Must Have Shoes for Spring

Ok, if you KNOW me you know that I LOVE SHOES!! I love flats, platforms, sneakers, high boots, peep toe, closed toe and everything in between. I have to tell you my shoe collection definitely tripled since I moved to NYC. Here is one of my recent FAVORITES! They are on sale so I wanted to let you guys know...GET THESE!!

Nine West Espadrille platforms. I get SO MANY compliments on these shoes an they are now ON SALE here for less then $50. I would recommend buying more then one pair.

Navy Shoes

I saw these shoes today at a press preview. They're navy suede and would be great for my bridesmaids with their chambray dresses!!

Stamp It

Robert and I are sending invites out soon and looking at postage stamps. We could get custom ones made but they are DOUBLE the price and since we're on a budget we decided not to go that route. SO..the envelope we chose is brown (almost like recycled dark brown paper). The feel of our wedding is vintage, rustic and CA backyard style. What do you think of these stamp picks? Cute right? Is it to many on the Tiffany Lamp ones? I'm leaning towards the one above. 

Brimfield Antique Show

July 12-17 is the famous Brimfield antique show. It's 3.5 hours away from NYC. I'm going to head out there to find some SWEET things for  our home. Who's down for a road trip?

Here are some of my favorite tips they highlight for seeing the show:

2. You will always do better using that giant wad of cash in your pocket as opposed to a check, and, and at the final stage of negotiation, it can't hurt to show the dealer the money.

3. Watch what you wear - don't overdress.  The trick is to look pretty much like everyone else. 

7. If you're a casual or a serious collector, get a tee-shirt made up that says: "I COLLECT (whatever)". You'll be amazed at the people who come up to you.

Check out more info here. 

Home Grown Herbs

I was on Dwell.com today searching for inspiration for my new living room (I'm adding some good things to my registry.) when I came upon  Potting Shed Creations' Grow Bottles. If space is an issue this is your answer! The company is repurposing wine bottles and calling on the art of hydroponics to allow those limited outdoor resources partake in gardening fun! At $35 a pop this could be a really cute gift!! Insta-herb-garden!


Read more: http://www.dwell.com/articles/grow-bottles.html#ixzz1MbWNsGTg 

Denim Inspiration

Kate from amorologyweddings.com (my wedding planner) sent me this denim inspired wedding which was posted  on Oncewed.com. I'm OBSESSED with the simplicity and vintage feel.  These are my colors too...blue, cream and black. I love the flowers too...I wonder how much those would be? Probably $1500 ha! I'm bitter about flowers right now (see last post).  

Click here and here to see more photos. 

Flowers...let them be

Just got off the phone with my friend Heather AKA Wedding Planner. Today's discussion was about flowers...She said flowers and linens are what bring everything together.  I'm so cool with a few wild flowers like the ones above. I tried to tell her we don't need boutonnieres and she said "As your friend I'm going to tell you....you have to have those!" Although I think I can do everything myself to save money I'm  glad that I have her to tell me not to be so cheap. HA! I know it's going to turn out amazing but you know my Asian ass...I need to get a deal on everything. HA! Thanks Heather!!

xoxo
ML

Robert's Spring Flowers

Robert got inspired by my pin wheel boutonniere blog and made a little spring time bouquet for me. It was craft time at the shop that day.  Cute!!

DIY Paper Pinwheel Boutonnieres

How cute are these paper pinwheel boutonnieres? Instead of flowers which could be super expensive (as I'm seeing) I thought these would be a cute added touch. The buttons are a cute touch too...since Robert is a menswear designer. We have a TON of buttons. HA! I was thinking I want to use paper that's the same colors of our wedding (blue, cream, black and a touch of brown).  I'm thinking about using this printed paper in other touches through out our wedding too. CUTE! Click here to get a tutorial of how to make these. 

@theknot Wedding Website..CHECK!

This is a MUST!! Your wedding website takes care of so many things for you like: 

• Guest can RSVP (saves money on return envelopes, stamps and printing)
• You can put ALL the information about the wedding on there (not the invite)
• Hotel information
• Registration info
• What to do during your stay
• Facebook info!!

OK...since I went through this all I'll walk you through it so it's easy for you. 

First go to www.theknot.com to pick out a template. I chose a free one because the paid templates  were not as cute. The good thing about the paid one ($30) is that it  lets you pick out a custom URL. The free one gave me this LONG URL...BUT wait there's a way around that. If you go to www.godaddy.com and pay for a URL ($14) you can forward the URL it to the free template. The guy at godaddy.com was SUPER nice and walked me through everything. DONE!

Start filling out the template.  What do you want your guest to know? We did an intro page, then something about us, how he popped the question, wedding party info, ceremony/reception info, hotel info/what to do in San Diego, facebook (I started a group that I'm inviting everyone to), registry and RSVP. It's super easy. You can rearrange and rename the pages too. 

For each page you are only allowed one photo. SO, I put together a collage of photos of Robert and I and made it in to one jpg (did this in photo shop). You could do this in powerpoint and take a screen shot of what you did (this makes it not such a big file) Screen shot for an apple computer- shift, command, 4. 

Theknot.com also attaches your "guest list" to your website. You upload everyone's name, address and it tells you how many invites you need to send out, when people RSVP (if someone trys to RSVP that's not on the list it says "you're not on the list an email was sent to ML" LOVE IT and it also lets you do seat charting...we haven't gotten that far yet. 

I'm slightly obsessed with theknot.com. Their site is MAJOR. They're on twitter too @theknot and they answer your questions...AMAZING!!

Ok, good luck and let me know if you have any questions Twitter: @mrsrobertjames.

xoxo

ML

DIY Flowers

Flowers for a wedding can go up to $10k...TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS...that's crazy! I was told I might need to spend $2,500 on flowers...that blew me away. I found the cutest blog that talked about DIY flowers and it only cost her $200. Check it out here. Is it bad that I'm thinking about not having flowers for my bridesmaids?