The ever-popular coozie favor. I thought "who wants to carry around something that says Holly & Brad? Wouldn't they rather have a cute saying?"

A family friend, Alice Grotnes, uses this saying often. She lost a sister to cancer several years ago and feels it is important to always show love when you can. A good message for a wedding day, or any day!

Personal Photos

Outter gift bag (staying with the colors of my wedding)

Vera Bradley bag (this is the REAL gift). Filled with weekend necessities- bottled water, advil, hand sanitizer, tissues, chocolate (green LOVE M&Ms), travel hairspray, travel lotion.

I also made these tanks tops for the girls. I am not a big fan of "Bridesmaid" tanks (no offense if that's your thing). I feel that by keeping it to a generic love related design, the girls will actually wear them after the wedding weekend.

I bought the iron-on hearts from Micheals. The tanks came from Wet Seal. Each tank top was slightly different in design.

(All personal photos)

I made our guest book on Mixbook.com. This website is very user friendly!

It is a photo album, but I left blank pages for notes and signatures; almost like a year book. Check it out at the link below:

http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/wedding/wedding-guest-book-4526662

 Photo Credit: personal photos

Rather than the traditional Unity Candle or even the newly popular Sand Ceremony, my FH and I are having a Plant Watering Unity Ceremony.

These jars will be filled with water. Each mother will pour into the watering can. The bride and groom will use the watering can to water a plant (hopefully one that we can later plant into our yard).

We're having an outdoor ceremony, so now we don't have to worry about candles blowing out. I love the symbolism of a ceremony like this- rebirth, nuturing, new life from old life, growth. I will post pictures of the actual ceremony after the wedding.

Photo Credit: Personal photos

My mom came up with these to decorate the aisle at our outdoor ceremony. The shepard hooks were found at a garden center, the silver heart tins at a local store and my mom filled them with flowers from Michael's. Tied with a pretty blue bow, these are sure to make a statement at our lake side event.

(Sorry. I am having trouble rotating my pictures)

I bought our champagne flutes off of ebay for $30. They're Kate Spade and in a twist of fate, they match our invitations. I love them! Lesson learned- I will continue to shop ebay for wedding decor and items!

Ebay is also a great places for dresses, rings, sentimental stuff. This may be sad to mention on a wedding website, but the divorce rate is pretty high and people don't want to hang onto those things after a rocky split. What do they do? They sell them on ebay. One man's trash is another man's treasure!

Although ordered from a different company, we felt these invitations were in keeping with the look and feel of our Save The Dates. Invitations ordered from www.weddingpaperdivas.com.

Most companies will charge and extra printing fee per envelope if you want  your address printed on the response card envelopes. We saved money by ordering an address stamp! You can order in all different ink colors and font types. We used rubberstampchamp.com

I self addressed all of the invitations. If you have nice enough handwriting a calligraphy pen will make it look extra special. I honestly wouldn't waste money PAYING someone to address invitations. Think about the last wedding invitation you received in the mail. You probably don't remember the handwriting on it. If guests won't remember it, don't sweat it! That's my philosophy.

Lastly, an envelope seal is an easy and cheap way to say "This is a special envelope. Open me!" I bought a few packs at Michaels and stuck them on the envelope. Easy! 

Check out the cute charms and necklaces on Zorbitz.net. Look on the page that details thier "miracle charms." I think they would make perfect bridesmaids gifts. You choose the chain length you would like and select charms. I am thinking about getting a different charm for each girl. The feather for my free-spirited friend or the martini glass for the girl I like to hit the town with.

The charms even look great combined. You can give more than one or it can be a great gift to build upon in the future. Give them one charm as a bridesmaids gift and another for their birthday or the holidays.

I'm new to blogger brides, but I love it! I've been gathering ideas from your blogs over the past few days and thought I would share some of my own progress thus far.

Obviously it started with the engagement. Brad proposed at Wescott Fountain on FSU campus, which was very fitting because I am probably the biggest Seminole fan you will ever meet!

The ring was perfect. All I told him was that I liked the "vintage look" and wanted a twist on that idea with my ring. He did pretty good, didn't he?

We spent roughly two months looking for a venue, which was a very stressful process. I was stressed that the longer we went without booking something the less likely we were to have ANYTHING at all. Turns out we chose the first venue we ever visited- Lake Lanier Legacy Lodge. It wasn't cheap, but EVERYTHING is included (venue, food, alcohol, linens, cake, accomodations and some other little perks). We figured it probably averaged out in price after you would have hired a cateror and baker , etc... It IS gorgeous though!

The Save The Dates set the tone for a casual yet elegant lakeside wedding. I ordered them from pioneercolor.com. They are magnets, because I know I always lose those things, so I wanted to make sure everyone could hold onto mine!

The next , and in my opinion most important, decision was the DRESS! I knew after spending a lot on the venue we would have to be price conscientious everywhere else. To me it is not about the price tag, but how you feel and look in it, and I felt great.! This dress is from David's Bridal. They have been running great sales all season!

I'm having some changes made to the front, so I'll keep you waiting in suspense for a front view on me. Can you believe it was the 3rd dress I tried on? We bought it that day!

The shoes are also from David's Bridal. They just started carrying this shoe by Chinese Laundry. I am so short, I have to wear heels.

The colors are just blue and ivory. I may mix in some greens and purples with the flowers, but overall I am looking for a clean, crisp color scheme. I think the bridesmaids dress is perfect for that vision and it has enough flow in it to be suitable for a lakeside event. I am still looking for shoes that the girls can wear. I am not a big fan of dyed to match shoes, so I'm thinking a metallic (like champagne). Sandals would be best, as the wedding is in August wedding. If you have any ideas, by all means send them my way.

I know it has been a long post, but I had to catch everyone up. Look for more this week. I will fill you in on my photography, ceremony ideas, and some DIY projects I am considering.