The Dirty Blonde Stylist

Gifts under $50

Some years we need to be more frugal than others. 2019 was a big year for us, a new house and a wedding, needless to say things are a little tight this Holiday season. So whether you are a struggling college student, in between jobs, newly married or just a bargain hunter, follow this gift guide for some fabulous gifts for anyone all under $50.00!

Kate Spade Lunch Box – $30.00

Google home mini – $39.00

Hearth and Hand wreath – $34.99

Magazine subscription

Marc Jacobs Daisy perfume – $39.99

Curling wand – $19.99

The Adulting kit $24.00

Hydro flask water bottle

Beeropoly – $35.00

Tori Burch ambition bracelet – $30.00

Weighted blanket – $40.00

Lush Scrubee – $7.95

Broken top candles $24.00

Kylie lip kit $29.00

Small Woods $39.00

Target Chunky knit gloves $10.00

Kate Spade Wallet $29.00

Happy gifting!

-MB

Weekly Wedding Words: Registry Reflection

The dust has settled (literally) in our house after our wedding. To my shock, I realized yesterday that I had not vacuumed my house in 3 weeks with all the wedding stuff in the way! Our home has become a storage until for out dishes, wine glasses, vases, candles and other various décor pieces that I am dying to get out of our house. Yesterday we had officially been married a month and it has been a wonderful month. The honeymoon phase in full effect, a phase I hope we never let go of. While there are plenty of things that I am anxious to get ride of, there were some special pieces I was all too excited to put away in our home.

While going through our wedding gifts I felt so blessed that we were showered with such beautiful and generous gifts. While making my registry I admit I had a hard time trying to decide what I wanted to replace, what I needed and what I wanted just because it was pretty. Today I am excited to be on the other side of the registry, gifts in hand, thank you notes being written.

For all you Brides to be who are unsure of what to register for, I am here to share some of my favorite registry items!

New towels- I loved our new towels from Target! Absorbent, classic and soft as can be.

New dishes- I am so glad I took this opportunity to give our kitchen a whole vibe. A large chunk of my registry was kitchen related. Dinner plates, salad plates and appetizer plates followed by dish towels, place mats, and new silverware.

A hand held vacuum- In a house with a dog, even short hair leaves a lot hair, dust and dirt around, especially snuggled into the couch. Grabbing that Bissell Pet hand held is a lifesaver!

Baking items- one of my hobbies is baking, I love making festive cookies and cakes. Tirelessly working to try and replicate Pinterest desserts. Since this is just a hobby I never could bring myself to buy the extra cake pans, silicone baking mat or fancy icing knives. This was a perfect time to stock up on those little things I always wanted but could never rationalize spending money on.

The Kitchen aid stand mixer- Every southern girls ultimate kitchen accessory! Having that beautiful piece of kitchen machinery on my counter makes me feel like an adult. This also lends a helping hand to my baking hobby.

There is something to be said for those classic gifts, there is a reason that newlyweds still ask for towels, dishes and appliances. My advice, do not over think things, you do not have to fill your registry with stuff just to have stuff on their. For more ideas check out my post on registry creation!

-MB

Thanksgiving looks to be Thankful for

Thanksgiving has become a holiday that is so overlooked at times. The rush of Christmas is upon us and often this sweet little holiday does not get enough attention. Then the day finally comes, we all gather around a table eat delicious food and stop all the nonsense for a second. If there was a favorite day on Facebook, for me it would be Thanksgiving. While everyone posts the same type of thing I am happy to scroll though and see people celebrating things they are grateful for. The noise of politics, complaints and problems just fade into the background for a day. So for such a special day, we need one last great Fall look to round out the season! Let’s face it, after Thanksgiving it is all red sweaters and Christmas attire.

Take a peak at some of my favorite pieces for a great Thanksgiving look!

A chunky knit:

A Great Pant:

Cute Skirts:

Cozy Cardigans:

The Clever T:

Hope your Thanksgiving is full of mashed potatoes, good conversation, family and friends!

-MB

Weekly Wedding Words: Settle up and settle down

Now that we have almost been married a month, reality is starting to settle back in. While the wedding may still feel like it happened yesterday, there are plenty of things still to be done for it.

Post wedding has a whole set of to do’s that not many people realize. Today I am sharing my post wedding to do list, brace yourself newlyweds the wedding isn’t done yet.

Collect all décor, leftovers, mementos from the wedding that other guests may have taken for you on wedding night.
Organize all wedding gifts
Out with the old in with the new. Donating old towels, pots and pans etc that are being replaced with new wedding gifts.
Pressing the flowers from my bouquet and anything else that is being kept for a scrapbook
Order thank you notes
Distribute wedding photos to family members
Review vendors! Facebook, yelp, google, the knot, wedding wire, EVERYWHERE!
Have my dress and veil cleaned and preserved
Start the name change game, social security, DMV, Passport, email signature (your name is all over the place)

Another thing to process: Left overs

Vendors and planners do their best to help you order the proper amount of anything, but sometimes you just cant get it right on the dot. I love that my house now feels so personalized. I have custom cocktail napkins on our bar cart and koozies for anytime I have people over and want to offer them a beer. All of our candles now have their own set of matches, left over from our favors.

We did a fairly decent job on cake and dinner food with only a hand full of cake slices to hand out that night and come home with us. One of my favorite leftover was the wine and champagne. We had at least a case of red white and champagne each! Since we had so much, we invited the wedding party over a few weeks later to help us “clear the bar”. Another way for us to say thank you to our friends for all they did for us.

This list may be one of the shorter ones in the grand scheme of wedding planning, but there are still plenty of time consuming things left to do. The light at the end of the tunnel is even brighter now. You are almost done!

Congratulations on your beautiful wedding!

-MB

Honeymoon Vibes

The Honeymoon recap:

One our way to the airport the next morning we couldn’t have been more excited. The honeymoon was one thing I had not planned to any extent. I had had no extra time to map out excursions, restaurants to go to or even photos I wanted to take. So it was almost like a bonus to have this beautiful trip ahead of us that I hadn’t even had time to be excited for. We boarded the plane and off to paradise we went. Stopping in Atlanta for our layover gave us just enough time for a slice of greasy pizza, even if it was only 9:00am, your girls gotta eat. After months of diet food that pizza was the first part of a great trip!

We arrived in Punta Canna around 12:00 and were taken to our resort, Majestic Mirage. 6 more days in heaven!

This type of vacation was none I had ever experienced before; very adult, very romantic, very elegant. For the next 6 days we would enjoy breakfast by the beach every morning. Complete with mimosas that were mostly champagne, just the way I like it! From there we would lay out on giant “beach Beds” as I called them and look out at the turquoise water. This was the type of vacation that was perfect for relaxing. For hours Jacob and I would just lay out in the sun, talk about all kinds of things and sip on giant fruity drinks.

At night the resort had shows, live music and a sports bar in case we started to miss our American roots.

The entire trip was a dream, relaxing, romantic and fun. We had our own butler who set up sweet surprises for us throughout the week. We had an over the top breakfast in bed, rose petals on the bed when we arrived, a jacuzzi on the porch with rose petals, bubbles and champagne and to end the week we had a romantic dinner on the beach. We had all the things that make up an amazing honeymoon!

A few tips:

If you are leaving the next morning for your honeymoon, make sure that your wallet and passport never leave your travel bag. Somehow I made it a week without my wallet, thank goodness I had my passport.
Download Netflix and any music you may need incase you have patches without Wifi or service along your way.
Remember to alert your credit card companies that you will be traveling internationally so they do not think your card is stolen.
Check the gift shop prices first! Whenever shopping or buying souvenirs, the gift shop might be over priced buy it will set the standard for shopping outside of the resort. A local vendor can tell you how rare a particular stone in a necklace is and try to sell it to you for $50.00. Come to find out it is in the gift shop for $10.00.

Excursions

Just like on a cruise or regular vacation there was always the offer for an excursion off property. We decided to do an Adventure Buggy side by side tour.

We headed to our first stop and learned about how coco was made and watched cigars being rolled. From there we were lucky enough to swim in a beautiful natural cave. After our swim the adventure began with a purposefully muddy path to a nearby beach. We were covered in bud by the time we got to the beach. Here we could jump in and rinse off. Then back to the resort, no car rental and no hassle. All and all this was about a 4 hour excursion, which was just what we were looking for!

We returned home on Saturday night and settled back into reality. If there is anything I would have done differently…I cant even think of anything. We had an amazing time! The perfect combination of fun, relaxation, adventure and romance. For couples on a tight budget after the wedding, I still recommend a honeymoon of some sort. Even just a weekend away at a bed and breakfast, you deserve it! Need tips and suggestions for honeymoon locations? Send me an email at Thedirtyblondestylist@gmail.com I have some great ideas for you!

-MB

Weekly Wedding Words: T minus 10 days

The week before..

10 days, when you started at 180 something days, 10 day might as well be 10 minuets! It is all so real, all of a sudden people are asking you questions about the wedding, about what they should wear, when to arrive for the rehearsal. Something that has been on your radar for months is suddenly just coming onto everyone else’s. For some people, this could be really over whelming. For me, I just feel like the girl who knows all the answers and is in charge, I love it. Don’t get me wrong there is still a lot to do! With my “week of” list made, I am happy to share it with you!

Finish packing for honeymoon

Pack boxes of décor based on where they will be placed

Pack tip envelopes for vendors, if not already paid

Write letter to groom

Wrap all gifts for family and bridal party

Pick up dress

Fresh hair cut

Mani/Pedi (All Spa Appointments)

Make clean up and pack up plan. Who is taking the left over cake? Who is taking the gifts for you?

Press and put together rehearsal dinner outfit

Meet with any vendors who still need a final walk through

Pack day of bags

Create Emergency kit for day of

Finalize timeline with day of coordinator

My final tip, communicate!

Talk to all your vendors about specifics, or better yet, write it down. You can’t be disappointed when things aren’t the way you want if you did not verbalize it a lot!

Take the time to outline special things related to each vendor even if it is only a couple of bullet points.

Example:

DJ:

Shortened first dance song

Exit song for ceremony

Custom intro for reception

Catering:

Please hand a plate of gluten free for Grandma Jones

Cake cutting will be done in the kitchen not on the reception floor promptly at 9:00

Day of Coordinator:

Bride’s bag is the red one with the M monogram

Please have champagne and beer ready for bride and groom during their toasts

Like things list like that can really help out your vendors and also keep you organized mentally. Cheers to passing finally handing things off to my trusted vendors and enjoying my last few days as a Bride before I take on my new role as Wife.

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: The blushing bridal shower

One thing I have never had an issue with was being extra. I was born to go that extra mile and freeze flower petals into ice cubes. This weekend I was repaid for all the extra miles I have ever gone for my friends. This past weekend was my Bridal shower and I was truly a blushing bride with all of the sweet touches that each of my friends added.

Today I am excited to share an inside look at my bridal festivities and share some of my favorite tips for how to amp up your own shower.

My shower was a bubbly brunch theme complete with a champagne bar, welcome cotton candy mimosa and chicken and waffles!

The menu:

Chicken and waffles

Ham biscuits

Fruit cups in a waffle bowl

Mini yogurt parfait

Shrimp

Chips and dip

Ham and cheese and a veggie quiche

Donuts

The Drinks:

Welcome drink of cotton candy and champagne or sprite and a cotton candy piece for garnish

Mimosa bar. Strawberry and blueberry garnish in OJ or cranberry juice

Tea and Lemonade for the non-drinkers

The Décor

Balloons everywhere! The mailbox, large rings, champagne bottles, and a beautiful balloon arch!

Banners with rings and sweet sayings everywhere

Votives and navy table cloths to really bring it up a notch

Framed photos of the bride and groom

The Donut wall! “love is sweet”

Welcome sign on the front porch

The games

I love a good bridal shower game. Honestly I think it helps keep people moving and engaged. Rather than hoping your cousins organically start talking with your friends from high school.

True or false, guess if this true or false based on what the questions reads Example

“The bride was asked out three times before agreeing to go out with the groom” False.

How well do you know the bride? Write in your answers to see who knows the bride the best! Example: What is the Bride’s favorite movie?

He said she said, guess who did or said what. Example: Who said I love you first?

Bridal Bingo, fill in your bingo card with potential gift items like a blender, pillow, towels etc. As the bride opens her gifts mark off your bingo squares to see who get 5 across first!

Frame for photos and props. Better than a photo wall because we could take it anywhere!

All games ended with a winner getting a sweet prize from us.

Pro tips

Greet your guests with a beverage, a water, lemonade or champagne. It is a great way to say hi to everyone who comes in and get them settled with a drink.

Bridal bingo! Let’s be honest, it can be pretty dull watching people open gifts, bridal bingo keeps everyone paying attention and interactive.

Details! Frozen ice cubes with flower petals on the top layer of the champagne bucket, fresh flowers, framed photos of the bride and groom, welcome signs and food on stands. All these details make for beautiful photos!

I am so grateful to my bridal party for traveling to be there and putting everything together. It was so wonderful to see my family who I don’t always see. Traveling and going the extra mile is not over looked by me. So a huge thank you to everyone who attended and had a hand in making such a memorable day for me.

Cheers to your big day and your shower, I hope these tips help you with your planning process.

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: Rehearsal Style

am all for tradition, maybe it’s the southern lady in me, but when it comes to weddings bring on the traditions. I am a huge fan of burying the bourbon, wearing white to all things wedding related as the Bride and not seeing each other before the wedding, starting the night before. That being said, I am trying to incorporate tradition with modern touches into my own wedding. I am very much in the home stretch of planning, that also means time to focus on details, details, details! One of those details our looks for the rehearsal dinner. I have had a terrible habit of leaving my own plans until everyone else is taken care of. It is finally time for me to focus on myself!

Today I am sharing some of my favorite looks for a rehearsal dinner, no matter if your dinner is a handful of friends or a whole family affair, you are sure to look fabulous with these looks from a few of my favorite retailers!

Lulu’s

Pretty little things

Vici Dolls

Loving these looks? All images have shop able links, instant fab!

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: The Bridal Bag

Every wedding I do, I come prepared. One of my gifts to the Bride and the Bridal party is an Emergency kit for the day of. This is usually a small make up bag or small tote with items for any quick fix you may need. Now that it is time for my own wedding, I am checking all the boxes in my mental checklist. So if you are getting down to the wire to your big day, follow this guide for all the secrets inside my day of Emergency kits.

The Bridal/Bridesmaids kit: I have this bag or case up in the Bridal suite starting the minute the ladies arrive!

Q tips

Mini deodorant

Tampons and liners

Lotion

Bobbie pins

Tylenol

Tums

Band-Aids

Safety pins

Sewing kit

Tissues

Tide stick

Mouth wash or tic tacks

The Grooms/Groomsmen Kit: A lot of repeat items but also a few touches to help a guy out.

Q tips

Tylenol

Tums

Tic tacks or mouth wash

Band-Aids

Tide stick

Safety pins

Extra pair of black socks

The Wedding planner kit: This kit is for me and my team for our day of duties. Rather than a cute makeup size, it’s more of a tote or tool box, but it holds just about anything I could need on site.

Hammer

Fishing line

Screw drivers

AA batteries

AAA batteries

Tide stick

Safety pins

Band aids

Tylenol

White duct tape

Regular tape

Clip board

Extra pens

2 lighters

Floral tape

Flower sheers

Disposable gloves

Tissues ( I am a sucker for a good father daughter dance)

The moral of the story is, you never know what is going to happen, a delicate display could tip over, the wind could be blowing your arbor away, or your battery operated light display could burn out. No matter what happens, as a day of coordinator, I do everything I can to be prepared. If you need help bringing together your big day, send me an email at Thedirtyblondestylist@gmail.com. Can’t wait to hear from you!

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: 60 days or less

45 days left, I have never been calmer. I realize I am not like most brides in this situation, this usually is a time for “What am I forgetting?” Questions like that will put you in the ground, it is easy to stress yourself out more than needed during this time. One thing, that I must admit, I did not expect was the stress on my family. My sister has continued to mention how stressed she is with my Bachelorette party and now my shower, the moms are stressed to some degree. I always thought that if I remained a calm Bride, everyone around me would be calm, nope. I can not blame anyone for being stressed, it is a lot! So if you are a Bride and you can feel the stress from all directions, you are not alone.

I am here to share a few tips on how I have combated stress in the last 60 days of wedding planning.

Have a game plan!

I have made a list of as many things as I can think that need to be done before the wedding. From there, I can schedule out when I will aim to get items done.

A few examples from my own list:

Find ties for groomsmen done
Figure out all tips
Card box done bird cage
Print photos for gold frames in the box
Get sizes of frames that are in the box
Something to out matches in got it glass bowl
Something to put koozies in got it glass blow
Get sparklers done
Get container for sparklers
Make trial
Figure out my hair
Approve bridesmaids hair
Let people know day and time for the rehearsal
Have Paster read our vows
Get beer and wine
Dress fitting one done next scheduled
Dress jewelry
Veil alterations
Design rehearsal invites done
Design header for rehearsal dinner menu done
Linens and decor plan for rehearsal

Map it out!

Once you have your RSVPs back, reach out to your venue and request a map of your venue, preferably with tables drawn to scale already in place if you are doing assigned seats. Even if you are not having assigned seats, this is still a great opportunity to draw in where you want the cake table, what kind of space you want between the gift table and the bar. This also is a great way to communicate to vendors what your vision is!

Think like a guest

Imagine you are a guest at your wedding. Imagine pulling into the parking lot, do you know where to go or do you need signs? Imagine walking in from the ceremony, is the bar in an obvious spot or does it need a little direction. If you are finding some places that may need a little direction, incorporate signs and even the staff. Talk to your planner or coordinator and see if there is an extra person who could stand by the parking lot and let guests know that the ceremony is right around back. That person could also take larger gifts for guests and even help some older guests to their seats if they need it.

The after effect

One thing that some people forget is the after, who is cleaning up? Who is returning the tuxedos to the rental place the next day? Are there to go boxes for the leftover food and cake? Where are the gifts going? Is it okay if guests leave cars over night? Little details like that are often forgotten and can leave your vendors scrambling. Communication with vendors is a must, everyone involved can help you as long as you tell them! Be sure to ask these questions in advance, the fewer surprises the better.

If you are still feeling unorganized and frantic, download my free 60 day checklist for planning under 60 days. If you need any help, drop comments below, send me a DM on Instagram or Facebook or shoot me at Thedirtyblondestylist@gmail.com

I can’t wait to hear from you!

-ML

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