dominiqueamber

I love them! That vintage tint and the colors and the typography! I love them so much!

There are some great bags on here! I really like the idea of the iron-on on a pocket, and I didn't realize they had canvas totes at the craft stores, I wonder how expensive they are

I think brides like you (who include all the details and templates) are what make BDW such a popular place! Thanks!

I love the wording on your do not disturb tags, I wish I had gone that route with mine

Save The Date Journey: Get Them Out Of Here! January 31, 2012 The Save the Dates are officially being mailed. No, there not all sent and I’ll explain why in a minute. But I’m so glad they’re gone. I had grown tired of looking at them. It took a week to get address on them. Mostly because I needed my mothers help and we both have busy schedules. She called me to come over one night and she was in bed before 9. That might not be surprising to you but my family eats dinner at 9! Fustrated I just went to sleep there, I awoke to her checking on everyone at 2am with her burst of energy. She asked if I wanted her help and since I was awake I grabbed my stuff and went to her bed. This is what addressing STD’s in the bed at 3 in the morning looks like: Beautiful, Hun? I kept reminding her I didn’t sleep for two weeks before her wedding! (Personal Photos) I learned I super hate finding addresses. I now know why snail mail is a dying trend. In a world where I can’t remember all of my internet alpha numeric passowords how am I supposed to keeps track of everyone’s address?! I tried to be proactive and started to collect address from people I bumped into when I knew I was about to get the ring, but most of our family and friends live in different states. My mother’s brain has somehow committed to memory quite a few addresses, but that was only for people who haven’t moved in 10 or 12 years. What saved me from giving up was a little trick my mother taught me. I shouldn’t share because it’s one of those secrets that get passed down through the generations but you might find helpful one day. Ok, I’ll share but keep it between us. Google them. I know, it’s crazy right! I had a why didn’t I think of that moment (and you probably did too) The white pages website is like having a phone book for every state but without taking up space in your house. But this didn’t give us all the ones we needed. It was a good thing I was only sending Save the Dates to the people I expected to need to make travel arrangements, I realized when it came time for the wedding invitations that you have to send to the older family members as a formality I was going to go through this all over again. I made a few phone calls to get some addresses and then realized we don’t have everyone’s current number. During this process I also fell in love with the guys at my post office. (Which reminds me I want to make them cookies or brownies..actually I should just take them candy because I wouldn’t eat what kind strangers baked me.) They seriously are the nicest, most patient men. They have endured many long visits from me during this month. Let me illustrate. Until them, Ra was one of the few men who would watch me be crazy me and just smile and love me anyways. Maybe because it was their job, maybe because they’re just the most awesome post office guys ever. A look at my new stamp collection So since they have not been mailed to everyone I don’t want to reveal the full package just yet, but I can tease you with a sneak peek. All Photos Personal I know your dying to see. Soon, very soon. Was it really a secret tip or have you used whitepages.com before?

You Can Do It, Put Your Back Into It January 29, 2012 Alternative Titles: Girl, You Look Good, Won’t You Back That Thang Up! and Baby, Got Back! For many men the booty is the most desirable body part on a woman is her booty. For me the most beautiful part is the back. At a wedding you spend a lot of time looking at the bride’s back. Think about it, she walks down and your struggling to see her past everyone standing up. Unless there is some creative seating arrangement, throughout the ceremony you’re stuck staring at her back. Even at a Royal Wedding you get a rear view/Source I’ve always sat through ceremonies where it happens this way and thought if I must look at her back it might as well be interesting. Why is all the focus of the dress on the front? Guests will really only see that in the receiving line and later in pictures. So for a long time I knew when I get married I want a jaw dropping back. That’s beautiful, but not jaw dropping remember I like to see backs? /Source More like it, I love the beading but a little too exposed for me/ Source The lace is so pretty but the bow seems like it’s on the wrong dress/ Source This dress is all wrong for me but I love the lace pattern on her back (Really what woman wants a huge rose on her butt?) Source This was all kinds of perfect, Modest, Sweet and Stunning / Source Oh, so sexy and classy/ Source Pretty, Pretty, Pretty/ Source The one on the left blows my mind with how simple and crazy hot the back is (but why do they keep adding weird stuff on the butts?) /Source This is probably one of the best choices for me, I get to show off my back and still be classy and modest and I love the buttons and neckline/Source Did your jaw drop? Mine did! While most girls dream about the big poufy, princess gown I dreamt about walking down looking sweet and innocent going towards the crowd and once I get past them…Bam! A stunning surprise. Since I wanted to be married before God I was concerned I did get carried away and look like I was wearing something only my husband should see. This is one of those I had to see it so you do too, I know it’s your wedding lady, but seriously?Source So the rules for my wedding dress shopping was: Backless detail but still modest – Not marrying into the Duggar family modest but not so sexy I offend Grandma Lace – I’ve discovered I loved it and it felt bridal and vintage to me Comfortable for the beach and dancing – I didn’t want to spend money on something I’d only wear for a few hours, I wanted to be able to wear my dress all day Affordable – I wanted to spend less than $1000 on my entire wardrobe for the day I had also plans of using my mothers first wedding dress somehow. I was inspired by Mrs.Turtles’ custom shrug and with that in the back of my mind set off dress shopping. Online of course because there was no ring yet. What body part did you want your wedidng dress to feature?

I love your vista print projects and your jewelry!

You had a gorgeous wedding! You guys are talented designers, I super love all of your paper products! That font with your names is awesome, did you create that yourself? I love the shades of purple and that your easy crazy like me. I think i'm stealing major inspiration from your pre travel design! Your photographer was great, she really captured your details very well. I'm in love with your wedding, I can't wait to see you do a baby shower or an anniversary party.

So purty! You did an amazing job! I love the attire the best. Please share where you got the bridesmaid and mother of the bride dresses from?? I love your in flight snack packs with homemade cookies...your diy projects are awesome and I love that you were able to save so much money! I'm so glad I found your thread!

I think you're doing great for planning with your busy schedule...I'm excited about your makeup and reggae band

Wow I love everything..I didn't expect the red to be so stunning on the beach but it's really striking! I appreciated that you gave details for other brides. You also narrated your story very well. My favorite picture is of the flower girl and ring bearer holding hands like they're in love!

Oh WOW! It's too hard to pick a favorite thing! You are a very pretty very glamorous bride and I love your bling details. I think the after party outfits for the girls are my fav cause the shorts and bag stand out the most but I also really love your glam dress on the beach, the cocktail hour set up and the bridal party attire.

Looks beautiful! I really like your passports and your hanging lights!

Wow! I knew your wedding would be amazing after seeing your OOT Bag post a while ago. I'm truly amazed! I'm having a hard time picking a favorite thing but I love the way you coordinated everything so well and I love the sinamay details - I'm so glad you posted the vendor because I was going to ask! Thanks for posting your talents to inspire us!

Save the Date Journey : Shopping and Designing January 25, 2012 (I'm sorry I got things out of order, this post should have gone before the last one) After I was more than inspired I started thinking about what I want my STD’s to say to my guests. I wanted to be tactful but basically I wanted to say “save your money and get your passport so you can come.†The entire time I was dating Raoul I was always looking for someone to accompany me on a visit to the Bahamas. Problem was finding someone with their passport and the money for the plane ticket. When people found out I was planning on going I remembered saying over and over â€Save your money and get your Passport.†I brainstormed about how to save this. Something about putting money in your piggy bank to prepare came to mind. Then I thought how cool would it be to have a “Bahamas Fund†piggy bank to inspire people to save for the trip. I did a lot of research for little piggy banks and came across these. Source They were perfect, only they were $3.85 each. Too rich for my blood. Then I fell in love with these. Source I loved the unique cork in the nose and I thought they could be like a message in the bottle, I could put a little sand and shells in the bottom and roll up the message. But then I wasn’t crazy about message in the bottles, and they were $25. Finding piggy banks that were affordable was painful. I discovered clear plastic was cheaper than glass or ceramic. Source $1.80 wasn’t bad, but I didn’t like not having a slot. I found out I could order blank ones from a website that printed logos. They would be about $1.25 each for 100 which was way more than I wanted, but no matter what adding shipping jacked the price up. Then I found key chains for 80 cents. Source I don’t think anyone wants a piggy keychain but they were cute. Then I found a “green†piggy bank! Source I could only admire these from afar because they were about $3.00 each. I thought about making them but that was even more costly. About that time I gave up and went back to myoriginal favorite ideas, the pencils and magnets. I thought having little magnets to play with on your fridge would be cute and fun. Our picture would be tiny so I didn’t have to worry about my face on someone’s fridge. I was also drawn to the cardboard postcard because I knew it would be budget friendly. I started working in Photoshop on a few ideas. It had been a long time since I used Photoshop so it was taking more time than I wanted to brush up on my skills and accomplish my project. I switched over to Power Point and then I moved along pretty quickly pouring out designs. I won’t bore you will all of them but this was my favorite. (Personal Photo) I wanted you to feel like you could “playâ€. You would get a personalized golf pencil and three tiny magnets, one with our faces, one with our logo and one with a tiny seashell. I shopped online for tiny magnets, they wern’t cheap and I hate paying shipping. I went to the craft stores and Wal-mart and found a few, good ole’ Wal-mart was the cheapest. I found glass gems/bubbles at the dollar store, both large and small. I originally planned to print the date on paper and make it another glass bubble but then I found wood disks at a pretty good price on Etsy. I really wanted to incorporate wood. (I LOVE wood, it reminds me of going to the hardware store with my father as a little girl.) This would make the project more expensive because I would need to make a stamp to get the date on. I just needed shells. Finding the right size was difficult. I spent hours and hours working on this project and I just wasn’t feeling it. It would be costly and time consuming. I played around with the cardboard postcard next. (Personal Photo) I was really feeling this. I loved that it was green by using recycled cardboard. I loved that it contrasted the rough cardboard with the pretty lace. I loved that it was budget friendly! I bought some lace trim on ebay, ribbon at AC Moore cut up a shipping box and created a few mockups to try out the idea. (Personal Photo) I showed my mother and she was concerned that I was not yet engaged and I was working so hard on this project, but she loved it. I think her favorite part was that it was so inexpensive. I showed the family I work for and they thought it was great. They even offered me a huge cardboard box that their futon came in. I had plenty of clean cardboard, I just needed labels and lace. The labels I found at office max. They weren’t too expensive but they weren’t cheap. I went to the fabric stores searching for lace. I could not find any I really liked at a good price. I figured out that I needed to be around $2 a yard and I went online in search of a good deal. It drove me crazy to choose something so important without seeing and feeling it. The lace was all different widths and I had to keep measuring to see what would fit with the labels. Frustrated I gave up. As you can see on the dates I was planning for a May wedding because I wanted to be ready. But it was October and we hadn’t even found out when my next vacation would be yet so there was no promise of a ring yet. Plus I was busy with my mother’s wedding coming up in November. So the Save the Dates went on pause. Have you ever started a project and realized it would be too expensive to finish?

Save the Date Journey: Designing, Ordering and Assembling January 26, 2012 When I showed Raoul and his mother during my visit they were quite impressed. Raoul made me feel warm and fuzzy when he told me I continued to amaze him. I returned home determined to get them finished and sent out so everyone had plenty time to save up and get off work. I perfected the passport pages while waiting on a date so I could start printing. I decided to add some pictures since a lot of my family and friends hadn’t seen Ra and I knew it would make the older guests happy. (Personal Image) I left a space at the top to add a magnet to it that way you could put it on your fridge but my face is hidden! Sorry, I had to remove our website. I needed to get an idea of who was really interested in coming for planning purposes and I remembered I had seen an early bird rsvp a girl had made while ago. I wanted the package to be fun and interactive and I remembered this image I had saved on my computer. Of course I couldn’t find it and after persistent googling I found it again. Source I loved that they were fun and interactive. I also loved the vintage postcards that I had been seeing but I was limited by the images I could find for free. It took a lot of tweaking to get it just right but I came up with this. (Personal Images) I loved it and I had hopes and dreams that I could collect sweet, meaningful messages and display them one day. I changed the address so you can see the pretty font, although it looks so much better with my address! By the way this was like draft 12 and I was so tired of looking at it. When we finally got a date and I was able to place my Vistaprint order. Oh, after three days of trying to upload my files and getting fustrated they were too small I googled it and learned you have to make your file four times the print size. Then I went back again and made changes so all four sides were on one image, that way I only had to pay for one upload. I used an email offer for a 250 postcards for $5 to print the main STD and I placed an order right after that for 100 free postcards so I could get the RSVP. I paid an extra $11 to have the matte finish so everyone could write on them. I uploaded our logo and made some stickers (so I could personalize the piggy banks), magnetic notepads, pens and t-shirts just because they were free. I ordered 100 of the plain white envelopes for about $4 extra and some free address labels that matched pretty well. I had a little freak out moment because placing this order meant this was real. The date was being published and this was really happening. I paid for 21 day slow shipping on three orders and 7 day fast shipping on one order. Three orders with shipping was about $60. Then I just had to wait. In the meantime I worked on the luggage mailing boxes. I didn’t want to wait for shipping so I hit up Office Depot, Staples and two shipping stores. I couldn’t find the rectangle boxes I was looking for. The smallest boxes I found were at 6x6x6 at Office Depot and they were a little over a dollar each. This project was adding up fast but they happened to be having a sale on shipping supplies. I believe it was “spend $25 get $5 offâ€, not much of a sale but I picked up 5 boxes and a pack of shipping tags. I checked to see what Office Max had and it was the same boxes but I also picked up a pack of gold brads. Then I hit up AC Moore to purchase sheets of black foam,black and white ribbon and soem glue sticks. I also ordered 50 kraft envelopes fromenvelopes.com (where I purchased the passport cardstock from) for 10.95 plus shipping. I checked Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart first for all of these supplies and the three I went to had none of this. Then I went to another Wal-Mart one day and found everything I had been looking for but it was kinda late. I did buy 12 more 6x6x6 boxes because they were only 50 cents! Here’s all the supplies (Personal Photo) This is what I was going for: Image 1 via best destination wedding / Image 2 via best destination wedding /Image 3 via best destination wedding /Image 4 via best destination wedding It didn’t happen. The square box just didn’ t look right with the ribbons. I was fustrated and I left the project for a few days. I killed time by creating a belly band to keep everything together and it gave me a place to incorporate a saying since I want that to be a recurring theme. I was so excited when the Vistaprint order finally arrived. I showed the contents to Raoul over the webcam and he was more than impressed. I added return address labels and shipping tags to the envelopes the first. Then I printed, scored and glue-dotted the belly bands. (It’s a word) At the last minute I decided to print the Passports on nicer paper but the only paper available was for laser printers. I also picked up small clear circle labels for the logo on the piggy bank because the Vistaprint ones were so big they wrinkled. I had the hardest time getting my files to not resize on the laser printer I had access to, leaving me with 60 sheets of wasted regular and 10 sheets of wasted glossy paper (so not green). I gave up and printed them on regular paper so I could get them done. I could not for the life of me do anything with that label template so I gave up and I have ugly wrinkled labels. I had to get done! It took two sittings to trim and score all the passports. When I went to staple them together I realized the stapler wasn’t long enough. I should have sewed them with pretty gold thread like I wanted to originally but I didn’t have the time. This was happy me two days before the stapler incident. (Personal Photo) (Personal Photo) I went out the next day and bought a long reach stapler and my little cousin just had to help me! Yeah, that busted look I’m sporting was because of being up from 2-7am addressing envelopes! Because it would take between $4.80 and $6.00 to mail a box with a piggy bank I knew most people would be getting just the envelope mailed and the piggy bank hand delievered if possible. I did my best to finish the envelopes first and then I had to force myself to to finish the luggage boxes. I got a spark of inspiration when I stumbled across a picture of a train case, and finished the outside of the boxes. Then I took the packing material I had been saving for months (my way of bring green) and packaged the piggy banks to get them ready to mail. I’m almost done, did you ever spend so much time on a project you loved you started to hate looking at it?

Wedding Planned, Insert Groom Here January 24, 2012 Remember I told you I had started not so secretly planning the wedding before we were officially engaged? The slightly type-A and slightly OCD crazed person in me wanted to get a head start so I can avoid stress and anxiety later. Plus I wanted to take advantage of good deals. I didn’t intend to just “Insert groom here.†I did a lot of research on The Bahamas and Raoul’s likes and dislikes to make it an event both of us would be happy with. I had asked Raoul tons of questions and he had input on our future wedding but he had no idea I had been collecting a secret Monica closet full of stuff for the wedding. Source That’s right I started my ribbon wands and my OOT Bags before I had a ring and I’m not ashamed of it. I couldn’t wait to start DIY-ing and I carefully choose projects that were neutral enough that I could resell them if I needed to and not have to worry about our names or a wrong date being on them. Well my mother called me in the room one morning (after I had slept over) to hurry and watch this on the news: Single Bridezillas Source They discussed Marie Claire article about woman planning the wedding before they have the groom, which you can read here. It was comforting to learn I’m not the only one. Not that I want to be in the club with Kim Kardashian, sorry Kim. But not every woman does it to have a fairy tale, some are thinking of saving time and money. I believe my hard worked paid off. I have some amazing finds at a great price which I can’t wait to share with you and I was able to work out some kinks. Brides have a tendency to change their minds tons of time and drive those around them crazy. I was able to do a lot of research (which really means unproductively spends months and months saving pictures off wedding blogs and Google images) I found lots of great ideas I can DIY, finally figured out my color scheme, narrowed down venus and menus, became addicted to favors, bookmarked plently of sites trying to find the lowest prices and more. Winning! Did you secretly pre-plan? It’s ok you can tell the truth, I won’t judge you.

The Colors Duke, The Colors! January 23, 2012 I’m a child of the 90′s so I can’t talk about colors without hearing this comercial in my head. Being a designer colors are one of my favorite parts of creating a mood. It’s not all what looks pretty, there is a large amount of psychology involved. Did you know that more people argue in a yellow room than any other color? Did you know blue is an appetite suppressant, making it a great color for dinner plates when you’re on a diet, but stimulates you to drink making it a great color for a bar? Did you know most fast food places use red and yellow because the two colors stimulate your appetite and the high energy makes you impulsive and order more? Did you know that they painted walls every color in prison and the only color that kept the men calm was pink? I could go on for days. That’s why I love color, it has such a powerful affect on people and they don’t even realize. I didn’t take the correct designer approach when I started choosing colors for my wedding. I had fallen in love with a bright shade called coral. I thought it was tropical, fun and gave me a enough of my favorite color pink without actually being pink. I was also crazy about the color of the water in the Bahamas. It was an aqua that made me feel all kinds of good things inside. I thought how cute, a shade of pink for my favorite color and a shade of blue for Ra’s. I also loved that together the two colors were high energy and creating a fun, energetic, party atmosphere. Source I searched and searched and coral, though growing in popularity, was not easy to shop for. I searched for parasols, fans, napkins and didn’t find much. I found lots of brides on wedding blogs saying this was their color but did not see many pictures. (p.s. there are a ton of pictures if you search now, not so much the case this time last year) I searched for attire. Upper Left/ Upper Right/ Lower Left/ Lower Right Then I searched for “affordable†attire. There were many clothing items in coral, but not many were appropriate for the wedding. I added to my wardrobe as I couldn’t get enough of this color. Then I took my search to etsy. Save the Date/Bouquet/ Charm Necklace/ Invite/ Earrings/Tissue Poms/Feather Clip/Bib Necklace I might maybe have contacted this etsy seller to create a paper bouquet in my colors, ordered samples and then changed my mind but she had already created the bouquet so she listed it. But I said might. Anywho, I began to notice that I was right click and saving (before the days of pinterest) quite a bit of photos with softer and more neutral, more monochromatic color schemes. More like the style my house had been turning into. I decided that the wedding should be mainly neutral with pops of coral and aqua or salmon and mint. Source Source Source Source As I was about to paint my bedroom ceiling coral pink (You heard right, I’m the girl that has bubblegum pink walls in her kitchen) I found this picture while searching for ideas to redecorate my bedroom. It changed my world. One day I will try my idea of painting all the ceilings in my house a different color and leaving the walls white but for now my bedroom had to look like this. I ran it past Raoul and he shot me down, saying his boys would not let him hear the end of it. Isn’t she lovely?/ Source I couldn’t get this image out of my head and I found myself saving more and more images with similar colors. Then I found this amazing collection of images from Martha Stewart and saved them even though I felt I’d never really get to use them. What a beautiful combination of peach and pink! Source When I visited Raoul in December I had a current copy of Martha Stewart Weddings 2011 Travel Issue (I kinda wanna grow up to be like her). I couldn’t get my eyes off the pages of one wedding in particluar … Source and just for kicks I asked Raoul since he knew pink was my favorite color, could we have a pink wedding. To my surprise he said yes! “Just don’t make it too girly†he added. The designer in me went back to this the bedroom image as a mood board. It provided a more relaxed, elegant mood, the direction I was starting to in. I loved that there was no real silver or gold tone. It was a mixture of interesting metallic colors. I remembered a copper leather jacket a friend had recently given me. I loved that color so much, especially with my skin and hair color. And then our color scheme was born. Off white, sand, peach, blush pink, copper, gold and champagne. Oh, and a bit of navy blue as per Raoul’s request to add his favorite color. I’ve gone back and forth about how to throw mint in there but we’ll see. And one last pretty picture. Source When I looked back and the journey I traveled selecting my color scheme I realized my mother did the same thing. Only she changed her mind between two schemes everyday for almost a month and she drove me crazy. Hey it’s a very important decision to make! Have you ever called a woman a bridezilla and later realized you did the same thing? Did you change your color scheme a few times?

Pretty Ways to Say "Oh, You Better Be There!" January 20, 2012 When I envision my wedding day I see all the people I love and care about smiling at me, hugging me and having a good time at a beautiful party. I honestly feel bad that having the wedding in The Bahamas means I won’t have everyone there. I don’t want anyone missing from the group but I know with a destination wedding, in this economy, that’s not possible. The upside is I don’t have to worry about having a super large wedding, which I’ll explain later. But to make sure as many as possible can be in attendance, I wanted to send out a Save the Date (STD) to make sure friends and family had plenty of time to save money and make the travel arrangements like get a passport. I had drooled over Save the Dates for a long time. Because I love gifts my favories were the one’s that featured a keepsake. Here are some of the lovelies that caught my eye: My first love … Image 1 via weddingbee’s Mrs.Duckling/Image 2 via weddingbee diy That love came and went quickly because I knew it would take FOREVER to make. Then I fell for a unique twist on magnets. Image 1 via weddingbee diy/ Image 2 via dot girl blog I like the idea of fridge reminders but I’ve never liked the idea of my face on your fridge. But if I did magnets I’d want a seashell one too and that was going to be expensive to mail. The school supply obsessed kid in me went crazy over these. Image 1 via junebug weddings / Image 2 via weddingbee diy /Image 3 via glamour weddings/Image 4 via boho-weddings In the course of my research I found the little golf pencils were cheaper but they would be very difficult to mail. Then I discovered there is a whole world of travel them goodies for destination weddings. This was so cute and I knew I could make this pretty cheap. Image via Invitations by Dawn I bought a pack of 12 drink umbrellas from the dollar tree to try it out. I couldn’t find the tiny hold punch in the craft stores. I put this idea on the shelf because I found something I liked even better. Image 1 via best destination wedding / Image 2 via best destination wedding/ Image 3 via etsy / Image 4 via best destination wedding Luggage Tags were a great way to say “Let’s Travel!†and they wern’t too expensive. But I felt I wanted to give them the travel details, especially since everyone wasn’t internet savy. Image 1 via best destination wedding /Image 2 via serendipity designs/Image 3 via best destination wedding/ Image 4 via invitation crush I was too in love with the luggage inspired mailer boxes. How special would it be to receive this in the mail when you were only expecting plain white envelopes of bills?! Image 1 via best destination wedding / Image 2 via best destination wedding /Image 3 via best destination wedding /Image 4 via best destination wedding The downside was they used them for message in the bottles. I didn’t want message in the bottle save the dates but I wanted these boxes! I tried to think what could I put in there. And because I wanted to be original, How could I change these boxes to be my own? Because I’m an “I want it all†kind of girl, the ones that combined a few of the ideas I liked appealed most to me. Message in the Bottles, Passports and Luggage Tags, Oh My! But again what to use instead of a message in the bottle? Image via bestdestinationwedding (I had a hard time finding a source for the ones I saved originally so this is newer but same idea and I love it better) I researched the least expensive way to put them together for a week. Just when I thought I had made up my mind I stumbled across this beauty. Image via masonjarbride It’s so pretty right. The best part is it’s green and cheap. It’s made with repurposed cardboard boxes, labels, lace trim and ribbon. I knew this would work well in my shrinking budget and I loved the contrast of the torn cardboard and pretty lace. I liked all these STD’s because they were different than just a picture of the couple of someone’s fridge. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, I just feel weird about my face on your fridge until you get sick of it. Plus I have a strong desire to be creative, unique and different than the rest. Being the indecisive person I am I had such a very hard time choosing one. So it was time to start designing. YAY! Which do you like best?

My Big Fat Green Wedding January 16, 2012 I love green! I love chartreuse, kelly green, mint, and olive. I love seeing spinach and broccoli on my plate. I love pearly green punch buggies. I love my green contacts. I also love green weddings. I’ve wanted one every since I found out they exist. So I’ve been having images of green wedding in my head as I dream about the possibilities. Source Well that’s pretty but it’s not exactly the green wedding I had in mind. More like this: Source Can you tell the difference? I didn’t want the color green, I wanted eco-friendly green. I know little ‘ole me cannot make all the difference in the world, but I try in as many ways as I can to help keep the earth thriving. I figure if one person gets inspired and tries then I made a difference, and maybe they’ll inspire someone and so on. So a green wedding is a great way for me to make a small difference and since being green is contagious I can hopefully infect (er, inspire) a large group of people. Another advantage of being green is I can incorporate my love of nature. There are two places I love the most, the beach and the woods and having a celebration there would make me nothing but happy. I’m so excited about using wood and other elements from nature. I did plenty, plenty research on green weddings so I could learn all the ways I could possibly be green and choose what could fit us. On Weddingbee, Mrs.Cherry Pie gave me a great start and Mrs. Pino Noir helped me appreciate my (half) destination wedding could still be green. So here’s how I plan to be green: LOCATION For the Bahamas wedding we plan to have the ceremony and reception at one place. Either at a restaurant, private beach or the national park. We plan to have the Virginia (AHR) Reception at a park. WEDDING ATTIRE Instead of buying a new dress I plan to revamp my mother’s first wedding dress and one of her prom dresses to create my own memorable dress. The requirements for the other members of the family/bridal party attire are that it must be either reused or purchased new with the intent of re-wearing. Hopefully no one will spend more than $150 on their attire. PAPER PRODUCTS We plan to buy recycled paper as much as possible. Response options can be either postcards (with no envelope) or responding online. We hope to create a detailed website to avoid having to use extra paper to give guests details not everyone will need. FOOD AND TABLEWARE Buying used with the hope of reusing or reselling will be my first choice if renting is not the cheaper option. We plan to not have styrofoam, plastic or paper products if at all possible to reduce what’s thrown in the trash. For the Bahamas reception we will purchase bamboo/leaf plates, wood utensils and use cloth napkins. For the Virginia reception I will try to collect patterned china from family members, thrift stores and craigslist. I hope to use real glasses or cups of recycled materials for both events. I would love to find different patterned cloth napkins to later turn into a quilt. I hope to collect wine bottles, glass jars and tin cans to use for decor and food storage. As much as possible the menus will consist of local foods. FLOWERS Flowers will be used as little as possible and if used will be local grown or potted plants. Décor, bouquets and boutonnieres will consist of sola wood flowers, seashells, feathers and fabric. No birdseed or alternatives will be thrown GIFTS AND FAVORS Since it’s a destination wedding and were looking for guests presence and not presents we plan to not register for tons of things I mostly have since I’m established in my home. Gifts for wedding party members will be gifts they will get use out of. Favors will be edible or reusable so guests will get the most benefit out of them Because it’s a half destination wedding, guests flying will contribute to global warming via the carbon dioxide. It would be great to give each guest an 11-watt compact fluorescent bulb to replace a 50-watt incandescent bulb with their wedding favor will save 685 pounds of carbon dioxide. (Tip found in: Sierra Club Magazine‘s interview with an environmental studies and biology professor from Oberlin, Ohio) PROGRAMS AND MENUS Individual menus will not be necessary. We will display options for guest on one sign, maybe a chalkboard. Programs will be made with recyclable material and hopefully be a keepsake to save them trash. Towards the end of planning I hope to have accomplished all these goals! Are you planning to be green in your wedding planning or daily life?

Look great so far..I love that you did all that jewelry by yourself..was it your first time making jewelry?

Git er Done January 14, 2012 Git er done! Add that to the list of things I never thought I’d hear my mother say. I can’t remember if she was talking about school work or house chores the first time she told me this. Source I came to Nassau in December with full intentions to Git er Done- getting this wedding planned that is. I had my wedding notebook and nice pens ready, my power point files of inspiration pictures ready and I had done all the research I could on the internet to get ready! I was hoping to have all the major planning for the wedding done before I left, but it didn’t exactly go as planned. Who am I kidding, what in my life goes as planned!? We did accomplish to drive around and look at some beautiful venues and discuss some details with a few friendors. But I left at the end of that wonderful week with nothing checked off my to do list, no date, no venue, no vendors. I was quite stressed about this because in the back of my head I kept hearing “Git er Done†and we were a long ways off. Remember I told you I had started planning long before we were official? Well I had been doing research and frequenting wedding blogs for some time. I was planning for a May 2012 wedding because of the cruise ship schedule, I thought it would be convenient for everyone to get on the cruise ship in Norfolk and come to Bahamas for the wedding plus get a vacation and I knew I would have off work for one week in May. Since a four month engagement would not leave me much time to get things done so I wanted to start early and be ready. Raoul and I had a serious conversation, meaning he told me stop planning for everyone else, and I realized it wasn’t going to give us enough time so save for a wedding we wanted to (mostly) pay for ourselves or give our guests enough time to save for the trip. Raoul was comfortable with July. My employers were great and said whatever date I pick is fine for them, but being a Nanny is was important to me to choose a date convenient for the family. A family that was growing, when I learned there was a baby on the way at the end of July I really wanted to plan accordingly. I talked with some family about what would be a good time for them and they needed more time to save and taking a week off work was not feasible. Then I asked my “Popsâ€, a man whom I love and want to marry us. He has to be one of the busiest men in America and he said August would be the most appropriate. I felt it was way too far away to get to be with my honey but it worked out well with my work schedule and did give me time to work on my extensive list of DIY projects. I picked the last Saturday in August and it was a conflict for my Pop’s. I was so frustrated after going back and forth for almost three weeks so I just said “Okay the weekend before and I’m done†(I have a tendency to make decisions like this, it’s how I bought my new car) I didn’t look at the calendar till I was about to pitch the date to Raoul that evening and I realized that’s my late grandmothers (whom I was very close to) birthday August 18th. It was always easy to remember 8.18.28 and how easy would that be for me to remember my wedding date. I crossed my eyes that Raoul would be ok with date, and he was! Personal Image So the first accomplishment on our wedding planning was checked off the list, we had a date. Which meant I could really take off on planning and “Git er Done!†How long did it take you to finalize a date? Did you have to consider the schedules or family and friends?

Our Journey: The Proposal January 12, 2012 Raoul officially proposed during my visit to The Bahamas in December 2011. He had proposed over the phone long before we found out when I had time off work and booked my ticket. I flew in Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday was my first full day there. Raoul wanted to take me to look at possible wedding locations. As we were driving I asked Raoul “Since there’s no ring, are we officially engaged?†He said “Yes†so I moved forward. After a bit of pouting Raoul took me ring shopping the next afternoon. We went to four stores, as I was determined to find the best price. He endured (with the help of his iPhone and watch shopping) while I tried on various combinations trying to achieve the “stacked look†I had in my mind. Source Source I decided I wanted one in rose gold, one in yellow gold, one in white gold and one with champange diamonds. After store number three we had to sit on the bench outside and have a real talk about the budget he had in mind and me going over it and for a second I thought there would be no ring that day. This was one of those moments where I felt I’m marrying the right man, because we left that bench holding hands with no hard feelings. I love that we can tackle a problem and move on. The fourth store we went to turned out to be the gold mine! I found the “perfect ring†and it was within our budget and I couldn’t have been more excited. It made a big difference that Raoul actually liked the ring as well. He was a little upset I changed my mind and wanted stacked bands and didn’t want a ring with a big center stone because of people opinions. There were some comments but he realized it was better to make me happy than everyone else and he fell in love with that little ring too. I felt he loved me enough to make me happy. I convinced him we could start a tradition and I can get a band for every special occasion and wear different combinations of bands over the years. As we walked back to the car Raoul stopped to get me ice cream without me having to ask. He figured out from the last trip that stopping for ice cream is a big deal to me and it was the perfect ending to our afternoon. We went back to the house and showed Raoul’s mother the ring. She loved it as well. Then Raoul took the box and put it away. I’m not sure if it came before the ring shopping or after but Raoul did make a phone call to my mother to ask for my hand in marriage. The next few days of the trip we visited with friends and family and did more wedding location hunting. We had a couple of amazing dates. Nope, I didn’t skip anything – I didn’t get the ring yet! Thursday passed, Friday passed and Saturday was almost over so you can imagine I was growing impatient and frustrated. I had been introduced as the fiancé a few times but I was still wearing my dummy ring! I convinced Raoul to drive me out to Clifton Heritage Park because he was sure it would be the perfect wedding location and I wanted to check out the logistics. We went to Jaws Beach which Raoul knew I would love to go shell picking. I had my eye on sponges this trip so we collected sponges, shells, and bits of coral as well walked along the beach. We talked about everything, including my spirit being crushed I didn’t have the ring yet and our feelings about the trip so far. This is Jaws Beach but from April when I visited (Personal Photo) We sat down to rest for a bit and Raoul began to tell me how he felt overwhelmed and thanked me for my patience with him. He explained he had intended to propose at the restaurant the night before when we went out with the couples, he thought out on the water in front of everyone would be perfect. I disagreed but kept quiet (for once). He then said “I know I should do this on one knee but on two feet and two butt cheeks, Amber Dominique Roberts-Butler, will you be my wife?†I was speechless for the first time in my life and could only move my lips to form yes. I got my ring! YAY! (Personal Photo) The moment was overwhelming. Even though I expected it every moment, I was still caught off guard that it was actually happening. We were making history! I had only one little tear well up in my eye. I was more than happy, more than content and more than in love. We sat for a few moments longer, talking and hugging. I told him I was so glad he did it in my favorite place (the beach) and with just us for such a personal moment. I also told him I was pissed he messed up my pictures because he waited until I used up all my cute outfits and when my hair was no longer freshly done! I wasthinking of all the beautiful photographs I’ve seen on wedding blogs. We might have sealed it with a kissed. After we left went to see Raoul’s mom and show her the ring on my finger. We then went back to his house and Raoul took a nap while I used the internet phone to call my family to share the good news. Everyone asked did I feel different and I really didn’t because in my head we were “engaged†for a while. Once that pretty little ring went on my finger I did feel better than I had before – I felt it was more real. I felt he had finally peed on me and marked his territory! Personal Photos I felt my proposal was perfect even though it wasn’t what I expected. Were you surprised when you got engaged? Do you think it means a woman is high maintenance if she want’s to have a part in selecting her ring?

Our Journey: Ring Shopping January 10, 2012 This post could also be called: He likes it, now we have to pick a ring to put on it We had been talking about engagment and marriage for a very long time. There was no way I would endure the Long Distance Relationship if I did not forsee marriage in our future. He had proposed over the phone long before we found out when I had off work and booked my ticket. Many girls from a LDR can understand that the intention stated is all that is needed to make it real. I had known in my heart we were getting married from some time and had been “not so secretly†working on wedding plans. Everyone hopes to have an amazing proposal story. I had read through hundreds of stories and dreamed about different ways Raoul could propose. I had even emailed him a few I really liked. When we talked about it I tried to take the pressure off, telling him I didn’t need all that jazz. I honestly didn’t want him to spend way too much money on a ring or proposal, but I wanted a sweet story to share with my future children. So my son would know how to treat a woman, my daughter would know how she should be treated, and they would know the love their father had for their mother. I also wanted a special story for those who would feel he may not be “good enough†since I was not getting $3,000 ring. I wanted to prove that showing love is more important than buying love. Just as important as the proposal is “the ring.†Raoul talked to a few of his friends and decided that the money would be better spent on starting off the marriage comfortably and not a piece of jewelry that could always be upgraded. I agreed but mostly because I’m “cheap†and I know I lose everything so wearing anything on my hand that cost more than $50 scared the kitty litter out of me. Selecting the engagment ring was a big battle. I’m going to apologize now for the long post, it was a crazy long process. Raoul had purchased a wedding set minus the center stone. I accidentally saw it on his phone one day and I let it slip that I hated it and didn’t trust his taste. He wanted to see a picture of what I had in mind. This was my first request. Source Source I know it’s so gorg. I was particular too. I wanted pave set stones not channel set and I wanted a rectangular cushion. A young girl at work had the exact one and my eyes were green. Raoul eventually learned to liked it but he fought for princess cut because that’s what looked like the ring he wanted his wife to wear. He had a hard time finding the cushion cut online and in the stores and wanted me to be okay with princess or round. I wasn’t. There was nothing wrong with it, it just wasn’t what I wanted. Those cuts were so popular and I didn’t want my ring to look like everyone else. He managed to convince me the halo was a very popular style and it’s true I didn’t want that. (Go ahead and google: cushion cut halo ring) I also was also starting to get over the white gold look and then came my next obsession. Source I fell in love with the colors and with pink being my favorite color it was perfect. I never wanted to wear a diamond because of the conflict diamond thing. I felt even if I had a conflict free diamond I was still supporting the diamond craze. After doing research I wanted eithermorganite/pink emerald or a colored sapphire. Raoul and I both worried I would change my mind after some years. But I loved it because it looked different than most rings and it wasn’t a diamond. Then I purchased this “dummy ring†for $40 on Ebay. I wore it to get used to wearing a ring, to ward off unwanted advances and make sure this was the style I really wanted. I liked it but at 3 carats it was way too much bling for me. Everyone thought it was real, it even fooled the women in the jewelry store. Source We both searched and searched for rings online for months. We went back and forth about how the guy should choose and I should be surprised and happy with what he gives me. That was his opinion, I’m a very different kind of girl. If I have to wear it for the rest of my life then I want to make sure I liked it. I know I change my mind often but I want what I want. I hate to say it but, I changed my mind again. I stumbled across the stacked ring look and that was it. Source I love it because I could change it up. I could incorporate color and not worry about getting tired of it or it clashing. I also didn’t have to worry about the gap between the e-ring and the band. By the time Raoul saw the pictures he was so over rings he said I “had sucked all of the joy out of itâ€. Trying to salvage what was left of his feelings and make sure I was still getting a proposal I tried to work on a compromise. We decided to switch things around. So he would purchase a wedding band to propose with and get my dream etsy ring later (since it took a few months to be made and he had to save up) He told me to find a ring online and I searched and searched. I preferred etsy because it was unique and handmade, which meant it took longer. Raoul preferred overstock.com which I found to have either cheap or expensive and not much in between. I also search jewelry tv’s website and really liked their selections. But when they failed I turned to Google images. The only ring I liked was more than I wanted to spend on the whole wedding and nothing compared to it. I just told him to pick whatever and I would be happy. Raoul went ring shopping for a few days and came back fustrated he couldn’t find anything I would like. The women at the store told him if I was being this picky maybe he should reconsider marrying me. He finally gave in (meaning he procrastinated) and said when I get there we will go ring shopping together. We were both burned out but all we could do was wait until I booked a ticket to go visit him. I learned not to stress out your man too much and that I can be a bit of a diva when I want to get my way. I didn’t exactly get my “dream ring†but I got something so much better, stay tuned to see. Did you have any input in selecting your ring?

Our Journey: Long Distance Love January 6, 2012 Before I was branded Raoul and I dated for two years. For some this is a long time and for others this is short. It took some time for us to get to know one another, work out the kinks and get things right but we finally did. During our first year of dating Raoul came to visit me in Virginia three times. Then in the second year I went to visit him in The Bahamas three times. There was no big reason. My family made it clear he needed to visit me first and with work schedules and finding chaperones it who could be available, it just worked out that way. Oh yes, chaperones. That may be an ancient word to some but Ra and I take very seriously our belief that God intended for sex to be shared between a husband and a wife only. The only way for us to ensure that is to be chaperoned so were not alone giving ourselves the opportunity to fool around. We’ve both had our share of life experiences and in that we’ve come to feel that life is truly more successful when you do things God’s way. It makes us both so happy to be able to say that we waited and have kept a clean courtship and know that our marriage can be blessed for that. I’m not saying that anyone else will have a doomed marriage if they didn’t wait but I feel faith is something that should make you feel good about what you’re doing and not make others feel bad about what they’re doing. I have to say though that it would have been a whole lot more difficult for us to abstain if we were not living in two different countries. A whole lot. If you asked Raoul would probably say I put him through hell. Good advice I’ve gotten says to ensure a successful marriage find a person that fits all your SPIES needs. That’s spiritually, physically, intellectually, emotionally, and sexually. This is not easy to do in any relationship and is nearly impossible when you live in different countries. I had limited time to observe him in his surroundings, to talk to his family and friends and get a sense of who he really is. Being in a LDR means we don’t have tons of memories hanging out, we don’t have ton’s of pictures together and we haven’t had ton’s of dates. However, it does mean that we have had ton’s of good conversations and are getting very good at communicating. When you have time to talk about everything you can really get to know a person. I can pretty much tell what Ra is feeling or how many beers he’s had just by hearing his voice. My mother is sure I’ll develop brain cancer from constantly having the phone to my face. When I tell people we are in a LDR they always ask me “How do you do it?†and “Why would you want to do that!?†I can’t really come up wait a good explanation for that. The dating process for us is very difficult. Long distance relationships are not easy, no matter how much technology you have. We rely heavily on the Magic Jack which allows us to talk unlimited from home and manage to webcam a few times. In between we use the cell phone which is very expensive. One of the rare occasions he allows me to see him on the webcam I believe part of what makes us remain close is that we fall asleep on the phone together almost every night since we’ve started dating. Being apart is not something we want to do but when you fall in love with someone you do what you have to. There is a literal pain in my heart when I miss him or have to leave him at the airport. But we know it will all be over soon and this pain is temporary. I know that when we actually live together we’re going to be getting to know each other all over again and that’s actually both exciting and scary. I don’t think anyone in a good marriage had a smooth journey to get there. I believe that’s just a part of life. Have you ever been in a LDR? How long did you date before you were engaged? All Photos Personal