{los angeles wedding}

My cousin Chad got married over Memorial Weekend in Los Angeles. It was such a beautiful wedding and I'm so glad we decided to go! We were on the fence about attending after the hotel/flight deal fell through. In the end, we decided to make a road trip out of it and it was a blast!

Chad & Allie got married in the Los Angeles LDS Temple. I love the architectural design of that temple & the location is perfect. It sits right on top of a hill, smack in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. The weather was perfect too, which made for a great wedding day! It was so neat to see Chad and Allie get married. Their love story is one of a kind and they're perfect for one another. Chad was so sweet lovey with Allie. I love seeing newly wed couples who can't get enough of each other and I love to see a groom look at his bride with googly eyes! Ah, love!

The reception that evening was held at Allie's cousin's house in Yorba Linda. The minute I saw the house I fell in love with it! Not only was the outside amazing, but the inside was a designers dream! (That'll be a whole separate post!)

The reception was absolutely amazing & I loved every minute of it! Everything was so Chad & Allie- vintage, youthful, and FUN! They both love In-N-Out burgers and had them cater! Ordering a double-double, animal/protein style at a wedding was definitely a first for me, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. They also had a milk shake station set up, yummy pies, delicious mixed fruit & my favorite, mini Martinelli's (which also happens to be Chad's favorite drink)!

The whole set up was lovely and everything had a vintage touch. I loved the little mason jars used to serve the fruit and the adorable mini chalk boards, the vintage books, wild flowers, burlap, distressed, antique furniture, etc.

Chad's little brother Ryan wrote and performed this sweet song as part of his best man's speech. It was awesome!

{you're invited}

This is a great idea and it's so easy! Simply find an invitation or announcement that fits your style, purchase and download the PDF, and then print them on your own printer or take them to a printer (if you want raised ink)!

See? Being frugal doesn't mean you have to sacrifice style!

The entire wedding package is only $29.99. Nice!

{favorite favors}

With wedding season in full swing, I've had a lot of people ask me for favors. Not the kind of favor you're thinking of- they want wedding favors! Thinking of what favor I wanted to give at my wedding was tough, but it was also one of my favorite things to work on, and I was so happy with how they turned out!

I knew I wanted something practical, yet cute, and something that my guests could reuse. So when my mom found these little tins, we knew this was perfect! We got our tins (which measure 1 1/2" in diameter by 3/4" tall) at Roberts Crafts. I think they were about $0.50 for a pack of 3, which was another reason we decided on them- they were a great deal! The only problem was that each store only had about 12-20 packs of them, so my mom and I drove all over the valley to get the amount we needed. We invited about 425 guests to the wedding and estimated that about 350 would come, so that's how many favors we made! I also wanted to put little mints in the tins, so I looked online and found a bulk candy company that sent me a huge 10lb bag of these little mints (about the size of a tick tack) for $18.00, and a family friend printed the vinyl lettering monogram that we put on the lid. It took some time to put them together, but I loved how they turned out! We stacked them in a big, shallow, glass vase and I had a framed sign that said something like, "Shannon & Andrew were 'mint' to be! Thanks for sharing our special day!" Yeah, it was a little cheesy, but lots of wedding things are cheesy! haha!

One problem a lot of brides run into is budgeting for favors. Unless you have a lot of money to spend on them, they can be a little pricey, and they're usually one of the last things the bride thinks of budgeting for. So to remedy that problem, I found a few ideas that can be done at a fairly inexpensive price! (As long as you're willing to put a little elbow grease into it!)These lovely boxes are from Martha Stewart. I think you can get the template for the little green box on her website, and I know she has directions to make the little mum that sits on top. Another great idea are these test tube favors. The ones pictured above are for Halloween, but I still think they'd make a unique favor! You can find clear, plastic tubes here for about $0.28 each and the cork stoppers are only about $0.14 each! (If you buy in bulk, they're even cheaper!) Design a monogram or a thank you on sticky labels and finish it off with a ribbon!

I loved the idea of putting herbs in the bottle (below), because it's not something you see everyday and your guests can use it multiple times!I also love the idea of making little seed packets for your guests. You can find these envelopes at local craft and paper stores, and they are fairly inexpensive! A pound of sunflower seeds is just $6.63 here! Just print a cute label, and voila! You've got a lovely favor your guests will never forget!(photos from Pear and Peony)