Mar
04

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Came across this very amazing modern ocean themed wedding table decor on Elizabeth Anne Designs blog today and fell in love!  Forget paying the money to marry in a fancy aquarium banquet hall when you can create your own! Orchids, succulents, lit candles and other beautiful oceanic details created a serene and intimate setting.  When I see these beautiful nautical pictures I imagine hearing sofa spa-like music playing the sound of ocean waves crashing in the background while a small group of family and friends toast a happy future to the newly-wed couple.  Check out more details on this modern ocean wedding table decor at Elizabeth Anne Design’s blog!

Mar
02

Look at these super cute and super FUN Ice Cream Towel favors!  I know the country has been experiencing what seems to be never-ending winter storms and the last thing you want to eat is ice cream, but I couldn’t resist sharing these! I love fun and unique wedding ideas and this has got to be one of the most unique beach wedding favor ideas I have seen out there. You can choose your favor “flavor” from vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry color towels which come in a cone-shaped holder.  I would absolutely love to be a guest at this wedding so I could take home one of these fun re-usable favors!

Feb
28

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What better way to come back than to share a great giveaway! Well Leslie Loves Veggies has partnered with My Salon Tools to offer one of two chances to win a $50 gift certificate to their online store! With the gift certificate, you will have your chance to select from a variety of professional hair straighteners and flat irons or blow dryers from popular brands such as Babyliss, Hai, Karmin, Twin Turbo, Solano, and Hot Tools.  It’s possible you won’t need another flat iron so ask your sweetie if he is in need of a new set of clippers, or a trimmer or razor! My Salon Tools sells other products such as salon shears and scissors and cosmetology kits in case there are any hairstylists out there in the bridal blogsphere that might be in the market for some!

Every bride-to-be has at least one special event (and some have 5 or more!) outside their wedding day that will require them to get pretty, pampered, and prepared to make a grand entrance in front of friends and their family.  Brides will attend  engagement parties, bridal showers, bridesmaid luncheons, bachelorette parties and of course the big finale, their wedding! Sure there are many girls who will have their hair styled at a professional hair salon the day of their wedding  as it is one less thing for us to worry about the day of and for some of us (me being one) it would be scary to think about styling my own hair on my wedding day since I hate doing my hair every other day of the year! I know there are many brave brides out there that did an awesome job styling their own hair so kudos to you!  So on all these other fun and memorable event days where we will be the center of attention, we still want to look great right?

To enter the giveaway first head over to Leslie Love Veggies for giveaway details and entry rules.  Then head over to My Salon Tools to check  out their inventory and see if there is anything you might like to add to your bridal hairstyling tools.  Once you find something, head back over to Leslie Loves Veggies and tell her what item you have your eyes set on and how you would use your $50 gift certificate! Very simple and easy steps to enter and Leslie gives you more way than one to do so. How awesome is that?

The giveaway ends on March 20th so make sure to visit Leslie’s blog and enter!

Feb
28

So I’ve taken about a 3 month hiatus from The Oceanside Bride blog for more reasons than one.  I think I mentioned in a earlier posts (earlier being back in November) that my fiancé has been out of full time work since last September which as you can expect put a hold on many things (including the wedding) and yes, has definitely tested us in all aspects of our life and future together. Big bummer but thanks to God we’ve witnessed many blessing since then. We started an e-commerce business, Wisemark Distributions (using his and our awesome business partner Andrew’s previous technology experience).  With him no longer committed to working a 9-5, he’s been able to devote 150% of his time to really jump start our online stores.  Business is slowly but surely picking up and we’re staying positive this opportunity only leads us to better and brighter things in the future!

Our three main online stores are My Salon Tools, Scrubbing In, and School of Uniforms.  I”m hoping soon we’ll launch one more directly tied to the “ocean side” bride theme and create an online store for beach wedding decor and favors! What do you think?

So now that things have settled with our decision to postpone our wedding and re-focus our energy on continuing to build our relationship stronger with each other, with God and our families, as well as move forward with our new business venture together, hopefully I’ll be able to get back in the blogging groove on Oceanside Bride and offer more great tips, tricks, and wedding details for the beach bride!

Oh and great news- my sister got engaged over Christmas so our family is still planning a “backyard wedding” for this November at a cabin in the mountains of Helen, Georgia! Maybe I should talk her into starting a “backyard wedding” blog! =)

Nov
26

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Chatting via email with my best friends a few days ago, one girl asked the rest of us who were married, engaged, or in a long term relationship if we really thought we found our “dream man” and what makes him that for us.  We’ve a very honest group of friends and she expected real, raw answers from  us.  She wanted us to share the struggles, the triumphs, or anything else that made our significant other- perfect for us.

So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would share a few of our mushy, lovey-dovey answers to this question about why our husbands or fiancé (aka our “dream man”) makes living in this world a wonderful reality and why we’re thankful for them…

Written and shared by friend Nicole (married 4 years):

I know LaMonte is my dream man made for me. I’m not perfect and Lord knows he’s not perfect by any means but when we first started kickin it I really wasn’t sure I was feeling him like that and he would tell you the same about me. The funny thing is before we started dating I actually prayed about wanting to meet my perfect match even if we didn’t have to be involved at the time but I laid out specific guidelines in my prayers and LaMonte was who I got. Honestly I smile and think about how lucky I am all the time because he really does make me happy, we talk all the time about every and anything and sometimes just for hours and hours about nothing. I miss him a lot when he’s out of town on business. He is a Great Dad and a Great Husband.

Written and shared from friend Tahiana (married 5 years)

I know I have! =)  Just when I think I can’t be any happier in my marriage something else comes up and we overcome yet another obstacle. But I can say that I did not know he was my perfect man until we grew together as a couple. So maybe we just grew to be perfect for each other. It’s amazing how much you continue to learn about each other as you get older.  One thing that I love is how much we talk or communicate to each other about anything and everything. Future, past, present, finances, sex, work, kids, etc. When we first met we spoke on the phone for 6 hours straight…and if you stick us in a room alone now we can still talk for 6 hours straight.  When he’s gone for the night I realize how much I get done around the house because he’s not around for us to chit chat. I can just see us at 90 years old in wheelchairs just talking about the past 70 years of our life, LOL. Another thing I love about him or us is that we make a great team. Of course we’ve also had to build that throughout the years with the kiddies and both of us working. Anyway I can go on and on about this topic. =) 

Written by Me (Engaged! Together 2.5 years, marrying July 2010)

Do I think I found my “dream” man? Of course! I sit here saying “where do I begin?”

We wake up loving each other more than the day before, we know each other better than anyone else, can read each others minds, and take care of each other better than anyone else could. We know how to entertain ourselves and make each other laugh uncontrollably every single morning, afternoon, and night. Laughing now thinking about how silly we can be. We can talk for hours about nothing at all.  Although “space” is good for us, we hate being away from each other- even if it’s one of us just running to the store around the corner for 15 minutes. And our life revolves around “fun”!  We eat “fun” food, play “fun” games, watch “fun” things on tv- fight with our infamous “fun” swords to lighten the mood if we’ve been arguing. We want a “fun” wedding day! Feels like we’ve known each other our whole lives but still feels so “new” at the same time. We’ve experienced so much in our short 2.5 years together and because of it, know we can get through a tsunami together if we needed to. We can get “down” like anyone else or any other couple, but when we do we just remind each other about how bright our future is together. 

Mark is all the good things I’ve ever dreamed of having in my future partner. As I dated different guys over the years, I’ve said before “I wish he (whoever he was at the time) could have the fill in the blank that so-and-so had, and the fill in the blank that so-and-so had, etc.” Well the weird (and great) thing is, Mark has ALL the fill in the blank’s!!! LOL. We clicked from the first email, phone call, to our first date (and my best first date ever!), and of course ever since! I knew he was “the one” during our first date. He’s a true gentleman (still opens my door, car door, pulls out my chair at restaurants, lays down his jacket so I can walk over a puddle! Ha ha! He cooks for me every night, okay- I’m spoiled and maybe I just need to learn how to cook!).  I love how he loves everyone in his life including my family and friends and knows how to take care of his “family”- me!

Mark is good for me because he keeps me on my toes!!  Never know what to expect from him! Lol!  Okay- I’m done for now. Whoops I wrote a lot as usual…but I’m the engaged one though right- still on “Cloud 9” and “head over heels in love”….LOL!

 

Why are you thankful for the man in your life and what makes him your dream man?

 

***Thanks Windy for the post idea!

Nov
14

Ladies-

If you haven’t already checked out the latest giveaway on iDIY, you must go now and enter for a chance to win your very own DIY letterpress machine!

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Luzel from iDIY has partnered with Lifestyle Crafts on this giveaway and its a goodie! What DIY kind of bride on a budget wouldn’t want to have a crafty little machine like an L Letterpress of her own to create invitations, announcements, save the dates, and more!

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The giveaway ends November 18 so hurry! While you’re there make sure to subscribe for lots of great DIY project ideas!

Category: DIY, Stationary  Tags: ,  One Comment
Nov
04

Having a beach wedding and worried about your guests getting sunburned or cold at night?  How about leaving shawls for the women like one of Pacific Bride Guide’s girls did….

Punam Bean Pacific Bride Guide- Shawls for guests

or leaving little sunscreen bottle favors in your guests welcome baskets…

Sunscreen favorEvent Blossom via Amy Atlas

Nov
03

So I’m so excited to finally be able to post our save the dates since 90% of guests received them already. The other 10% are Mr. Oceanside’s guy friends whom I am still waiting on the addresses for and also not worried about them being readers of my blog so won’t disappoint anyone by posting them here.

The inspiration came from a similar project I saw done professionally but unfortunately was way out of budget.  So I  undertook the task of creating our save the dates myself.  Our save the date was similar to a newspaper announcement telling our guests a short story about how and where we got engaged, leading to our wedding location and wedding website information.

I created the file in PowerPoint and ordered the grey cardstock paper and vellum envelopes from Paper and More.

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Save the Date

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I loved the look of vellum envelopes that I’ve seen a few other blogging brides use and knew I had to use them as well.

I positioned the address label on the outside of the envelope and card inside the envelope just perfect so the words “Save the Date” would be shown through the envelope.

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From the back of the envelope you could see our picture and the wedding date through the vellum.

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I also downloaded the Quentincaps, Veteran Typewriter, and OldNewspaper Type fonts from Dafont.com for free and used them throughout the various parts of our save the date.

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I voted against ordering the custom stamps with our picture again due to budget and went with good old USPS’s King and Queen of Hearts Love stamps at regular postage prices.  I was really excited I actually chose to go this route because I think they added the perfect touch to our envelopes!

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I was really excited about the end result up until I mailed them out! I started having second thoughts about how they really turned out, what would people think of them, worried about whether or not I mailed them to the right addresses, etc.  I admit I had a few sleepless nights, but Mark assured me they were great and that HE loved them. That of course made me feel better because ultimately WE are the only ones who needed to be happy with the way they turned out and we were.  I’m just a perfectionist and a worrier!  I started getting responses from those who received them and of course everyone thought they were so cute and creative!

Soon I’ll start working on our DIY wedding invitations and can’t wait to challenge myself again and see how they turn out!

Nov
02

I’ve been so blessed to have so many great people in my life.   I’ve kept the same circle of friends for many, many years, some whom I have known for almost 16 years!  That is why it might have come as a surprise to some when Mark & I decided to only have a best man and maid of honor in our wedding party. If we were to have a “big” wedding party, I would have had my 3 sisters whom I’m very close to, 6 of my girlfriends whom I’ve known since middle school through college, and of course my cousin Katrina who will be my maid of honor.  We chose to keep it small though as far as the “wedding party” goes. That still won’t take away from the fact that all these ladies are very important to me.  Although I know they won’t be standing next me physically on my wedding day, they’ve stood by me for so long and so I will honor them.  Since you’re allowed to do whatever you want on your wedding day, I’ve named these girls my “Friends of Honor.”  And so just like many girls had a “special” way of asking their friends to be their bridesmaids, I chose to do something similar. I’m still working on something for my sisters and cousin but here is peek at what I did for my girlfriends….

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I custom made a greeting card through Snapfish. I choose the 12 photo template and inserted pictures of me and my ladies throughout the years.  I ordered 7, one for me to keep and so I could also use it as practice.

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Once I received the cards in the mail, I created a word document and adjusted the page size to fit the size of the card.  I created a monogram (since I didn’t have the professional monograms just yet) and on each card wrote a personal note to each girl. I’m glad I ordered an extra card because you can see from the picture, it came in handy since I made a few errors using my home printer.  Since the card is glossy, I allowed the ink to dry on each card for 2 days under a desk lap. With my practice card I found that even after allowing them to dry for a few days, the ink would smear a little if touched.

So each girl loved their card and glad fully excepted the position as what they’ve termed themselves, my “unofficial” bridesmaids. I’ll eventually frame my card to remember all the support they’ve given me over the years, the planning process, and on my wedding day. They are the BEST!

Oct
12

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So you girls may have heard of Ardyss,  a line of body, nutrition, personal care, and beauty products. Well my best friend Windy became an independent distributor of Ardyss.  One hot item is their body reshaper. It’s doing wonders for many women! Yes, I believe you still need to get your exercise in and eat healthy to lose weight, but if you’re in need of a quick reshape or lift for any of your “trouble” areas, this might be a solution for you. I’ve seen the before and after pics  and they are amazing! Check her out for more info!