Why I Blog
Friday, September 18, 2009 in about 0 comments by Lauren Grove
I felt like sharing something about myself today, I hope you all won’t mind. It’s the answer to the question, “Why do you blog?” If you had asked me at this time last year about blogging, I wouldn’t have had an answer because I had no idea about it! I knew that they existed, but I didn’t know about the vast amounts of information, ideas, and inspiration (the three I’s, how cute!) that were available through blogs.

In January (described in more detail here), I was told about Style Me Pretty. From then on, I was forever a member of the blogosphere. There are so many things that I would have done differently if I had been reading blogs earlier on in my wedding planning, as I’ve said several times in my blogging.


Photo from author’s personal collection

I decided that when I returned from the honeymoon, I was going to start a wedding blog. But I didn’t want to start a blog just because I was still in love with weddings. I started this blog because I want to help other brides, bridesmaids, mothers of brides, basically whoever is involved in a wedding! I want to provide tips and tricks to brides so their planning experience is fun and their wedding day goes smoothly.

I realized that I was one of the first in my circle of friends to get married, and therefore I didn’t have anyone to go to for advice. At times, I know I was annoying my friends and mother with discussions of bridesmaid dresses, invitations, monograms, flowers, the list goes on and on. There were times that I felt like I had nowhere to turn for answers to questions about my wedding.

So brides, grooms, bridesmaids, mothers, fathers, whoever is reading: feel free to ask me questions! If you need some ideas, you can’t decide on a monogram, invitations, centerpieces, whatever it may be, two heads are better than one! I would have loved to have someone to collaborate with on some of the decisions I had to make when planning my wedding. Leave me a comment, or send me an email. I will be more than happy to help!

In my few months of blogging and connecting with others in the wedding industry, I’ve realized that I truly do want to help others enjoy their wedding day. I’m working to gain more experience in the wedding industry so one day I can physically be there to help brides have the best wedding day that is possible!

So, for my friends, family, blog readers, and anyone else who was wondering, this is why I blog! I absolutely love doing it, and I can’t wait to share more with everyone!

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Wanted: More Hours in a Day
Thursday, August 20, 2009 in about 1 comment by Lauren Grove

To me, time is something that we don’t have enough of…there are not enough hours in the day! I am a huge proponent of using time wisely. Whether it involves blogging on my lunch break, going for a run and taking my dog, or making enough dinner for lunch the next day, I will do everything I can to “kill two birds with one stone”. It perplexes me when people waste their valuable time!

When planning a wedding, time is precious, especially if you have other priorities, such as a job, school, or children. One of the reasons that I started this blog was to help others who don’t have the time to search the internet for inspiration. I spent hours scouring the internet, reading through blogs, and perusing TheKnot to find inspiration for my wedding. I found amazing ideas, and mostly all of them were found on blogs, but the amount of time that I spent to find them was enormous!

Now my passion for weddings has led me to pursue a career in the wedding industry. I want to focus on helping others to maximize their time spent planning their wedding, but also make sure they enjoy it!

Time management and organization are crucial when planning a wedding. Just a few tips when it comes to these things:

  • It is wise to have a planner for your appointments, whether it’s on an electronic device or a physical planner. Combine your personal appointments, wedding appointments, and business appointments in one planner so you are able to keep track of everything.
  • Try to set aside a specific time of day for certain things if you’re finding yourself overridden with things to do. An example could be doing wedding related things from 7 pm to 8 pm only.
  • Have a place to jot down ideas, questions, or things you think of. Keep a mini notebook in your purse, send yourself emails, or have a place on your phone to jot things down.

It’s all about managing your time wisely and keeping your thoughts and ideas organized.

These are some items that will help make your life a bit easier. We can certainly all benefit from organizing our lives!

If you feel like you’re spending too much time searching for inspiration and ideas for your wedding, I would love to help out! Just drop me a line!

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  • Amanda B. Young:

    August 20, 2009 2:27 pm

    Mmmm I love Russell and Hazel too! Such lovely stuff.
Thanks for the help!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009 in about 0 comments by Lauren Grove

Thank you all for your input on what photo I should include with my Thank You notes!

Since I couldn’t pick just one, I decided to make a collage of my favorite photos to send out!

It’s going to be somewhat small, but all the pictures are clearly visible. I can even pick out specific people in the group shot. I wanted everyone to see it since you were all a part of my decision to make it! Thanks again!

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The Story of My Wedding Dress: Don’t Do This!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 in about 0 comments by Lauren Grove

When you get engaged, what’s the first thing you do? Buy bridal magazines! And of course the magazines are filled with pages and pages of advertisements for wedding dresses. And you mark the pages you want, go the websites and drool, and start dreaming of your wedding dress.
When choosing your dress, the number ONE rule is: DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

  • Look at all the different designers and styles.
  • Go and try some on, with NO intentions of buying at all.
  • Know what style and fabric you like.

Well, I made a huge mistake. I did look at what I liked. I knew what style I liked. I knew I wanted lace. But I didn’t buy it. I bought something different than what I had been looking for. It was the first time trying on dresses, and the first store I went to. I went to another store, didn’t find what I wanted, and went back and got the dress. I was rushed due to other people’s schedule constraints. I wanted my wedding dress.

Don’t get caught up in the moment!

I now tell all of my friends that they are NOT allowed to buy a dress on the first day of looking. So now I’m sharing that advice with all of you.

I should have known, my mom should have known, my sister should have known. Maybe if my best friend had been there, she would have known. When buying a SHIRT, I have to search all of the stores in the mall before buying it. We should have known.
5 months after purchasing the dress and 3 months of the dress sitting in the dress shop, I became very upset. I could not walk down the aisle and be married in the dress I had. It just wasn’t me. I thought about it for months. I tried to convince myself that it was fine, that I did like it. It sounds awful, but it happens all too often to other brides.

So, I went on a covert mission-to a different bridal shop by myself. I tried on dresses in their “Boutique” section of the store (aka cheaper than the $5000 dresses), and found 2 dresses I loved so much better than the one I had.
Then I brought my sister there. She loved it. My wonderful husband (then fiance of course) saw how upset I was and said it was okay to put the dress on our credit card so my parents wouldn’t have to buy another dress. He hadn’t even seen the first dress or the new dress. What a keeper.
So I told my mom. She was NOT happy. She didn’t speak to me for a few days, and I finally convinced her that I really wanted her to see it before I purchased it. So she did. She convinced ME to keep looking, since the dress I had found wasn’t PERFECT.

Well, I didn’t get THAT dress, but a whirlwind of going to stores within a 120 mile radius began. I knew the brand I wanted, and it had to be lace. When I wasn’t completely in love with anything, I went to the designer’s website that I frequented pretty much every day, and wrote down all of the style numbers of the dresses I liked. I then emailed and called stores that were further than a one hour drive, and asked them how many of those styles they had.
Having done my research, my mom drove down to Bonita Springs (2.5 hour drive) with me one Thursday morning. We walked into the small store and dresses just lined the walls. It was amazing how much they fit in a tiny store! I probably tried on 20 dresses, and we were there for 3 hours. The dress I ended up getting wasn’t even on the rack- they had just received it the day before, and it came straight out of the box. Thankfully, for this reason, we were able to take it home with us that day.

Dress View

I was so blessed that my mom was agreeable with this whole ordeal, and she did admit that my new dress was so much better than the first one. And yes, I’m still absolutely in love with it. I’m planning on wearing it for our 10 year anniversary. That’s the plan anyways.

The moral of this story is: Don’t buy a dress the first day you look!

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