Dove Hair Care

I felt pretty luck when a representative from Dove emailed me and asked if she could send me their new line of Hair Care Products for me to test out.



First I have to let you know, I've used those Purple Bottles of Hair Care products for, as long as I can remember. I love the smell and my hair consistently looks decent. I don't like to spend a lot of time on my hair.



But trying something new, I was up for that.



So, when the box came, the first thing I did was smell it. I was nervous, I wanted something that smelled yummy... and frankly it did. Not fruity or florally, but clean.



I do have to say with a name like Nourishing Oil Care, it made me a bit nervous it was going to leave my hair feeling like a grease-ball. But, honestly it didn't! It allowed my hair to not frizz, behave under the intense Florida Humidity, and still look good.



I love the idea of having an intense conditioner that wasn't a 3-minute treatment, if I had more time, I'd let it stay in longer, and if I didn't, it would still work.

The Dove Nourishing Oil Care Leave In Conditioner was amazing, it was thick and luscious, and really made my hair super soft and touchable, I was impressed.



I think what I liked the most about the products was that you could really feel the difference, the conditioner was thick, and didn't drip down my hand (sort of the sour cream test of thickness) and felt like Salon Quality Products, that I can buy at my local store.



Honestly, I was impressed.



I'd buy the products again.

{Dove sent me these products to review on my blog, I was not compensated for this post, I was trusted to give my full and honest opinion on the product. And I did.}

If you have a product you'd like featured on our Bridal Nesting Labs, please email me directly.

Pretty in Patchwork - Doll Quilts

when Cathy Gaubert asked me to be a part of her adorable new book

{ Pretty in Patchwork - Doll Quilts }... i could all but scream, YES! not only is it one of the cutest books ever, it also houses darling designs from some of my most favorite people!!

here's some sneaky peaky's for you all... but, you have to grab the book for all the other fabulous quilty goodness!! :)

here's mine!!

Penny's!!

John's!!

Kerri's!!

Amanda's!!

and of course, Cathy's!!

Thanks Cathy & Lark for allowing me to be a small part of your gorgeous book!

xo, Heather

Unique Groomsmen Gifts

When thinking up fun and thoughtful gifts for your wedding party, the bridesmaid gifts are a snap! There are so many adorable and perfect gifts that your closest girls will love, cherish, obsessed over, etc.



...but what about the groomsmen?



Thanks to this unique and delish idea we found over at Floridian Weddings, that question is easily answered:

Via Floridian Weddings

A DIY Groomsmen Goodie Box full of food and booze (for these are a few of their fav-o-rite things)!

Via Floridian Weddings

This gift box is not only super fun and full of wonderful treats like brownies, Maker's Mark (which is my husband's favoritest in the whole wide world), and a miniature flask that your groomsmen will surely appreciate, it's simple to make as well! Floridian Weddings gives you complete DIY instructions on how you can create this giftbox (and those delectable looking brownies) yourself.



{This post is in honor of the wonderful John DiStefano (ahem, that's my hubs) and his love of Maker's Mark}

The crimson dress

I finished this dress last weekend (the pattern used is from the October BurdaStyle magazine, it's dress 123A; click here for the sewing review), and took these pictures right after photographing the Donna Karan ensemble. I don’t consider myself a very camera-friendly person; usually I take about 15 shots and I’m lucky if 5 of them are usable for the blog. With this dress however, almost all the pictures came out great (IMO) so I decided to publish most of them. There’s something about the color of the dress, it reminds me the color of some roses… It works really great with the green lawn.

I picked the necklace inspired by the following picture (the crystals reminded me of the morning dew…).

You all have a wonderful day!

Terminei este vestido no fim-de-semana passado (o molde é da revista Burda de Outubro, modelo 123A; o artigo sobre a costura está publicado aqui) e tirei estas fotos logo a seguir a fotografar o conjunto Donna Karan. Não me considero uma pessoa muito fotogénica; normalmente tiro cerca de 15 fotos de um coordenado e com sorte cerca de cinco serão utilizáveis no blog. No entanto, as fotos deste vestido saíram praticamente todas bem (na minha opinião), então decidi publicá-las quase todas. Há algo na cor do vestido que me lembra da cor de algumas rosas… A cor sobressai imenso no verde do relvado.

Escolhi a gargantilha inspirada na foto seguinte (os cristais lembram-me o orvalho matinal nas rosas…).

Tenham um óptimo dia!

Open Letter to Wedding Vendors

I found this post recently on one of my dear friends blogs, and it is verbatim what I have been thinking lately, so I thought stealing borrowing, plagiarising, quoting her, would be the best way to say what I mean.

Photography by: Footstone Photography

This post has been brewing in me for a little while now. It is NOT
directed to any one person or situation in particular. But a
accumulation of occurrences.




As wedding engineers (er, planners), we get a plethora of wedding vendors
that contact us requesting to be on our referred vendor list.
Facebook messages, emails, cards, phone calls, and more. We have a process when
we recommend a vendor (and yes, we will occasionally recommend vendors that we
have not worked with before… as long as they have some stellar testimonials that
we check out).




We are also offered many things, one of which a little
“kick-back”. “Refer me and I’ll give you $50.” says wedding a
vendor.




Honestly that’s not our motivation when referring vendors. For the record, we
do not accept kick-backs of any kind. What we prefer is that
you (the wedding vendor) extend that $50 towards our client’s service package.
You look good, we look good. Win/Win.




However here’s the real needle in the haystack that I want to address in this
blog post.




What we really would love, (we = wedding planners) are for wedding
vendors that we recommend to do the following:

• Bring your A game and a little more. Seriously. Treat the
  clients that we bring to you with such great care that they want to be your
  Bestie as well.


• Want to work with US. That’s right. We bring you into the
  team-fold to spend all day with you on a Saturday (away from our family), we
  want you to work with us. If you have ever experienced working with the {wedding planning} team, you KNOW that we
  don’t ask you to do anything that we wouldn’t do ourselves. In fact, there is no
  such language as, “That’s not our job” at an event. We pitch in and work hard
  right along side of you.


• Watch each other’s backs. It takes a full vendor team to
  execute a fabulous wedding. Everyone doing their part and a little more. We all
  make mistakes (yes, us too). We’re human. Help us and we’ll help you.


• Be a little more flexible. You know that your job is going
  to be a little easier with us on site. Timelines and production schedules are
  complete. All vendors are contacted prior to the wedding. So don’t lump us with
  all your other DIY clients. We are professional. Time is money and we know what
  we are doing. A little flexibility goes a long way to repeat referrals.


• Have fun on the wedding day. We pull 17 hours sometimes.
  Often, we’re the first ones there for setup … to the ceremony … the reception
  and breaking out. We love what we do, but I won’t lie. Sometimes it can be a
  long hard work day. Bring a smile and a great attitude. The day will go by
  faster and easier.


• Communicate with us. Sometimes client’s don’t tell us
  everything. A rogue Father of the Bride goes off and plans special events during
  the reception as a surprise and we don’t know anything about it. Let us know
  ….


• Refer US. You read that correctly. Throw our name out there
  to YOUR clients. Ask them, “WHO is your wedding planner?” and
  tell them about us. Tell them why you like to work with us. You should know, we
  SELL YOU before our clients call you to meet. This is a tight wedding vendor
  circle and throwing back some love to us is just as important as us always
  referring you. One sided relationships almost never work. Think about
  it.

This blog post was from the heart and for educational purposes.

Interstate lOVE Song. the Quilt.

it dawned on me this weekend, that i've been hoarding one of my quilts from you... my Interstate lOVE Song Quilt... this one is a MUST have on my sofa! everyday. ;) why you ask... well kids, because not only is it made with the delish... Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush fabrics... but, the lovely Angela quilted in the lyrics to Stone Temple Pilot's Interstate Love Song ( which is my husband's and my song )!!!

I am a hopeless romantic and try very hard to squeeze any and all the passion i can muster up into my masculine world!! this is a perfect example of said efforts!! with the help of some lovely friends... Thanks Angela for your extreme attention to this quilt and Miss Duff for your clever suggestion of song Lyrics! I think we made a great team!! ;)

this is a very dear quilt to me!! I would love to give both of my boys a quilt with a secret message quilted with in it!! i better get busy! hahaha!!

Xo, Heather

Behind the Scenes with Footstone Photography

Have I mentioned that we are obsessed with our wedding pro's?



Footstone Photography, who we think are just super fantastical, recently shared a video giving you a behind the scenes look at the passion and professionalism that they put into their photography on the day of your wedding.



One thing I cannot say enough, is how important it is that you actually get along with your wedding professionals, especially your photographer, they are going to be "in your face" the whole day, so if they annoy you in the slightest while you are meeting for the first time... you'll probably want to claw your eyes out by the time your wedding day rolls around...

You can watch that video right here and get a glimpse into why we are so happy to work with such creative and wonderful vendors!