Wedding Gift Ideas

 

As wedding season is here and I’m always interested in creative and original ideas to give to the bride and groom for wedding presents, I thought I would share a few neat gifts we received.  We received tons of wonderful gifts and of course lots of things from our registries, but these are a few that did not come from our registries and that I had never seen done before.

 

This is a beautiful tray that has our Save the Date printed on it.  It is so original and I couldn’t get over what I great idea it was.  It is from a company called Marye-Kelley out of Houston.  They decoupage just about anything you can think of and have wonderful gift ideas on their site. 

These are two different lamps we received as gifts.  Again, this was not on our registry;  but who can’t always use another great lamp.  I thought these were beautiful.  The one on the left comes from Orient Expressed in New Orleans and the other from Judy’s at the Rink.

 

This was a really fun idea from Uncommon Goods.  It’s personalized with our names, wedding date, and our first dance song. {Our song was actually Ain’t that A Kick in the Head by Dean Martin}  There are a lot of great personalization gifts and fun ideas on this website too.

 

  We had someone take our wedding invitation which is shown below and send it to Judy’s at the Rink in New Orleans and they engraved it in the Lucite tray that you see below.  I was fascinated by this gift.  You see wedding invitations framed and things like that, but I had never seen one done like this.  I just loved it!  What a great keepsake.

  

I absolutely love this.  My aunt owns an art gallery in New Orleans so we were very lucky to get such a nice gift but it has a lot of meaning too.  This picture was painted of the French Quarter and more specifically, Arnauds Restaurant, where we had our Rehearsal Dinner.  You can find more of Meredith Keith’s work here at my Aunt’s art gallery.

 

Below is a monogrammed door bell! How gorgeous is that???  I love it.  They knew that we would soon be building a house and came up with this thoughtful gift.  I’ve never seen one like it.  Unfortunately, I can not find a website or contact information for the designer of this doorbell.  It is by Rae Rae Miller and it came from Mobile, AL.  Please let me know if you can find any information on them.

 

I love the gorgeous candlestick from Orient Expressed in New Orleans and the painting of a bride by Lynette Collins Walker.  It was so wonderful to get great gifts for around the house.  Things like art, lamps and candles are something I can always use in our home.

I hope some of these gifts gave you some great ideas for your next wedding.  I loved sharing our gifts and wish that I could share them all because they truly were spectacular.  I got so many great entertaining items and am ready to throw my first summer bash with all of my fun new gifts! 

From Adams to Malone

I got married since the last time I've posted for you guys!!! We had the most amazing weekend of our lives.  I went from an Adams to a Malone!  Check out our pictures from our incredible photographer at http://creativeimagesproofing.com/gallery/annie-and-matt-engagement-758603

The Perfect Guest Room

Summer is here and lots of people are ready to hit the road for summer vacation or visits with family and friends that live out of town.  I don’t know about you, but I love hosting my friends or family at my home.   I also have a huge appreciation and take notice when I am at someone else’s house and I can tell they made a special effort to make the guest room extra cozy and homey. I came across this adorable water color and blog post from Jess at The Aestate and had to share.  She covers the essentials to a cozy guestroom for your house guests and she hand paints these watercolors.  WOW.

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1.  Fresh Flowers- Who doesn’t love a beautiful vase of wonderful smelling flowers next to their bedside?

2.  Luggage Rack- Have you ever noticed that just about every hotel you have ever been to has one of these?  They are great and can be found at Ballard Designs.

3. Waste Bin- Bedroom/Bathroom must have

4. Scented Candle & Matches-  I think for the bedroom this is nice, but definitely a must in the guest bathroom.  One of my favorite candles is the Tyler scent from www.tylercandles.com.

5. Tissues-  You never know when your guest might need them in the middle of the night.  This is a nice bedside touch.

6. Alarm Clock- This is a great back up just in case your friends or family has not joined the rest of the 21st century and does not have an alarm on their phone.

7. Pen & Paper- A hotel always supplies this don’t they?

8. XL Robe-  This is always a nice touch.  Most of your guests will probably not even bother using it, but I still think it is a great idea to supply one.

9. Good Reading Light- Your guests may read every night before they go to bed and you would hate to be the one to break them of their routine :)

10. Magazines- Being a lover of magazines, I always think this is a nice touch.  You probably have some laying around your house already, so just throw a couple recent ones in for leisurely reading.

11. Pitcher & Glass- I am always extremely impressed when I see this on a guest room bed side table.  But it makes so much sense.  Don’t we all bring a glass of water to bed with us every night? This is great if your guests forgot theirs or needs a refill at 2am.

12. Snacks- Any type of snack might be nice, but what I think is really special is an evening sheet turndown with a little bite of chocolate on their pillow. I love it when a hotel does that for me.

13.  Wooden Hangers-  This is a nice touch in the closet for your guest’s clothes. $4 for 8 pack at www.ikea.com.

 

Another nice touch can be placing your guests bath towels, hand towels and wash cloth on the end of their bed.  That works well if it is a one or two night stay.

What do you do for your guests to make them feel more at home? Do you have any special touches?