saturday, in the park...

I think it was the 4th of July.  No really, it felt like the 4th of July.  The saturday before Easter was beautiful in Nashville!

after a morning at the flea market (the most successful flea market trip I've had!) we got some good eats for a picnic...

at the park with some friends!

josh has been carrying around a wiffle ball set in his car for about 9 months sad that I won't play.  Eli, on the other hand ...was a natural!

the difference a day makes

we are certainly embracing spring at the drake house!  After going to the Bloom and Garden expo...plus multiple trips to Home Depot I think we've finally got some color and life in the landscape...or trying to at least.  We got the most beautiful hanging baskets from the expo...

When Josh bought his house he did some major landscape work and planted these rose bushes.  They are putting out such pretty flowers this year!  They starting opening up last friday so I thought I'd take a picture of the "biggest one" on friday afternoon...

then we woke up saturday morning and that same flower looked like this! 

WOAH!  the bushes really are making it very pretty outside our house...and we didn't even have to do anything to them! (turns out i've only got a green-ish thumb...but I'm trying to learn)  Hopefully all these nasty rain showers we've been having will indeed bring beautiful May flowers!

groomsmen gifts

as I posted earlier I had an abundance of ideas for my bridesmaids...but the guys...that was a little trickier...

We went with the gray tux option from Men's Warehouse.  I didn't like any of their ties so I thought we could save the guys a little money and have better looking ties if we gave them a tie as part of their gift...so we found these.  I was super nervous because I couldn't see them in person before hand (and it turns out I was quite particular about ties...not too preppy, not too casual, not too bright...etc).  but these worked out great!!!

I also had it stuck in my head that we needed to have fun socks for the guys...just to have pictures like this one...

so I found these...yellow and grey! check!

since the boys would be wearing both of these in the wedding, Josh and I wanted them to have something that wasn't just for the wedding day.  I introduced Josh to ETSY and he found these!  They turned out great.  He picked colors for each groomsman's sports team of choice, or just something they would like.  They turned out really nice.

out of town guest treats

when you read lots of wedding blogs (like I do...err did) you see these ideas for things and even though it may not be a necessity, it latches on to your mind and you feel as though you HAVE to do it...simply because it's cute.

that was me with my out of town guest treats.  Really, the only out of town guests were my family.  I'm sure they would have been fine without some Nashville treats, but I really wanted to it.  so I did.

I gathered some cowboy hats (as the gift bag) and bandannas (as the tissue paper).

at hallmark we have this set of Nashville Note Cards with the skyline done in different famous paintings, so I included a little note on one of those for each family.

I filled the hats with bottled water, Goo Goo clusters (b/c they are made in TN), some TN mints in a little guitar case, and some Nashville postcards. Nothing fancy, but still fun and a nice welcoming treat when they made it to town.  I also included a welcome note and designed some maps of the area with places to eat and shop.

I love Nashville and wanted my family to as well!

easter egg-spiration

happy easter week!!!  I'll take a break from the wedding info overload just to share this tid bit with you...

I looked in the mirror this morning and realized I looked like an Easter egg.  So if you are still needing some Easter outfit inspiration here's my input. (ummm, by the way...I'm not really giving fashion "advise"...I'd wear my gap overalls everyday if I was still "in style"...I just felt like my ensemble happened to be Easter-y and thought I would share).

ruffle top shirt from New York and Company...which I still refuse to really call it anything but Lerner. They have a BOGO 1/2 off sale right now...

purple polka dot cardigan, from target - this one is green...they don't have the purple one I have online anymore (I got it around Christmas) but they do have this new updated version for spring...

happy easter week!

more wedding pictures!!!

my fab photographer and friend Mary Rosenbaum has put some more wedding pictures up on her blog.  hop on over and check them out...and all her other amazing work!

a traveling bag

As you know, I wanted new luggage for the honeymoon/the rest of our lives.  For whatever reason the luggage decision was a very important one to me.  I wanted practical and sturdy luggage to check but then wanted something cute and fun for my carry on.  My carry on...it would be overnight bag for when we stayed at the hermitage.  And for this reason, it needed to match my wedding colors.  call me crazy, it's ok.

I've never really been much of a Vera Bradley fan.  It was just really expensive to me for something I could find somewhere else.  Until I found this navy pattern.  It was so fun...not overly girlie, but simple and NAVY...which was a main color in my wedding.  I knew then my overnight/carry on bag needed to be this.  So I paid way too much for something that I absolutely LOVED and it actually turned out to be quite the perfect purchase and is a great carryon piece!

So I ordered The Weekender bag in Twirly Bird Navy.  I was a very happy girl when it arrived!

everything etsy: bridesmaid gifts

I could spend an entire post on each item I ordered from etsy...but that may get a bit boring.

Etsy.com was a source of inspiration as well as a place where I could find everything custom made that I needed for the wedding. Here is what I used from Etsy for bridesmaids gifts and the stores I got them from!  Each vendor was great to work with! 

shortly after josh and I got engaged and started wedding planning I knew I wanted to get my girls 3 specific things:
1. a clutch
2. earrings (for the wedding)
3. a fun something to wear in their hair (possibly for the wedding). 

Here is what I went with:

For the clutch...I wanted something simple that could be unique to each girls' taste but also practical.  I found this shop with clutches and LOVED them!!!

For the earrings...I knew I would be wearing pearls for part of my jewelery and so I wanted my girls to coordinate with me. I figured most would be wearing their hair down so maybe something with a little dangle would be nice?  I found this shop with these earrings that turned out great! she even included an extra pair for me with a matching necklace!

For the Hairpieces...I knew had lots of talented friends who could help me make these themselves, but since most of those friends were actual bridesmaids and I kind of wanted everything to be a surprise...I looked to etsy once again.  I found this shop with these options of hair flowers:

(even though the group of 3 is blue...i got them in the grey)

half the girls got the set of 2 flowers and half got the smaller flowers w the set of 3.  I think they looked pretty darn cute.  I wanted everything about my wedding to be very timeless and classy, however I wanted a small reminder of "the days" we got married in.  I thought these flowers would be something cute, but still pretty.

now...I had already gotten the girls the clutches shown above.  I bought those probably back in june (helloooo over achiever!) as the wedding got closer and closer I really wanted something pretty and classy they could bring and use for the wedding. also, the ones above were more what I would call "pocket clutches" and I wanted something a bit larger...still special but more uniform.  So a late minute decision was to add these and I am SO.GLAD.I.DID!!!  I LLOOOVVEED and I'm sad I didn't get one for myself.

This great shop was great to work with on a very limited time constraint.

I picked these clutches:

then you could customize the exterior fabric and the color of the bow/sash. 

I chose ivory for the outside and navy for the bow to match the bridesmaid dresses.

then you got to pick the interior fabric. 

I choose the optic blossom b/c the yellow and grey accented my other wedding colors:

(all photos courtesy of esty shop owner)

Everything turned out super cute!!! I loved each gift!  I also included some lip gloss...always a great addition and another something special that gets its own blog coming soon!

stayed tuned for that and more etsy wedding finds!



cason - 3 month sneak peek

right before the wedding I had the chance to hang out with this wonderful family again and document cason at 3 months old!  I'm just now having a chance to look over the pictures.  Here are few favorites so far...

married!

back to life....back to reality...

this is the song I am singing over and over again today as I'm at work, it's monday, and it's dark, gloomy, and storming.  Where is my lazy river? my beach bed? and our pool hammocks?!?!  alas...the honeymoon is over.  That means blogging is back and I've got lots to share!

First up...a sneak peak at some wedding pictures!!! more to come...thanks again to the always awesome Mary Rosenbaum for making sure I remember our special day with the most beautiful pictures!