Candlelit Proposal

Welcome to 2015 and the beauty of engagement season! Ah...our favorite time of year! Our fabulous Lauren was recently involved in coordinating a gorgeous candlelit proposal and we are so excited that she is sharing her journey...enjoy!

"How did he pop the question?" 

This is the first question all ladies ask a newly engaged gal...after "Ahhh! Congrats! Let me see the ring!" . Ladies looovvee to completely gush over a good proposal story, complete with plenty of "aww"s and "OMG"s. And newly engaged gals love even more to spill every single romantic detail of that special moment.

When my best friend's boyfriend, Jhy, sent me a photo of a ring and said he was planning on proposing to Jessica soon, I almost peed my pants! First of all- how was I going to contain the secret and the excitement for the next few months, and second- I wanted to make sure that it would be a proposal to remember! 

The Inspiration

When Jhy mentioned he wanted the location to be romantically lit up, I knew he chose the right chick to help, now that I'm a Truly Haute Hautie! I immediately thought candles, and lots of 'em! (Think Monica's proposal to Chandler). We would turn Jessica's backyard into a romantic hideaway, flooded with candles! 

The Prep 

Jhy had been out of town for work for a while, so he took Jessica out to a romantic dinner in celebration of him being home. While the love birds were dining, I got to work setting everything up. I placed hundreds of candles of various sizes all over her patio. It was breathtaking and perfect!

Jhy even made an adorable chalkboard sign for their dog to be apart of it too (cue the awws).

All of her family was hidden, the champagne was chilling, and the video camera was rolling. Now we were just waiting on the happy couple to walk in the door. 

The Big Question

Once they came home, he took her outside and I, hiding in the nearby bushes, heard her say,

 "OMG what is going on? This is beautiful!" 

He got on one knee, with the flicker of the candle light all around him, and pronounced his love for her with a surprisingly lengthy speech that ended in,

 "Will you marry me?" 

At this point I was crying from the bushes and could barely get a photo in. After she said "Yes!", we came out from hiding, called the rest of their family and friends who were waiting at the restaurant next door and started the celebrations! And we had the perfectly decorated venue for a proposal party!

I was so happy that I, through Truly Haute, was able to help Jessica and Jhy have such a memorable and special proposal!

Lauren is an Associate Planner with Truly Haute. She did a fabulous job with the proposal and the blog entry! Thanks so much Hautie! (Her gorgeous wedding photo is by Margaret LeBrun.)

Wedding Planning Binder – Where to Start?

Turning it back over to Chelsey for her "haute point of view" on creating a wedding planning binder! Enjoy!

I’m a pretty organized person. Ok, ok, some may call me OCD. I like to say I’m detail-oriented.

My initial thought for keeping track of wedding plans was to use Pinterest for everything. I created a “fake” Pinterest account (which is top secret – sorry I just can’t share) so I could pin as many wedding-related things I wanted without annoying my friends. Honestly, I can’t take credit for that idea – my sweet friend and now bridesmaid, Alex, did this for her wedding and I thought it was brilliant.

After pinning band options, invitation styles and flower inspirations, I was utterly overwhelmed with my Pinterest boards and didn’t feel like anything was really “planned.”

After we booked the band – yes the band was the first checkbox I checked off – I didn’t know what to do with the signed contract. Knowing that I personally need a place for important documents like this, I set out to search for the perfect wedding planning binder.

I started on Google (where else). Searching “wedding planning binder,” resulted in links to The Knot Ultimate Wedding Planner & Organizer, Wedding Wire’s Online Wedding Binder (which I came super close to purchasing) and many, many more. The thing is, many of the pre-made binders had tabs and information that didn’t apply to me. Plus, most were pretty expensive.

After asking lots of opinions, I decided to make my own, custom binder. The lost scrapbooker in me got very excited about planning a trip to Hobby Lobby and Office Depot for supplies!

Here are the supplies I splurged on:  

·         Fun scrapbook paper for divider pages, cover pages and anything else I feel like printing on fun paper. I bought this at Hobby Lobby (for 50% off, of course)

·         Plain white, 2 inch binder

·         One pack of 3-hole punched, page-size sheet protectors

·         Business card binder pages (when thinking of this now, I probably wouldn’t have bought this) 

·         Clear sheet protectors with index tabs (I inserted cute scrapbook paper into these sleeves to make my dividers have a little more personality)

·         Two binder zip pouches (to keep pens, sticky notes, etc.)

·         Index card pocket (to hold small receipts)

·         Ring-shaped Post-it notes (I know, I know)

·         Colored ink pens (why not)

·         Small, one-subject notebook (with three-ring hole)

Here is how I chose to divide my binder:

1.      Guests – a place to keep final our guest list, invitation logistics/ideas, wedding party contact sheet for day-of, etc.

2.      Ceremony – for all of the church logistics, program planning, reading selections, music, etc.

3.      Flowers and décor – because my mom is our florist, I grouped these together – it basically should be named “mom,” but this seemed more official J

4.      Attire – here’s where I keep fabric samples, receipts, photos of dresses, seamstress contact information, etc.

5.      Vendors – for all contracts, important correspondence from vendors, vendor contact list, etc.

6.      Other Important Stuff – this one’s a catch all for:  

a.       Budget checklist – this is an evolving Excel sheet on my computer, so I may print at the last minute just for keepsake. On The Knot app, I used their budget formula as a starting point to know how much I could spend on individual items.

b.      Gifts for others – receipts for bridesmaid’s gifts, ideas for welcome baskets and any other gift-related expense/idea.

c.       Day-of Assignments – my wedding is unique in the sense that my very large family will be taking part in the logistics. Here, I’ll keep all individualized to-do lists that I’ll create for each family member (along with a thank-you note, of course) to keep things running smoothly on April 11, 2015!

I didn’t include a printed calendar in my binder for a variety of reasons. The most important is that I’m using The Knot app on my phone as my checklist. From the app, I can add things to my calendar on my phone. I know myself and I know I wouldn’t take the time to write anything down on a paper calendar if it’s on my phone already. So, if I would have included it, it would never be accurate and who needs that?

I have also been using a print out of Real Simple’s Wedding Checklist quite a bit as a guide to what I can’t forget to do. It helped me decide how to organize this monster binder and gives me great satisfaction when I check things off with a good, old-fashioned ink pen.

And that’s all, y’all. My binder will probably evolve a bit as the planning continues, but it’s a start that is working for me so far.

So, let yourself be 12 again and go shopping for “school supplies” to create your own wedding planning binder. I admit, it’s pretty fun to see it all come together. 

Welcoming Chelsey to the Truly Haute Blog!

Welcome to Chelsey’s wedding series! One of our Hauties, Chelsey, is engaged and getting married on April 11, 2015. We thought that our readers could garner a lot of helpful information through Chelsey’s wedding planning process, so she has offered to share her experience with you. On our blog, we’ll be sharing this bride-to-be’s planning updates and tips, and we hope what you'll read from her will help you plan your big day. Read on to meet Chelsey and discover she and Robert’s heartwarming engagement story.

March 8, 2014 was epic. It was my 26^th birthday and I started my morning with the Varsity Sports running group for a run and yoga in the park – a perfect Saturday morning, if I do say so myself.

I made plans with a few friends to eat dinner at Restaurant IPO downtown around 7, so I spent the rest of my day just hanging around the house, doing random things. Robert played golf.

When he gets to my house to pick me up, he was early. He asks if we can leave a little early for dinner because he had an errand to run on the way to the restaurant. The errand was for his mom. Side note: his mom scrapbooks…a lot. It’s pretty amazing (he has 13 scrapbooks of his life to date).

He told me that he needed to snap a picture of Pleasant Hall, a building on LSU’s campus. His mom was working on catching up his books through college and Pleasant is where Robert worked as an undergrad. It just so happens that it’s also where I worked with Robert my freshman year of college. Although I thought it was strange that we had to go take this picture right before dinner, everything else about his story made perfect sense and was completely, 100% believable.

As we drive into the Pleasant Hall parking lot, I pull my trusty Nikon camera out, hang it around my neck, and start snapping pictures. Robert takes the camera from around me and starts snapping photos himself. Then, he puts the camera down and in what feels like one move, gets down on one knee!

I looked at him in disbelief and the sweet words he said are all a bit blurry to me, but you can guess what the outcome was.

I think I said “Are you serious” about 100 times too many. I may have interrupted him about 10 times too many. He asked, “Did you say yes?” With a laugh I said, “yes, of course, yes.”

Robert said with a smirk, “Don’t mind Dana over there taking pictures.” I look in shock as I see my sister’s friend, Dana, documenting the whole moment. I run and hug her while she’s shaking about as much as me.

In the car, 20 questions start.

•          How long have you been planning this?

•          Who knows about it? My sister?

•          Who am I supposed to call right now?

•          When did you ask my dad?

•          Do your parents know? Can we call them?

•          You get the idea.

I called my sister. No answer.

I called my parents. No answer.

By that time, we were already downtown for dinner, so I figured I’d tell everyone at Restaurant IPO.

We parked on the street near the old Little Village. At a door right before Restaurant IPO, in one breath, Robert says “Let’s make a stop right here first.” Before I had a chance to question it, he opens the door and there stands my family, his family and a handful of our sweet friends. Even Aubree and Gracie made it to the party.

It was seriously the most perfect day ever. Better than I could have ever imagined with a person sweeter than any words could ever come close to describing.

It’s one of those days where you get a little sad that it’s over. I wish I could bottle up every bit of that moment and keep it forever. It’s the surprise I never thought could be pulled off. It’s the goosebumps I’ve never felt before.

It’s the perfect question from the perfect person at the perfect time in the perfect place with every little detail playing out perfectly.