Wedding Wednesday: Something Blue

Hello and thanks for stopping by for Wedding Wednesday. I can't believe two weeks have passed since our wedding! It was such a fun day and even though we were thrown some insane weather curve balls it was still so wonderful. I debated on writing about this but I've always been honest on here throughout my wedding planning process so why not be honest about post-wedding happenings...to be completely real with you all, I'm having a case of the blues.

Our rental car pack to the brim after checking out of the hotel

Let me start of by saying this has NOTHING to do with marriage, it's about the wedding itself being over. Brian has been his usual supportive self with me and I LOVE being married to him. He makes me so incredibly happy. I, like many brides, spent practically all my free time on wedding planning and now that it's over I don't know what to do with myself. I've been lucky that the past two weeks have been incredibly busy at my full-time job as well as my part-time coaching job but I'm having the hardest time trying to figure out my "new normal."

I've never had more fun in a piece of clothing

The three days following our wedding were filled with so many tears. I can't count how many times I said "I want to get married everyday!" Maybe it's the fact that I loved putting together all the little details, maybe it was seeing all my hard work coming to life, or maybe it't the fact that having everyone I love most in the world all in one place celebrating love and knowing that it's probably the only time in my life that will happen. On October 17th there were no family feuds, friendship riffs, or hometown gossip...there was only love. I knew I would be sad when the wedding was over but I never expected to grieve an event, one solitary day so much. No one told me it would be this rough and it left me wondering am I the only person who ugly cried when she packed up her wedding dress and threw out flowers. Am I being selfish when the next day important people had already moved on to "the next best thing" going on? Sunday people were already messaging and asking if they could buy my decor, I was incredibly flattered, but for heaven's sake my fake eyelashes hadn't come off and people were chomping at the bit to try to get my stuff. Would you message someone right after their child was born and ask to buy the dress they wore to come home in? I know my wedding wasn't the center of everyone's lives but it was the center of mine for a while and it's hard to get over. I don't have hard feelings towards anyone, I'm just trying to figure out how to deal with these loco feelings. 

Am I pouting about throwing away my gorgeous flowers or that the weather on Sunday was completely clear?! LOL

I know I should be happy, and trust me I am, about what amazing of a wedding day we had and how special it was. Each day when I have a moment of time where I'm not working or actively doing something I get so anxious about seeing the rest of our photos and how our wedding video will turn out. What I hate to admit is how nervous I am to see them both because I don't how I'll respond. Will it be tears of joy or a Forgetting Sarah Marshall "if I put my clothes on it's over" situation where I'm in a funk for months about it. I guess at this point, in time, the only way to know is to wait and see.

Until then you can find me channeling all my energy into coaching my dance team and trying to be the best wife I can be to Brian. For my fellow past brides...did y'all feel this way to? How did you work through it? What advice do you have for me? Any suggestions are welcome and I truly appreciate them. I can't wait to share the details of our wedding, but only feel it's right to do so when I've worked through this and I hope everyone can understand that. So this is me being real with y'all and truly hoping that I'm not alone in this. As always thanks for reading and I promise to keep things more upbeat next time around.

Linking up for Wedding Wednesday and What's Hap-Pinning?! so check them out :)

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Oh Hey, Friday! {I've returned}

Hello everyone and HAPPY FRIDAY! I'm linking up for Oh hey, Friday! to catch y'all up on what I've been doing since I've become Mrs. Schiffbauer!

We've taken full advantage of not worrying about fitting into our wedding clothes and by that I mean eating the worst for you best food around our beloved suburban Atlanta area.

 "Cake" ice cream at the ever famous Scoops of Covington (it's on the Vampire Diaries)

 We tried Freddy's Steakburgers and Custard for the first time. 

Tried a new {to us} place off Covington Square that specialized in New Orleans cuisine. 

Brian got a steak and some {not as good as the ones at our wedding} crab cakes.

I got the specialty dish called the pastalaya.

I started my new position at my company. For the past year I've been working as an onsite administrator (temp) at a construction site, yes a steel toe boots, hard hat, and safety vest site. I loved the company so much that I expressed early on that I wanted to be hired on full time at the end of my project if possible. After a lot of help from some amazing people i got a permanent, full time position in the company's payroll department. I started last Friday and have been loving it, especially because I have my own office. #AdultWin

My, not yet decorated, office. 

Since we did a non-traditional registry, we did a Honeyfund, we didn't get many "home" presents but we still got to go newlywed shopping with gift cards we got to Crate & Barrel (from my sweet sorority sister Kelly) and Bed, Bath, & Beyond (from one of Brian's co-workers). Here is some of the damage we did at Crate & Barrel.

Our new adorbs wine rack. We got a pair of reds, whites, and champagne glasses to go with it.

The cutest little cork topper.

We made out like bandits!

After our little shopping trip downtown we headed out to the Owl-O-Ween fest at Kennesaw State University. It's a hot air balloon festival filled with live entertainment, food trucks, beer stations, and an Oktoberfest celebration section. We will definitely go to this again next October and if you live in the Atlanta area, or even nearby because they have hotel specials, you should go next year.

They had such cute little photo "stops" throughout the festival.

 Cheeseburger empanada? Yes please!

We're part of a club! #CarlAndEllie

There you have my little catch up session since I've been so MIA but hey I love spending every second I can with my husband. Now I'm off to the airport to catch my flight to Orlando for a fun weekend filled with some of the most amazing people around. I haven't missed Epcot's Food & Wine Festival since 2010 so there's no way i'm breaking that streak. Follow my adventures on my Instagram and Snapchat username: J0rdashian. Now get out there and have a great weekend!!!

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My Favorite {BRAVO} Brides

Anyone that knows me will say that my love for the Bravo Network is borderline obsessive, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Do I have the Bravo emoji app? Duh! Are the many chart toppers by Real Housewives on my iTunes? Of course! So it's only natural that as I prepare for my big day that I reminisce my favorite Bravo weddings.

 Scheana Marie of Vanderpump Rules 

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This was a very anticipated event for me...I mean it's all she talked about all season. When Kristin brought "Miami Girl" to Sur to confront Tom, Scheana's first reaction was, "you're going to do this the week before my wedding?!" You can't make up this stuff. She was the epitome of a bridezilla but I still loved every minute of it and she gave me so much perspective on how NOT to act during your wedding day. I'm sure she'll look back and only remember the good things which is all that matters. She was indeed a crop top princess and remains on of my favs. She can serve me crispy chicken and pinot grigio anytime.

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Tamra {Barney} Judge of  The Real Housewives of Orange County 

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As one of my favorite Real Housewives of all time, I was so excited to see Tamra marry the suave Eddie Judge. She's famous for her one liners (that I use on a regular basis) but when she said her vows to Eddie in Spanish my cold heart warmed up a little. I loved that Vicki and Heather were bridesmaids (they were used in asking my bridesmaids, check it out HERE) and that she had more costume changes than Britney Spears had at her wedding(s). I will say that dangling cake made me so nervous! Here's to hoping that the third time's a charm holds true for my girl. 

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Kim{Zolciak} Bierman of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Don't Be Tardy 

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To say that Kim Z is my spirit animal is an understatement. We have so much in common, our love of sweatpants, solo cups, and foul language has made her quite possibly my favorite (tied with Lisa Vanderpump) Real Housewife in the franchise. I respect that she has no problem admitting that she is from humble beginnings and has no shame at getting where she is now. Her relationship with Kroy is wonderful and the way he took on her daughters as his own is nothing short of amazing. I mean when Brielle made her speech at the wedding I was full on uglyyyyyy crying. I'll go ahead and share a secret with you..."Don't Be Tardy for the Party" is being used in our wedding festivities.  

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and last but not least...

Lauren Manzo of The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Manzo'd with Children 

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Her wedding hasn't even aired yet but since she's my favorite Real  daughter I just had to include her. Lauren is great because she's never been the "I'm perfect" daughter and has struggled with her weight and I definitely relate to that. I love that her husband, Vito, was her brother Albie's best friend. I have zero shame in admitting that I stalked instagram (mainly Greggy Bennett, my favorite Real friend and scene stealer) the day of her wedding so I could see what everyone looked like. She was beyond beautiful and it looked like the most fun wedding I wasn't invited to. Caroline's response to people being outraged with her wearing white was priceless. 

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There ya have it, my favorite Bravo brides. I'm knee deep in welcome boxes and bridal party gifts so I've got to head out. Thanks for stopping by and make sure to come back tomorrow when Brian takes over the blog for Wedding Wednesday! Follow our wedding shenanigans via #SchiffJustGotReal on instagram and my Snapchat (@J0RDASHIAN) 

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My Little {solo} Weekend

It's Monday already?! The only silver lining I have for the weekend coming to a close is Brian getting back from the golf tournament he was coaching all weekend. Today I'm linking up with Biana to share my weekend happenings with you.

Since Brian was going to be away for the weekend working we had decided to have a date night on Friday but to my surprise on Thursday afternoon at work I was given free tickets, parking, and meal credit to go to a Braves game so poof! Easy and cheapest date night ever!

I couldn't believe how good our seats were. We were right beside the Nationals dugout and a few feet from home plate. I kept telling Brian I could go all Fever Pitch and run right on to the field. If you follow baseball at all you know that the Braves have had a terrible season but they actually won this game...now that I think about it every game I've been to since we moved here last year they have won. I should probably get some free season tickets.

Friday I went and got my hair colored back to my natural color...black. I've had highlights for the past year but decided to go back to black *cue one of my fav Amy Winehouse jams* for the wedding. When I got home from the salon I got the sweetest wedding gift in the mail from my "Disney family", The Brankamps. You can read a little more about them HERE but long story short they are a family I met while I was working as an intern at Disney's Contemporary Resort five years ago and we've stayed in touch. They know my favorite color is Lilly Pulitzer so they treated me to a new dress for our honeymoon!

Saturday was spent in bed with the pups watching endless episodes of Law&Order: SVU. Sunday I went to the grocery store so that I could have something other than cereal for dinner and ended up getting some flowers fillers to play around with for rehearsal dinner arrangements.

 Here's what I decided to go with for the rehearsal dinner. Clean and simple with a touch of wheat barley (thanks for the suggestion Lauren at ren + ott events) since our rehearsal dinner is at a brewery. 

Here's what I did with the leftovers. A little arrangement for the breakfast nook :)

I hope you all have a great week and make sure to come back for Wedding Wednesday in a few days! Thanks for stopping by!

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One More Month...

It's so hard for me to believe that one month from today I will be a wife. Everyone said the months leading up to your wedding fly by and they were 100% correct. I get asked almost everyday if I'm excited and of course I say yes but this is what I wish I could say instead of just "yes"....

Yes I'm excited that I don't have to go on online dates or make small talk at bars anymore because those are right up there with going for a root canal. 

Yes, I'm glad that the type of man I prayed and WISHED FOR came into my life at just the right moment. 

Yes I'm excited that I finally found a man who made me realize that I am lovable when others did everything to make me feel like I wasn't. 

Yes I'm excited that I found someone who will watch all of my thoughtless tv shows with me, still take me on dates, make me feel beautiful when I feel everything but that, love me through all my mood swings, and dances with me every single day in the kitchen. 

Yes I'm excited for the road that lies ahead for us and I find comfort in knowing that he'll be by my side through peaks and valleys of life. 

For the longest time I never thought I'd get married. If we could go hop in a time machine to 3 years ago and tell me that this is how things were going to turn out I would've called you a liar. My heartbreaks left me bitter, jaded, and with no hope. I accepted the "love" that I thought I deserved and was disappointed at every turn. For my friends out there who are feeling the way I felt please from the bottom of my heart know that you deserve more. You deserve to feel important, special, and loved by the person you're with and if they don't make you feel that way have the courage to walk away because I want everyone to feel as loved as Brian makes me feel. Be brave, be kind, and go out there and find your Brian.

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Wedding Wednesday: The Top 4 Lists You'll Need for Your Wedding Week

Happy Wednesday y'all and thank you for stopping by for Wedding Wednesday, I'm so glad you're here. I seriously can NOT believe tomorrow marks ONE MONTH until our wedding. We're celebrating by flying up to Cleveland to get our marriage license on Friday. I'm a definition "type A" personality so checking off a task on a to-do list is one of life's greatest thrills for me. In honor of the big day being four weeks away I'm sharing my top four wedding checklists to make sprinkled with some photos from our recent engagement session by our wonderful photographer, Arastasia Rolain!

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Packing List
This list is crucial if you're getting married somewhere other than where you currently live. If someone can't drive to your house to pick up something you forgot and be back in 30 minutes you better make this list. For me the biggest struggle was getting everything up to Cleveland for the wedding without having to break the bank in shipping costs. We were able to load up our car with wedding supplies on our trip to West Virginia for my bridal shower for some of Brian's family to take back up to Cleveland with them. This was one of my more brilliant ideas not only financially but emotionally as well. Once those items were out of our house I stopped worrying about them and boy was that a fantastic feeling. Top items you'll want to include for this list are: your clothes/toiletries for the week, rehearsal outfits, wedding supplies, wedding party gifts, checks for your vendors, your marriage license, and a "Call Anyone but the Bride" contact list.

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Shopping List
If your wedding is a DIY extravaganza like mine you'll want to make sure you have all the supplies for crafting so you can hit the ground running when it's time to put things together. I made a spreadsheet shopping list that is divided into categories so I can shop in an efficient manner. I'm hosting a bridal party brunch the morning of my wedding as we get ready so I didn't want to forget any food items. My shopping list spreadsheet is divided into these categories: brunch items, alcohol, brunch decor, craft supplies, wedding decor, welcome boxes, and emergency kit supplies.

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Wedding Week To-Do List
To me, this list is what will most certainly keep me sane. I'm going to have some amazing helpers through out the week so the days I have help have more tasks. My "wedding gift" to Brian is that once we step in the church for our rehearsal I will not be worrying about things getting done, I will just sit back and soak up the memories being made. He's convinced that I'll get most everything done on Thursday and Friday I won't even really have much to do, I hope this is the case! For this list I made a spreadsheet with columns for each day and after writing down everything that needs to get done I started assigning tasks to days of the week.

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Our location was beautiful but very muddy from the rainstorm the night before, this is Brian teasing me about not being able to strut it in heels in the mud.

Shot List
Not that kind of shot you lushes! A list of "must do's" for your photographer and videographer, but let's be real I'm probably need a jagerbomb or two by the week of the wedding! This list will help you create your wedding timeline and help both you and your photography/videography team so everyone is on the same page. For this list I made a document with actual photos I've seen on Pinterest so no time will be wasted in trying to explain how we want the pose to go. I grouped the photos together by when they'll been taken, all the "getting ready" shots are together and all the wedding party photos are together. As far as our wedding video we sent links to the videos we liked most to our videographer so he's knows what "scenes" he needs to capture. I hate standing around trying to figure out what to do so I figured the less everyone has to worry about what the do the better the day will flow.

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This is my "Real Fiancee of Atlanta" money shot. 

I'm not the realistic bride that thinks everything is going to go off without a hitch and things will be perfect. I am however someone who likes to have an order to things and plans in place so that when something go wrong everyone can get past it quickly. Every time I start to get loco about my lists and timelines Brian tells me to watch the Scheana's wedding episode of Vanderpump Rules and I quickly realize that I don't want to be like that on our wedding day. However if Pandora and Lisa want to send some Vanderpump Vodka and Sangria my way I'll gladly accept.

via Arastasia Photography

I'm off to pack and get ready for our weekend in Cleveland. I'm linking up with Macy & Nikki for Wedding Wednesday and Jenn & Jessi for What's Hap-Pinning. I'd love to hear about your wedding lists and wedding day timeline tips and am happy to help you with your list questions so comment below and as always thanks for stopping by!

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Oh Hey Friday {9-11-15}

Hello everyone and Happy Friday! As each year passes this particular day always has a hold on me. When I wake up each September 11th I think about where I was on that day in 2001. I remember by 8th grade English teacher [the class I was in when the news broke] telling us that we would remember so many details of this day...what we wore, who we were with when we found out, how our parents would explain this to us and wow was she right!

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I remember when I got home from school that everyone was at my house, which was very unusual. After the exchange of "what did they tell you at school" and what not I was told that this was probably the start of a war and that my cousin Jeremy was more than likely going to be headed overseas to "there." To this day it was such a difficult concept to grasp and like many I wondered why this happened. It was so unreal, I had only ever seen this kind of stuff in movies.

Now as I reflect on that terrible day I realize how close our communities became, how families stopped bickering over stupid things and began to appreciate each other, and how proud everyone was to be an American. I miss those feelings. I feel like I can't turn on the news or go online without seeing something hateful and proof of how divided our country is. I'm not starting an argument and I don't want a debate. I just wish everyone would stop for five seconds and remember how they felt at this time fourteen years ago. A time before you could express yourself and your opinions on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. A time when you realized what was truly important and stopped being so selfish and ungrateful.

Today I will be a little nice, ignore hateful posts, tell those people I love them a few more times, and hug the ones I can a little tighter. Come on America...remember how strong and loyal we can be to each other. We're so much better than how we're acting now. GBA.

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Wedding Wednesday: Playing Florist

Hi y'all and welcome to Wedding Wednesday! I can't believe we're only 38 days away from our big day! I honestly feel like it was yesterday that we were a year out. Anyway today I'm going to share with you probably the craziest thing I'm doing for the wedding...the task of doing my own flowers. I will start with saying playing florist is not for everyone, especially if flowers are a very important aspect for you. I am not a professional nor will I claim to be but I love to offer help with what I've learned along the way. Luckily I had plenty of time to do research, play around, and even get an impromptu lesson from a local florist! Here are the questions I asked myself (and recommend any considering DIY wedding flowers ask themself) before making the big decision to do my own flowers...

The bouquet I made my friend Stacy for her wedding this past April

I made a charm with a photo of her father, who passed away, so he could still walk her down the aisle

Am I going to be able to handle doing them myself time wise?
I had to sit down and think if this was going to cause more stress to my week or be a creative outlet for me to use. For me arranging flowers is calming and helps me relax so anything to keep my mood up the week of the wedding is welcomed.

Yes, I did put on a navy dress to see how the flowers looked up against it! LOL

Do I have others willingly to learn and help?
Depending on how many arrangements that are needing to be made you might need some help. Do you have at least one other person who you know will be able to help with floral tasks? My mom is hands down the most crafty artistic person I know so she of course was happy to help with this. I'm teach her how to make the boutonnieres and she's going to help with putting those together while I make the bouquets.

My first attempt at a boutonniere, I've gotten better lol 

Can I take the time necessary to research and learn about the types of flowers I'm using? 
We decided to have what some may call a longer engagement so I had plenty of time to prepare and learn about the flowers I'm using. I started my research on Pinterest and found some great tutorial sites with videos that are super easy to follow. My best resource turned out to be a trip into a local florist when I went to buy supplies from a bouquet practice session. I told her that we were getting married up in Cleveland and that I was doing my own flowers. She jumped at the chance to teach me some helpful tips and facts that really made all the difference. For example, hydrangeas LOVE cold water and absorb more water when they're cut underwater. She recommended throwing some ice cubes in the buckets when they're re-hydrating from delivery. Maybe it was just Southern hospitality or maybe it was a simple act of kindness, regardless I'm so thankful for her help!

Brian is such a trooper for posing with these :)

Are my bouquet/centerpiece designs simple enough for me to pull off?
Of course I adored some of the extravagant arrangements I saw online but I'm no Rockefeller and decided to use the majority of our budget on what we (and everyone) truly appreciates...FOOD and DRINKS! Some arrangements may look complicated but once you break the elements down they can turn out to be very simple. The rustic, wildflower trend is so big now so when I find that friends are using that theme I'm highly recommend DIYing the florals. I'm a total sucker for wildflowers and if they fit in with my venue I would have had them in a heartbeat. I mean look at my sweet friend Maddie's flowers...how gorg?! These were picked from her mother-in-law's own garden, makes them even more special and beautiful!

Maddie, my adorable roommate from my first Disney internship :)

My inspirations via my Pinterest page

I've decided to stick with my main flowers being hydrangeas, spray roses, roses, and baby's breathe. I'm adding seeded eucalyptus and queen anne's lace here and there but those are just fun fillers. Brian wanted the boutonnieres to be made with spray roses and I had to agree with him because they look darling with bowties. I don't want to give away our centerpieces just yet because some of my loyal readers are coming to our wedding and I want to leave some surprises! After the wedding I plan on posting some tutorials on how I made my floral arrangements.

Today I'm linking up with Macy & Nikki for Wedding Wednesday and Jenn & Jessi for What's Hap-Pinning?! Did you do your own wedding flowers? Have any tips? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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