Moved Again: Port St. Lucie

Well, I haven't updated the blog in a little while - because I was moving, again. What, you're surprised? What, in the past two years I've lived in Athens, Atlanta, Savannah, Atlanta again, and now somewhere new? Yes, that's right! Being married to a baseball player takes us somewhere new all time, and this time it's Port Saint Lucie, Florida.

Do I enjoy moving? No, who likes moving!? Am I a little bit addicted to it? Definitely. Let's just say I'm gonna be in trouble when it's time to buy a house - Collin and I have commitment anxiety with six month leases, haha.

Anyway, since I have been all over the place with moving, working on Spring weddings, getting ready for a summer full of awesome projects/collaborations and adjusting to having roommates again (I live with my husband and three other ball players!), I haven't quite had time to unpack the camera and get good shots of my life and work. However - I do have a few photos I've taken on my iPhone (and glitzed up with Instagram) along the way...

My last project in Atlanta was the crib bedding for my cousin (in-law?) Catherine and her new babygirl Joie... and a few special little things made from some family-saved fabrics. I showed you the Alexander Henry fabric I bought her in NYC at Purl Soho in an earlier post:



Well, all I have is a funky phone photo, but I sewed the fabric into some simple crib bumpers piped in jute cording and a couple of throw pillows!



And I turned one of Cat's mothers old sundresses into two little dresses for Joie and her new cousin, Gracie. I used the Itty Bitty Baby Dress pattern from the blog Made By Rae and they turned out great! Very baby Anthro if you ask me...



After that, it was time to hit the road. Let's talk about the Florida Turnpike and how it cost me $8.00 to go from Orlando to Ft. Pierce!?



Our new apartment is a hundred times better than our old apartment in Savannah. The back porch opens up to a pond with a fountain, so that helps. We live in the PGA Golf Village in St. Lucie West - basically you only live here if you love golf, the Mets or both.



Of course, I've been to my fair share of baseball games at Digital Domain Park already. The team this year is really good, a 17-2 record right now, so the games are pretty fun!



And what's Florida without some time by the water?




It's been a good first two weeks in our new home. It's always hard to transfer the business out of Atlanta since most of my clients and suppliers are there. I'm still working out the kinks of long-distance, but I've done it before and I'll do it again!

For anyone who's interested, I'm coming back to Atlanta on May 17th-26th for The Not Wedding vendor rehearsal and the ICE Wedding Day Hooray! I can't wait!

Craftery Approved Wedding Ideas: The Guest Box

If any of you readers follow me on Twitter, you may have seen this obscure little note:

What in the world could I be making with 72 yards of white fabric? A tent. Yes, folks. A tent. Very cool project debuting March 1st!
2:45 PM Feb 16th via web

On account of having some crazy talented and amazing friends, I was able to join the team of people working on a new, very special and unique idea for weddings: The Guest Box!



Here's the official explanation of The Guest Box: "The GuestBox is a modern-day guestbook. Guests at a wedding or event choose either a truth or a dare card and then walk into a video booth to perform on camera. We have truths such as "Tell the story of how the bride and groom met. Don't know? Make it up!" and dares including "Make up a song for the bride and groom and sing a line" or "Act out the proposal", and we then edit together a video montage of the footage that is presented on both Facebook and DVD."

Informally speaking, in the vernacular of yours truly.... it's a big fort castle that you go in with your friends, dance around, make jokes, be funny - and when it's all said and done, your friends who were getting married will get to see it!

After being married and having my wedding already, the part of The Guest Box I find appealing is the opportunity for the bride and groom to look back and get a feeling of what it was like to be at their wedding. You spend months and months planning a wedding, thinking of your guests, making everything perfect. But the day of your wedding isn't about those things for you anymore - it's about life decisions, bringing together families, crying down the aisle and doing your best to make snapshot memories because you know the rest is just going to blur past. The Guest Box video that a bride and groom recieve lets them jump right into the reception - have a good laugh at your funny old roomate (who you might not have seen or remembered was at the wedding otherwise).

I've talked to you before about Callie from Achor & Eden (she took the headshot from the last post), but you may not know that she is also the mastermind behind The Not Wedding. Go to the website to see what the Not Wedding's all about, and get ready because the next one is in Atlanta this coming July - but we'll talk more about that. Anyway, Callie is obviously full of great ideas - and The Guest Box is another genius project of hers!

Also involved is Abany from Brown Linen & Co., who made the Guest Box signage and is also very busy working on design for The Not Wedding.



I used my crafting skills to sew the actual tent, create the Truth and Dare boxes, and design the cards that go inside.




And Aaron, an awesome videographer and director (who happens to be Callie's younger brother - talent runs in the family), is in charge of the good part - the video. Take a look at the video from Hayley and Reuben's wedding!


The Guest Box - Hayley & Reuben from Aaron Chewning on Vimeo.

And finally, a hilarious photo from The Guest Box's Facebook page, from inside the tent... I think we're acting out "Scream like a 12-year old girl."



This was a great project to be a part of for many reasons: good idea, good people, lots of fun putting together, lots of fun trying it out, and LOTS of fun seeing the videos! There are more pictures and videos on the Facebook page, just go to The Guest Box website to learn more and inquire about booking it for your wedding! It's worth it!