Adventures in Wedding Planning

It's been a little over a month and a half since J. L. and I got engaged and wow is it flying by fast! 

We've been so productive!


Church? Booked!
Reception? Booked!
Photographer? Booked!
Website? About 90% done and almost ready to be published
AND
We started our registry!

Registering is fun, but a little tedious so we decided to have fun with it

Fun Fact: We did not, in fact, register for this timer.

To celebrate coming so far in our planning we visited a new BBQ place in town, Eddley's.

 

After our delicious lunch we're considering having an authentic Southern affair and serving BBQ at the reception. We shall see!


Cheers,


Nicole Jeannette

Sh*t People Say

In case you've been hiding under a rock for the past few weeks, I'd like to share with a new wave of youtube videos that I think are, for the most part, pretty hilarious

... and if you haven't been hiding under a rock, just enjoy!

I'm pretty sure this is the one that started it all!

(Correct me if I'm wrong!)

This guy is one of my former students!

I'm a Residence Director and for any of you who were RAs will appreciate this:

and this:

annnnnnnddddd

one of my favorite TV characters:

There are so many more, but these are my favorites :)

Wedding Wednesday: Cake Toppers

Remember back to the days of Adam and Eve when cake toppers looked like this?

Yeah. Not my favorite either.

Check out these cute options I found:

For the couple who loves to read

I bet these came from Etsy. Very cute. Birds are very in this season, apparently!

Very casual and pretty

Isn't this pretty?

LOVE the flower on top!

Look how cute this is!

I think for my wedding I'm going to do a flower topper and then put this next to the cake. So tender.

I love how fun these look!

Mr. & Mrs. Birds

Love this with the last initial

Which one is your favorite?

Next week we'll have white cakes on...

<a href="http://nicolejeannette.blogspot.com/search/label/Wedding%20Wednesday" target="_blank"><img alt="Sounds of Laughter Shades of Life-Wedding Wednesday" src="http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc467/nicolejeannette87/large_image-6-1-1.jpg"/></a>

MLK Weekend

Last weekend, J. L., a few of my students, and I celebrated the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by doing service projects at the American Red Cross.

Together with students from other local universities, we prepared emergency comfort kits. Whenever there's a natural disaster, a home fire or anytime where people need basic comfort the Red Cross brings these bags with tooth brushes, tooth paste, wash clothes, soap, combs, etc.

Afterwards we had a little reflection on the service and on Dr. King's teachings. It was a great event!

We made 3,000 bags in 45 minutes!

The comfort kits!

Our congressman came to speak!

A few of my girls representing our university

Did any of you do any service projects for MLK weekend?
What's your favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quote?

Wedding Wednesday: Centerpieces for Spring and Summer

I think the only thing I may possibly love more than a wedding is a reception.

Centerpieces can make a bold statement and whether they are ornate or simple. 

Hope you enjoy some of my favorites for Spring and Summer weddings:

Simple, yet vintage. I love these mason jars with floating candles, glass beads at the bottom.

Carnations? I believe?

For the bride who loves sunshine yellow

Candle lit ceremony with a late night reception is would be perfect for these luminous centerpieces covered in lace

I think these would be so pretty at an early reception

Look at this beautiful arrangement!

More yellow

Love the clean, open feelings these give

Simple, yet I love the bold colors

Babies Breath

Look how classic and clean this looks

More nighttime centerpieces

Love this for the more traditional party

I think these would look great any time of day

Simple and clean single blooms

These are more winter colors, but I love the babies breath again!

Love these eclectic bouquets that could totally double as centerpieces.

Hope you got some great ideas from these!

400th Post!

I have a nasty habit of missing important milestones for my blog...

Every now and then I see bloggers saying, "Today my blog is two years old!" or see people tweet "Six Millionth Tweet!" However, I usually look at my stats and see that I'm about to post my four thousand and eleventh tweet... talk about anti-climactic! 

However, 

I caught this one!

So to celebrate this milestone and to celebrate the blogging as a community as a whole, 

I'm going to give a whole month's worth of free advertising to the first four people who email me with  200x120 ads!

Bloggers, Etsy shops, photographers, one and all are welcome!

{ nicolejeannette87 @ gmail . com }
EDITSponsorship spots are full. Thank you!!!

Thanks for reading and being a part of 

Sounds of Laughter, Shades of Life!

-Nicole Jeannette

Vegan Cake? Yes!

I think I exude some kind of hippy vibe because people are often surprised when they find out I am not, in fact, a vegan.

However, I recently discovered that vegan food is not only pretty good (I was surprised!), but it's sometimes very simple to make when you're in a pinch!

On NYE I was about to head out to a friends house empty handed... 

UNTIL

I discovered a box of cake mix, a can of frosting and a can of diet 7up.

Thankfully I happened to learn, also recently, that you can combine 8 ounces (one cup) of any diet soda with a package of any cake mix and it comes out perfectly!



I baked the cake according to the regular instructions and it turned out very well!



And... tada!

It's a little chewier/heavier than regular cake, but it's still delicious!

Do you have any easy vegan recipes?

Wedding Wednesday: Bridal Makeup

So many details go into planning a wedding! We can't forget that the bride's makeup is the perfect compliment to the rest of the event and can add the finishing touches to the the whole bridal party's look.

Most women like a natural look that compliments their natural skin tone.

Love the shading with her blush/bronzer

Pink lips, in any shade, are always romantic and simple

Bright, bold red lips for the more daring bride

Want to add some drama to your look? Love the use of color in this look with the nude lip.

And of course there's always the smoky eye!

Keep following with Wedding Wednesday's at Sounds of Laughter, Shades of Life!

What would you like to see next week?

Bridesmaid dresses?
Color palates?

Centerpieces?

Your wish is my command! 

<a href="http://nicolejeannette.blogspot.com/search/label/Wedding%20Wednesday" target="_blank"><img alt="Sounds of Laughter Shades of Life-Wedding Wednesday" src="http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc467/nicolejeannette87/large_image-6-1-1.jpg"/></a>