wedding details reveal: hair and makeup

i am super excited to share another wedding detail with you today: my hair and makeup artist, carley martin! let me tell you, i spent a LOT of time looking through different artists' portfolios and none of them really captured what i was looking for my bridal style except carley's. i haven't even told her this yet, but she was the only artist in chicago i was interested in. everything else seemed too "bridal." maybe that's crazy for a bride to say, but i don't want to look like a bride. i want to look like me. but better. carley's work is gorgeous and i love her fashion work. not to mention, her reviews on yelp are glowing. 

seriously, how cute is she? we had the best time at my trial and carley was the consummate professional. we spent about 15 minutes at the beginning going through my inspiration photos and talking about the big day. what i loved about her approach was the continuous dialogue - we made decisions together as the trial went along and the final product was exactly what i wanted! i'm so excited to have her and her team there on my wedding day to make me beautiful!

here are some of my favorite beauty and bridal photos from carley's portfolio. aren't they gorgeous?

 images courtesy of carley martin

sending a personal thanks

with our wedding just 4 months away (eee!) i'm starting to finalize the little details that will hopefully pull everything together and add a unique and personal touch. i stumbled across pink lily press on etsy and fell in love with jennifer's designs. 

i ordered these personalized thank yous and couldn't be happier! how cute are they??

image courtesy of pink lily press

wedding details reveal: Liquid Courage Flasks

who's excited for another wedding detail reveal? let's just say i've been on a roll, scouring the interwebs for unique artists and vendors that can help make our wedding extra special.

j and i have been thinking about what gifts to get our wedding party, but couldn't come up with anything truly awesome until i came across liquid courage flasks.

i love the idea of giving a personalized gift and liquid courage was the perfect choice to partner with for the groomsmen gifts! if you like monogramming as much as i do, you'll love their personalized flasks, which come in dozens of designs. here are my fave for the ladies:

but since the flasks are for the boys, i had to concentrate on something a little more manly and settled on these. aren't they hilarious?? i know for a fact at least two of the five groomies have a serious fondness for their facial hair, so i'm pretty sure they're going to get a kick out of these flasks.

images courtesy of liquid courage flasks

each groomsmen is getting a different mustache/beard and his name underneath. i'm giggling just thinking about the boys opening these. they will love them! so, which mustache is your fave? 

wedding details reveal: the ring

so, j asked me the other day why i never blogged about the insanely gorgeous and sparkly ring he gave me when he proposed. truth is, i absolutely love it, but i didn't want to come across as showy. but hey, i've shared almost everything else about our wedding, so here you are. isn't it amazing? and i am serious when i say he is 100% responsible for the ring. i found out later that he had the setting designed in nyc, got the diamond online, and had it set here in chicago. the fact he put so much thought and time into creating the perfect ring means more to me than diamonds. but i'll certainly take the diamonds too!

and a little update for you...this is where j proposed. you have to know first that i have a thing for gazebos. love them. i think they're so cute and romantic and Lord knows how j found this one, but i was floored. all wraught iron with the beautiful lighted orbs... so dreamy.

photos taken by j

wedding details reveal: Pom Flair partyware!

i'm excited to kick off the week by sharing a fun wedding detail reveal! i am beyond thrilled to be partnering with Pom Flair for more wedding decor for our big day!

Pom Flair is creating a custom tassel garland for our wedding, but they also can create custom orders of poms, pomettes and pew decorations! their website catalogs the color schemes for the gorgeous garland and has great "how to" videos for fluffing your poms. they also have an etsy store, which is how i found them! be sure to check them out on facebook and twitter and follow Pom Flair on pinterest for real weddings and inspiration pictures!

images courtesy of Pom Flair

wedding details reveal: Paperwhite {Designs} pom poms!

i am thrilled to introduce you today to Paperwhite {Designs}, a seriously gorgeous online store, specializing in pom poms, hair poms, pennant banners and stationary! Paperwhite {Designs} has something for everyone, offering color customization for custom orders and pre-arranged color packages, which can be found on etsy.

i cannot WAIT to receive my custom pom poms and rest assured you will be seeing pictures of these gorgeous poms adding the perfect touch of whimsy to our big day!

follow Paperwhite {Designs} on facebook for exclusive promo codes and visit their etsy store to see their full offering of pom poms, banners and more!

images courtesy of paperwhite designs

bridal shower inspiration

i recently shared the bridal shower invitations my maids of honor chose for my shower in february. they totally and completely captured my aesthetic and tastes in the invitations - elegant and girly - and i absolutely love them! can't wait to see the bachelorette party invites!

since the engagement, i've had so much fun perusing wedding sites and blogs and i thought i would share the bridal shower inspiration board i created. while you're there, you should check out the wedding board i made too. lots of gorgeous inspiration!

via

wedding details reveal: photographer

i am so excited to share another detail about our wedding - our photographer! my fiance gets all the credit for finding lorenzo de gregorio and i couldn't be happier with our choice! my fiance, j, is an amateur photographer, so he was happy to research photogs in chicago. we knew what we wanted: beautiful, romantic shots, that would capture the feeling and emotion of the day. we wanted someone who would record little moments that would always remind us what it felt like on our wedding day.

lorenzo is a photojournalist and has the same philosophy about wedding photos as we do. on his website it reads:

"if you like my pictures i believe it's because you think photography is not only a mean to snap formally correct portraits but an instrument to portray emotions and tell stories one couldn't put in words."

just perfect.

be sure to check out his portfolio and blog. they are amazing! here are a few of my favorites:

images: lorenzo de gregorio via

wedding details reveal: rehearsal dinner dress

i am really excited to present this little detail for the wedding. i have had my eye on this gorgeous tibi lace shift for weeks! i love the delicate lace, the scalloped edging, the three quarter sleeves...everything. it was definitely a splurge, but i snagged a great deal online!

via

wedding details reveal: bridal shower invitations

i am super excited to share another wedding detail with you today! my amazing maids of honor picked out and designed the bridal shower invitation below. it is a perfect blend of elegant and girly and i absolutely love it!

via minted

wedding details reveal: save the dates!

i started the "wedding details reveal" series to share details about our upcoming wedding. i haven't shared anything recently because we've been in a bit of a planning lull, so i'm excited to share our save the dates today!

my super talented friend, liz, designed these beauties and i just love the way they turned out! she was super patient with all my questions and my requests to try out different fonts, designs, etc. we decided on postcards, to keep things easy and eco-friendly and scaled them to 4.5x6.25. the back of the postcard has a smaller version of the rose and our wedding website. i bought recycled card stock at paper source (the sales girls are my bffs now) and kinkos is in the process of printing! yay!

i'm not sure how the color looks on your screens, but what looks like pink on mine is actually peach when printed. what do you think??

save the date inspiration

i was so hoping to have the special guest post and giveaway i mentioned on monday ready for you today, but i'm still working out details with the vendor. so sorry!

annie over at THE NOW shared her gorgeous save the dates yesterday, which reminded me that i need to get going on mine! we're still nine months away from the wedding, but we want to send out save the dates a bit early since our wedding will be on a friday.

my super talented friend, liz, has agreed to design our save the dates (yay!), so i started a pinterest board of designs i like for her. after pouring dozens of designs, i realized i'm drawn to more modern styles, which surprised me! below are my favorites. which one is your fave?

minted, wedding paper divas, bellafigura