Tying the Knot: Love is Sweet

Mike Cassimatis Photography

Mike Cassimatis Photography

At the end of our reception, guests were invited to take home a jar of honey. Now, this was not just your ordinary jar of honey. No... No... No! This was honey made in California, Missouri by my husband's parents. Let me repeat that for you: These little jars of Moniteau Honey came straight from California, Missouri and my in-laws house. 

It really doesn't get much sweeter than that. :)

Mike Cassimatis Photography

Filling these jars was a breeze thanks to my father-in-law's genius idea to use ketchup bottles filled with honey for easy filling. Plus, we had a cute flower girl/assistant helping to tighten the lids and fill boxes. :)

Behind the Scenes

Mike Cassimatis Photography

My friend Maggie  (you may remember her from this post, too!) was kind enough to make labels for the honey jars saying, Love is Sweet. Thanks For Making our Day Complete and thanking guests for being part of our special day. I called on my good friend Abby to decorate our chalkboards. Check out Abby's blog and learn how to fake calligraphy like the pro's!

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A year ago this month we became husband and wife! Read more about our favorite day in June here.

Couples Shower Fun: Hartleywood Game Night!

There are few things I love more than hosting people in our home. Ever since I was a young one, I've loved to entertain and be a hostess. 

When we had an opportunity to host a couples shower for two of our very great friends who will be getting married in November (friends who helped us tear down wallpaper I must add!), I volunteered our home immediately! 

After brainstorming a bit with the bride and groom to be, they both suggested a game night! After some pinning and punny conversations with my husband, we hatched the idea to host, "Hartleywood Game Night" in honor of the future Mr. & Mrs. Hartley! 

As usual, I reached out to my super talented design friends and ask them to whip up a few things for the party. My friend Maggie (you may remember her talents from our wedding) created the Price is Right sign with the future Hartley's hashtag and a graphic for our Family Feud game! I was able to decorate the house with the amazing game show style signs! 

Our first game of the evening was... you guessed it... The Price is Right! We had guests at the par-tay shout out prices as the bride and groom competed to win each of the household items. 

The Handsome Game Show Host! 

Our second game for the night was Family Feud! Thanks to Youth Downloads and his amazing Family Feud PowerPoint, we were able to play Family Feud - wedding style! Did I mention we had a pretty handsome host too?

We split the room into Boys vs. Girls and let the games begin! 

It. Was. Awesome. 

Another one of my oh-so-talented best friends made these adorable Wheel of Fortune inspired cupcake toppers! 

Kudos to Abby Graves!

Guests were invited to leave well wishes and advice for the happy couple on a Jenga block. At the end of the party, Elyse and Tyler took the game home! 

Jenga!

The kitchen was full of yummy treats, but among the deliciousness was the WORLD FAMOUS Dicus BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders and homemade BBQ sauce! 

I couldn't get enough of Maggie's amazing game show graphics, I stuck one on each of the food labels as well. 

No Leftovers Here!

A great night spent with great friends! 

How cute is this happy married couple to be?

We Can HARTLEY wait until November 7! 

Tying the Knot - To Top it Off

During the wedding planning process, Etsy and I became quite close. 

Photo Credit: MNC Photography

One of the items on my "to find" list was a custom cake topper for our wedding cake. I spotted the shop Better Off Wed and I knew I had to have her make a cake topper for us. 

Photo credit: MNC Photography

I wasn't planning on using gold tones in our wedding reception until this beauty arrived in the mail, It's sparkly gold color inspired me to include more gold tones in the reception decor. 

Photo credit: MNC Photography

Perfect. Just perfect!

Tying the Knot - Early Morning "Donut" Call

What's better than finding a bag of fresh donut holes waiting for you the morning after a wedding reception? Not much, folks. Not much!

For each guest that stayed at the Hotel Bothwell for the evening, they were treated to my absolute-favorite guilty pleasure: donut holes.

The donut holes arrived from heaven and were waiting outside each and every door at the hotel. 

Oh, wait. I mean they came straight from the Sedalia favorite, Papa Jakes Donut Shop. 

Let me tell you a little bit about Papa Jakes. 

If you arrive at Papa Jakes later than 9:00 A.M., you are out of luck. No donut holes for you! They sell out QUICK - especially on the weekends. 

 Every slumber party I've hosted since I was a little girl included donuts from Papa Jakes. My dad would wake up at the crack of dawn and get to Papa Jakes so we could have donuts when we rolled out of bed at 10. 

Hopping off the bus when I was in 4th and 5th grade, I was taunted by the smell of the donut shop because my elementary school was right next door. 

My girlfriends and I would meet at Papa Jakes in high school to have breakfast together. 

My (fellow-donut-entusiast) nephew Beckett and I enjoy trips to Papa Jakes together. 

It's just "the place to go". 

Your life will be complete once you've had Papa Jakes. 

Seriously, your presence meant a "HOLE" lot!

Now.. Go Treat Yo'Self!

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More details coming soon.

Catch up on my other wedding posts here. 

Have a great weekend!

Tying the Knot - The Rehearsal

June 19, 2015

Perhaps it's the teacher in me, but I assigned everyone an activity at our rehearsal. Oops. 

You can the girl out of the classroom... (for the summer)

Each guest was invited to complete a Mad Lib about "The Happy Couple" which happened to be Scott and I.  The Mad Libs asked guests where they traveled from, how long they had known us, and to leave us with some advice. 

Much of the marital and relationship advice included to be kind, laugh, respect one another, tell jokes, maintaining personal hygiene (very important!), and always remember why we fell in love to begin with. 

I purchased the Mad Libs for our rehearsal through Groopdealz earlier this spring, but there are many options available on Etsy. Click here to see more. The set we purchased can be found here. 

The best part was reading  the responses once we were home and settled after our honeymoon. I have to give credit to our friends and  family - they are very creative with their adjectives!

For dinner, I was excited to include a few personal and family-centered details.  For the main course, guests were invited to build their own burger. On two chalkboards, we encouaged guests to build the classic California favorite, "Big Mike" and the Sedalia, Missouri classic, "Guber Burger". 

 Why the "Bike Mike" you ask? Ask anyone in central Missouri about Burgher Haus and they'll be able to tell you about the great family-owned restaurant in California, Missouri.  Scott's family has owned and operated the Burgher Haus since 1977.  One of the many gems on the menu is the "Big Mike".  I love visiting Burgher Haus with Scott because (a). everyone refers to him as Scottie (b). we get hugs from family members (c). the food is always amazing and (d). Jane's bread pudding (which happened to make an appearance at our wedding, too <-- details coming!)

Why the "Guber Burger"? Oh, I'm glad you asked. Whenever anyone asks me where I'm from, I always proudly state, "I'm from Sedalia, Missouri - home of the Missouri State Fair and the Guber Burger." Then, I get to rattle off all of these really fascinating facts about my hometown and leave people completely and utterly amazed. 

We were surrounded by so many loving family and friends the entire night - and it was amazing. Just the tip of the iceberg for the entire weekend. Still counting our blessings (almost) a month later!

Writing about all of our wedding details is making me a little emotional - in a good way of course!

Catch up on our details here! 

Soaking Up the Last Ray - A Bachelorette Bash!

A few weekends ago, I had the great honor of hosting a bachelorette bash for my best friend and SOON to be Mrs.! And I thought....

Thanks to PrettyPaperParties and her adorable Etsy shop, I was able to get the word out about the par-tay back in April. I highly recommend working with Brooke while party planning. She was great to work with and very flexible when I forgot a thing or two...

After what seemed like an eternity (yes, I'm mildly dramatic...) it was finally bachelorette weekend! Before Abby arrived, I decorated the house with a few bachelorette goodies including this banner:

Using free templates... YES FREE! .... from PrintablePartyDecor.com, I printed the backdrop for the banner and topped it off with letters cut from my Cricut. Notice anything missing? Yes, a few rings and the word the didn't make the trip across town. Oops! I had time to fix it. 

Waiting for Abby when she arrived into town was a little gift bag with a personalized t-shirt from DearAddieWomen's Etsy shop. It was the perfect gift to kick off the weekend! Plus, she shipped the shirt within a few weeks to me - talk about great service!

On Friday evening, we started off the weekend with a Mexican-themed Honeymoon Shower. All of the ladies showered our bride-to-be with honeymoon themed gifts and a rousing game of Bride Scattegories. It was fantastic! Plus we had a piñata and delicious bikini cookies... 

Another Etsy favorite was Rachel Carl's shop. (Visit her Etsy shop here) I ordered these adorable, and personalized, straws back in April and had been anxiously awaiting their debut! 

The banner looked even cuter with the bride-to-be (and the word the... oops) posing in front of it!

#lastray

The rest of the weekend was spent soaking up the beautiful Missouri sunshine at the Lake of the Ozarks and a delightful night out on the town. 

A great weekend - one for the memory books to say the least!

Love & Marriage

Christy Robbins

Say "I" if you've seen this ornament floating around Pinterest... I!

When, I pinned this a few months ago I knew that I had to make something similar for my newlywed friends. In October, my sweet friends Emily and Kyle said, "I do" in beautiful Key West, Florida. Then, in November they held the par-tay of the century (also commonly known as a reception) back in Columbia for family and friends (like me! Although, I would argue that I would like to join the family as well).

Now, it's late November and the Christmas holiday is approaching and it's the PERFECT season to create ornaments. Plus, I have five days off of school.

Christy Robbins has an excellent step by step guide to making an ornament of your very own. I had full intentions of finding a clear ornament and making a duplicate of the one above. Until Wal-Mart had other plans for the Newlands. Which means, they didn't sell any clear ornaments....

Yikes - Ignore the price! How tacky of me. 

I used the following supplies:
Ornaments
Wedding Invite
Scissors
Pen (or pencil to roll invite)

I cut the invitation (sorry guys...) into tiny strips and then rolled each strip around the pen. Again, click here to see photos of the step by step process. Then, I stuffed each strip inside the ornament. Luckily for me (and Wal-Mart) the ornament I picked matched their invite and wedding colors.

Merry & Bright

Then, I got so excited to show the happy couple their gift I demanded that they drop everything and FaceTime with me. I knew my blog would be published before I saw them next. Don't worry.. they liked it!

Unrelated, doesn't it look like this reindeer is ready to party? I thought so too.

Here For the Party!

Gobble Gobble!