Two years!

Oh, I'm a sucker for anniversaries. I love them. I love being married to Andy and I'm so thankful for the past 2 years with him and look forward to the rest of our lives! I'll be posting next week about the very fun, super-secret project I worked on for his gift! :)

If you are bored and want to read allllll the details about our wedding, you can do so here!

Or if you just want to look at fun photos, they're on flickr. :)

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Nashville Brides: Don't miss the Budget Wedding Bootcamp!

Just a reminder about our Budget Wedding Bootcamp coming up in Nashville! Our first workshop is tomorrow evening with a 2nd class coming up on April 25! Don't miss your chance to learn how to plan a Nashville wedding on the cheap! Sign up now!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Calling all Nashville Brides: Budget Wedding Bootcamp

Life is so funny, sometimes! When I was only working part time this summer, I became obsessed with the thought of teaching a class through The Skillery. Then, I got an awesome job and I put my desire to teach a class on the backburner. Amazingly, at work, our team brought in Cara Davis for a meeting. I was familiar with Cara because she used to work for Relevant Magazine and I listened to her on their podcast every week. Cara and I instantly had so much in common and we bonded over our love of budget weddings!


Cara was already working on a Budget Wedding Bootcamp with her friend Casey and they brought me in to help teach! I'm so excited to teach about something I'm passionate about -- not spending a fortune and going into debt for a wedding! I truly believe that a wedding should be more about the marriage than the party and I'm really excited to meet with other women who feel the same way and give them the tools they need to plan a budget wedding!


P.S. I'm very excited that Melissa is letting us meet at Pistils and Petals! If you haven't been yet, be sure to stop by and pick up some flowers or fun handmade or vintage items!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Rustic Wedding Signs by MyRepurposedLife

Calling all brides to be, wedding planners, and photographers! My mom makes amazing signs for weddings - totally customizable and so, so cute. Plus, they're VERY affordable!

Check out her etsy shop here!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Katie and Adam's wedding

On September 8, two of our good friends got married! Through Andy's job, we have gotten to know some really amazing people. Hardly any of them still work at the company where they met, but they all still stay in touch and get together on a regular basis.

Adam and Katie both worked with Andy, but then they moved to Austin last year. They returned to Nashville for their wedding, which was amazing and beautiful!

The wedding was on the most gorgeous day we've had in months at a venue called Front Porch Farms.




























Photo bombed by a baby. :)

It was SUCH a fun night!!! Congratulations to Adam and Katie!!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Introducing: Stockroom Vintage

The Nashville Wedding blog world has been abuzz the past several weeks over Stockroom Vintage, a new vintage rentals company.







I will admit that I was totally and completely jealous when I saw the site and what Elizabeth was doing! I decided to send her an email and be totally honest and tell her exactly that! (In a fun, friendly way, of course!) I didn't want to sound like a crazy person, so I told Elizabeth a little about myself. The amazing this is that she replied right away and told me that she knew who I was and loved my booth!

We met for coffee over the weekend and had so much in common. I am so excited for her as she develops her business and finds her place in the wedding industry! I think she has such a great vision and I love what she's doing. She is a genuine person who deserves the success and press she is receiving!



Elizabeth has an amazing eye and styled a Kate Spade inspired photo shoot to show off her amazing vintage inventory. Also, see her own wedding featured on The Budget Savvy Bride. It was BEAUTIFUL!

Her blog is full of wedding eye candy and if you need any amazing vintage furniture or goods, be sure to check out her services.

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

One year!

Today is our first anniversary and I can hardly believe it's been a year! It has flown!

To celebrate, we went to see The Screwtape Letters on stage Friday night and it was incredible!

There's a cool backstory to The Screwtape Letters for us- years ago, I was thrifting in Pennsylvania while on a break during a work trip. I saw an old copy of the book and had heard of it, but had never read it. I felt compelled to buy it and just had this overwhelming sense that I would someday give it to my husband.

Fast forward to dating Andy, and we were browsing a huge used bookstore. We happened to be standing in front of a C.S. Lewis section, which reminded me of my old copy of Screwtape Letters. I asked Andy what was his favorite book and he pointed right at Screwtape Letters on the shelf. I smiled and told him, "I think you're stuck with me."

I didn't tell him the whole story until I gave him the book on our wedding day. And then the play perfectly timed with our anniversary. It just feels like a little wink from God to say "Hey guys, I had this from the beginning."

We went to dinner last night to continue celebrating and tonight we will just relax at home with our little puppy Lucy (who is growing and growing!).

I am so thankful for this past year and I'm so looking forward to many, many, many more!

If you are new around here and haven't read/seen our wedding post, you can read all about it here! 

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

DIY: Giant Single Bloom Fabric Bouquet

Are you having a budget wedding and slashing fresh flowers due to the cost? If so, you don't have to sacrifice style by sacrificing real flowers - here's how to make a (giant) Single Bloom Fabric Bouquet on a budget!

My Single Bloom Fabric Bouquet was just voted one of Ashley's Bride Guide's Top Bouquets of 2011!



Supplies:

• Sharp scissors
• Sturdy fabric like canvas (tip: buy from the remnant section to save money)
• White or Ivory Organza
• Fabri-tac Permanent Adhesive
• Bouquet Holder
• Bouquet Collar
• Coordinating fabric to cover your bouquet holder (optional)
• Brooch, button, earring, etc (optional)
• Small bit of lace (optional)

Step 1:


Cut a circle from your sturdy fabric, which will be the base of your fabric flower. Match the size of your circle to the size of your bouquet collar. (See various kinds of bouquet collars.) When I made my original bouquet, I used a 10 inch bouquet collar. You probably want to err a little bit bigger than your bouquet collar - you can always cut some of it back. For the tutorial, I made a small version from a fabric sample.

Step 2:


You may need up to 2 yards of organza, depending on the size and fullness of your flower.

Cut 2" strips of organza. You can make a small cut and then rip the rest of the fabric - so much easier than trying to cut straight all the way! Begin rolling the strip of organza, creating approximately a 2" roll.

Step 3:


Cut a petal shape, similar to how you would cut connected paper dolls. The goal is to create a chain of petals, so you want to make sure not to cut all the way through the bottom of the organza roll on either side.

Step 4:


Apply glue around the circumference of your circle. I started with Aleene's Tacky Glue but ran into a lot of trouble with it. I switched to Fabri-Tac and it worked so much better. I highly recommend Fabri-Tac - it "grabs" the organza right away and stays tacky so that if you make it around the circle, you can actually press a new layer down using the same glue.

Place the bottom of a petal in the glue, pinching and gathering as you do to create volume. Continue pressing, pinching, gathering as you glue around the outside of the circle- there's not an exact science - you just want to make sure they have some volume and variations.

Continue around your fabric circle, gluing just the bottom of the organza petal strip down. You'll want your petals to be full and fluffy, so try not to glue them down and try to squeeze in as many layers as possible. Keep spiraling around the circle. It won't look pretty at first, but have faith - it will!

Step 5:

Keep layering. I noticed I had some bare spots around the outer edge of my circle, so I gently separated the layers so I could add more petal strips in between them.

Your fabric flower is now complete! You can glue a pretty bauble in the center, or leave it as-is.

Step 6:

Attach the bouquet holder to the bouquet collar. There are many different types - I used the kind with the flat cylindrical flower foam, not the domed kind.

Glue the base of your fabric flower to the fabric of your bouquet collar.

Step 7:


Take coordinating fabric and cut a small hole in the middle of it. Gather it up and around your bouquet collar, tucking your fabric under your first row of petals. Glue as you go. Wrap ribbon around the handle and add a bit of lace or pretty fabric to cover where the ribbon and fabric meet. The bottom might not be very pretty, but no one will see it! :)

Here is my bouquet in action:


Want to know more about our wedding? You can read up on it and see more photos here!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please let me know if you make one for your wedding or other projects!



Linking to:
My Repurposed Life
Look What I Made
Yesterday On Tuesday
Freckled Laundry
Sundae Scoop
Think Pink Sundays
Whatever You Want Wednesdays

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Janelle and Jonathan's Beach Wedding!

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I flew down to the Destin area for my friends Janelle and Jonathan's destination wedding.

I honestly haven't been to a proper beach since I was a kid, so I was pretty amazed by the beauty of it. The water was too cold to do anything more than briefly stick your feet in, but the waves were gorgeous.

Doesn't the gulf look heavenly? Logistically, it didn't work out for Andy to come with me - especially since I was coordinating the wedding and was running around like a crazy person most of the time I was there. :) Since I was missing him, I drew our initials in the sand but they were quickly washed away by the ferocious tide!

The beach was the perfect backdrop for the wedding. It was absolutely beautiful - just like the bride! She was so stunning. Jonathan's dad married them in a lovely, faith-filled ceremony.


Isn't her gown beautiful? And I love Jonathan's snazzy vest and matching trousers! I also love the color of her dad's shirt - it matches the ocean!

The wedding was a true example of community and it was heart-warming to see everyone come together to make it happen. Janelle has friends of all skills who loaned their talents to the wedding - from the cake to the flowers to the music to the food - everyone had expertise they offered up. It was perfect.

I wish I had photos from the reception but I sadly don't! It was wonderful, though!

I love coordinating weddings. I love troubleshooting and being in the moment and delegating and seeing people step up to make things happen, but most of all I love witnessing love and being a part of a couple's special day.

I am so happy for Janelle and Jonathan and so honored to have been a part of their wedding!

Here's one last beach/gulf shot... it was incredible!

If you're new to Owl Really, welcome! Please check out my favorite posts and consider subscribing! :)

Bridal Bolero by Uptown Urban Craft and Emmaline Bride Feature

Last week, I received an email from Elaine who said I was featured on a wedding blog. I was confused and excited to discover what she meant. (I'll admit it! It was a little bit of a thrill!)



Turns out, Emmaline Bride did a post about Uptown Urban Craft's Bridal Boleros and Laura, the talented lady behind Uptown Urban Craft, submitted photos of my "first look" with Andy to show off a real bride wearing one of her boleros.

I was super pleased with my bolero - it gave my wedding dress such a unique look! I highly recommend checking out Laura's work and would love for you to hop on over to Emmaline Bride to see what they said about her and to see our little feature!

Haven't seen our wedding photos yet? Check out our wedding page where I list out ALL the details and photos. :)

Four months...

It can be excessive to celebrate months, and we haven't been celebrating them actually - but I just wanted to take a moment and say this has been the best 4 months of my life. :) I love having Andy around all the time and sharing life with him. He's the best. :)

Bridal Candy - We're Number 1??

WOW! I am so humbled by the news I just discovered. I just found out that Ashley's Bride Guide chose our wedding as their #1 favorite feature for the month of July! Ashley's team has been SO supportive and so amazing - I am so grateful to them for their support and encouragement!

You can see the feature here or by clicking below!

Our Wedding on Ashley's Bride Guide!

Ashley's Bride Guide is the leading website for Nashville weddings and today our wedding is featured on it! Ashley and her awesome team have been so great to us - we love them!

Previously, they featured our engagement session and it was such a great experience working with them that I knew I wanted them to be the first website I submitted our wedding to!

Click here to see our feature!

Reduce, reuse, recycle!

How many times did I hear the "three Rs" growing up in school?? I think we should add "repurpose" to that little slogan! :)

We all know that my mom is the queen of repurposing right? I like to think I inherited some of her repurposing skill too. :) While I don't build benches out of headboards, I try not to be wasteful and I love to thrift and save money and use what I have!

For example, when I told friends & family that I wanted to wear a pair of shoes I already owned to the wedding, they all balked! Everyone exclaimed, "but it's your wedding! You have to buy new shoes!" That pressure led me to spend hours googling and searching for pink flats... even though I already had pink flats in my closet! I ended up making an executive decision and took my flats to a shoe repairman and had him clean my shoes up and by golly, I wore my own shoes to my wedding.. and guess what... no one saw them! I am so glad I didn't spend $80 on new shoes - it would have been such a waste!

So, in that same vein, it didn't feel authentic to me to buy a frilly ring bearer pillow that would never be used again. Luckily, my friend June is a great seamstress and crafter and she has made the ring bearer pillows for many of our friends. We were visiting in Indianapolis in January and went to Joann's where I found adorable an adorable fabric remnant that I thought would be perfect for a ring bearer pillow that could later be used as a decorative pillow in our house! June agreed to make it and it was SOOOOO cute.

I finally snipped the yellow ribbon that held the rings (how cute is it that our ringbearer wanted to take home our faux rings that were attached to the pillow??) last week and decided where the pillow could live in our home - drumroll please.....!!!!

The dining room!

My mom sneakily got me this church pew I had been eyeing on Craigslist years ago and it has been living in my dining room ever since. I was on a design show years ago and they did my guest room, which is how I got the green pillows. I have been slowly "undoing" the room they did over the years (it is almost COMPLETELY undone now, since that room is Andy's office!) and awhile ago I brought the pillows into the dining room to use on the pew. The little birdie pillow fits right in with the green pillows and it's so special that it was used in our wedding!

On a side note - over email, June did try to convince me to make it bigger but I for some reason thought it would be too big if we went bigger... in retrospect, I do wish I had listened to her advice!! :)

On another note - I want to re-do the decor above the pew. My style used to be very "pottery barn" but now it's definitely mid-century modern. All in due time!

wedding photo slideshow

it's true, i'm obsessed with our wedding photos. it was such a beautiful day in so many ways!

here's our photo slideshow... :)