SLHitched: Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Demetrious

I know, I'm about a week off on life right now, but I'm finally getting around to the Demetrious wedding! Congratulations to my cousin Laura and her hubby Steve! They were married last Saturday and the whole thing turned out beautifully. God blessed them with a little good luck rain during the ceremony and the weather was perfect the rest of the evening. 

The bridal party entrance was the best one I've ever seen. My sister walked with our cousin Ray and the two of them switched outfits. Absolutely hilarious! 

Each time guests clinked on the glasses, the DJ drew the names of a couple to kiss first, and then Laura and Steve would copy the kiss. Well, Mama and Papa Z were called first and everyone got to watch my dad squeeze mom's ass. You're welcome everyone. I grew up with this sort of thing... it won't scar you too bad.

The decorations tied together perfectly. A lot of time and effort (and wine) were clearly put into the centerpieces and I think they turned out great! The wooden platforms were a great touch and I loved the tree theme.

It was another fantastic day spent with family... and this stud. :) I'm so glad he didn't have to work last weekend. In an effort to catch the bouquet (and make Ryan squirm), I ended up with quite the battle wound. My crappy eyesight and I had a tough time seeing the toss bouquet in the dark and it hit me in the forehead just slightly. However, some floral wire was sticking out the bottom of it and the next thing I knew, I had blood running down my face and a bump the size of a marble right between my eyes.

Buuuuuuuut I caught it so, win?

Again, congratulations Steve and Laura! We wish you guys a lifetime of love, happiness and adventures!

Love and Goulets: Wedding Day

If you follow me on any social media platform, sorry for the explosion of wedding pictures this weekend! Well, no, I'm not sorry but whatever.

This past Saturday was the long awaited Goulet wedding! My baby sister is finally married to the man of her dreams and I couldn't be more excited for the two of them.

The couple was married at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Spring Lake and the reception was held at the Fruitport Golf Course. Ryke's catering and bakery left me needing to lie flat on the floor and recover from my food coma. The incredibly talented Kari Douma Photography has me refreshing her Facebook page every 30 seconds awaiting even just a sneak peak. Kari and Jayne are wonderful people and never disappoint. I simply cannot wait for the photos! 

My little ring bearer looked incredibly handsome in his little tux and bow tie! Even though he refused to wear the sign down the aisle and fought us on every single picture, he was adorable.  

Thank God for Ryan. I put him on Brody duty for the day and he did remarkable. Whether it was walking laps around the church when he started to get cranky or getting him to smile during pictures, I wouldn't have survived Saturday without him. For a guy who doesn't have any experience taking care of children, he stepped up to the plate and did an amazing job. Thanks babe! xo

For my toast, I dug out this pretend "personal ad" that I had created for Ashley 3 years ago after she ended a long-term relationship. Normally public speaking really doesn't rattle me, but I shook like a leaf during both the reading at church and while I was giving my toast at dinner. My toast was well received which made me pretty stoked. Plus Ryan and I caught the garter and bouquet, so... yay! :)

Thank you everyone who attended and supported Ashley and Adam on their special day. The happy couple is currently cruising around Chicago and will take their "real" honeymoon this Winter in St. Lucia.

For more wedding photos, click here!

Bachelorette Party - Masquerade Style

Last Saturday, we celebrated my little sister's bachelorette party -- masquerade style! Festivities began with dinner and games out on my parent's deck. They have such a great space for hosting parties. We were a bit concerned about rain, but the most we had to deal with was wind... I'll take it! 

I had spent months making all the decor myself. I was very thankful for all those years of hoarding craft supplies, paper samples and other whatnots... all of the decorations were made with stuff I had on hand and a $30 trip to the Dollar Store and Hobby Lobby. I'm also super glad Santa bought me a Silhouette machine last Christmas. 

I'm not a party planner by any means... nor do I know how to decorate. With a hodge podge of ideas saved on Pinterest, I opted to go with a black, white, silver and gold color scheme and did my best to create a look that said "elegant" instead of "mardi gras." 

My Silhouette and I made up some photo props. I had some great silver and gold paper samples on hand to cut out glasses, moustaches and lips.

Games included a "How Well do you Know Ashley" trivia game as well as a bar crawl scavenger hunt. Our cousin, Laura, knew Ashley the best. The scavenger hunt fizzled out shortly after arriving at the bar... oh well. 

Yeah, my ass squeezed into that dress. Good God. And then there were Spanx... omg the Spanx. *shudder*

Ashley's bridesmaids... 

After dinner, we loaded up and headed to Grand Rapids. Our first stop was Mojos... and the rest is history.

Overall, I consider the night a success. We had a great turnout, great weather and I successfully kept my sister upright and alive the entire evening. Definitely a win. 

A huge thank you to Mama Z for all her help preparing/serving food, hosting and the clean up once we took off for Grand Rapids. Couldn't have pulled it off without you. 

T-minus 14 more days until Ashley and Adam tie the knot! 

S+L Hitched: Laura's Bridal Shower

In addition to my sister's couples shower this past weekend, we also celebrated my cousin Laura's bridal shower! 

The ladies in our family did a wonderful job with decorating and everything came together so nicely. We watched the weather radar religiously all weekend and thankfully everything dried up just in time to have the shower outdoors at my parent's house. 

Mama Z had me print out their wedding invite that I had designed on some tracing paper so she could mod podge it onto a candle. High five mama, well done!

The beautiful bride-to-be... looking stunning as always! 

Shameless plug... Laura blogs over at Relatively Offbeat, so make sure you go check out all her chic outfits, recipes and adventures with soon-to-be hubby, Steve, and fur child, Syrus!

Beautiful bridesmaids! 

Brody was a huge fan of bridal shower bingo. He helped Grandma Z with her card... and then he proceeded to pour the jars of buttons out all over the yard. Thanks, kiddo. Mama appreciates it.

Lil Man also took a page out of Ryan's playbook and decided to pursue this older and taller cute blonde at the party. Ermahgerd... adorable. Someone's gotta teach that kid some subtly though. He practically followed her around the yard the entire shower and never took his eyes off her. Aww, to be young and twitterpated. 

Anyways, it was another beautiful shower spent celebrating with family. I can't wait to celebrate with these lovebirds in September! Side note, does anyone else binge relentlessly on those butter mints at showers and then slip into a food coma? Well, I guess if your weekend ends in a food coma, then you were doing something right. Right?

Happy Thursday kids! The weekend is near...

Love and Goulets: Couples Shower

T-minus one month until my little sister ties the knot! Wait... one month?! Well shit, I guess I better get going on that MOH speech and figure out how I'm going to squeeze into my bridesmaid dress after all the wedding festivities these last couple weeks. What a pig.

Anyways, Adam's family hosted a couples shower this past Saturday evening. Sadly, I went stag. My main men were too busy with sleepovers at Aunt Cindy's house and working out of town. Boooooo. :(

The evening got started with a hilarious round of "whose leg is this?" Adam and Ashley took turns being blindfolded and groping everyone's legs. The goal was to identify one another. 

Ashley narrowed it down to Adam, his dad and his uncle. Hmm... apparently the Goulet men have very similar legs. However, she successfully singled out Adam after further uncomfortable groping. 

Adam managed it narrow it down to Ashley..... and his sister Ashley! Oooooh, that's awkward. Thankfully, he chose the right Ashley (for his own sake.)

Best photo of the night!

Most of the bridesmaids...

And then there's these dorks. Awkward touching and flipper arm, judgmental Ben and those two lovebirds in the middle sharing a special moment. No dull moments anticipated at this wedding.

Obligatory maid-of-honor and best man photos. Ash and I look cute... well, I guess so do those two weirdos.

And of course the mamas and the papas...

Overall, the evening was wonderful. The rain let up just enough to have some of the celebration outside, the food was amazing and there was booze. Duh. Plus I got to briefly catch up with Adam's people who are all guys I graduated from high school with. Welp, better get going on that MOH speech. Uncomfortable stories about why we nicknamed Ashley "Stinky" and her laundry list of ex-boyfriends are acceptable topics, right? ;)