Wedding Wednesday- Medu Jewelry Giveaway!

Hey all!  I had planned on writing about wedding jewelry today but my mom was hospitalized last night.  That on top of the stress I've already got going on from Jim's accident, and just everything feeling like it's coming down on me- I didn't have it in me to write a proper post.  Hopefully, next week I'll be back on my game.  

In the mean time, here is a review and giveaway brought to you by a fellow blogger, Missy.  Enjoy and good luck!  xoxo

I recently got to review an onyx bracelet from Medu Jewelry and it had a sterling silver clasps.  It has 10mm round onyx with 7 inch long and hypoallergenic. I do not own a piece of onyx so this was nice to add to my jewelry collection. For someone who does not know much about this stone I would like to share with that it is Onyx is a member of the quartz family, and more specifically of the chalcedony group. This is a type of fibrous quartz that displays bands of color within a gemstone. Even more specifically, onyx is a variety of agate, which displays fibrous bands in white and black, sometimes with gray, although most often the stone is dyed so that it appears pure black. While black onyx is the most famous, there is also Sardonyx, which features slim red bands running through the black stone.

My Opinion: I like the piece as it is different then what I already own. The clasp is hard to open and when I put it on it fits just fine.

They offer a free jewelry program with each month you are a member you will get free jewelry where you just pay the shipping cost of $6.99 but the piece you get is worth $100-$200.

Besides what I got they have Malachite Bracelet, Rose Quarts necklace, Tungsten Ring with Polished Finish & Beveled Edge and more at http://www.medujewelry.com/

Do you want to win one? Enter Rafflecopter below

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeduJewelry

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MeduJewelry

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/medujewelry

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated for this review and this is solely my own opinion which may differ from yours.Missy's Product Reviews is responsible for shipment of the prize. 

--FINISH--- Rasfflecopter code a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wedding Wednesdays- Lessons from being a May Bride

(My cake topper!)

Every wedding is different- every bride and groom have different tastes, the location, day, and time, it all makes things unique.  What I didn't realize when I planned my wedding way back in 2007/2008 was what affect the month would have on my wedding.

We were married on Saturday, May 9, 2009- the day before Mother's Day.  From the moment we began planning, the date had us hitting road blocks.  The first issue was that our church, which we went to first to make sure we could get the day and time we wanted before we looked as halls, didn't even have a 2009 calendar started yet.  We were literally the first couple to book their wedding for 2009, that's what I get for having a nearly 2 year long engagement.  That was a minor and honestly funny bump in the road, the others were a bit more frustrating and taught me the following:

1. If you're going to get married in May, don't get married the weekend of Mother's Day.

I had no idea that this was the biggest holiday for sending flowers- I thought that was Valentine's Day.  Because of that statistic it took us forever to find a florist that would even be willing to work with us and they charged us extra because we were taking workers away from their MD deliveries- and they had no qualms about letting us know that was the reason for the up charge.

2. Find out when the local Proms are!

May is a big month for proms and apparently that makes it difficult to book limos.  I actually had to use 2 different companies- 1 to get us from the hotel to the church and 1 to get us from the church to the hall (our hotel provided shuttles back after the reception) because they had conflicting appointments with proms.  Apparently, proms out rank weddings!  Doesn't really make sense to me since weddings happen year round and good or bad word of mouth could make or break a business, but again they had no issues telling me I was inconveniencing them and didn't care that they inconvenienced me.

3. Weather is unpredictable!

I suppose this is common sense and is appropriate for any wedding, but I had a plan in picking a May date.  I figured "April showers bring May flowers" so it shouldn't rain, and it was late spring, so it would be warm but not hot.  It rained all morning while we got ready and it was hot as heck by the time we actually got to the ceremony- around 3 pm.  Thank goodness our church has AC and fans!  Bottom line- hope for the best but prepare for the worst.  The weather didn't really have any impact on my wedding or my pictures (my biggest concern) but it did affect my mood- so best advice- just be prepared and stay calm.

4. Just because it's spring doesn't mean your flowers are in season

Again, I suppose this is can go for any wedding, but I honestly had no idea when it came to picking my flowers.  I had a vision in mind and it was all I wanted!  (Blue hydrangeas with purple roses, oy!)  Turns out blue hydrangeas aren't in season that early in May so our florist offered us white and they would spray paint them blue.  They showed me samples and it was pretty believable so I agreed to it, turns out that wasn't a good idea.  Which leads me to my last piece of advice...

(my flowers)

5.  Make sure your vendors actually know what they're talking about!

Again, this should be common sense but as a 24 year old planning a major event for the first time in my life I took a stance with my vendors which is very similar to my stance on doctors- they're the professionals, they know best!  I'm not really sure what my first florist was thinking with the whole spray paint idea but we ended up using a different florist who actually knew a thing or 2 about flowers.  That came about when I told my best friend how much we were spending and she insisted that we speak to her florist (she was married a year before us) because he could save us money.  So about 3 months before our wedding we jumped ship and went with him and we had the most beautiful flowers I could have ever asked for.  He was creative and knowledgeable- he changed what I had asked for but still kept the hydrangeas and they weren't spray painted!  Turns out the color of hydrangeas is caused by the acidity of the soil they grow in- so if you go to the right flower farms (not really sure what they're called) you can get whatever color you want no matter what time of year.  Moral of the story- not all professionals know what they're talking about, make sure you choose people who are knowledgeable so that they can fully assist in planning your special day.

Did you get married in May?  Do you have any advice to offer to fellow May Brides?

Do you have any advice for other brides based on the month you got married?  Let me know, I'm looking for guest posters!

Linking with some phenomenal blogs!

One Tipsy Chick
Pure Grace Farms

Wedding Wednesdays: Wed Pics

Today I'm introducing my first real series!

It's been 5 years since I tied that knot but I still love wedding "planning."  Pinterest has been a demon filling my head with all these beautiful ideas that I wish I had thought of way back when and since we're in the mist of wedding season I thought this might be a fun summer series to add to the blog.

Just over a week ago we went to our first wedding in a while and it was beautiful!  Tara, the bride, had planned everything so beautifully and it was so much fun to see everything she had shown us over the last year and a half come together.  Possibly my favorite thing about her wedding was her use of Wed Pics!

It's an app that takes wedding photo sharing to the next level.  This is a great alternative to the #hashtag instagram wedding craze that I still love, but I feel this is 100xs better!

The bride and groom set up an account, one of them will be the administrator, they give that account to their friends and through out the wedding and after guest can upload videos and pictures.  My only issue with it is that it only takes 15 seconds of video at a time, but the picture sharing works perfectly.

What makes this app stand out and above from the #hashtags on instagram is that anyone who is logged in can see all the pictures that are posted, they can be shared, and even printed out, plus the pictures can be organized by where they were taken.  It's one stop shopping at it's best.  It's like the modern version of leaving disposable cameras on the tables for guests to get candid moments that the photographer might have missed, but even better because the administrator can go through and edit any photos they deem to be inappropriate.  (Hooray for no more down the pants pics that people seem to think are so hilarious!)

Check it out, and use it for your wedding, or recommend it to your friends that are getting married.  You will not regret it!

**disclaimer** I have no been paid or contacted by Wed Pics in anyway.  This is all my own opinion!

Been to any weddings lately and want to brag on something new that you've seen?  Let me know, I'll be looking for guest posters all summer!

Linking with:

Pure Grace Farms

One Tipsy Chick