I will readily admit that I have a bit of an addiction *ahem* obsession *ahem* problem, okay, let’s just call it an issue, regarding magazines. I subscribe to A LOT of different glossies and pick up even more at the bookstore each month – wedding, business, fashion, home, gossip, pregnancy – I am up to double digits every month and yes, I am thinking about getting help for it.

Recently, like since we moved back to Columbus, I have been getting a lot of really random magazines in the mail. They are in my name, addressed to me but there is one issue…I never signed up for them. I have never gotten a bill for them so I have never paid for them.

They just mysteriously started arriving apparently from the magazine fairy.

The magazine fairy has thus far gifted me with the following:
Allure
W Magazine
Guideposts
House Beautiful
Home and Garden
Jane
Teen Vogue
Gourmet
Lucky
Cosmo
People
Us Weekly (but only sometimes, not a regular delivery from the fairy like People is)
WonderTime
Parenting
Brides (which I legitimately subscribe to so I get 2 copies every other month)
Ebony

The most random collection of magazines ever, huh? If you have any idea where they all came from and/or why…please feel free to let me know because I am at a total loss.

Follow the link above to enter the first Modern Bride of the Year contest. all you have to do is answer a few questions, send in 3 recent photos of yourself and you could wind up on the cover of Modern Bride!

Hurry though – you only have until April 14!

We all know how much I love Wonderful Graffiti – I think they are fabulous AND they are a local Columbus company, can’t get much better than that!

They just introduced a new line of fun accessories called Black Tie including things like Easel Signs and Glassware Monograms:

Visit Wonderful Graffiti: Black Tie for more fun things!

Oh! Make sure you check out the Lollipop Invitations! So cute!

Randy and I are in the process of planning our last trip for a while as a duo – although obviously the third member of our party will be joining us as well. We are planning our ‘babymoon’ and I cannot wait!

We have decided to go to South and North Carolina. We are planning on hitting Charleston, Wilmington and the Outer Banks so if anyone has any advice, tips, secrets they would like to share about the area – please feel free! I love hearing others experiences and the more info we have, the better!

This is one place we are planning on staying – how lovely does this look?

Carolina here we come!

St. Patrick’s Day was not a bust for the pregnant wedding planner! Instead of green beer, I got some fresh ideas from two top notch planners as well as some inspiration and I got to meet Sasha and Karen – both were just a pleasure! (Ignore my hair in these pictures, I did get up at 5:45 am.)

Sasha Souza and me:

Sasha spoke for a couple of hours and got especially in depth on color and color trends for weddings. Some of my favorite new ideas:
Metallics – mixing copper, pewter and bronze together.
Mixed Patterns – mixing stripes and plaids.
Extended Color Palettes – incorporating up to 5 different color palettes into one event. I especially like this when you pull 3 different shades of the same color in – like three shades of pink or green.

Sasha is just as stylish, funny and sweet as she seems on TV!

Karen Bussen and me:

Karen spoke for a couple of hours as well and her whole theme was inspiration. A lot of it was geared to inspiring us as wedding planners so we can, in turn, bring that inspiration to our clients and their events. She spoke about where her inspiration comes from and how she pulls from tons of different sources as well as how she goes about her writing and design processes. It was a very cool presentation.

Karen is also stylish, funny, sweet and so passionate about her work.

Both these ladies were absolutely inspiring and I am so glad I was able to see them in person – basically, I was to be both of them when I grow up.

Stamp prices are going up AND down as of May 1st. Shall I explain?

The going up part: first class stamps (the ones you use to send your birthday cards and if you still write checks for your bills) are going from 39 cents to 41 cents. However, the USPS is also introducing a new stamp called the ‘forever’ stamp. This is a stamp that can be bought at the new 41 cent price level and will never expire (so they say now) and will always work – regardless of future price increases on first class postage.

Take this into consideration if you are sending out invitations with an RSVP date AFTER May 1! The RSVP envelopes will need the higher postage on them – you don’t want your RSVPs being returned to sender, do you?

The going down part: the heavier your mail, the less you will pay. Why? Because the new 41 cent stamp covers the first ounce, each additional ounce used to cost 24 cents (hence the 63 cent Love stamps that you see on many wedding invitations) but now those additional ounces will only cost you 17 cents each. So, mailing a 2 ounce wedding invitation is actually getting cheaper – down to 58 cents. Something that is LESS expensive around a wedding? Shocking, I know.

No word yet on the new design for the wedding stamps. Also, no word on the impact on oversized (i.e. square) envelopes.

Saw these on another blog and love, love, love them!

Rather than a full blown emergency basket in the bathroom at a wedding, why not just provide your guests with some pretty, yummy soap?

Valsey and Me can provide personalized soap chips for your guests to use or take home. $65 for 40 soap chips available in 5 yummy scents: Cinnamon Orange, Mango Butter, White Grapefruit, Lavender Oatmeal, and Milk, Almond & Honey.

I think these would also be interesting in a bathroom at home personalized with a ‘welcome to our home’ message and unless you run a B&B, they offer smaller boxes with 10 soap chips rather than 40.

Just a little something different!

(Quick drive by post)

I love new finds:

Picnik.com

Picnik is a super cool online photo editor. It is real time and you can do a ridiculous amount of things to photos pulled from your Flickr account, your computer or even from a website. Great for on the go edits and best of all? The basic version is free – a premium version is coming soon!

Enjoy!

And I am not talking about St. Patrick’s Day – a holiday that tends to be a smidge boring for preggo ladies.

Nope, I am excited because this weekend is the Association of Bridal Consultants Midwest Conference in Cincinnati! Besides getting to see many of my friends in the coordination world from other areas (like Indy, Lexington, Louisville and Cleveland), I am beyond excited for the keynote speakers – both Sasha Souza and Karen Bussen will be speaking on Saturday. If you aren’t familiar with these ladies let me explain:

Sasha Souza is an amazing wedding coordinator in California. She does high end, breathtaking, jaw droppingly GORGEOUS weddings. The kind of wind up in every magazine and that everyone seems to want to imitate. By all account she is also down to earth and very sweet. Can’t wait to see what she has coming up next.

Karen Bussen is an amazing coordinator from New York – you might know her for her books:

Great books, lovely ideas that are translatable for any bride. I love it when great coordinators share their ideas in print!

Needless to say, I am so excited to see what these ladies have to say – I promise to bring back ideas from both coasts!

(Yes, this does confirm that I am a wedding planning nerd. And totally okay with that!)

If you saw Martha today, you know what those roses are made out of. If you didn’t would you have ever guessed they are made out of COFFEE FILTERS? Pretty amazing, huh?

Want some for yourself? A couple of options for you:
Directions to make them yourself – more power to you if you can get through the 13 steps to make those suckers.
OR
Order them from the original artist – only a little more pricey than the real thing but these roses will last for a lot longer than the fresh kind.

GORGEOUS!