Picking a photographer ...

I can say this is harder than trying to pick a dress!  It is for me at least ...

There are 3 photographers that I like ....

1. Jessica Fike Photography
2. McMillen Photography
3. JNB-Photography


So here is the breakdown

Jessica Fike Photography- $2,650 Love the use of so much color! Very vivid :) BUT it is only for 8 hours .. is that enough time to capture it all?
-1 shooter, +500 for second
-8 hrs coverage, print rights
-100 engagement, 800 wedding photos


McMillen Photography - $2,900 -  Hometown photographer and stays the entire time!  Most of my friends had him do their weddings, but they are not as colorful as I'd like!

Included:

-2 shooters, no time limit

-700-900 photos, print rights

-7-800 photos in proof book

-$450 photo credit

-Engagement shoot w/8x10

-10x10 album 40 pgs/75 images

JNB-Photo- $2,000 -  Husband/Wife team, just did one of my friends weddings.  Great pictures, especially creative ones of the bride.  They also stay the entire time and know the typical SWPA things we want captured.
Included:
-2 shooters, no time limit
-5-600 photos, print rights
-Proof Book of all images
-Engagement shoot
-Memory Vault of pictures

So basically I have to choose between bright, vivid colors from JFike, Amazing package deal from McMillen, or a creative Hubby/Wife team. 

 

Help me pick a  photographer! 

Let me know which one you like!

Testing Out Teespring

As a blogger, we get asked to check out new websites all the time. Most of the time, the site looks promising but is a slightly altered version of a much more successful site. Teespring is genuinely an amazing one-of-a-kind website that offers a crowdfunding platform for groups, causes and communities to design and sell custom apparel. What does all that mean? Basically, you can design and sell your own shirts online with no upfront cost to you.  

How it works:

Step 1:

Design your shirt!  Choose from different styles of shirts, fabrics, fonts, and graphics to customize a shirt that is perfect for your fundraising project.

Step 2:

Set your moneymaking goals.  There is a really easy feature that lets you decide on how much money you want to make and how many shirts you need to sell to get there.  

Step 3:
You can choose a name for your campaign and write a description, sharing any info you think is important to someone buying a shirt.  You can always customize a URL and pick how long to sell your shirts.

Step 4:

Launch and share your campaign!

With other shirt ordering sites, you must guess how many of each size you will need and pay for all the shirts in advance.  Not with Teespring!  Since everyone buys their shirt online, they can get what they exactly want and are paying them directly for the shirt.  The shirts only print when you have met your sales goal(minimum of ten shirts) and you never have to deal with collecting the money on your own!

Other satisfied customers include a couple sold this "Love makes a family shirt" to raise money to adopt and another raised over 85k for Boston relief.  Overall, this is one of the best fundraising sites I have ever come across and I highly recommend it! 

This post was sponsored by Teespring. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

Saving Money with Zaycon Foods

How does Zaycon Foods manage to provide such high quality super fresh meat and produce to its customers at such low prices? The answer is strength in numbers. And not our numbers, yours!

Zaycon Foods can sell its products at bulk rate prices to individual consumers and families because our unique sales event business model brings lots of people together, adding all their purchasing power into a combined bulk food purchase. And when you buy as part of a group that’s committing to such a large purchase, the power is in the hands of the purchaser! It’s the ultimate group buy in terms of both price and consumer empowerment.

You can pre-select exactly what you want to order from a given Zaycon sales event – sometimes you may want to stock up on our amazing meaty back ribs and sometimes it might be all about the Zaycon bacon – and then, on the day of the sales event, you and a whole big bunch of your neighbors will find yourselves in a nearby parking lot watching as an entire tractor trailer’s worth of high quality natural food is unloaded into all of your cars! You will be amazed at how quickly one of our refrigerated trucks goes from being filled with natural, fresh chicken or hundreds of gallons of grade A non-homogenized milk to being empty and back on its way to the farm!

A Zaycon Foods truck sales event often lasts less time than you would spend on a trip to the grocery store, yet you will leave with a whole lot more food than you’d get at the market, and for much better prices, too!

When you use the Zaycon Foods sales event as your preferred place to purchase meats, milk, and any of our other fine products, you get advantages even beyond the bulk pricing that comes with our special sales model. You also have the peace of mind of knowing exactly what you’re going to get! A trip to the grocery store can involve wasted time wandering around looking for various foods spread out across the store; at a Zaycon Foods parking lot meat truck delivery (or milk or berries or fish delivery, too!) you have pre-ordered your foods, so all you have to do is show up and wait for our friendly staffers and volunteers to load up your car.

Also, unlike in the grocery store, the prices you will pay for a Zaycon Foods product are locked in on our website, so you will know how much you are going to spend before you have committed to a purchase.

At a supermarket, you might pay one price for chicken on one day, and then a higher price on another day. With Zaycon, you decide that you want to order a case of our fresh boneless skinless chicken breasts, you check the price and then you commit to it, knowing that from that moment on, we are committed to getting you your fresh, natural food!

Click here to get started!

This post was brought to you by Zaycon Foods and US Family Guide.

Buyer Beware!

Have any of the brides began looking for matching bands to go with their engagement rings? Are you going to be engaged and found rings you love? Be sure YOU tell your future fiance to research it ENDLESSLY before a decision is made.  I am in the situation now that the only band to match my ring has to be custom made, despite what my future hubbster was told when he purchased it.  Why would someone just say there is a bad that matches it - no worries to a guy who is already nervous about buying a ring, especially if it is already costing a good chunk of money?  So as a reminded - check what is being told because you do not want to end up being in a spot where you have to spend a ton more money on getting a band custom made to actually go with your ring although the sales associate said there was one to match it. As you all now I am from the Pittsburgh/Morgantown area and I do not yet want to say the store we are having a problem with until  find out what they are going to do on their end.  Boo....

JazzyWear!

There are quite a few things girls love -

 Diamonds, perfume, jewelry, and shoes. 

Founded in the year 2008 in Athens, Ohio, JazzyWear is an online shoe boutique that features stylish flats, pumps and boots for women. All shoes are offered in audacious colors and styles! 

If any of you are living in the Cali area, please pay attention:  JazzyWear does SHOE PARTIES!  Yes, you heard me correctly- no more candle/food/31/etc parties.  This is amazing ... now if we only lived on the West Coast.  E-mail Jazzy at  jazzywear@gmail.com for more info on how to do this!


We picked this super cute pair of sandals to review.  They are called the  Mini Turquoise Hawaiian Sandal and were a hit.  For those of you who have been following the blog my wedding colors have changed just like the weather in this town - from one extreme to another. Finally it has been decided that it is going to be navy, shades of pinks and gold/silver- sometimes you have to Pinterest hours to figure it out.  Anyway, the blues fit perfectly with what  I wanted.

To begin with they were delivered fast!  I loved the little paper they were wrapped in when delivered - kind of like a surprise present inside that little box!

Another thing I loved is there are matching adult/children shoes!  I can just imagine the cute pictures that can be done with bridesmaids and flower girls during the reception.  Everyone kicks their heels off for flips (besides me because I am short) during the reception, so they should look cute while dancing the night away!  Plus, they are a steal - $12/$15. 

If you are looking for a unique pair of sandals or heels, check out her site.  But more importantly ... they make great presents!




 


  

Teal Mason Jars!

'Ello! 

A few of you asked how I created this pretty mason jar that I plan on using in my wedding, as well as others!  I did a few wine bottles in different gold and gold/glitter colors and decided I was going to try it on some mason jars. I know there are probably easier ways to do this, but all I did was get a big glass of my favorite drink and spray paint away.  This is MANDATORY!  Optional is 90's Rap on Pandora - never gets old.  :)

Just a tip - go to your discount thrift stores because they can usually be found there! Or if you want to be extra thrifty just use your spaghetti/pickle/salsa jars! As for the spray paint, well I just thought it was a great color! As an added bonus engine enamel can get to a higher temp. if I decided to put a candle inside too!

1. Wash and dry your jars!
2. Go outside on a nice day that has no chance of rain - it dries faster!
3. I did not mind getting a little paint on me (Acetone takes it off BTW) so I stuck my hand in the jar and did a light coat around it a few times (probably 3 times).
4. I then let it dry a little by sitting it on an old garbage can from my college dorm room - yeah, it was from a little while ago !
5. The easiest way I found to spray the Mason Jars was to just walk in a circle and make your way up the jar - creates the even coat you want without having "clops" of it! 

Need help?  Just ask me below and I'm sure I can think of an answer!

Expensive!

Why are weddings so expensive?! We are looking to buy a house and planning a wedding so it is so difficult to find a great place that we can afford to get married!

We liked 3 places, all different locations and looks.
Location 1- old hotel with gold everywhere. Problem is that in pics I looked at the lights showed in every picture as a bright blob, the hotel is nice but distinctly old looking, and it has to be in July. :( Price is $23, 940 George Washington Hotel at WashPa
Location 2- newer hotel that is huge! Problem is it would be on my future hubbys bday, almost $30k. But she woyld throw in at least 70 $ extras per person for free if we do his birthday date! Price is $28, 224 Waterfront Place Hotel at Morgantown
Location 3- pretty party room and a hotel! Problem is I'm not sure where we can get pretty pics to pose for our photographer. Price is $20, 480. Hilton Garden Inn At Southpointe

Which would you go with?