In Any Event on Inspired By This {Bride and Bloom Preview!}

{Photos: Courtesy of Inspired By This and Bride and Bloom}

While Jodi is out fulfilling meetings with clients and vendors, I get the distinct pleasure to introduce the exciting new post Leila put up today on her Inspired By This blog. We have been waiting for what seems like forever (or maybe it's just that we are so excited about this)... but we finally got our very first peek at the Bride and Bloom photo shoot we did! Leila blogged about her clients' recent features, and we are blessed enough to count ourselves as one of them. Many thanks to the Be Inspired team! Please hop over to her blog to check out the whole post!

~ Jillian

Notes From the Future "Mrs." - Wedding Dress Tip I Loved

Yesterday afternoon I got to escape my desk and go poolside with Jodi and Jen of Jen Kroll Photography. Seriously, why can't everyday be like that? Anyway, we were chatting up every topic under the sun, no pun intended, when we stumbled upon the topic of (you guessed it!) my wedding planning process. Jen immediately mentioned a website that she found and was so excited to fill me in! She wasn't kidding when she told me how much this company rocked! WhenI got home, I spent over an hour browsing their site.

It's called Once Wed. Ever heard of it? Well, I definitely hadn't. Once Wed allows brides the opportunity to find a beautiful designer gown without the typical designer gown price tag. Let's be honest, most brides nearly have a stroke the first time they realize how much that pretty white dress can cost. This site provides dresses that are simply gorgeous. The only catch is that they have been worn once. That's all. It's nice to know that owning a designer wedding dress is possible. Oscar de la Renta, Rivini, Carolina Herrera, Monique Lhuillier, Reem Acra, Priscilla of Boston, J Crew ...and many other designers and brands have a TON of dresses available.

So be sure to pop over to check it out. Each listing shows the original price of the dress and the asking price. So you can get a realistic idea of how much you actually save by buying your dress here. It's pretty impressive to see a Carolina Herrera dress go from an original price of $4,000 down to a $600 asking price. Huge score for brides everywhere! Thanks for the tip, Jen!

~Jill

Coolest Party Favor...EVER!

My friend, Robyn, over at Mix, Mingle, GLOW in Destin, FL, posted about the best party favor yesterday. It's one of the coolest things I have seen in an awfully long time. And you can bet this product will be showing up at a future event of mine!

Parker's Crazy Cookies is based in San Fransisco and specializes in creating cookies that look like the guest of honor. Here's the proof:

Isn't that fantastic! Can't wait to place my first order for these beauties. {Thanks for sharing the find, Robyn!}

~Jodi

The Demise of a Family

Reader's beware. I'm about to post something completely unrelated to my business and the purpose of this blog. I apologize in advance but I'm so bothered by this that I need to vent a bit.

So, I tuned in to Jon and Kate plus 8 last night after getting sucked in by TLC's commercial promoting the episode. This isn't a show I normally watch but my Gretchen likes to watch the re-runs from when the kids were little {notice I say re-runs as I have not allowed her to watch a single episode from this season}.

I'll admit it. I was hoping they were going to announce they were breaking their contract with TLC, walking away from the fame and fortune and working hard to repair their fractured marriage. But, as you probably know, that isn't the case. As of yesterday, Kate filed divorce papers after Jon's behavior over the weekend...to which she's refusing to elaborate on.

So, brace yourself because here comes my opinion on the situation. Never, ever would I allow fame and fortunate to come before the health and well-being of my marriage and family. Don't tell me for one minute that they don't have enough cash in the bank to be set for a very long time, either. This mantra that Kate keeps repeating that she's doing this for the kids and their financial security is garbage. I think she likes the fame and notoriety and the money's not half bad either.

Now, I do have to say that I think Kate's a bulldog and that she rides rough-shot over Jon. In fact, it's pretty painful to watch the way she talks to Jon. But seriously, Jon, grow up. You've got eight kids now. This is not the time for a mid-life crisis {ie. new black BMW, smoking, two diamond earrings in your ears!}. If you're having trouble coming to grips with everything going on in your life, GET SOME COUNSELING! Don't abandoned your marriage and family. And please quit telling yourself your kids come first. Because if that was true, you'd be working on your marriage and rebuilding your relationship with your wife. That's what it means to put your kids first!

Now, I'm dying to know what you all think! Did you watch the episode last night? What's your opinion on this whole thing?

~Jodi

Notes From the Future "Mrs." - The REAL Reason I Chose a June Wedding

This is the reason I wanted a June wedding. The peony. This is my flower. This is what my whole wedding has come to be based around. Peonies bloom for only a short time in the spring here in Michigan, then they are done. As done as can be. And I wanted this flower really bad. They are so fluffy and amazing. I mean, sure there's lots of other great reasons to get married in June (beautiful weather, not too hot, many flowers are blooming, etc) but peonies are HEAVENLY.

When Jenn from Modern Day Floral called me a couple nights ago to say "You HAVE to come down to the studio to see this color I found for you!"...you can only image how hopped-up, excited I was! So, of course I ran right down there the very next day. And when I walked in, Jenn had the arrangement shown above waiting for me! :)

And they were the perfect color! I had to try it out on their rendering table, to get the full effect...

{How beautiful is Modern Day Floral's rendering room by the way?}

Leave it to Jenn to find the most perfect flower ever. These blooms were the perfect shade of deep raspberry, and HUGE. She also had some white peonies as well. Which were equally as gorgeous.

{I think I will carry the white for my bridal bouquet. Look how huge they are in comparison to my hand! That's going to be one MASSIVE bouquet!}

Here's a quick little story about me...just so you understand where I am coming from (in case you're thinking, "Chill out Jill, it's just a flower"). My grandmother was very special to me, and we had a lot of similarities. Crafty. Girly. Loved pretty things. Anyway, grandma used to grow peonies all while my mom was growing up. Now my mom tears up every time she sees a peony because it reminds her of her mom. She is completely in love with them. My great grandma used to grow them as well. So I guess you can say it's kind of a family flower. It will be a very special detail at my wedding.

PS. ***FUNNY STORY ALERT*** Chris' mom has peony bushes outside their house. When I told Chris this cherished story of my mom and grandma, I said to him "It's kind of cool because your mom grows peonies, too!" This is how he replied: "Yeah, me and the boys used to run them over with our bikes when we were kids. Absolutely trample them." Seriously Chris?

I think this is prime example of how women think just a LITTLE bit differently then men.

~ Jillian

Snow & Graham

Many of you know, I have a slight obsession with all-things letterpressed. Everything about it makes me happy. Like the deep-impression of a 100 year-old letterpress. The way the ink always stays within the borders of the impression. How the impression feels to the touch. The beautiful paper used for letterpress. It's all magic, in my opinion.

I received the most wonderful letterpress thank you note {as seen above} and gift in the mail yesterday {thanks, Diana!} and immediately flipped the card over to discover the name, Snow & Graham. I stopped everything I was doing and jumped onto their website. All I can say is, hold me back. Hold me back right now!

Ever so conveniently located in Chicago, this is one of the finest letterpress companies I have seen. Their products are fresh and inspiring. And I want one of everything! Lucky for me, the kiddos and I are going to Chicago with my mom next month and this store has just landed on the itinerary....right below the American Girl store!

Enjoy their website and thanks for introducing me to this luxury line, Diana!

~Jodi

{photo credit: http://www.redstamp.com/}

So, I've got an event challenge. This is definitely not something new. I always have challenges that need to be solved. Like not enough time to flip a room. Or not enough electricity to power everything that needs it. Solving these kinds of issues is all in a day's work for me. And not something that shakes me at all. {If it did, I should have gotten out of the business a long time ago}.

The most recent challenge, however, really had me shook. I'll admit it. How was I going to get 3 semi-loads of event necessities onto a beach with no pathway for a 4-wheeler to get through? The only option seemed to be hiring enough strong dudes to hand-carry the equivalent of 136,000 pounds of equipment down a narrow pathway. The thought of that made me break into a cold-sweat! And I could just envision the following conversation,' So, what you're telling me is you're not coming back because this job sucks and you're not making enough money.' {Here comes that cold-sweat again}.

What's a girl to do in this situation, you ask? Well, she talks to her brilliant husband and equally brilliant friend who together say, 'Rent a boat!' Well, duh. Why didn't I think of that?! So today, I secured myself a 53' duck boat from World War II to help transport all the goods from the local marina to the client's property.

So, in a couple of weeks if you're on Lake Michigan and you see some crazy girl riding in a 53' metal boat filled with chivari chairs and china, be sure to wave. At that point in the day, I could probably use a friendly wave or honk!

~Jodi

{photo credit: http://www.mywarhistory.com/}