Life. Love. Lipstick.

There are so many choices out there for bridesmaids gifts and it can be hard to narrow it down.  The best gifts are personal, but it can be hard to find something that doesn’t blow the bank.  Enter The Gifting Spot.  Owner Shana offers personalized gifts that are just too cute!  They feature the hottest patterns like seersucker, houndstooth, and damask, while giving you a bevy of options for thread color and monogram font.  Here are a few of my favorite gifts.

Spa wraps, waffle cosmetic bags, koozies, beach towels, seersucker totes

Any of these would be absolutely perfect for wedding party or bridal shower gifts.  However, the market tote is absolutely amazing.

This collapsible tote is only $28 and has so many uses!  I really want one.  Imagine the possibilities.  Take it to the farmer’s market, grocery store, on a picnic, or use it in your home to corral all those items that linger around the living room and kitchen counter.  When you’re done, collapse it and slide it under the bed or anywhere else.  For bridesmaids gifts, you could absolutely use this as a gift basket and fill with any of The Gifting Spot items I chose above.  Throw in a bottle of champagne, some chocolates, and a personal card, and you have such a fabulous gift!

While you’re checking out TGS, be sure to add the blog to your Google Reader and “Like” it on Facebook so you can stay in the loop with promotions and other news.

There’s more!  Through July 31, The Gifting Spot is offering FREE SHIPPING!  Love that!

While looking images for a post about my wedding that I wrote for my other blog, I came across these super cute shoes!  Designed by Lela Rose especially for Payless, the Unforgettable Moments collection is really cute and super-affordable!   There is a wide range of choices for color if you want to dye them, too!  My favorite ones are the Nathalie, only $45 (Edit: sold in an undyeable variation on payless.com for $24.99).

Which pair is your favorite?

Union by Robert Fulghum

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment.

At some point, you decided to marry.

From that moment of yes, to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making commitments in an informal way.

All of those conversations that were held in a car, or over a meal, or during long walks – all those conversations that began with, “When we’re married”, and continued with “I will” and “you will” and “we will” – all those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe” – and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart.

All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. 

The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “You know all those things that we’ve promised, and hoped, and dreamed – well, I meant it all, every word.”

Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another – acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, even teacher, for you have learned much from one another these past few years.

Shortly you shall say a few words that will take you across a threshold of life, and things between you will never quite be the same.

For after today you shall say to the world – 
This is my husband. This is my wife.

Photo by Poser

Photo from With This Ring.  Gorgeous black, white, and green wedding, by the way.

One of my favorite wedding details is placing a basket of flip-flops by the dance floor for tired feet!  It’s also a cute idea to supply flip-flops beachside for a beach wedding.  This Saturday, the 23rd, for one day only, Old Navy has their [solid, non-metallic] flip-flops on sale for $1 a pair!  There is a limit of 5 pairs, but if you are the least bit organized, you can recruit friends, family, and bridesmaids to help you stock up!  I have also heard brides who took advantage of this last year say that the limit was lifted near the end of the day.  Can’t hurt to check it out!

To Keep Your Marriage Brimming by Ogden Nash

To keep your marriage brimming,
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you’re wrong, admit it;
Whenever you’re right, shut up.

Photo by the geniuses at Our Labor of Love

This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about fun wedding foods.  I just really love the idea of something unconventional, yet still familiar, offered at a reception.  Wedding food doesn’t have to be stuffy.  I personally like to recognize the foods offered, but I don’t want to see finger sandwiches and after-dinner mints.

Just a few things I would really enjoy as a wedding guest…

French fries, served in shot glasses with dipping sauce, found at Bride’s Cafe.

Cookies, espresso, and milk, artfully arranged.  Photo courtesy of Evrim Icoz Photography.

One of my favorite foods, corn dogs!  Would be cute in a mini form as passed hors d’ouvres or even from a hired vendor!  Photo courtesy of a flickr search.

How cute is cotton candy in individual bowls?!  Much less messy than a full serving, but still fun.  View the full blog post from this wedding by Sergio Photographer.

Becoming increasingly popular for weddings, I love the idea of hiring an ice cream truck!  Photo by the Wiebners.

With spring here and picnic wedding ideas floating all around the web, I put together a board for what my own picnic wedding would look like.  I see it in red and yellow, with a splash of blue in all the right places.  Seersucker, eyelet lace, lemonade, stripes, lawn games, pie… sounds perfect to me!

Photo credits: Where the Wild Things Are, Cooking.com, Faye and Greer, An Elegant Aisle, Elizabeth Anne Designs, Hostess With the Mostess

I love, LOVE this bride’s funky style.  She looks demure and pretty, then she kicks up her clunky black patent shoes and we see her fun side.  This wedding is simple and gorgeous at the same time.  And you must go see the entire blog post on Jake Holt’s blog, because he perfectly captured the love in the ceremony, and the fun at the reception!

Sometimes I run across a photographer I’ve never heard of, and seriously get almost angry that I didn’t know about them! Well, that just happened to me again.  This time I discovered Matt Paddack via the wonder that is twitter.

If you’re like me and and have been missing out on Paddack Photography, here are a few of my favorite images from his blog.

For years, I’ve pored over the beautiful wedding recaps in the Weddings We Loved thread of kvetch.  I love to see couples do things their own way.  Last week I was browsing the threads and found this beautiful wedding of  IB user tryingsohardtobelieve.  Stunning!  The bride and groom look like they are straight out of a magazine.  The invites and paper goods are to die for, and that cake?!  wow.

Definitely check out the full thread on IB.

Photography by Nick Murray.