Birthday Luau

I can't believe my sweet Carolyne turned EIGHT just a few weeks ago!  She wanted to celebrate with her friends by having a pool party at Robby's parents' pool, and we thought a luau theme was perfect!  Valerie did an awesome job with everything, as always!  

You just about can't beat a pool party - especially for birthdays in the south!  It's fun AND you don't sweat - 2 of my all time top priorities! ;)

Val and I scoured the dollar store luau section and got all of these bright colored sand buckets, leis, and straw hats!  Valerie did a candy table for the kids to make their own treat buckets.  All the candies were labeled with pool type phrases, such as "pool noodles" for the chocolate covered pretzels, "life preservers" for the gummy life savers, and "beach balls" for gum balls.  The kids got to fill up their mini sand buckets (dollar section at Target) with their favorite goodies.  Super cute AND easy!!

I didn't get a full picture of the food table, but the set up was just adorable!  The tables were dressed in straw like skirts, and the food was in sand buckets.  We used brown sugar as "sand" with a few shells around the buckets, and used the actual shovels for spoons.

 Val even made Carolyne's cupcake "fish" cake!  Didn't she do GREAT?!  She is so very talented!

 The kids had a ball doing limbo, a tacky tourist relay, and sand art!

 On Carolyne's actual birthday, my family celebrated with dinner and games.

This is such a FUN game to play...have any of you ever played??

 

 You don't know what the picture is on your head, and everyone gives you guesses for you to figure out what the picture is of.  Such a cute family game.

 Lots and lots of laughs were had!!

My sweet, sweet Carolyne is growing so very fast!  So thankful I get to be a part of her life, and watch her become the person God wants her to be!

 Happy Birthday, Carolyne!  Aunt Hayley loves you!

In the WILD!

...well, not really.  I suppose when there's a 15 foot fence between you and the animals - it's just the zoo! ;)  Back in the summer, Valerie, my mom, me, and 3 of the Favorites loaded up and headed to the Birmingham Zoo.  We had a GREAT day of fun!!!

It was of course HOT AS BLUE BLAZES, but the kids had a ball getting to see so many different animals up close and personal!

 

The one of the group who loved it MOST was Miss Jenna Beth...she could not get ENOUGH!  The zoo itself was fun, but watching Jenna Beth's delight in seeing the animals was by far the best part of the day!  

 Her absolute MOST FAVORITE animals were the MONKEYS :)

Seeing all the animals up close and personal was just a reminder of how amazing God is to create such amazing animals!!!!

 My favorite at the zoo were the FLAMINGOS - aren't they just beautiful??!!

It was such a super duper fun day!  We can't wait to visit again!

Tiffany+Lance

In June, I had the pleasure of being a part of a GORGEOUS wedding for Tiffany and Lance.  Tiffany loves color and flowers, which always makes me excited when planning floral designs!!  Her color scheme was coral, with shades of oranges and pinks...and, oh was it beautiful!  This is one of my favorite color combos because orange and pink compliments each other so well and makes each other just POP.  And, the star of the show were these A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. coral peonies...oh my!!!

The wedding took place at a super cool venue - an old log cabin gymnasium on the bluff of the mountain...the ceremony was outside, and the reception inside.  Tiffany's vision was a very vintage feel, and I worked hard to make the flowers look very natural and fresh picked out of the garden.  I loved how the outside set up turned out!

Front door arrangements...

I couldn't get a wide angle photo with my phone, but there were 2 arrangements on each side of the steps...

Inside, Tiffany had some ADORABLE details.  She and her mother made homemade strawberry jam (her grandmother's recipe), and this was the guests' favors!  Love the "spread the love" sign :)

Tiffany also made ribbon wands for guests to wave in the air as they left in place of bubbles, rice, petals, etc.  Cute!

The tables were dressed in white and burlap, with the arrangements in Ball jars...

I almost didn't put this picture, because it does not even give justice to the beauty of the flowers - not my design, but the pure beauty of the flowers...the peonies were just out of this world BEAUTIFUL!  This was on the food table...

The handsome groom...

...and, the stunning bride!

And, these little guys have nothing in the world to do with flowers, but I just thought they were all cute as pie in their suspenders and bow ties!  Love it!!

It was such a FUN wedding to be a part of - I absolutely LOVE to work with brides that love flowers and color as much as I do!!

Congrats Tiffany and Lance!  

Hey friends!

Long time, no post!  I hope everyone has had a GREAT summer...it seems like I just got out of school and BLINK - it's time to start back again!  I can't believe how I've neglected my blog and my blog friends...graduate school and life have just gotten in the way of doing some of my fav things.  But, as Madea would say "HALLELUJER!", I have another semester of graduate school behind me!

Soooo, here's a 10 second catch up of what's happened since we last chatted...

* flowers for Tiffany and Lance's wedding (next post up!)

* VBS!

* a visit to the zoo with 3 of the Favorites

* Bailey Bash on the Bay!!

* new floors for our guest bedrooms...yep, Brad ROCKS!

* lots and lots of graduate school :-/

* lock-in with my high school girls - such a fun night!!

* painting and decorating my new classroom

....and, besides some swimming, grilling out, and shopping that about sums my summer up, folks!

I have several posts coming up in the next few days...just wanted to stop in to say "hey, y'all!" and let ya know I'm still here :)  Check back in to see Tiffany and Lance's wedding flowers tomorrow - oh my they were beautiful!!!

Looking forward to catching up and getting back in the swing of things...feels good to be back!

Meg + Jack

So sorry for my l-o-n-g unplanned sabbatical I have taken from the blog!  We had some internet issues, and then I had some camera issues...and, well, then there's graduate school - which has turned out to be overbearing a little demanding this semester.

Moving on...

the last weekend of May, I partnered again with my dear friend Gina to do yet another wedding.  And, OH MY was it BEAUTIFUL!!!  The color scheme was soft butter yellow, ivory, moss green and gray.    The wedding was very natural - lots of greenery, branches, and moss.

I grabbed these Facebook photos from the A-MAZING Mon-El Photography that was the photographer for the day.  Monica - you outdid yourself!!!

 Simply stunning!!

The bridesmaid's bouquets were the same as the Bride's, just smaller.  They looked so pretty against the moss green dresses!!

These pictures following aren't even worthy of being in the same post with Monica's, but I still wanted to share :)  Instead of a typical large arrangement for the ceremony, this wooden cross was made by the Bride's father and Gina added the flowers and branches.  Such a unique and special arrangement!

This real tree was brought into the reception hall, and dressed with moss, flower balls, and LOTS of pictures of the couple - super cute idea!!

 There was additional seating and an area for dancing outside by the lake...

Congrats, Meg and Jack!

Haley + Blake

Wow...is it possible to be in wedding OVERLOAD??!!  Yes, I am definitely in that mode right now - I have done flowers every weekend in the month of May!  It's been lots of fun, and lots of work! :)  Last weekend, I worked with my good friend Gina to help create the floral designs and decor for an extra special wedding.  The palette was the softest, most romantic colors - ivory and blush.  It was a beautiful backyard ceremony, and the reception was held at Baker's on Main (where my mom's shop is!)...oh, and the bride just happened to be the daughter of the "Baker" :)  

Alright, on with the show...

Front door baby's breath monogram wreaths...

"Our Love Story" chalk timeline (at the Bride's Book table)...

Bridesmaid's bouquets - they were stunning...

Bride's bouquet - so feminine and antique looking...

Chalkboard at guest "entrance"...

This was a prayer table used during the ceremony.  The bride and groom are both in seminary and have a heart for missions, and the Bible was a missionary from Africa's personal Bible.  Very sentimental part of the ceremony!

The bride and groom were married under the arbor.  As you can see, the chairs completely encircled the arbor - just beautiful!

 The cake - simply perfect...

 Perfection!

The main centerpiece - we used an old iron garden planter with fresh cuts flowers, maiden hair fern, and curly willow.  LOVE this look...

 Gift table arrangement...

All the guest tables had arrangements in silver tea pots that belonged to the bride's mother.  It was such an elegant, shabby chic look with the burlap cloths.

 It was a GORGEOUS reception!!

It was such a pleasure to be a part of this wedding...congratulations, Haley and Blake!