Will you be my bridesmaid? {diy wedding project}

Lauren wanted to do a little something special when asking her bridesmaids to stand by her side on the day of her wedding.  Funds were limited so we had to be frugal. But I love what she came up with.

They each received a little cardboard box with their initial on the top.

When they opened them up there was lots of gold dust and feathers.

(When Lauren was a little younger, glitter was her signature.)
It's in her blood. ;)
.....  although she was bold and would wear glitter....like on purpose.  
I just used it in all my crafts and would occasionally end up wearing it....on accident.

She has always had a heart for vintage prettiness so I whipped her up some bobby pins using vintage earrings to go into each box. Along with glitter, bobby pins are another one of Lauren's signatures!....she leaves a trail of bobby pins wherever she goes. 
 So this was perfect for her!

When the girls pulled the gold cord, out popped this little message!

So sweet and so inexpensive.

• The boxes we found at Hobby Lobby for $.99....and don't be like me and forget to pull the sticker off the bottom!
• We used card stock I already had....you could use any color you'd like
• I used a punch to make the scalloped circles...you can find these at Hobby Lobby and use a 40% off coupon if you don't have one.  I use this for everything! 
• The gold ribbon was less than a dollar.
• And we painted the staples before we put them in the stapler with a gold paint pen to make them match the ribbon!
• You could tuck any little happy in the bottom that would be significant and more "you".  Lauren wanted the vintage bobby pin made by her momma (she's so sentimental) but you could hide a cute pair of earrings, a necklace, a piece of chocolate....anything!

                                                                                 

The engagement shoot

A couple of weeks ago, Lauren and Blake had their engagement shoot.

The dynamic duo April and Paul were the photographers...they are fabulous y'all. And fun. And our friends.  Y'all should so hire them.  Especially if you live in Hawaii and want to pay their travel expenses.  They deserve a vacay in the tropics after this photo shoot.

It was FREEZING. As in snow flurries in Mississippi freezing.

We southerners are not accustomed to this kinda thing. (Hannah, don't snicker)

But Lauren and Blake and April and Paul were champs.

You would never know while looking at these that we couldn't feel our fingers.

Most of you know, Lauren is our youngest daughter. And the last one to marry.

And let me just tell, the engagement sessions keep getting more and more complicated  epic with each one.

Elizabeth and Chris wore jeans and white shirts and were photographed in a park.

Lydia and Marcus stepped it up and had two outfits and a vintage truck and a banjo and a chandelier.

But Lauren and Blake was more like being at the set of an old movie..

She thrifted for months to find just the right clothes...then cue the old theater, antique car, antebellum bed and breakfast, vintage carousel, cotton candy, an antique bicycle, a couple dozen balloons, and my hundred year old quilt and then.... BAM.  We were ready.   Whew! lol

Get prepared....cuz I'm about to bombard you with beautiful...

{this one is my fave!}

This is The Century House in Meridian, Mississippi. It is a beautiful bed and breakfast if you ever need one in this area.  Mr. Don and Mrs. Mamie will treat you like royalty.

The Dentzel carousel is Meridian's crown jewel. It's a national historic landmark  and is the oldest of its kind in the United States.    AND more importantly....Lauren had her 3rd birthday here.

I snapped this pic with my iPhone....I was proud of myself  :)

I could move into this magical place.  I always feel whisked away to another time when I'm here.

{My other fave}

It was a great day! A blessed day!

***********************

A few behind the scene pics that I snapped....

April is fearless...she rode her horse backwards to get the shot....

I think she was surprised how fast this thing boogies. 

Of course me and daddy-o had to seize the moment for a sweet pic.

After we thawed out some we came back to the house and we stuffed ourselves with roast and gravy, mashed pototoes, macaroni and cheese, Lesure peas, and cream cheese pound cake.

These guys are the best y'all.

Go check them out here, here and here.   And by all means, watch their video.

Then hire them.

A big thank you to the following people for helping make this day come together.

Mr. Stanley and Mrs. Cheryl Shannon for giving up part of their Saturday to drive their incredible car to where we were and hang out in the cold during the shoot.  We love y'all!

Mr. Don and Mrs. Mamie Nobles for letting us use their lovely b&b for pictures...and for the bathroom and coffee!!  Y'all are always the sweetest!

Nana for letting us use her awesome vintage bike. And Kellie for "sprucing it up". That made it so special knowing it was Blake's grandmas'.

The sweet workers at the Carousel that day for letting us ride as long as we needed to.  Y'all are awesome.

Hope y'all have a great weekend!

What I Wore Wednesday

It's been a while since I linked up with Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy.

Gosh...I think this might only be my second time actually.

I need to do it more beings that she started "WIWW"  to help us mommas and housewives get motivated to get out of our sweat pants and t-shirts and into "real" clothes each day.

I always feel kinda silly posing and taking pics of myself and stuff.

However, if you are on Instagram, there is a darling lady named Christina, (@littfashiondiary)  who has started a hashtag called #fashiondiaries.  My girls love it!

You can get some really great ideas from so many creative, talented women. 

Christina loves to encourage making amazing outfits by thrift shopping and she can rock wearing glasses better than anybody I've seen...gorgeous!!

She's got a blog if you'd like to check it out.

{Little Fashion Diary}

(She has some super cute free printables on there right now..cuz she's just sweet like that.)

So with no further adu...

Here are a couple of my outfits lately...

My favorite necklace made by my sis-n-law Heather. love.

My converse that I bought at, you guessed it..... Dirt Cheap.

A cardi from Old Navy.

I just read in a magazine where pointy toe heels are "in" and square toe heels are "out".

Well, whatever....I have several shoes with square toes that are my faves and they will continue to be worn. BUT hey....these heels I've been wearing for about 8 years now are "in" again! Woo hoo :)

My favorite part about this outfit besides the fact that it is entirely thrifted and yellow,

is the pom poms on my lace scarf ($2) and these earrings ($.75). 

They both were bought at Dirt Cheap. Holla.

And here's a little "hippy" shirt that I found at the thrift store the last time me and my girls were there. Lydia wasn't crazy about it, but for me it was love at first sight.

And paired with these $1 wooden and crochet earrings from the Beehive 

it couldn't get much better!

...Oh, but it does!

See this bracelet?

It was my Maw Maw Eleanor's.

It has all 12 of her grand kids on there.

 Each bootie has our name and birth date engraved on the bottom.

My Aunt recently passed it on to me...

(which I feel extremely blessed since 5 of the shoes on here belong to her kids)

 Anyway, I think she asked and none of them wanted it and I am so thankful!

 I love it! (thanks to any of you Berry's who might be reading this)

 All of us cousins and my two brothers who are on the bracelet are all grown now.  The oldest one, being my big bro, is pushing 50!  Yowza!  Funny thing is, I'm the only one out of the 12 who is a grandparent!  And I've got 8 little "booties" who are older than me on there.  craziness. 

I hope you're having a great middle of the week!

Now, I gotta go change out of these sweat pants :)

Stephanie :)