Our Engagement Shoot

Have I mentioned I'm planning my own wedding? 

I'm a bit of a control freak, but I have reasons behind it! My older sister hired an event planner and paid $5,000 of her budget on this woman. SHE DID NOTHING! She sent my sister contacts and made her book her own appointments and go alone...and while I know there are phenomenal planners out there, I preferred not to take a risk. I kept that same mindset with my engagement photos. I did them all myself. Not only does it save you mega $$$$ but you get to keep as many as you'd like and be in charge of your own shoot.

I went for four looks - spring, summer, formal and casual. We decided to take them at the beach (Pensacola, FL) because that's where I grew up. The beaches are gorgeous and the town is historic.

I have a few pointers for you all when creating your engagement photos.

Plan ahead! 

Pick 3-4 outfits for yourself and make sure they match your scene. I went with an old Hollywood style swimsuit and hat to match my wedding theme, a seafoam maxi dress, a blush pink skirt and a black dress. 

Next, pick your fiances outfits. 

Make sure they match your vision. For example: had I picked swim trunks to go with my black swimsuit, it would have taken the formality and old-school feel out of our image. Make sure you run the look through your head before you choose. Coordinate your colors but be sure not to be too matchy-matchy because it can come off as unoriginal and even quirky (not good for engagement photos).

Pick your props! 

What looks would you like to accomplish for your shoot? Is it beachy? Why not use shells! Is it formal? Use champagne! Have a thoroughly thought-out vision of your shoot to plan what props will work.

Get a ring shot. 

Your groom-to-be worked hard to get you that rock. Show it off!

Mix it up! 

Make sure you get a variety of different angles, perspectives and times of day. Having variety helps the photos stand out! When they all look the same, they don't draw as much attention. It's your day and your groom...you should have all eyes on you!

Make it fun! 

Headshots and smiles are perfect for frames and save the dates, but it's great to have fun photos of your significant other and yourself to remember the day. We did several shots of Garrett "chasing" me. While it felt a little awkward to do, the pictures came out great and serve as a fun memory.

Use architecture. 

There is beauty all around you. Play off of anything beautiful you see and don't be intimidated by people around you. In the above photo, we had an audience. We felt a bit awkward at first, but we sucked it up. If we turned the camera 90 degrees, you'd see 50 people standing around watching and a dead fish on the shore. Create that romance in your photos regardless of your surroundings.

Get a sunset image. 

Plan ahead and set your camera setting for the sky. They will always come out romantic. If your weather app tells you the sen will set at 7:52 pm, get there by 7:15. It takes a minute to set up, and in some cases the sun will set very quickly. We only got about 6 good pictures before the sun went down.

I hope these help you gain inspiration and some pointers to help your engagement photos be as wonderful as you! Please comment below if you have any additional questions.

Best of luck,

Bridesmaid Boxes - Pop the Question!

Hello lovely ladies! 

If you're like me, you recently became engaged and you are trying to figure out all of the etiquette and timelines for your wedding in a short period of time on top of choosing your bridal party, color scheme and more...pretty overwhelming, right? With Pinterest ideas galore, it's easy to get lost in the idea overload and have trouble pinning down one idea that works for you (pun intended).

I've gone somewhat out of order of what most wedding planners would recommend and it has worked really well for me. Let me explain..

Right after Garrett, my fiance, popped the question I knew I wanted a spring wedding. Garrett proposed in August which meant I didn't have much time to play around if I wanted my date to be in the spring of the following year. 

We want to have our wedding in Atlanta because that's where my fiance grew up and where we live now. It's easy to get here whether you drive or fly and it has so much to offer! I quickly realized other brides are aware of this... when I began calling venues, they were telling me 2017 was totally booked! I was heartbroken!

Lucky for me, I have a few girlfriends who were recently married and had a fresh perspective on timelines. For example, wedding dresses can take up to 8 months to receive in some cases (what the?!), venues should be booked 12 months out...the list goes on.

I decided to get my dress first. To most people, this is pretty untraditional and maybe silly, but I feel that the dress sets the stage for the entire wedding. Your dress should match your venue, flowers, invitations, and overall theme.

My theme is going to be old Hollywood circa 1940. Can I tell you how many terrible representations of a similar theme I've seen? It's awful! I believe it's time to give this theme some justice and respect it deserves.

Why 1940 old Hollywood you may ask? Well, I have a love for old movies. I always have. I grew up in performing arts as a singer and dancer and was always participating in Broadway-style plays. When I was sick from school, my mother would take me to the local library to rent old musicals like Funny Girl and Singing in the Rain on VHS. I'm in love with old movies - so it was fitting that my own wedding replicate an old Hollywood romance where I'll play leading lady in a love story of our own.

For my bridal party, I wanted to keep the number small and intimate. I'm also a fan of symmetry, so I decided on four girls (two on each side of me). 

Having a smaller bridal party means getting to splurge a little more on your favorite girls who will stand by your side! For my "Pop the Question" boxes I purchased the nail polish I'd like them to wear for our wedding day, one of my favorite champagnes - LaMarca (something blue might I add), a straw to drink right from the mini bottle, champagne infused gummy bears from Sugarfina, and earrings. I got these adorable gold foil bridesmaid tags from HomeGoods for just $3! If you haven't looked there for cute paper goods, I suggest you do! They have lots to choose from.

I purchased the boxes from Michaels for $5.00 each and the paint from Target for $2.00. The Essie polish is Topless and Barefoot (LOL).

  

You don't necessarily have to keep in line with your wedding theme for your boxes. Have fun with it! I wanted to use blue for a "something blue" idea, even though the color will not be used for my actual wedding. I painted my boxes a pearlescent blue with a sponge roller from a craft store. Make sure you keep the box open as it dries. My first box had to go in the trash because the paint sealed it closed!

For tighter areas like edges and corners, I used a small paint brush.

Finally, to complete the look, I found these adorable jewelled letters from Michaels in the sticker section for scrapbooks. I matched the jewel accents around the letter to fit the personality of the bridesmaid I was giving it to! (link for letters)

For the inside, I placed the champagne bottle in the center. So that the bridesmaids would know my color scheme, I went to Home Depot and grabbed a few paint swatches and tied them together with twine by punching a hole in the top right corner. I taped the bridesmaid tag to the top of the box on the interior to keep an element of surprise. I assure you they were! The champagne gummies didn't last long! Infused with Dom Perignon, they are non-alcoholic so they're also great if your friend doesn't/can't drink alcohol!

Prosecco gummies / Essie polish / Straws / Boxes / Bridesmaid tags / Earrings

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial on how to put together a bridesmaid box! Stay tuned for more cute DIY ways to put together details for your own special day!

Wolf Mountain Vineyards - Georgia

Wine. My favorite beverage.

Okay, I guess that makes me sound like I have a problem. Water can be my 'favorite' but wine takes a close second on the list. I was one of those girls who actually waited until I got to college to start drinking. In High School, I just wasn't really attracted to that scene. I was busy working my butt off to get out of the house and accepted into a good college.

Freshmen year of college was definitely the year for some firsts...first time drinking, first time going to a frat party, getting accepted into a sorority (go KKG!), living on my own...and gaining the Freshmen 15. Being an infantile drinker, I did what most kids do. I mixed drinks...some of the weirdest concoctions ever I might add!! The best of the worst was when my friends and I decided it would be a wonderful idea to take sour skittles and mix them in with cheap vodka and Sprite...I still can't drink Sprite to this day.

Once I got a little older and wiser, I decided I wanted to class-up my drinking game. If you went to Ole Miss, there once was a lovely restaurant on the Square called The Waltz. I owe my refined drinking palate to this place. It's where I learned that there were other vodkas beside Burnett's, there were glasses specifically made for drinks that weren't Solo cups, and most importantly, it's where I learned about wine.

I was so infatuated with their lounge, I asked for a job. Having no formal training and the bartending skills of a frog, I was told I'd have to educate myself first. I took their wine list home that night and memorized it. Grabbing what little cash I had and my cute smile discount, I went to a wine store down the street and asked if they had any on my list. I really couldn't afford any of them but I had made friends a few months back with one of their employees which landed me a pretty serious discount.

That evening I went home and read about the wines. I searched them on the internet and read tasting notes from the pros and tried them myself. That's where I realized I knew nothing about wine. 

Hints of pineapple with oak? Dry wine? How can a wine be dry, it's wet for God's sake! What have I gotten myself into?

The next day was my quiz and I was dying for the job. I knew how much these bartenders made, and I had my eyes on some new sunglasses. I came in super confident feeling like the job was mine. The manager handed me and two others the test to see how well we could remember their 60 bottle wine list and a few pairing recommendations.

I failed it by 2 drinks. I was devastated I had taken so much time and the last of my money to try and land the gig. As I walked out the door I heard the manager scream my name to come back in. Dragging my feet with my head low, I was waiting for him to tell me to try back in a few months once I memorized the menu better and learned more about wine. Apparently, the other two had failed much worse than me. I got the job! For the next few months, I was working at my favorite place in Oxford getting to drink some of the nicest wines Mississippi had to offer and getting paid.

I've had a love affair with wine ever since.

Now, here I am 5 years later and I still have a ton to learn. My absolute favorite documentary buzzing around on Netflix right now is Somm. If you think my manager was harsh having us poor college students memorize 60 wines, you should see these poor unfortunate souls. Not only have they been given the expectation of naming what the wine is based on the flavor, but they have to know the region, year and more! How can one even train their tongue to memorize that kind of knowledge?

This weekend was a friend of mine's birthday, and for the big 2-7 he wanted a classier experience, too. We were all invited up for a gorgeous afternoon at Wolf Mountain Vineyards in Dahlonega, GA. I'm still mind blown this place is only an hour drive from Atlanta.

On Sundays, they host brunch. They switch the menu monthly so you never have the same meal twice. This past weekend's menu: barbecue. I'll admit, I was a little disappointed to drive an hour to this lovely vineyard in my adorable new dress to get barbecue sauce all over my fingers and wear a bib while tasting fine wine...not my idea of a wine brunch.

We were all pleasantly surprised. This was not your typical barbecue, oh no. They had smoked duck wings, fresh succotash, butcher block brisket and a full assortment of dessert. We ordered bottles of wine instead of participating in the tasting. 

Tip: you can get more for your money by buying by the bottle. 

I tried four of their wines: the Chanteloup (similar to a Chardonnay), the Howling Wolf Red (my personal favorite), the Sunset Rosé, and their Brut Rosé. Surprisingly, our waiter told us that because of the red clay in the soil in Northern Georgia and the climate, their red grapes and wine are very similar to French grapes. I've been to two other vineyards in North Georgia and the wine wasn't very good. The wine at Wolf Mountain was amazing. I was pleasantly surprised at how dry and full-bodied they were. 

If you decide to come here and visit from out of town, I encourage going for the day and driving back to Atlanta after. Although there are several gorgeous scenic views are Dahlonega, there is not much to do outside driving around and going to the vineyard. 

For an hour-long trip to such a gorgeous view of the Appalachian mountains and a hearty glass of amazing wine, this may become my monthly ritual.

Currently Loving: Chippendale

 We just got back from vacation in Florida for the 4th of July. Honestly, I have never had a fun 4th until this past weekend. The 4th has always been one of those holidays that gets overhyped and then falls flat on its face. This year, we decided to rent a boat with a slide and take it out on the water...don't worry: no flesh eating disease got us, although I will say I was a little apprehensive to get in the water. We had a blast. One day, we met up with the family and went over to Margaritaville for some drinks (margaritas of course ;) ). Has anyone else every visited? It is so much fun! The Landshark, which is their bar and restaurant right outside the hotel, had a slip and slide and a bounce house with a water slide...I'm pretty sure it was for kids but I'm a big kid at heart so I went for it! I have a few battle wounds from the sand on the slip and slide, but it was definitely worth it! 

Me and my love before our 4th of July party!

View from our place

And at sunset...dreeeeaaammmy

It's 5 o'clock somewhere

We just got back two days ago and now my full concentration is back on our porch. We have big upcoming plans for this porch with very little time: football game parties this fall, a housewarming party and my parents coming to town the 1st of August. I still have so much to do (and buy..ergh).

My recent obsession with Chippendale has made its way to the porch. As I've been online shopping, I can't seem to stay away from it. If you follow my Instagram account (@littlehouseofchic) you know I recently landed these gorgeous bamboo chairs and loveseat from a local antique store. Score!!! The set of 3 with the cushions were literally less than the price of one chair I was eyeing before. 

How great is this rug I got from Frontgate? It has the Chippendale pattern I love and ties in the bamboo chairs with my Moroccan style daybed. Next step: custom cushion and pillows for the daybed. I'll keep you guys posted once I find my fabrics and have a full reveal at the end of the month when it's complete and link everything for you guys!

Here are a few of my favorite Chippendale style items..unfortunately, most of these items are a bit pricey but my rug luckily is a steal at about $200. Have any of you heard of Honey? It's a google chrome extension that searches the internet for coupon codes and applies the best ones before you check out! Use my code and download the app for a great deal on the rug!

Just copy this code into your browser and download it:

joinhoney.com/ref/pcnzwf

Desk / Headboard / Chair / Rug

I'm working on an idea for a great DIY/Ikea Hack way of recreating the Chippendale desk above. Stay tuned!

What do you guys think of the Chippendale trend?
Let me know in the comments below!

Dining Room Progress

My dining room has been one of the few rooms in the house that I didn't have an immediate 'ah-ha!' moment with the design. In fact, it's been haunting me, keeping me up at night...I've dedicated hundreds of pins of inspiration to try and come up with what I wanted to do and zilch. 

What the heck was it with this room?

In my opinion, the dining room might be the single hardest space to design. Silly? Maybe.. but think about it; the dining room is serious business. It has to be formal enough for holidays, simplistic enough to evolve for each season and simultaneously be the perfect room to host friends and families on a rainy day with board games and popcorn. To me that was a lot of pressure.

(Orchid Arrangement Tutorial)

Many of my friends will come over to our home and ask me how I start on a room, or even know where to start on a new room for that matter. For the longest time I hadn't really given it much thought. For me, it all starts with seeing an accent piece or a lamp and forming the room around that one item I just couldn't live without. 

In this particular room, it was the lamps and plates you see in the picture above. 

I have a love affair with plates and glassware. In my dream home I will have a full butler's pantry full of different patterned plates to fit my mood or a certain occasion and mix and match them so you'd never see the same assembly twice.

The first set of plates I simply could not live without are these from Terrafirma Ceramics. Each piece is hand painted and she (the artist Ellen Evans) creates a lot of her glazed patterns by using various textiles as the 'mold' for the design. They even sign and date each individual piece so every plate feels like a work of art.

For this arrangement, I mixed in my grandmother's Royal Wessex blue and white plates (made in England) to give the table a pop of color and add interest.

As for the rest of the room, I can tell you it didn't come together over night. The sideboard below I got really lucky with. I walked into a local antique store I frequent, and one of the booth vendors was having a closing sale. This sideboard retails for around $4,000. I got this for a steal at a huge fraction of that price. Ladies and gents: shop early and often. You can bring home some amazing luxuries.

Have you seen these beautiful lamps before? I've been obsessed with them for quite some time and shopped around seeing them retail for $600 each...that's a hefty price tag for a lamp. I found the exact lamps I'd been eyeing at my favorite home store online for $150 each. They're real crystal and weigh about 25 lbs each. Keep your cords wrapped up if you have small children or animals in the house because if these get knocked over, not only will you be balling your eyes out from them breaking, but your floors will more than likely take a big hit, too.

I love a good starburst mirror. Many designers use them in bedrooms above the bed but I wanted to try something new. Rather than using a large piece of artwork or a collection of smaller frames, I wanted there to be one major focal point that brightened the room but didn't distract from the overall design. I got mine from Home Goods.

I wrote a post a few months ago about 3 ways to style a bar cart that you can find here. My personal style is southern and classic. I love using trends in my design but I do it subtly and very inexpensively at that. As you are designing your home, make sure that your anchor objects are timeless and make room for trends with accent pieces. Example: My table and chairs, sideboard and plates are timeless. The room gets a modern update with the lucite drink tray, the trendy paper straws and the sunburst mirror. When you do this, it keeps you from spending several hundreds on changing out your decor and keeps a room from feeling stale or outdated.

My assortment of alcohol is always a fun trip to the liquor store. I like to pick two classics like Woodford Reserve and Disaronno, and then mix it up with some fun new adult beverages. On my last haul, I picked up a ginger liquor and some coffee flavored vodka. Both were huge hits.

The finishing touch? These great magnolia leaves I plucked from the park next door to us. I love magnolias and their leaves and find them to be an easy way to make a room look polished and southern without breaking the bank on fresh flowers each week from the grocery store. You could also try sprigs from a fern or a tropical plant.

If there is anything on the post you'd like to shop for yourself, comment below!

Summer Salad

Summer is finally here and in full swing! Move over soups and stews and bring on the fresh amazing produce and light bites! 

So as some of you may know from following my Instagram, we recently moved. These last few weeks have been very hectic and I realized that it has been a month exactly since my last post! If you've moved, you can understand how little downtime you get. So we went from a townhouse in Buckhead to a 'house house' in the 'burbs....yep, never did I think at 26 I would already be living in suburbia with no kids; but it happened.

Let me give you a small back story and then we will get to this fabulous recipe....

We were going to buy our townhome. We really loved the location and saw that it had great bones. We lived there for right at two years and from the moment we moved in we just knew it was ours. I made all of the updates and fixes I would to my own home, even though we were just renting. It's where we evolved from our late-night party scene at the college bars to our upscale dinners and cocktails out at the newest and trendiest places. The best part? We were about 2 miles from all of it! Yes, it was heaven.

Strangely enough, our small community of townhomes had been quite out of our age range. Most of the tenants and owners were in their 60's-80's with a few odd ages in between. We didn't mind. It somewhat gave us a sense of relief after going from such a young apartment complex. At the old place, we always found beer cans in the bushes early in the morning, loud terrible 'trap' music playing on nights we had to wake up early for work and of course the oh-so-annoying dog owner who always "forgot to bring a bag". I can't tell you how many shoes ended up ruined. Yes, the townhome was a great upgrade. 

What's funny about life is no matter how much you plan and budget and make arrangements for your future, you're never really in control. We learned that quickly with our home. We were ready to buy. Then, new neighbors stepped in...

I swear..there wasn't one drawer that opened our toilet that flushed that I didn't hear. Every conversation through the wall was crisp like I was listening to a soap opera. Try having friends over at the same time? Forget about it. It was like a competition to see who could be louder. Call me old school, but I really value a little thing called privacy. 

So we decided to start looking. I tell you, I would wake up at 4:00 am and see a property that had JUST surfaced on Zillow and by the time I contacted the property management team, there were already 5-6 people who applied. Without even seeing it!!!! After we had made our decision we received a two-week timeline to move. I was so stressed we were going to end up on the streets or worse...back home with my parents.

I logged on one morning to Zillow as I had done for 5 days in a row, and found a spot that wouldn't be available for another two weeks. The pictures showed no appliances and dead grass. Honestly, I didn't care. It had the perfect amount of bedrooms and bathrooms and was about 40 years newer than our old spot. Jet tub? BONUS! Screened porch? Talk dirty to me...

I oversold the place to Garrett (my boyfriend) so that we could go ahead and apply. We were the only applicants at that time. Which I wasn't sure whether to feel excited or scared by. I really hoped we didn't make a huge mistake. We were called the following afternoon to view the property. Yellow exterior with green shutters...eek. Not very 'chic' but I can work with it. White brick fireplace....okay growing on me...amazing lighting and screened windows throughout - I'm starting to love it. Deal sealed? Backyard. The photo online was taken in the winter and didn't even capture the whole thing. It is absolutely huge. We signed that afternoon. Now I can't wait to start planting my jasmine and hydrangeas and cooking herbs....we really lucked out. 

The house has come together over the last month but still needs some work. I can't wait to share our BBQ's and improvements as we work on it. Summer is always such a nice time to move because it brings new life for things to come in the next year. 

Here is my favorite summery salad to share with you and your friends:

For this salad you will need:

Asparagus

Walnuts

Sugar

Champagne Dressing from Girard's

Red Onion

Craisins

Spring Mix

Blue Cheese

Begin by cutting your asparagus into thirds and placing them into a skillet of water, medium heat.

Once bright green remove them from the water, and place them in an ice bath.

Now let's start on our walnuts. Put about 1 cup of sugar into a pot and set your temperature to low-medium heat (about 5).

Keep a close eye. Sugar can burn very quickly. You will see the sugar start to turn amber in color. Be sure to mix it with a spatula or spoon to keep the temperature even throughout.

When the sugar is ready, it should look like this. Immediately remove from heat and pour in your walnuts.

I like to use raw walnuts for this salad.

After you toss the walnuts in the melted sugar, toss and mix it thoroughly. The texture will be similar to a rice krispy treat. Once you feel the walnuts are well coated and set, remove them from the pan and spoon them out onto wax paper or foil.

Wait for the walnuts to cool and harden. (about 1-2 minutes) Then you can break them apart with your fingers or put them in a Ziploc bag and smash them with a rolling pin until they are small morsels.

After the walnuts are done, give a fine dice to your onion. Use about 1/4 of your onion for the salad.

By this time, your aspargus should be chilled and ready to go in.

Combine everything together, toss and serve. Let me know how everyone like it!

Recipe:

1 package spring mix

1 cup walnuts

1 cup sugar

1/4 red onion, diced

1/3 cup craisins

6-7 asparagus

1/4-1/3 cup blue cheese

Champagne dressing to taste (I prefer a light coating for this salad)

Instructions:

Cut asparagus into thirds, removing stems. Fill a pan of water and place asparagus in the pan. Cook over medium heat. Stir occasionally until asparagus is bright green and tender (about 4-5 minutes). Then transfer asparagus into an ice bath. Set aside.

Place sugar into a pot over medium-low heat. Keep a close eye over the sugar as it heats. Continue stirring the sugar until it becomes amber and melted. Remove from heat and add your walnuts. Toss the walnuts in the melted sugar until well-coated. Spoon your candied walnuts onto wax paper or foil and wait until cooled. While cooling, begin cutting your onion until finely diced. By this time, your asparagus should be chilled. Remove from ice and place asparagus pieces onto a drying surface such as a kitchen towel or paper towel and allow to dry. Pour your walnuts into a Ziploc back and crush with the side of a large knife or a rolling pin until they come smaller morsels. Now you may assemble your salad. 

Take a large bowl, and pour the spring mix. Follow by adding asparagus, candied walnuts, onion, blue cheese, craisins and dressing. Toss and serve.