Not Your Typical….

This won't be your typical love story… I guess no love stories really are these days.

Everything romantic now seems to be based on technology or friends and sometimes very rarely you just glance over, your eyes meet, and BAM its your soulmate for life.

Ok. first off,
that is not how ours started.

For all of you who read my introduction before 

yes,

We met on a dating website. so we couldn't exactly glance into each other eyes. (more like glance into our computer screens) Which site you may ask? Well. It just so happens that both of us logged on and made an account on Christian Mingle right around the same time in January 2014.

Why yes! 
2014. and we were engaged 6 months later in June of 2014.

Now everything seems a little crazy after I say that, but I can honestly say we have jam packed those 6 months with memories we both will never forget and have learned so much about one another that those mere months don't define our relationship. I am so happy to call him my best friend.

Christian Mingle that site you see pop up on sidebars of websites you browse... those commercials on the tv that seem to keep on repeating. Yep,
Well for us it really works.
Now I will say for all of you who are now thinking about going on there are definitely creepy people who you may not want to have anything to do with on there, but you can find real gems.

We started instant messaging in the beginning of February and after that were inseperable (well at least on Skype) since we were hundreds of miles apart. After a short time he came to see me. We started dating both fully deactivating our dating website accounts. 

Is a long distance relationship hard?
Absolutely! You have challenges that not everyone has to face and only seeing each other once in a while is super difficult! We also had great blessings with times we were able to spend extended amounts of time with each other in some incredible places making memories normal couples can't. 

In this time I was graduating from High School and he was graduating from college. I know that's a big gap in some peoples eyes, but for us it was perfect. We both got to share special moments with one another and it was great. 

Our life was pretty hectic at this time jamming in graduations and starting to figure out our future. When Timothy had big plans of his own about starting a future that I didn't quite have an idea of until 

June 10

On a very humid day with our feet in the sand and ocean waves crashing my sweet boyfriend turned into my fiance. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

And this is where we are right now figuring out how to plan a wedding, figuring out our future home, finding our passions, trusting in God with every part of our lives,

growing as a couple, and figuring out what life together is like. 

Love is patient.. Love is Kind.. 

xoxoxox,

Meghan

Pin Inspirations

Like most people these days I go crazy over pinterest pictures and get very inspired at least for those minutes that im searching... Which everyone knows in {pinterest time} the few minutes you think your searching are really hours. Since I find myself pinning about every cute apartment decor, wedding dress, and diy project that pops on my front page. I thought I'd show you some of the cute things I'm loving recently. Its always good to share with someone who has the same pinterest love as me. If you are planning your wedding and aren't pinteresting for it I would definitely say get one and PIN AWAY! i love how easy it is to keep all my great ideas in one place and easily pull my boards up on my phone, that way when im thrifting or shopping I can easily look at the projects I have in mind and find the things I need.

Recently LOVING this light fixture. So adorable! a pottery barn knockoff. 

http://mysimpleobsession.blogspot.com/2012/05/beaded-chandelier-tutorial.html

^^^ Here is the link above if you are wanting to take on the task of beading each bead!

Don't think I'm quite ready for a big light fixture diy just yet,

honestly because we don't have a place yet/ I am getting married in March but already thinking of our first place (DON'T JUDGE) 

Its called planning... maybe a few months too early, but who cares with a cute DIY like this I'll have to keep it in mind.

Another one of my recent pins that might be easier to tackle and not take up too much room in storage 

Loving this frame with small hooks to hang necklaces. This would be easy to thrift a cute frame and spray paint any color and maybe sand some of the paint off for a more shabby chic look. Loving the white/cream color. Maybe this size and another a little smaller with chicken wire or burlap so I can hang earrings. This is great if I don't have a lot of room on the counter, but have wall space!

I also have one of those body manikins, but don't think I will be able to move that in right away, might freak out "THE MAN" a little bit. 

Talking about our place and planning. I love neutrals. Obsessing over lanterns and candles to add coziness. 

Baskets of throws and blankets

plenty of pillows

comfortable couches

photo walls.

So loving this look... I may be already stocking up on blankets...

my fiance may think its a little much 

to have more then 3 blankets just for a living room, but for me 

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH!

Just one more never hurts right?

its a definite must.

What is a must in your house????

Is there something you just can't live without? 

xoxox, Meghan

Until next time

Announcements on a budget

Hey everyone,
Today I want to talk about announcements whether your newly engaged and wanting to announce it to friends or family or have already found your venue and have a date booked and need to send out save the dates, remember this advice when your shopping the internet.

Save the dates and engagement announcements can cost .75 cents a card or more! And that's without postage! and the pretty the card (you know the ones with pretty fonts and scripts and multiple places to put pictures) only added to the price.

Now some of you may say that's not that much but think thats around $1.25 per card. I had about 110 cards I wanted to send out meaning just to announce I was engaged would cost me around $140.00. Which was money I definitely didn't have

These cards would have cost me $1.10 per card to send out. 

I had to find a better solution, so first I thought about getting 4 by 6 pictures printed out normally at the photo kiosks you can write text over top the picture.

But then I found something even better

a website called. YORKPHOTO

I would definitely say to try to use this company.

I first ordered the 4 by 6 collage photos. These collages let me put multiple photos on a 4x6 size sheet, which was perfect it even let me add banners… backgrounds… text.. 

This was a super great deal.

The price per card is super cheap! cheaper then driving to my CVS and getting pictures printed off. 

The collage photo is no added price! which is perfect.

Then I also googled a coupon for York Photo just to see if there were any. 

I WOULD ALWAYS LOOK FOR A COUPON OR DEAL ON GOOGLE! normally you can find some great coupon codes that will take even more money off.

I found a coupon that was 50% OFF! 

All together I got 110 cards for just $10.00

I went to Hobby Lobby a picked up envelopes 100 for $7.00.

I hope this helps some of you who are also planning your wedding! Below is a picture of my engagement announcements! 

xoxox Meghan

Chalkboard Tutorial

Yes, {a tutorial}! To everyone who reads chalkboards and immediately gets so excited to learn how.

I absolutely love pinning cute chalkboard ideas on my wedding board, but then searching for them on etsy is a whole different story. They can be so pricey and just for a little accent sign the price is too big for the prettiness.

Luckily I found a way to get my look without spending way to much on etsy. And the project wasn't even hard! 

Here are a few pictures of pretty pinterest finds, so you can also fall inlove with the chalkboard look. Chalkboards are really versatile, which is amazing! because you can buy it for your wedding but also reuse it in your home! 

Almost every craft store now is selling chalkboard paint, so that might be the easiest part of this project. I got a small bottle it costs about $2.50-$3.50 at most! And if you happen to go to HOBBY LOBBY you can use a 40% off coupon! If you really don't know what the bottle looks like the picture is below. Its normally just right next to the paint!

1 bottle of chalkboard paint.

1 roll of electrical tape.

2 sponge brushes.

easily found with the chalkboard paint at Walmart or any craft store.

I am sure you can find a roll at walmart. In this tutorial I am using round trays so the tape has to be able to stretch and move around edges. (this tape works great) If you are using something rectangle or square you may not even need this particular tape. 

Now the fun part! Go thrift shopping. No. You don't need to have a fancy thrift shop around that is full of amazing finds. I go to GoodWill and Salvation Army. I have found most of everything at a couple of the Goodwills around me. 

What are you looking for?

Go in the strange object shelves and look around for trays. I found some silver ones that had scalloped edges in circular or oval shapes, and those worked perfectly. I picked up a total of 5 each pricing around $2.00-5.00 each. 

^^^^^ here is one of mine^^^^^

In all I spent about $16.00 on trays. I would say for 5 chalkboards with all materials I spent less then $25.00. 

Now CRAFT TIME!

Prep your station I put some newspaper on my woodfloor and got to work. I took the electrical tape and wrapped it around the circular edge of my trays. Like my tray above I kept the pretty edges silver while the inside was my chalkboard. 

The edges are taped. 

Now take your paint. SHAKE WELL!!! that is really important. I learned that you really need to coat them, so I ended up just squeezing the paint onto the tray itself and brushing the paint around. I would definitely say to coat them a 2 times for sure. Let one coat dry before coating it again. 

When the paint was almost completely dry. I carefully took off the tape. If you happen to smear the paint at all don't worry! take your nail and just scrap it off. even dried on chalkboard paint comes off pretty easily! 

And there you go! I haven't used my boards yet, but to get the aged look of a chalkboard take a piece of chalk and scribble on it and then whip it off it will add a more aged look. 

These are great for (Mr. And Mrs. signs)

(Dessert Table) (Table Numbers) 

HAVE FUN! 

If you happen to try it! Let me know how they turn out!

xoxoxo

Meghan

{The Budget Bride}

Lets start off {Here}.

I'm Meghan. Like most girls I always dreamed of getting married and having that perfect wedding. Then BAM! I got engaged this summer. Now at 19! I am a bride-to-be on a budget! My goal… well its to get that pinterest rustic barn wedding…

you know the one you find yourself pinning on your Board titled "PERFECT/DREAM WEDDING" yeah.

I've also realized its much easier to pin those pins when you have a overflowing bank account, which in my case is definitely not reality.

One thing I can do is take those ideas and turn them into more realistic things that I can do by "DIY".

Whether you are crafty or have no craftiness in you. Almost anyone can follow simple step to step tutorials. 

I hope that whether your just planning for the future or if your also in this adventure of planning your own wedding like me, you can find some things that can help you plan your perfect day! 

Here are a couple pictures of me and my fiancé. So you can feel like you know me a little better.

I'd love to hear about your planning process. Has it been a piece of cake? or a total nightmare? Are you a bridezilla? Are you that sweet and carefree type? 

Ok. No one wants to admit to being a bridezilla, but I can assure you there are times when it comes out in all of us.

xoxox

-Meghan