The Dirty Blonde Stylist

Home Sweet Home

House Warming How To:

From the day we started house hunting, I was already excited to throw our house warming party. Once the date was set and the invites had gone out, there was no going back. I was obsessed, as a party planner should be. Now that the food is all gone and the flowers have died, I am ready to share my 5 tips for how to put on a phenomenal house warming party!

Pick a theme
1. This seems like an obvious statement, I know. Trust me having a distinct theme really helps! Some of my favorite themes include: UP!, wet paint, and Lemon fresh (My party theme)
2. Once the theme is chosen, own it! If you are crafty, take this opportunity to make home made banners, signs or décor. For my Lemon Fresh theme I had lemons everywhere, in bowls, in the drinks, in the food, even in the air in the form of a candle. Create a theme that is unignorable to your guests.
Know your audience
1. Just like in business, knowing your guests will make for a well-executed event. If you know it will be mostly young people who like to drink and party, play into that. Offer a signature cocktail, music playing everywhere to liven things up and a later start time so you can continue on into the night. On the contrary, if your crowd is mostly older adults and family maybe stick to an earlier time, cheese plates with beer and wine.
The perfect food
1. Your food is really dependent on three main things:
  1. what time of day is it?
  2. What is the attire?
  3. Who are you serving?
  4. How many people are you serving?

This plays into the knowing your audience, if you have 10/12 people that could easily turn into a dinner party style event, formal plates set at a table with a full meal expected. If you are more on the side of 20/30 guests, you should probably plan on light appetizers. This also takes place into the attire, you cant have a formal cocktail party and serve hot dogs and hamburgers. A more appropriate choice would be sliders, caprese salad and chicken skewers.

Plan Ahead
1. If you can’t afford to have your party catered, make sure you have extra batches of drinks, snacks and desserts ready to go. I always feel so bad for the host who runs around her own party scrambling to refill drink dispensers, make more sweet tea and refill chip bowls. Have at least two extra pitchers of whatever beverage you made in the fridge. If you have warm food, like skewers and sliders, opt for a Sterno tray to keep the extras warm. You can always hide the trays in another room if you think it is messing up your glorious display.
2. This planning also goes for your home pieces. If you know that you don’t want water rings on all your new furniture, set out coasters on most of the tables, they will get the hint. Think about things that need to be kept safe when you open your home to others. Take the proper steps with some of the nicer things in your home, look around and say would I mind if mud and dirt was caked into that new area rug? Maybe I should pull it up or move it to a low traffic area. This also means setting up extra seating and in some cases tables. We set up two folding tables and 10 folding chairs scattered through our house. It made it easy to spread people out and offer a refreshment in every room.
Dress to impress
1. Ultimately you set the theme for your party and the tone. A house warming party can be somewhat difficult to predict as far as what to wear. When in doubt ask the host, as the host have your outfit ready way in advance. For me and my casual backyard party, I wore a very 50’s housewife button up navy dress with a key hole back. Cute light and easy is what I was going for. If you don’t feel comfortable reaching out to the host, here are a few ways to gauge the vibe:

The invitation. Fancy? Via Facebook? What kind of vibe is coming from the invite?
The time of day. If the party starts after 4:00 assume cocktail, a dress and heels or show stopping pants and a top. Before 4:00, a sun dress or dark wash jean and cute top.
The host them self. If this is your best friends party and you know she’s so down to earth she will probably have on jeans, dress it up one step up from just jeans. Dark jeans with a blouse styled top and a wedge will get you through almost any event. Better to be over dressed then under dressed I always say!

I hope your party goes off without a hitch! Let your home be filled with laughter and love.

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: Photo Ready, Engagement Shoot

Engagement shoot prep:

I love a good photo shoot! Being a bride and the “star of the show” it is a given for me that photos need to be taken to capture us in a setting outside of the wedding. There are so many different venues, backdrops and outfit options for shoots like this. From the uber formal on the capital steps in a long formal dress, to the cute and casual couple in a field or a forest. These photos say so much to me about a couple! Just by looking at the photos, I can get a good sense of who they are, something to keep in mind while picking your own location.

This week I am having my second set of engagement photos done…Yes I said second. In the fall when we first got engaged we had a set of photos done as a prize for winning a contest for free engagement photos. Now that we have our wedding photographer booked, we had a free engagement session included in the package, so naturally we are going to use it!

Being a week out from the shoot, I am sharing my “Week of routine” for glowing skin, perfect nails and confidence from the inside out.

Sunday: The shoot is Saturday, the prep beings. I usually like to start the week off right with a workout on Sunday. Starts everything off to a good note. After my workout I will take a long shower and use my Scrubee.

I love this little guy, a combination of honey, shae butter and what feels like sand. The “sand” will scrub away all the dead skin you have and the shea butter is right behind it to moisturize that fresh layer of skin. I work out and shower at night so right to bed after my shower. Fun fact every night this week will end early for a good night sleep.

Monday: The real week begins, after a long day at work and a few coffees, I am home. It’s now time for a fashion show. The goal is to try on my ideal look head to two. I usually order something new for these shoots but always have one classic piece that I am comfortable in. The outfit is so important to the outcome of your photos. Here’s a few things to keep in mind while picking your look:

Location- Is it outside? Is it going to be hot? Will your outfit show sweat if it comes to that?

Terrain- What kind of shoes are you planning to wear? Do you have to walk through mud, dirty, rocks to get to your destination?

Prints- only one of your should have on a print to be honest. If your man is wearing a checkered button down, take this time to wear something solid or maybe with some texture.

Time of year- if it’s fall, that does not give you an excuse to pile on accessories, while layers make for a more interesting look, don’t add a jacket, long sleeve, scarf, hat, necklaces, a bag etc. No matter what time of year keep it simple and try to think how it will look on film for years to come. Nothing too trendy.

Film- I always take a flash photo of my outfits before picking them for a shoot. Can you see through it? Are any undergarments exposed in the flash or bright lights? Does the pattern look the same in the photo as it did in the mirror. Clothes can be a real pain sometimes and truly betray you in front of a camera.

Tuesday: Assuming all is well with my look, I turn my attention to accessories and add ons. As I mentioned, there is a fine line between adding depth to your photos and adding on junk.

My go to pieces for shoots include simple jewelry. Thin gold chain necklaces, classic stud earrings and no other rings other then that shinny Diamond. If you are looking for a place to make a statement, I think earrings are great! If you have a simple dress feel free to jazz it up with a large hoop or drop earring. When it doubt see what it looks like In a photo maybe you don’t need them after all? A Lush Sea Salt face scrub before bed and then head to bed early with Lush sleepy time lotion on my T zone and lights out!

Wednesday: By now my outfit is fully styled and ready to go! Now onto Jacob (my fiancée) If your fiancée is anything like mine, they don’t care a ton about photos or shoots. So I insert myself into the role of his stylist. The key to picking his outfit is to complement yours without matching. If you are wearing jeans and a white top, your man shouldn’t also be in jeans and a white top. After his outfit is chosen my day will end with another workout, and Scrubee shower. After my shower, apply a blackhead removing pore strip to my nose, yank it off before bed and off to dream land.

Thursday: Today is all about nails and hair, if you can take the day to pamper yourself. Get your nails done or do them yourself. After or during your shower, apply a hair mask for clean healthy looking hair. If you have time and money, make an appointment to get your roots touched up and the dead ends trimmed from the bottom, it really goes a long way! End the day with Lush Sleepy time lotion on my face in the T zone and off to bed!

Friday: The night before! While in the shower, I will use the Lush Sea Salt scrub to wash away the dead skin and one more round with Scrubee. Once I am out I apply my go to face mask. The Lush Mask of Magnanimity.

While It hardens to your face, take a moment to clean your ring! The week will easily get away from you, if you have time, try and stop by a local jeweler. They will usually offer to clean your ring for free or a small fee. Just make sure you know how long it will take for them to clean it!

Once your mask is set, wash it off and check on your looks. I like to hang everything on a hanger together, his outfit right next to mine. Shoes sitting on the floor clean and everything ready to go. Some photographers love a sunrise shot and may ask you to be there and ready by 6:00 or 7:00 Am! Be ready the night before, have everything you need including undergarments on the hanger as well. I don’t leave anything to chance. Sleep tight beautiful and be ready to capture your love tomorrow!

Hopefully these tips will help make your shoot less stressful. To check out some of my favorite Lush products mentioned above follow this link!

Honey Suckle Rose Photography

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: Wedding shoes, Save or Splurge?

Let talk about shoes!

What girl does not love shoes? I love them and have an entire 6 tired rack of shoes in my closet at home. So wedding shoes are obviously something I was excited about. All of sudden it has become this nagging thought of “are these even that important?” “should I just get some flats and be comfortable?” Questions like that roll through my mind with every wedding conversation I have with myself now. So I decided to do a little digging, I took to Facebook and other wedding circles and asked “where did you get your wedding shoes?”

The responses I got back were varied from target to Nordstrom. Varieties of ladies with a variety of opinions on the subject.

“I wanted to be able to wear them again”

A lot of Brides today are choosing shoes and accessories for themselves as a place to save money. Rather than spending $200 on shoes that are too fancy for real life, they are spending $30.00 on heels from Lulu’s and Target with a simple heel and strap across the toe. Then there is the bride that knows it is her day, one day where no one can blame her for wearing a $2000.00 dress so doesn’t that deserve $200.00 shoes?

I can easily see both sides of this argument so now I want to pose the question to you and have you help me pick my shoes.

Drop your comments below for what shoes you like the best and where you stand on this topic “Wedding shoes, save or spurge?”

04991452_zi_ivory — Betsy Johnson Flats $109.00

So what do you think? I need all the help I can get!

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: The Bridal Shower

The Bridal Shower:

Before the big day comes all the smaller events in between. As each Bride gets closer to the wedding day the other fun events come up to keep you hyped up. The Bridal shower is one of those fun parties that is a great reason to call together all the ladies In your life to celebrate love in a girly way. Today I am sharing with you some of my favorite Bridal shower themes and décor pieces to give you all the inspiration you need!

Kate Spade

Meant to Bee (based on bumble)

Alice in wonder land (tea party)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Brunch

Boho Glam

Spa Day

Coastal Paradise (tropical)

Cheers to you lovely Brides. Popping bottles and changing last names!

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: The Bride I wanted to be

The Bride I wish I could be

This morning I stumbled across The Knot’s new Podcast called XOXO. I listened to the story of Country Star, Russell Dickerson and his wife Kailey’s, story about their wedding. Listening to them speak, they sounded so chill and easy going as a couple. They talked about the details and unique pieces of their wedding day; it was on Cinco De Mayo, they were married by his Dad and her brother who are both preachers, they had an open ceremony with 600 people at the ceremony, they prayed together before the wedding, but did not have a first look and they said they wanted a big party of fun, dancing and laughter and that is what they got. She said she wasn’t very into the details, she planned the wedding in three months on purpose. The longer the planning would have gone on, the more indecisive and more opinions would have gotten in the way. They dreamed of being married, not about the wedding itself.

There are so many ways to think and view a wedding. The money, time and effort some people just do not think is a good investment, so they opt for smaller weddings or even just the courthouse. Some view weddings as the biggest and best day of your young life, it should be everything and more. Then there are the people in the middle. I believe I am more in favor of it being a huge deal, I feel like I have invested so much time money and energy in creating this amazing thing that will be a wonderful day. Not because of all the stuff but because I am going to marry Jacob that day. Part of me wonders, what if I had opted for something smaller? What if I had decided to just have 75 people in a small venue with only appetizer style food and hoped to have a great party out of that?

The what if’s will kill you when it comes to wedding planning. I will admit, it takes a confident person to make a decision and stick to it. Kailey was right, the longer the engagement the easier it has been to change things, add things and make alterations. The Bride I wanted to be would be carefree, yet strong with her decisions. She would be easy going and always happy, she would bond with her family and fiancee. I think there is a journey each bride takes along this sometimes long road to the aisle. There are things you learn about yourself, how you work with your mom, how you handle basically having two jobs, how you stay motivated to save money and be involved in your wedding planning for months on end.

I am grateful for my time as a fiancee, I have learned more about how I am as an adult, How I handle stress and how Jacob and I work together. So while I may not be that gorgeous bride who does not care about flowers, I am the Bride who is going to be proud of our wedding and looking forward to the day I get to marry my best friend.

Happy Planning lovely ladies!

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: All the changes

Oh the things that change:

4 months out…it is officially June, marking the start of summer and summer weddings. While my own wedding is not until October, I am starting to see and feel the excitement from those Brides who are ready top walk own the aisle in only a few weeks! Yesterday I walked my venue for the 5^th time, by my side I had Jacob of course, my sister/maid of honor/ mother, my DJ/uncle and our venue coordinator. One thing that has become such a challenge for me is decorating a space that I don’t know very well or get to see every day. When you decorate your house you look at those walls and feels those floors all day until you look at it and decide “I know what color wall this will be” or “ I think I know what type or rug I want here. With a venue, it is all memorization.

Sure there are photos online, on your phone from your first tour and descriptions from your coordinator but when you get back into the space, it could feel totally different. As I walked the space again yesterday, book cases didn’t have as many shelves as I remembered, that tree’s branches were higher then I thought and things that had never occurred to me were suddenly right in front of me.

As we get into these last few weeks and months before the wedding the details start to set in. So I am taking this time to learn from Brides that have come before me, and asking;

So Bride to Bride, what has changed since you first picked out your venue?

How was your actual wedding different then what you thought you would plan?

I am not married yet but I can already list a handful of things that are different from the wedding I had originally planned.

For starters, I thought my wedding would be soft multi shades of purple as far as colors go, I was all set to be these vintage dark purple bud vases at one of my favorite antique stores. Thank goodness I didn’t, otherwise they would just be scattered around my house.

I thought that my wedding would be totally outside. It wasn’t until my fear of rain got the best of me and I decided that I needed a venue that could be inside and outside. Which lead me to find my venue at Meadow Hall.

I imagined I would have my bridesmaids in different dresses in different shades of a certain color, instead, they all found a beautiful dress that looks great on all of them. They all look beautiful!

It is funny the way things change through a process, but honestly, I don’t mind the changes. I may have always dreamed about my wedding, but I never planned my wedding to Jacob. I am excited to see how everything comes together, I am more than anything, excited to marry Jacob.

So whether you are in the first weeks of planning or the last few days, embrace the changes and expect things to not go as planned. It will all work out the way it is supposed to.

Happy Planning!

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: What will go wrong

As every Bride goes along planning her outdoor wedding, in the back of her mind, there is the terrifying thought about “what if it rains?” To be honest, it is reckless to not have a plan B. I am at the point of my wedding planning process where the plan A is well laid and falling into place, but now what about plan B? Aside from the Weather, there are some other likely things that will go wrong during your wedding planning process. Consider this your guide on how to deal and a formal warning of what to expect.

Weather and plan B

As I mentioned the need for a plan B for any part of an outdoor wedding is a must. Even if you are only planning to have a quick outdoor ceremony, there has to be a plan for “Just in case”. I struggle with this to be honest, I like so many Brides, am in love with my ceremony location and I can’t imagine not getting married there. Facts is, that I have to get over it. I am getting married in October and the weather could turn to a hurricane in a matter of hours. If you find yourself here, I recommended working closely with your planner or day of and the venue. Is there another space you could go? If that space is your reception space, how do we flip the space in a small amount of time? Think through it, pretend its your day and imagine all the elements you have planned for your ceremony and how can they be used somewhere else in the event of weather? Getting with your planner and venue well before hand also eliminates the panic on the day of. Your planner will know what you want and what is supposed to happen when this or that happens and she won’t be in your face asking you a million questions while guests are starting to arrive. Name of the game “Eliminate panic!”

2.Committing to things too soon

I can’t talk about this enough! When you are freshly engaged there is a time when all you want to do is buy and plan. You finally feel at home in the wedding aisle of Hobby Lobby and can convince yourself you need this and that before you have even picked a venue. Even the seemingly obvious things like candles, “every wedding needs candles” you’ll say to yourself and then come to find you pick a venue that only allows flameless candles and now you have 6 dozen tea light candles that are outside the 30 day return policy. So word to the wise, wait! Slow down, there is an order to these things and the egg cannot come before the chicken. This also goes for vendors, do not feel like you need to book the first venue, photographer and photo booth you see on the Knot.

3. Letting details fall to the back burner

There comes a time in the planning when you kind of takes a break accidently, this could be because of the holiday, there could be a death or someone sick in the family, for whatever reason, it may be the wedding planning gets placed on the back burner. This is perfectly normal, problems can come if this “break” happens too early in the planning, you are communicating with your vendors and things become a scramble at the end. Try and create a month by month checklist so everything is broken down, try and schedule things with hard deadlines, like final payments a few weeks before the due date. Worst case, you have it ready to go early and are just waiting. I can not tell you how many couples I have seen panicking in those last two weeks over small details that had fallen through the cracks, you are not alone it happens to the best of us. The goal here just get organized from the get go.

4. Not enough communication

When it comes time to make the timeline and put everything together, take this time to communicate with vendors. If you are planning a wedding in the fall, keep in mind sunset. So when you go to pick your ceremony time, get with your photographer and see what and when they would recommend. If you are planning to do a special type of exit let them know that to, that way they are there and fully ready to capture your moments. When planning dishes and utensils, talk to your caterer, do they have dishes that can be rented? What types of serving dishes are included in the packages, or if you have a tight clean up time and all dishes need to be accounted for, give your caterer and day of a heads up so they can plan.

As a planner, I would rather my bride remind me 6 times about something then wait until the week of to tell me.

5. Overspending

I am guilty of it for sure. I will say honestly that going over a wedding budget is very easy. Often times brides are walking into unchartered waters when coming into the wedding world. People always say to set the budget first but before that, you really need to list out the things you want and get some sort of price estimate, have a ball park in mind for your budget but setting a budget too firm from the beginning to setting up for failure. The wedding industry is severely overpriced, not to say that the vendors don work for every penny, because they do. Food is expensive, paper is expensive, gifts for the party is expensive, it all adds up very quickly. My advice here is be realistic, don’t say you want a 150 size wedding and then budget for a 75 person wedding because you didn’t know how much things cost.

-ML

Summer Shoe Show

Am I the only one who has so many shoes that when the season ends I pack up my boots, mules and Uggs in exchange for sandals, flip flops and summer heels? While unpacking my summer shoes I felt the instant need for an update! So if you find yourself in search for some new summer sandals, look no further. I am excited to share some hot trendy shoes that are affordable even by my standards!

The barley there sandal

I blame Kim K for this one, once you wear a see through plastic shoe, the summer version must be straps that are barley there to hardly look like you have on a shoe. Another way to view it is Bridget Bardow and very Boho. Ladies of the 70’s would tie strings around their toes and ankles to appear as if they had on shoes. How ever you feel about it, I love this option for a easy sense of cool.

Lulus $19.00 Romwe $21.95 Asos $23.00 Tillys $16.99

The sport mode:

I will be honest this is not my favorite trend. I will say that styled properly these kicks can become part of an amazing look!

Target $25.00 DSW $44.99 Walmart $46.00 Zara $59.90

Snake print for days:

Love a good animal print! This snake print is timeless and yet so modern with elements on trend the best thing, snake is almost like a neutral, can be worn so many ways and styled endlessly!

Target $24.99 Amazon $24.66 Lulus $19.00 Beyondinn $28.33 Belk $24.99

The Low heel

This is a total throw back for me, I remember being my mom had shoes with that low kitten heel all through the 90’s. I never thought it was tall enough, I always wanted a giant platform heel! Just like fashion always does, they are back around again, with modern flair. Elements of sculpture and bright colors help bring a simple show to a statement shoe!

Lulu’s $33.00 Target $27.99 Asos $31.00 Nasty Gal $30.00

Don’t you so want to shop all of a sudden? Shoe shopping and fresh pedicure are in my future for sure! Happy summer season ladies!

-ML

Summer Weekend Getaway

If you are here in Virginia you can feel the summer heat creeping in with each day we get closer to June. This weekend is Memorial day weekend, an unofficial mark of summer. Also, the perfect chance for a weekend getaway! Whether you are braving the packed pool or crowded beaches this weekend, this packing tips will ensure you are prepared for a great weekend! My summer packing list is very different than my winter getaway bags. The priorities are different, so here’s to not over packing but making room for the essentials. I am excited to share my 5 summer essentials!

Beach wave spray -Kristen Ess I have been on the hunt for a good texturing product for my hair for months, this is it! Light like a mist rather than a gel but holds that effortless wavy look on damp hair. Perfect for an out if the shower and out on the town hair style!

Good sunnies – Ashby many of you know, I love Ashby. A consignment shop here in RVA that has become my go to for so many different occasions. They have a great selection of cool trendy gently used clothes and shoes along with a great selection of new products like bags, sunnies, jewelry and RVA locally made products. Their amazing selection of sunnies has gotten me again and again. Cool, on trend and $10.00…SOLD.

Face lotion for after sun Lush – After a long day on the beach, your skin needs a little saving. My favorite go to is Lush’s Dream Cream! Perfect and ideal for sensitive skin that might be a little tender after a long day. Being away does not mean that moisturizing is not a priority!

Floppy hat – Amazon A little glamour and a little protection met in the middle and became a floppy straw hat. What better message to send to people on vacation than “do not disturb”?

A good one piece – Target I can’t say enough about a good one piece. It looks sport and covered up but also sexy and sunbathing gold with the high sides and low backs. This one from target to me is timeless and budget friendly.

So, who has their bags packed and is ready to head out?

-ML

Weekly Wedding Words: Styled Shoots

When I got into the business of wedding planning a new world of inspiration opened up to me, Styled shoots. I had no idea that they were a thing, some of the best content I was looking at on vendors sites was from styled shoots rather than live weddings. For a vendor, it’s a great way to flex those muscles outside of a big day, experiment with new ideas and themes and most importantly, make sure everything is perfect, resulting in great content. So why am I talking about this? Why are styled shoots important to a real life bride? They are important for the same reason fashion magazines images are important! Magazines don’t show you real people in every day clothes, they want you to dream and see what can be done with a black turtleneck sweater. Its seeing the reality in the mist of fashion that took me a while as a kid, I expected to look at magazines and see woman who looked like my mom in jeans and some kind of cute top and a practical pair of shoes. It wasn’t until later that while a model could have on 75 bracelets that are all different or jeans and no shirt on, but you leave the page thinking “I think I need new jeans or Do I have any good bracelets?”

So here I am, a bride myself, 6 months until my wedding. I swear, I have seen the same things on Pinterest over and over. Not that those images and ideas aren’t lovely, I have just been there seen it. The same rustic signs and cute details on centerpieces. Sometimes I find the best way to harness in new inspiration is by looking at images that are so outside of the box! while talking to my florist, she told me about an amazing display for Richmond weddings they did this year, colors bright and wild. My florist told me that it was so fun to try new things and really just show off what she could do as a designer rather than the same cookie cutter flowers I am sure she does most weekends.

Shows, styled shoots, magazines and social media, all excellent source of inspiration! I love promoting and helping other entrepreneurs on their journey. When asked to share some details about this styled shoot, I jumped at the chance to put the names out there of some very creative vendors! So here is your daily dose of wedding inspiration! Feeling inspired is motivating, motivation is a high dollar item. Take it and run with it!