where we got our grooms wear from because of this. The rental company that we ended up choosing actually does a grooms preview. Think second fitting for the groom. They will bring the shirt, pants, jacket and all the accessories that you ordered and allow the groom to try it out and make sure you are happy with what you will be getting for the big day. I am very excited to see the whole thing put together when we go back in September.

So, what did you do for grooms wear? Rent? Buy? I want to know!

Heather

{hiip} bridesmaids' gifts

August is half way over, which means I am getting that much closer to my wedding day! 2 1/2 months to go, people!! It feels good to look back and see how much I've accomplished during my many months of planning... and blogging.  And since the big ticket items are pretty much taken care of, it's now time to hammer out the details... not just make Pinterest boards about them ;-) I have 8 lovely bridesmaids, all of whom are very important women in my life. I want to show them my gratitude by giving them gifts that are unique, practical, sentimental, and have a handmade-loving touch. I imagine giving my maids a bag of some sort filled with goodies... perhaps even a piece of jewelry that they can wear that day.

As I was scouring the internet I noticed on facebook that many of my girlfriends back home in San Francisco were talking about how much they love their new "Hiip" bags. As I did some more research I discovered that these awesome bags were created by an old friend whom I went to high school with, Nicole Flowers. I went to her web site to see the bag styles and was pleasantly surprised to find that not only are these bags fashionably chic, they are also for a great cause!! Read more about the Hiip story and how Nicole is giving back to the community with every bag she sells. VISIT:  http://www.hiipsf.com/home/

Here's what Nicole had to say about how Hiip bags can be a fun and resourceful gift for brides & their maids, " It's ideal because it's the perfect kit for your day of planning: you can stock it with bra tape, lipgloss/stick, bobby pins, even touch-up cream; wear it around (hands-free for all the bridal stuff you'll be carrying!) to various appointments; and then use it as a clutch for the party. With so many colors and patterns to choose from, there will definitely be one that fits with the color scheme of the wedding.  All this while giving back to another in need making it an automatic karmic bonus on your special day."

I can't wait to surprise my girls with one of these bags and fill it with goodies for getting ready on my big day.... I may even customize them by having their initials embroidered. It feels SO good to give a gift that keeps on giving :) Thank you Nicole, for the contribution that you are to the San Francisco community.... and beyond!

What are you giving to your maids on your wedding? Have any creative and thoughtful gift ideas? Please do share!

xo, Taya

Get with the Program

We have officially six weeks to go until the wedding...holy moley! We've been knocking things off the to-do list left and right and next on my list is designing the wedding programs. I'm not sure I realized there were so many adorable options for programs! First I need to decide on a design direction.

I love the cute graphics on these programs. Silhouettes are really easy to do with some basic Photoshop skills, and I love the idea of some of the clip-art graphics. Sheet music is another sweet way to make them feel special (maybe with your first dance song?).

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I also love the look of these simple, type-based programs. Pretty, and to the point.

1, 2

For those of you who've been following me for a while now, you know that I love anything with a little personality or humor infused. I love the tongue-in-cheek wording of these programs. And, yes, this is the second cootie-catcher I've posted here. Dan and I did meet in middle school, after all :)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

I also need to decide how we are going to display and distribute the programs. The rolled programs are quite romantic, the rustic box is really charming and the backs of chairs feels nice and practical. Decisions, decisions!

1, 2, 3

So, what do you think? What's your favorite?