Sign-a-palooza

I worked on a few projects this past weekend/week and I'm very happy with the final results.

I bought the wood, acrylic paint, and paint brushes from Hobby Lobby and got to painting!

It was pouring rain on Saturday and when I get an idea for a project, I am usually so excited that I immediately want to get to work on it so instead of painting out on the porch I laid out some newspaper on the living room floor and got to work. I later regretted this because the dog ran through my “work area” numerous times and got paint on his paws leaving paw prints all over our carpet. Thankfully it came out with soap and water.

Now I just need to figure out a place to display them at the wedding; probably the gift or escort card table.

I am loving this one that I stenciled with our married monogram.


I also have another matching piece of wood and will stencil with our wedding date: 3.24.12

This one I like but came out a wee bit crooked..not sure I will end up displaying this one..do you think anyone would notice that our names are not completly straight?


How I did it:

Painted each piece of wood front and back with two base coats of navy


Cut out and tapped the stencils to the wood with masking tape


Stenciled with Fuchsia paint



I used a little too much paint when stenciling so I went around the edges of the letters with a very fine paintbrush and smoothed out the edges with more navy paint.

In other sign news we received our sign from the giveaway that I won and its beautiful!

Signs By Andrea
Are you making any of your own signs for your wedding?

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Non Wedding Wednesday

My Non Wedding Wednesday is that I'm taking the night off from blogging and heading out on the town with some of my favorite peeps for some socializing and drinks!

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Don't forget to enter my pearl earring giveaway from the lovely Moon River Pearls!

What are you doing on this lovely hump day??

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Honeymoonin' in Hawaii!

Groomzilla and I are confirmed for spending our honeymoon in Hawaii!! For now we already know we will be spending 7 nights in Maui at this little slice of heaven.


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And the remaining 6 nights will be spent island hopping between the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, and Kauai.

13 nights in Hawaii..what will I do with myself? After not having a vacation for a year and half I'm sure we will find plenty to do!

Have you ever been to Hawaii..if so please send us some recommendations!!! Where are you going on your honeymoon?!?

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Pearl Earring Giveaway

The wonderful folks over at Moon River Pearls have offered to give one of my readers a beautiful pair of white pearl stud earrings. A lovely item to wear on your wedding day or a perfect addition to your everyday jewelry collection!!

7.5mm White Pearl Earrings
Here’s how you can enter to win the pearl earrings.

1. You must be a follower of my Bride-onicles blog through Google Friend Connect.
2. Make sure to visit the Moon River Pearls website and have a look around, come back and leave a comment on which item you love the most.

For extra entries:
1. Like Moon River Pearls Facebook Page
2. Like my Bride-onicles Facebook page.
3. Follow Bride-onicles on Twitter.
4. For 4 entries blog about this giveaway and make sure to leave the link of your post.

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.

The winner will be announced Wednesday, July 6th at 9:00 PM EST by using random.org

Moon River Pearls has also offered a 20% off coupon code for all orders. Enter coupon code BRIDE at checkout and save 20% off any order. No minimum order amount required and free ground shipping.

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Signature Cocktail

Signature cocktails have been popular lately! We still have not made up our minds if we are doing one yet or not?

Some of these do look pretty yummy!

Via Tulsa Food
Via Big Wedding Tiny Budget
Via The Knot
Did you have a signature cocktail? What was/is your signature cocktail?
What was the general concesus of your guests..did they prefer your signature cocktail over the normal beer/gin and tonic/vodka cran?

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Something Old, Something Blue Part Deuce

Thank you all for your suggestions regarding the something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. After reading all your comments of what you did for your weddings or your plans for your upcoming weddings prompted me to realize that I DO have a something blue and a something old.

I didn’t realize that your bouquet could be incorporated as part of the tradition. I thought all 4 things actually had to be ON you.

Soooo..the ribbon around my bouquet will be navy, something blue (similar to the ribbon below).


And as with most brides it seems popular to tie something into the bouquet which I can do with an old ring of my mothers or grandmothers.

After all this, does anyone even know why this is a tradition or what it means because I sure didn’t! So I googled it. Apparently there is a something silver too!

Something Old… The “old” must be something which has belonged to a happily married woman. The wearing of such an item insures a lucky transfer of happiness to the new bride and signifies a sense of continuity, tradition and represents the link to the bride’s old life and her family. Many brides would wear their mother’s wedding gown or family jewelry.

Something New… Signifies hope for the future. The bridal gown can be used here, if it is purchased new – or any other new item purchased as part of the bridal attire.

Something Borrowed… The “borrowed” must be some object of value/significance to guarantee wealth and prosperity in the future. Brides can borrow jewelry or a special handkerchief from a family member or close friend.

Something Blue… The “blue” is symbolic of the heavens and also of true love. It signifies fidelity, purity and love. This is why you see so many garters with blue ribbon or detailing!

A Silver sixpence in your shoe… The “sixpence” or “new dime” must be worn in the heel of the left shoe to insure wealth and prosperity.

weddings.usabride

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Non Wedding Wednesday

A friend of mine posed a question on Facebook the other day and I thought it kind of interesting to see the responses of how people spend/utilize their time to accomplish EVERYTHING they need to in a 24 hour span.

ClockSo out of curiosity:

Are you are morning person or a night person?
What time do you get up during the week?
What time do you go to bed during the week?
Whats your rise and fall times on the weekends?

And to fulfill another curiosity of mine, when do you tend to use the blogger?

In the morning before work
While at work
In the evening after work

I personally am not a morning person, during the work week I am up at about 7:45 AM after hitting the snooze button a few hundred times. I go to bed between 11 PM and 12 AM on most nights. Weekends we sleep in until about 9 AM if the dog will allow it. And I only use the blogger after working hours and on the weekends from home.

Whats your routine? Should I be getting up earlier to get more accomplished in the day?

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Sticking with Traditions

Something new, something old, something borrowed, something blue.

I have the something new covered: my dress, my shoes.

The something borrowed: my veil and jewelry

But the something blue and something old…HELP?!

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I don’t think I will be wearing a garter for the something blue, maybe some blue underoos? But what about the old??

Can two items act as one, as in if one item is old AND blue does it account for the something old and something blue?

What were/are your something new, something old, something borrowed, and something blues???

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Pickles and Mason Jars

I arrived home from my spa day with the girls on Saturday evening and this is what Groomzilla was up to..

Making his own pickles! Let me preface this with the fact that Groomzilla LOVES pickles, we get the good ones from behind the deli counter at the grocery store and he will slice one up every night after dinner and eat it for dessert...a little weird?..yes I think so too.

We had discussed his little project a few nights before and I was %110 percent on board, not only because I fully supported his DIY project but because he had said he needed mason jars in order to store these pickles. I was psyched, because you all know how much everyone LOVES mason jars. He found a case at Winn Dixie of all places for $11. Total score! I just hope we will find a use for them at our wedding..maybe for some small flower arrangements on the high cocktail tables (hopefully they wont still smell of pickle juice) or better yet homemade pickles as favors!?!

I was more excited about the mason jars.


The finished product..we will be sampling one tonight for the first time!


I'm even surprised Groomzilla has held out this long without trying one, he keeps checking on them in the fridge!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Closing Out the Work Week With a To Do List

Its Friday, its storming, its a perfect time to hole up with my man and our pup and get cracking on that new master to do list I created.

Equipped with tasks, personnel assigned to tasks, expected completion dates, and comments. Groomzilla tends to work better when assigned to a task with a completion deadline.

Cropped to protect the innocent.
Can you say anal much? Am I? Have I gone too far??

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Save the Date Dilemma Solved!

My readers have spoken, we will be sending out our Save the Date postcards as is; sans the addressed envelope.

It is now safe for Groomzilla to stick his tongue out and say “I told you so!”

I have to admit that I was a little surprised that it was such a landslide; I figured more would have voted to put the post cards in an addressed envelope. I expected the result to be closer to 50/50, however; I am happy with the end result especially since we will be spending less money on envelopes and postage!

Thanks to everyone for all your feedback and for participating in my first poll!!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Non Wedding Wednesday

Week in Review and Highlights!!

This past Sunday we spent a great day at the beach with about 10 of our friends. Somehow when you’re at the beach relaxing the hours fly by and the day is over before you even know it. I left with no weird sunburn. Bonus!

Yesterday – I’m on a walking kick with one of my girlfriends, we walked 3.6 miles around the lake. It’s amazing how much easier exercising is when you have someone to talk to!

We bought a new Wireless Router!! Why is this a highlight you ask? Well Groomzilla and I both recently purchased new laptops (his within the month, mine within the week). Everything was going great until a second person tried to sign onto the Internet and caused the other one to be kicked off. We could never be on at the same time. Coincidentally Groomzilla always attempted to sign on right when I was about to hit the “Publish Post” button causing me to lose any unsaved changes or worry that my post didn’t post..just a wee bit frustrating (although not his fault ;). After Groomzilla tirelessly researched and troubleshooted (the man has the patience of a saint when it comes to these types of things, me not so much) we narrowed it down to our router not being compatible with Windows 7. Alas, we can now be on the Internet at the same time again!

So a lot less of this

sourceand a little bit more of this :)

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Thursday – Dinner with friends. Yum!

Saturday - a much needed spa day with some old girlfriends. A few months ago Living Social was offering a special package that included a 50 minute massage, a 50 minute facial, and two glasses of wine for only $80! We immediately jumped on that one! I am sooo looking forward to this and just in time to get started on my wedding beauty routine!

What are some of the highlights of your week??

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Save the Date Poll - Please Vote!

Need some help on this one. As you know from my post here regarding our save the dates, we will be sending out the post card style save the dates. After some thought I am afraid that once our pretty little save the dates enter the hands of USPS they will become inked up with postmark stamps and stickers, etc. So I thought about putting them in addressed envelopes and sending them out so that when they reach their destinations they are just as pretty as when they left our hands.

Groomzilla says putting them in envelopes defeats the purpose of the whole postcard look and I can't say I completely disagree. Please help us decide this little dilemma by voting below on what you think we should do!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Giveaway Winner

Congrats to Andrea on winning the subscription to Martha Stewart Wedding Magazine!

Thanks to all for participating.

More Giveaways to come!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Left Projectless

Ever found yourself wandering aimlessly through the aisles of a craft store? That was me this past weekend when I left for Hobby Lobby and Joanne Fabrics with no particular project in mind. As I began perusing the aisles I was just waiting to be inspired with some award winning idea that would pop into my head. No idea ever came to me and I left empty handed and feeling completely deflated.

Groomzilla was shocked when I returned home with no shopping bags to show for being gone for hours; he thought Hobby Lobby had swallowed me up whole. It was like I was a kid again with money burning a hole in my pocket but nothing to spend it on.

Since being engaged the craft side of me has completely taken over like never before. I’m wondering..am I only looking to create craft projects because we are currently at the lull in our wedding planning process and I feel like I need to be doing something? Have you ever found yourself in a position like this before?

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

A Few More Gems and a Giveaway Win!

I had been in contact with our photographer this week and he had mentioned he had a few pics from our engagement session that he hadn't sent over. I was so excited when I opened the file and there were these two beautiful gems! There is something about black and white photos that I just love.


Photos courtesy of Mann Photography
In other great news, I won Diana's giveaway over at All Women Stalk which I am super excited about! I won a personalized sign from Andrea at Signs by Andrea. I think we will display this little treasure either on our gift table or escort card table. Help me decide which one to pick! The sign will also be a great keepsake after the wedding.

This one with our two first names and our wedding date.


Or this one with just our last name and wedding date year.

Pictures via Signs by Andrea
Be sure to check out Andrea's signs at Signs by Andrea. If you do decide to purchase a sign, Andrea has offered a $10 off coupon for any sign. Just mention the Bride-onicles blog in the comments section of the order. The coupon will expire June 30th.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Non Wedding Wednesday

Lately I feel like I have been slighting Groomzilla of the attention I normally pay to him. I have become obsessed with wedding planning and the blogosphere that I am sacrificing things that are most important to me. So tonight after this post I am signing off for the night and switching off all electronic devices and spending a much needed night of QT with my Groomzilla and our pup. Maybe we can actually have a conversation that does not revolve around the wedding or my blog!

Did you ever feel that you got so caught up with the wedding plans and having to take pictures for posts and writing blog posts that you forgot about the most important reason why you were doing all of this in the first place?

My date(s) for the evening. :)

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Fell in love ALL over again

With my wedding shoes!! I almost forgot they were supposed to arrive today until I came home and saw the UPS slip on the door. I instantly tore open the package and threw those puppies on..of course after washing my hands and feet first. They are gorgeous and I will have to certainly break them in.

I love when shoes and purses come with a satchel, I end up using them when I travel!
Almost an exact match to the other something silver I am wearing :)

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Giveaway - 1 Year Martha Stewart Weddings Subscription

Everything about Martha Stewart’s wedding style screams class class class! Each time I pick up an issue of Martha Stewart Weddings while waiting in line at the grocery store, I can’t wait to get home to scour the issue from beginning to end. After tearing out numerous pages of ideas that I absolutely adore, I then begin my research in how to re-create those beautiful ideas. Well you can too, that’s why I am offering one of my readers a free 1 year subscription to Martha Stewart Weddings magazine.

If you win, the subscription does not have to be for you, you may send as a gift to someone else, this would make the perfect engagement gift!

To enter the giveaway:
1. You must be a follower of my Bride-onicles blog through Google Friend Connect.
2. Comment on this post telling me the last time you picked up a Martha Stewart Weddings issue.

For extra entries:
1. Like my Bride-onicles Facebook Fan page.
2. Follow me on Twitter.
3. For 3 entries blog about this giveaway and make sure to leave the link of your post.

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry.

The winner will be announced Monday, June 13th at 9:00 PM EST by using random.org

You will begin receiving your magazine in about four to six weeks upon completion of the giveaway.

Good Luck!!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Weddzilla Blogging

Happy Monday all!!

Be sure to check out my first blog post
Meet Classic Bride Tiffany on the Weddzilla blog. I am so very honored to be a part of their blogging team. I will be posting with them every Monday so please be sure to check in every now and again to see what I am up to!!

Thanks for all your continued support!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Guest List Etiquette

As I am finalizing and beginning to compile addresses for our guest list, I am slowly but surely realizing the guest list is spiraling out of control. At first I was worried that since most of our guests were long distance that we weren't going to have enough, now I’m worried that we will have too many. Our Event Coordinator told us when we booked the venue the maximum people the room would fit comfortably was 130. At that time we assumed we were well in the clear with planning for 100.

Once I started emailing friends for addresses I found out that some of Groomzilla’s college buds now have new girlfriends. I certainly don’t mind giving a plus one to those that are in a committed relationship or to friends that are dating someone we have actually met but what about those plus ones that we haven't ever met? I know some individuals feel uncomfortable attending weddings alone, I definitely get that, but is it totally and completely rude to disregard the new girlfriends and not include a plus one on the invite?

Other friends have had horror stories of guests bringing a plus one when not indicated on the invite, RSVP’ing yes with a no show, or those showing up who didn’t RSVP at all. I’m not totally naive and know some of these pitfalls may happen to us, and at that point I will just have to look past it and enjoy my day.

What types of unplanned guest pitfalls did you have?

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Wedding Shoe Beauties

I did it; I finally found my wedding shoes!! Believe it or not I was having difficulty in finding the perfect silver shoes for my wedding day. I had my heart set on silver because silver coordinates with something else I will be sporting on my wedding day (can’t say what because Groomzilla is a follower.) Groomzilla also wasn’t too keen on me posting a picture of the shoes, he is sooo superstitious, but I was too excited that I just had to share with you all!

The shoes I chose were a little bit more than I had originally wanted to spend but with all other splurges having to do with the wedding, it just made sense…not really but that made me feel better to say. I did find a coupon code for 20% off so how could I pass that by?!

Here they are!!! I love them and can’t wait to get them!!

Badgley Mischka Women's Randall from shoes.com
I was also considering purchasing a pair of silver comfy flats for when its time to kick off these 4 inch heels and hit the dance floor! Here are a few I am loving right now from dessy.com

Have you found your wedding shoes yet?

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com

Non-Wedding Wednesday

I need some help getting motivated to get back into a fitness routine. I have always been one of those bandwagon fitness gals where I join the gym, am totally hard core obsessed for about two weeks to a month and then completely fall off the wagon and return back to my couch potato ways.

The want is there but the drive is severely lacking.

Here are a couple of options I have put some thought into:

Joining a gym again

Upside - paying the monthly payment will encourage me to get my money’s worth and continue to go.

Downside – Once I return back to couch potato routine, getting out of a gym membership is almost impossible.

Meet up groups like meetup.com

Upside – Meeting new people, doing things I love, getting outside.

Downside - Will I ever really work up the courage to attend by myself?

Fitness with Groomzilla

Upside – We get to spend more time together.

Downside – We are too competitive and always end up turning it into a competition; who can walk the most miles, who ran the fastest..loser has to buy the winner dinner, etc. etc.

Create a fitness group of friends to meet up after work

Upside – Spend more time with friends, get to talk more about the wedding.

Downside – We live all over the city and normally anything we do together results in eating and or drinking. It will turn into a daily Happy Hour.

What got you in the spirit of getting into the best shape of your life for your big day? Any suggestions are welcome!!

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I'd love to hear from you. Email questions, comments, or photos to blogzillabride@gmail.com