Chalkboard Seating Assignment

While there are many options out there for seating assignments at a wedding, this one I really love. While attending a conference this spring I saw this great idea, Thanks Sasha! My Client was looking for something outside of escort cards for her seating assignment and I suggested a chalkboard. Instead of going out and purchasing one, I took on the diy project. Here is the lovely finished product below. I will show you exactly how I made it so you can for your next wedding or event! I took a trip out to Lowe's paint department and asked a few questions about using chalkboard paint. I was told that in order for the chalkboard paint to coat evenly on the plywood I would need to first prime the surface. This is exactly the primer I bought for the project, Kilz latex 2.

After that is was off to locate the Chalkboard paint, which wasn't hard because there was only one option to choose from. Here it is Valspar Chalkboard paint.

For the plywood I decided to choose one of the precut pieces at Lowe's. I would have no clue and no fingers if I even attempted to cut the plywood myself. So thank you Lowe's for having a precut section!! I chose to use the Birch plywood because it has a very smooth surface which meant no sanding needed! This piece was ½ inch thick x 2 wide x 4 tall.

Day One: I primed the surface using a paint roller. I thought that it would be 1. Quicker and 2. Smoother using a roller. But you might prefer to use a brush. I let the primer dry overnight.

Day Two: Here you can see the white primer that I am painting over with the first coat of chalkboard paint, again using a roller. I let that dry overnight.

Day Three: I painted the second coat of chalkboard paint, and let that dry overnight.

Here is a close up of the finished product with the names of the guests written with a chalk marker. The best part is, my client is going to take the chalkboard to her office to use now.

Dana and Mike Engagement Photographs

I couldn't wait to show you these gorgeous photographs of our clients Dana and Mike. They took all of their engagement photos around downtown Sycamore. Innerlight Photography has provided a few of their favorites for me to share with you today!

So excited for Dana and Mike's wedding this Saturday.

Baby Girl Shower

Last week I shared with you the invitations we designed for my good friends baby shower. Today you will be able to see all of the other elements for this custom designed baby girl shower! We started with a color palette of light pink, light green and white. The invitations were based on a bedding collection from Serena and Lily.

After the invitations were designed, I sat down with my very talented Sister in law, Tiffany Burdick with The Petal Boutique to design these gorgeous floral arrangements.

The floral we picked for this pink, green and white color palette were light pink stock, Trachellium, mini green hydrangea, green tea roses, Queen Anne's lace, green hanging Amaranthus, mini pink carnations, and pink titanic roses.

I love how fresh and sweet the flowers looked, perfect for a baby girl's shower!

We chose to arrange all of the flowers in square white ceramic vases

All of the linens were purchased from The BBJ Linen Store, and custom sewn to fit each table.

Our Mommy to be wanted a sweets table to be a part of her shower. The requests she had were funfetti cupcakes and one of her favorites powdered sugar brownies.

I have to warn you these next few pictures might make you hungry! I am a huge sweets person and had to hold myself back from stealing a few bites of my sweets table creation before the guests arrived. Although since I made most of these treats I was able to do a little taste testing along the way...shhhhh.

Great view of the entire sweets table. It included Nana's apple cake, Oreo balls, chocolate chip cookies, mint meltaways, Trinidad's, chocolate covered pretzels, funfetti cupcakes, snicker doodle cookies, and powdered sugar brownies. Yummmm!

Oreo Balls! These are such a fun treat for any occasion. For this event I chose to dye the white chocolate drizzle PINK! For the recipe of this yummy treat contact me here.

Chocolate chip cookies!

Powdered sugar brownies, hungry yet?

We had three different drink options for the guests, water, ginger ale punch and the raspberry lemonade shown here. Love this drink dispenser by Colin Cowie. It has a separate compartment for the ice so it keeps your drink cool but it does not get watered down! Genius!

We couldn't have a baby shower without the food. Veggies, fruit, cheese and sausage, mixed green salad, Cole slaw, potato salad, Italian beef, and pasta were on the menu.

When the guests arrived they were asked so sign into the guestbook and leave a wish or piece of advice for the mommy to be.

Loved this one and had to share it. It says "What happens at Grandmas, stays at Grandmas"

Here is Jenny our mommy to be!

She was blessed with so many gifts we almost couldn't see her!

Look at this humidifier!!! Adorable!

Once the gift opening had started the guestbook was used to record all the gifts that Jenny received.

We had one boy in attendance at the baby shower. Little Baby Austin, Jenny's nephew. So sweet!

Jenny was smiling the entire shower, especially when she received this dress! I had such a great time designing and participating in this shower. I just can't wait for the little "diva" to arrive!

Custom Invitations

Take a look at our custom invitation designed for my dear friend Jenny. It's a Girl!!This invitation was inspired by the bed linens of Serena & Lily
We are able to design on the front and back of all invitations
Insterested in having custom invitations made for your next event?
Contact us here.


This is a shot of the invitation with the linens and floral. All floral pieces were designed by my very talented sister in law Tiffany from, The Petal Boutique. Check back next week for the full Post on Jenny's Baby shower, including linens, flowers and a custom designed sweet station!

To see more photographs of this invitation and others visit our photo album on facebook.

Planning a wedding?

Planning a Wedding?

Have questions or need ideas?

Spend a complimentary hour with a the La di Events certified wedding planners!

Sunday, June 6 and Sunday June 13

at the new Regale Center

124 1/2 S. California Street, Sycamore

(Behind BJ's Decorating Center and MVP Sports Club)

Make your reservation now, only 8 appointments are available each day between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Call 815-739-5234 today!

For more information click here!

Wish Upon a Wedding

While attending a conference in early April, I was introduced to wedding professionals who are highly invloved with this wonderful nonprofit, Wish Upon a Wedding.

As the World’s first nonprofit wedding wish granting organization, Wish Upon a Wedding provides weddings at destinations across the United States for individuals facing life-threatening illness. It is a chance for couples to enjoy a very special day, without any thoughts of existing health issues, while surrounded by their closest family and friends.

Officially launched in January of 2010, Wish Upon a Wedding currently has 15 chapters to serve Wish Applicants. They service couples residing in or wishing to get married within 300 miles of any one of their chapter locations.

Chicago is one of the current Wish Upon a Wedding Chapters. They just completed their first wish this April. See the Video below

I have applied to be a wish granter and you can as well!

If you would like to be a part of our Wish Granting Team {or know someone who would} please submit a Wish Granter application.