Swoozie's Bridal Party Event ~ Norcross Photographer

Swoozie's at the Forum in Norcross held their second Bridal Showcase of 2011 last week. As always ~ it was an awesome event. It is great to hang out with brides-to-be, local vendors, and the amazing Swoozie's Ladies. Congrats to all the ladies that won the great prizes. Here are a few photos from the evening...









The vendors included Gigi's Cupcakes, The Pen Palette andBelk.

For all those brides & grooms-to-be, don't forget to enter the Peach Blossom Photography Bridal Giveaway. You can enter to win a free engagement shoot, 50 Save the dates, and more fun stuff!!! Check out the blog post and leave a comment: http://peachblossomphotography.blogspot.com/2011/05/amazing-bridal-giveaway.html
Contest ends June 30th!!!

Cheers,

D-I-Y Starfish Details

For me - details are uber important and they really add the special touches to make every wedding reflect the personality of the bride and groom! But, for the every day bride having a wedding planner/designer do everything for you is not always an affordable option. This was the case for our wedding! I wanted a lot of unique touches but I wasn’t going to shell out tons of cash on the little details Brent and I could do ourselves! So I googled beach weddings and came up with a list of DIY projects using starfish and shells that I wanted to incorporate in our wedding…. And here is how I made them! Once again Cat did an amazing job capturing all the details!

~Starfish Boutonnières~

Materials:

2” Sugar Starfish

Hot Glue Gun

Silver Pin Back

Super easy! Hot Glue the starfish onto the pin back and let dry. I would suggest making a couple extra incase the starfish break.

~Starfish Aisle Decorations~

Materials:

6” Sugar Starfish

2” Satin Ribbon

1.5” Satin Ribbon

Double Sided tape

Hot Glue Gun

Cut both sizes of ribbon into 34” strips. Use the double-sided tape to secure the 1.5” onto the 2” ribbon. Fold one side over the other to desired loop for your ceremony chairs. Secure loop with a hot glue and let dry. Once dry, you can hot glue the starfish into the center. Use enough glue so the starfish won’t fall off due to weight.

~Starfish Program Fans~

WARNING: This project took forever! you will want to have your bridesmaids help!

Materials:

Straw Fans (order off internet)

2" Sugar Starfish

1.5" and 5/8" Satin Ribbon in wedding colors

Pearl Cardstock

Hot-Glue gun

It took my bridesmaid Jess and I about 3 hours to wrap all 46 fan handles with ribbon 1.5" ribbon and set it with a drop of hot glue. My husband (then fiance) spent about an 1.5 hours hot glueing on starfish. Then my wedding planner Kelly put holes in all the programs and tied them on the fan with a piece of ribbon. I had pre-designed the 4x6 programs in photoshop then had them professionally printed. Pearl Cardstock needs to be used with a laser printer.

~Shabby Chic Starfish Wedding Signs~

Materials:

Wood

Acrylic Paint

Starfish

Shells

Ribbon

Sandpaper

Chocolate Brown spray paint

#2 pencil

Paint brushes in different sizes

Day 1: Cut wood to desired size or buy wood pre-cut from craft store. Sand down edges if needed. Coat entire surface with chocolate brown spray paint and let dry.

Day 2: Paint 2 coats of light ivory acrylic paint and let it dry overnight.

Day 3: Sketch on wording and designs with pencil and paint design with desired acrylic colors. Let dry overnight

Day 4: Lightly sandoff edges and sides to the desired “shabby chic” look is acquired. Hot-glue on starfish and shells for more character.

Here is a link to the youtube tutorial we used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5OCDMsGvJM

Warning: Brent and I spent 2 weeks working on our wedding signs. I would paint wording and designs and then not like it so I would wipe everything clean with 2 coats of light ivory acrylic. It took a few tries to get them exactly how I wanted them. However, the night before were leaving Atlanta to drive to Key West, Brent used a finishing clear coat on all the signs and it turned most of our signs yellow and dingy (all but 2). ALWAYS use a test piece for each new can of clear coat before spraying your signs especially if you have a light colored base. The first can didn’t turn anything yellow but the second can did.

I was able to find most of the materials for all my projects at Michaels. Check http://www.michaels.com/ for coupons before you go into your local store! Be patient with you projects… and realize that sometimes they don’t work out. If that happens, pop a bottle of cheap champagne and celebrate that you are still getting married to your best friend. ( yes- popping a bottle of cheap champagne was my solution to every piece of wedding planning drama!)

For more info on my wedding vendors including discounts and a chance to win a free engagement session in June - visit the following posts:

Detail's & Discount's

The Amazing Bridal Giveaway!

Julie's Do's and Don'ts for Destination Brides

Cheers,

The Amazing Bridal Giveaway!!

Planning a wedding can be stressful…so I have put together an amazing little giveaway to add some excitement to your planning! Thanks to some of the vendors from my own wedding... we have some real unique goodies for one lucky bride-to-be! You do not have to be in Atlanta to win- we will make sure all items are shipped to you. The E-session is restricted to the Southeast. If you aren't located in Atlanta, we will schedule the session for the next time I'm in your area for a wedding/vacation. If you aren't located in the Southeast you can still enter to win the rest of the goodies....Feel free to enter to win this for a friend! Total Prize value is approximately $350.

How to Enter: post a comment under the blog-post with your entry number, name, and email address (see mine as an example). Contestants are allowed only one entry. The deadline to enter is June 30th @ midnight est. The winner will be randomly selected on July 1st and notified via email. If no email is supplied, another winner will be selected. We will announce the winner on facebook too! Your emails will not be used for solicitation or distributed. I only need this to be able to contact the winner.

The Giveaway Items:

“Something Blue” garter from Hello Design Crew

Custom Wedding Gown Hanger of your choice from Rockabuy Creations

50 Postcard Save the Dates* from Serendipity Beyond Design

“Because I’m the Bride” wine glass from Swoozies!!

1 Hour Engagement Session by Peach Blossom Photography (Greater Atlanta Area)*

* Save-the-Date Design fee not included; E-session subject to availability; prizes have no cash value

To view discounts from more of my very own wedding vendors visit my blog post: Details & Discounts

And if you haven't done so already, like us on facebook!

Cheers,