Wedding Resource Week - Maids and Men

So you picked out your wedding party. Now what do you do?

You want them to be all apprecitated and  stylin' on your big day too!

I have collected a few lovely things to give you some on ideas on accessories and gifts to give a big THANK YOU to the people who have to wear matching dresses and suits and throw parties for you.

How about some cute clutches from Bagatells and Co on Etsy for them to use even after the big day?


but them: here

What better way to say thanks to those special matching ladies in your life?!
Buy them here


Ruche offers tons of affordable vintage inspired accessories for your Maids!

at $14.99 these necklaces are adorable and affordable!

Buy them here

And don't foret those practical joke loving, naughty car painting, mischevious bachelor party planners on your man's side. Whether you love em or hate they are your future husband's best friends...treat em' right!

How about these hilarious pewter animal shot glasses from A + R Store


Buy them: here

How about these Pretentious Frog ties from Etsy?

Buy them here

There are tons of things out there to let your Maids and Men know you love them! Make it unique and make it something they will really enjoy. Don't fall in the trap of just getting the run of the mill monogrammed hats and cuff links. Search and see what is out there. I bet you can find something that they really will love for years to come!

Good luck!

Attire and Accessories - Where to look

One of the biggest hurdles you come to with a wedding is:

The Dress.

{source}

But once you jump that hurdle, you think whew that's over! Until the week before the big day and you're freaking out, what do I wear WITH The Dress that will compliment but not take away from?

Here I am to help! I have compiled a couple of go-to Etsy and online shops for you to find those perfect accessorized and extras for your day.

Here are a couple shops to check out for that Vintage/Indie look:

Shop Ruche: Vintage Inspired Clothing and Accessories

Beautiful, unique necklaces

Stunning head pieces

I am in love with these shoes.

 

Jennifer Behr: Beautiful bridal essential

I look terrible in bird cage veils...but all my vintage glam loving sisters out there, this is a beautiful option.

I'm going for something more like this. Very Duchess Catherine.

 

Etsy

My go to place ofr unique and affordable accessories

Dainty and feminine ivory rose earrings

buy them here

Don't settle for a run of the mill fluffy white garter. Buy something one-of-a-kind and handmade

Rosebud Lips Sunshine Sass garter.
Buy it here
And match me...it's the one I bought. : )

I hope this has helped point you in the right direction of accessories that are classic and you.

Stay tuned for Maid and Men up next!

Wedding Resource Week

Making a unique and beautiful wedding is hard to do.

So this week I will be showcasing different unique online vendors and ideas for all you DIY and creative brides out there!
.::Today we will start with Wedding Blogs for inspiration::.

When I got to Michael's Crafts or Beverly's to buy wedding stuff I get so discouraged.

YIKES.

I wander through aisle after aisle of plastic pink roses, cheesy tulle bows and glittered EVERYTHING.

Just.not.my.style.

What's a girl to do?! I want something classic, unique and heaven forbid not stark white, lavender or pink!

These wedding blog links below allow picky creative brides to get inspired and create the beautiful and classic wedding they have always wanted without drowing in a pool of bejewled plastic tiaras and lavendar
silk flower petals.

Now this is what I'm talkin' about!

{source}

Click on these links below to get your inspiration on!

ruffled: Wedding blog for vintage and creative brides

                        once wed: Wedding ideas,used wedding dresses, and wedding blog

100 layer cake: Creating your wedding layer by layer

off beat bride: Altar your thinking

style me pretty: The ultimate wedding blog

snippet and ink: Daily wedding inspiration

june bug weddings: What June Bug loves

                                          brooklyn bride: planning a modern wedding, in a world of pink flowers and poofy dresses.

                           green wedding shoe: head over heels in love with all things wedding

lovely bride: Full color dreams of a wedding in white.

warms my soul.

{source}

Tomorrow we will focus on accessories and attire, Thursday is all about your Maids and Men, Friday stay tuned for Favors & Sweets, Saturday feast your eyes on some wonderful photographers, and Sunday we will wrap the week up with DIY for the Budget Bride.

The Thriving Garden

Alright folks, you know all that about having a black thumb and how I am trying to dispprove the obvious by planting, growing, and keeping alive a thriving garden?

Well...in most regards I failed miserably.

My mini-greenhouse dried out

My beautiful white and yellow ranuculus died

My succulents are on their last leg

BUT

My vegetable garden is thriving! Don't ask me how...ok well I planted them in really good soil.

 What are those green things sticking out the top of my gardening box?

Could those be healthy, thriving squash plant leaves?

Woohoo!

A little birds-eye view.

And a close up. Haha, I am proud...can you tell?

Romaine! Salad time!

It's funny I am so not used to gardening so this whole week I have been like " I have chicken, pasta, but no salad mix! I am going to have to run to the store before dinner."

Umm hello dummy! You have beautiful romaine lettuce leaves growing in your backyard!

What are you growing this year and have you seen the fruits of your labor yet?

{What I wore Wednesday and our Viking Shower}

Every week I want to link up to The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesday, and never have...

so here goes!

I am wearing a white lace dress from Marshall for like $20 (woot, woot!) I know it is after Labor Day and before Memorial Day folks but I was headed to my Bridal Shower so I decided to throw that rule out the window!

I paired the white lace dress with a wide brown belt, purple cardigan, brown cowboyw boots (can't seem them, blame Greg) and a small vintage thrifted carpet bag. (It is truly vintage...it still smells like old lady perfume...gross)

The title intrigued you did it not?! Our VIKING shower?

I am {currently} a Westergaard, very Scandanavian so our co-workers threw us a joint Scandanavian Viking wedding shower.

It.was.awesome.

Marzipan and Norwegian pancakes anyone?

Swedish Fish and Scandanavian potato salad. Yes Please.

And some good old fashion BBQ?

We are loved. And blessed, thank you guys so much!

DIY party stir sticks

Having a party? How about a wedding? These bad boys will be the perfect icing on the cake to tie your party decor together. Simple, fun, and cheap to make.

Supplies

1. Heavy cardstock
2. Small wooden stir sticks or I got "Woodsies" from Micahels. : )
3. Hot glue gun + extra glue sticks
4. 1' or 1 1/2' round or scalloped paper punch
5. Mini letter stamps (dollar bin at Michael's) or any small stamps



First make tons of little cut outs in your card stock with your round paper cutter. I got the 1' scalloped paper punch from Marth Stewart. $9.99

When you are satisfied with the number of stir stick tops, stop. Paper can be addicting and I advise you to only make as many as you need...you will very soon find yourself sitting in a pile of scalloped 1' paper punches. Anyway...

With your letter stamps stamp out cute or funny phrases onto your stir stick tops.

Put a small dot of hot glue on the stick at the top, and stick your stir stick topper to it.

see...simple.

Enjoy all your little stir sticks...there are so many phrases you can stamp onto them to make them unique!

{A few wedding purchases}

So some of you may be thinking...has she called off the engagement? There is little to no wedding posts or talk on this here blog these days.

Don't worry...the wedding is still on. Haha. On like Donkey Kong.

I have a few reasons for this...

1. I am a busy lady these days...

between

{work}

{bible study}

{church}

{bikini bootcamp}

Wedding planning usually falls by the wayside

Another (big) reason is because although I am going out of my mind excited and cannot WAIT to be Mrs. Horton I don't want it to become an obsession or idol.

I love Greg, and that is why I am committing my life to him.

Not to have a party

not to make my best friends wear matching dresses

not to eat cake or to dance til my feet bleed (you betta believe I'll be last one on the dance floor on my wedding day..HOLLA!)

These are reasons why I am excited for the wedding, but the marriage is what I am most excited about.

That aside...I am totally excited to dance, eat cake, and see all my friend match. : )

And here are some lovelies I ordered yesterday for the Big Day.

Beautiful ivory rose earrings

{source}

Grey pumps from Ruche. LOVE them. I am thinking about jazzing them up with some shoe clips or something, those seem to be all the rage. : ) But our colors are grey, yellow, and cream so I thought these were a nice blank canvas to play with.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

To all you brides-to-be out there...where are you in your planning? Is the big day this weekend or 9 months from now...I wanna know!

Dinner idea: Curry chicken and Zucchini

Last night was a rare occasion. I had time to make dinner! When Greg and I live together after we get married things in the dinner department will be a lot easier! We usually end up at his house after work because we carpool and my groceries fall by the way side or are non-existent.

If you are thinking of something to make for dinner tonight here is a simple and tasty recipe!

{Never mind that I cheated and bought pre-marinated meat...}

curry chicken, pan-fried zucchini, and basmati rice

For the zucchini drizzle some EVOO (I know it makes most people think of Rachel Ray...I just think of that scene in Baby Mama and it makes me laugh) in a pan and put it on medium-low heat

Finely chop some garlic...

And red onion

Chop the zucchini is small rounds

When the oil in the pan moves easily around the pan (well heated oil) but does not glide around the pan (oil that is too hot and will burn food quickly) add the garlic and red onion. when they are coated and soft, but not yet brown add the zucchini rounds. If they are cooking too quickly turn heat to low. Cover, but stir occasionally to make sure they brown on all side.



When zucchini is cooked thoroughly and browned on outside take off heat and into a serving bowl.

Curry Chicken

So I'm not gonna lie I cheated and bought the pre-marinated "Curry Chicken Tenders" from Trader Joes,

but there are a lot of good curry chicken recipes out there!

Like:  this one

And: this one

Anyway mine was pre-bought. But boy was it tasty!

If you do happen to go buy the pre-marinated on at Trader Joe's just drizzle a little more EVOO into the pan and heat the oil on medium heat

this particular chicken was packed together, but was a bunch of different "tenders".

So break them up and cook the strips for about 4-5 minutes on each side. I get freaked out about uncooked chicken so when they were cooked on both sides I put the heat on low, covered them and let them simmer until my zucchini and rice were done.

The rice

Pretty easy. Rice cooker if you have one, or I just put 1 cup of rice in with 2 cups of water and let it slowly bowl with a vented lid covering the pot. Checked it twice for readiness and voila...rice. Pepper, salt, and a pad of butter to tast.

This dinner was delicious and healthy! The chicken look breaded and fried in the picture, but it isn't. It is just a yellow-ish color from all the curry! We have unsweetened ice tea (my favorite!!) with lemon to drink and ate outside at the picnic table.

As Greg was praying for dinner he said "Thank you for this meal sitting in the backyard of our future home"

Taken by R3 Photography

I love this guy! And this picture. Click the link above to view more photos by our amazing friend and artist Paul Robinson.

95 days until I am Mrs. Savannah Horton.

Holy

cow.

AND THE WINNER IS...

Jessica W.

I put all your little numbers in the random number generator (don't worry I accounted for my own comments and multiple comments) and Jessica won!

No you won't find her name in the comment section because it was the big long, weird lookin' one with no name. Haha! But she contacted me later to tell me it was indeed her that left that comment.

So Jessica...Send me your address to:

swestergaard100{at} gmail {dot}com

Congrats!

Last day to enter the GIVE-A-WAY!!

I will be picking the GIVE-A-WAY winner bright and early tomorrow morning...so POST YOUR COMMENT HERE TO ENTER!

Here is a little re-cap of what you will win...

These to DIE for woodland creature cookie cutters...

These vintage inspired cupcake papers...

And these adorable little sprinkles!

But seriously even if you don't win...go check out Cupcake Social on Etsy to satisy your every cutsy baking need!

Love you guys! I apologize for not posting anything woth reading in a while (but at least I am giving away cool stuff right..?!) But my life has been insane! My house is a wreck, my car is a wreck, my time is eaten up by work and obligations and I have ZERO, and I mean ZERO creative, playful me time.

BUT...

Soon, very soon I will unleash a slew of creative projects on to the world.

Maybe.