Sending Post Wedding Thank You Cards - DONT FORGET

You've spent months planning your big day.....lots of time making things or having things made for the event and now the day has finally come and gone.  You opened all your gifts, spent or saved all your cash and giftcards and now its time to thank everyone.  Sadly, some people never end up sending out thank you cards which I think is pretty bad.  I mean all these people have taken time out of their lives, booked flights, paid for hotel rooms, and gave you a gift and you cant even send a thank you card?

Don't get me wrong, I totally understand how it is after the wedding is over.  You are happy and relieved that all the planning and getting things together is done and you may not "feel" like doing them right away which is fine. But please make sure you dont forget to send thank you cards. Some people actually write them out before the wedding.  Of course they don't write out the entire card but they address the envelopes and stuff. If you have time to do that, thats great!

Wedding etiquette states you should send them anywhere from 3 to 6 months after your wedding date.  Different people say different time frames.  How long you choose to wait to send them is up to you, just dont wait too long.  And trust me, people really appreciate getting them and they also remember when they don't get them!

My 31& Loving It Pink Party

So this Saturday is my 31& Loving It Pink party and Im so excited! :)  Its an all girls shin dig for my birthday and everyone is supp to wear something pink (my fav color).  I've been getting things together for it for the past two weeks so stay tuned to see how everything turns out! :)

"Believe in yourself FEARLESSLY!"

While chatting with my bestie (Jackie) about stepping out on faith, she gave me a great idea to journal my "journey" in stepping out. I love the idea! So going forward, I'll be sharing my a little of my personal experiences, emotions, ups and downs in stepping out on faith to pursue my passion!! Stay tuned for that! :)

This past Saturday was my 31st birthday! My hubby made this birthday very special and I had a great weekend!  I thank God for allowing me to see another year which lets me know my purpose has not been fully served on this earth yet. Isn't that amazing? Every day we are blessed to wake up, we are given another opportunity to live to our fullest potential.  In church today, my pastor talked about giving your best no matter what you are doing and how we should really do everything as if we are doing it for the Lord.  If you think about it like that, it's kind of hard not to give your best in everything you do!
 
On Sunday, I watched the 2010 Black Girls Rock awards show on BET! I loved every bit of it! I think its awesome that DJ Beverly Bond saw the need for a youth empowerment and mentoring organization for young women of color. The awards show recognized a number of black women who have made outstanding contributions in their careers and stand as positive role models in the community.  It was an extremely empowering show to watch and a great reminder that any of us can truly have whatever our hearts desire is....no matter how BIG our dreams are!! Faith, hard work, drive and determination are all you need.  One thing Raven Symone said that stood out to me was that she has heard more people tell her NO than YES and look how extremely successful she is at only 24 years old!! Just goes to show us just because 10 or 100 people have said NO doesn't mean that YES isn't coming!

Lastly, Nia Long who hosted the show shared this statement in the beginning of the show which stuck with me:  "Believe in yourself fearlessly!"  I love that ...because that's exactly what we have to do!! If you don't believe in yourself, who will?

Cute Diaper Cakes

A very popular gift at baby showers are diaper cakes. These days, there are so many different styles and themes for diaper cakes its crazy.  Check out these "Baby Cakes by Madison Kennedy".  These come in three sizes - mini, 3 Tier, & 4 tier.  They also customize all diaper cakes to order to fit perfectly with party themes, nursery decor, or  favorite sports team.  Their 'Tutu Cute Collection' is too adorable and they feature handmade tutus and headbands.  Check out a few of their diaper cakes. The first pic is my fav! :) Wonder why? Im so girly! lol

To contact Madison Kennedy Designs, email them at info@madisonkennedydesigns.com  or call 410.701.0653
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Now check out these awesome diaper cakes by Tiers of Joy. They customize diaper cakes too.  These also make great centerpieces for baby showers! The first one is my fav! :)

To contact Tiers of Joy, email them at tiersofjoy2010@hotmail.com or check them out on Facebook here.

The Next Great Baker!!!

I'm so happy and excited to announce my good friend, Kendra Jordan's national television debut on TLC's The Next Great Baker hosted by the Cake Boss himself, Buddy Valastro!! You may remember when I featured some of her cakes here on my blog awhile ago.  Kendra and I have been friends since college and we have always bonded creatively! Like me, she loves all things creative. She sews, draws, paints, writes, bakes, and the list goes on and on.  When I tell you she only took one class at Micheal's last year around this time and now is absolutely AMAZING with cakes, its true!!  Each cake just gets better and better!  She's an artist too so it was only natural she'd do awesome cakes! Did I mention she free-hands most of her cakes! Pure talent! :) The show airs Dec 6 so make sure you tune in and support her! Yayyy Kendra!! :) Check out her website: www.keshajobakes.com

 

 Check out some of the amazing cakes she has done to date:

Bumble Bee 1st Birthday Party

On this past Sunday, I decorated a bumble bee themed 1st birthday party for Tatum, the cute lil daughter of two of my friends from college. They had it at the Jelly Bean Jungle in Marlton, NJ so the place is already decorated but mommy wanted to tie in the theme of Tatum's big day!  Since we were doing a bumble bee theme which is traditionally just black and yellow, I wanted to make it a little girly so we decided to tie in a little pink. 

Photog and good friend of the couple, Micheal Derek was there snapping pics of everything and I cant wait to see how great his professional pictures turn out!  He also took the picture of Tatum that I used for the magazine cover.  But for now, you'll have to check out the ones I took on my lil digital camera....which dont really do the party justice....lol

Guest were greeted as they walked in by this cute magazine cover with the birthday girl on it! :)

Up close view of magazine cover

Picture of room and tables BEFORE decorating

Table setting AFTER decorating

Glitter wooden name sign I made

Table setting....isn't this table cloth the cutest?

Favor boxes

Frames I made that set on each of the adult tables

Gift sign I made

I used a bumble bee pinata for decoration

Mini magazines I created for adult favors

Page 1 of mini mag

Page 2 of mini mag

Personalized Water Bottles

I had a lot of fun making everything for this party! Everyone had a blast!

VENDOR RECOMMENDATION:  After having the magazine cover created, I used www.posterbrain.com to have it blown up.  I highly recommend them if you ever need to have a picture enlarged to poster size. The site is user friendly, prices are great, delivery is quick, and customer service is awesome!

Welcome Bags for Your Out of Town Wedding Guests

One very popular thing a lot of couples do is have welcome bags for their out of town wedding guests.

Usually the bags can include food and/or beverage items, itinerary for the weekend, souvenirs, area maps, etc.  You can pretty much put anything you want in them.  The bags can be left at the front desk of the hotel where your guests are staying and the clerks will distribute them to guests upon arrival.  I think this a great idea to do for you out of town guest, but of course it will add an additional cost to your budget.

We decided at the last minute to do them. We did about 50 bags and put snacks (chips, candy, nuts, etc) and a personalized bottle of water in each bag.  I used basic small black paper bags with the handles and added a note on outside of each bag thanking everyone for coming.  Check out pic below: 

I really love gable boxes and if you don't mind spending a little more for them vs using regular gift bags, I'd highly suggest using these.  They usually run around $1 a box depending on what site you order them from (the more you buy, the cheaper they are).  Just be sure to order the correct size for the amount of stuff you plan on putting in each box.  If you are unsure of what gable boxes are, here is a pic of one:

Here are a few sites that sell gable boxes:
Nashville Wraps
Paper Mart
Uline