Autumn in the Blue Ridge Mountains

It's autumn in the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

Colors are starting to peak. Leaves are turning, falling.

The air is crisp and cool, and it's the perfect time to hike those majestic mountains.

Smoky Mountain Morning

I Love Autumn

Autumn River View

Autumn Update

As autumn rolls in and the holidays near, I understand that schedules (including mine) get busy with school and sporting events, family gatherings, outreach ministries and so much more. It's also a season where bloggers take breaks and readers read less. 

Knowing such, I am choosing to back down my posts for the months of October through December. Rather than work on new posts for these few months, I am going to do a few different things.

1. On Mondays, I will take a scripture God has brought to the forefront and use it in a devotion format to encourage us at the beginning of the week.
2. On Wednesdays, I would like to get to know you better. You, my readers, are important to me. I'm thrilled to see some new faces and hear some new voices leaving comments. Thank you for joining us! I will post a brief "Getting to Know You" post in which I will tell you a little bit about me. I would then love it if you would share your thoughts about you. Hopefully, this will be a lot of fun!
3. On Fridays, I will share a photograph I've taken or a graphic I've created. I hope these will inspire and encourage you, as well. They may or may not be attached to a brief post.
4. I will still continue posting book reviews on Thursdays. I have a lot of books I'm loving reading and/or promoting and will continue to share these finds with you. Please watch for posts concerning Mary DeMuth's October 16th release Everything. I will most likely continue blogging through this book and share the review with you on the 16th. I am hosting a blog tour for the release on October 30th. Please stop by and leave some comment love for Mary. She's an amazing woman of God.
5. Please be sure to visit my website, Inspire a Fire, for more encouragement to ignite that flame for God in your spheres of influence.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey we call life. I appreciate you and hope my words continue to reflect God's heart and bring encouragement to your hearts. 

Fall Weddings - Part 2

One of the first things that my husband and I decided on when planning our fall wedding was that we would stay within our small budget. Invitations were the first item that I wanted to take care of, and we opted for a medium-sized guest list. We have a lot of church family, and we didn't want to leave anyone out. In order to save money, we decided to create our own invitations, rather than spend money ordering them. I went to a local office supply store and found some autumn patterned stationery. I designed the wording on my parents' computer, and we printed them out. They were beautiful, and they cost us next to nothing!


When we figured out how many guests we were planning for, we started looking into food options. When reflecting on autumn and the splendor that it beholds, we considered the bounty in harvest time. A cornucopia of foods was our final decision. Again, we were sticking to a small budget, so we took a trip to our local Sam's Club. We spent less than one hundred dollars on food for our wedding. No kidding. We bought whole chunks of deli meats and cheeses. We took them to a friend of ours who owned a local restaurant at the time, and he sliced them for us. My mother and some of the ladies from our church rolled them and placed them onto disposable platters that we had purchased. We then asked our friends and family to consider making a dish to pass, and we ended up with a fabulous buffet feast.

Our decorations followed suit with the seasonal bounty theme. Gourds, pumpkins, candles in autumn spice scents. Vines. We brought nature into the rooms. Why pay a fortune when you can find inspiration in your back yard or along the roadside?

We didn't need to spend a fortune in order to have fun, either. We looked at who we knew and chose our photographer and our d.j. from that list. We were blessed by both with very reasonable pricing. Another lady that we knew from church blessed us with our wedding cake. It was her gift to us for our big day. Think about who you know. They are usually more than happy to contribute to your celebration and will give you lower prices than those who are in their business for the money.

These are a few more tips for planning a fall wedding on a budget. I hope that you've found some useful pointers!

Below are some fabulous table setting finds that are available on Etsy.com. To see the designer's shop, please click on the photograph. It will take you directly there.


Left - Right: Cotton Bird Designs, Mary Wibis, Beadz2Pleaz

Left - Right: April Hiler Designs, Tim Wilson Glass Art, Sunshine And Ravioli

Left - Right: Chester and Donkey, mooshoopork, flores del sol

Fall Weddings - Part 1

It was 11 years ago this past Saturday...October 3rd, 1998, when my husband and I exchanged our wedding vows on a beautiful autumn day! The leaves were in their peak color, and the air was crisp. The sky was slightly overcast for most of the day, but it was still a beauty to behold!

In honor of the fond memories of that day, I wish to focus my blog on "Fall Weddings on a Budget" this week. I have searched one of my favorite places to shop, www.Etsy.com, to find items ranging from wedding gowns to decorations to invitations...everything one could think of desiring to have for their fall wedding.

I have had more than one person (actually, I've had several people) report back that our wedding was one of the best they'd ever been to. How did we pull off such a successful event? This week, I'll tell you all about it!

The first thing that a bride typically thinks of when she's proposed to is her dream wedding gown. At least, that's what I immediately started thinking of! What colors did I want in my wedding party? WHO did I want in my wedding party? What style dress did I want to wear? Where would I find that dress?

My Bridal Party:
Amy Kropp (college friend), Lisa Morales (sister-in-law), Frieda Suess (sister),
Tracie DeSilva (MOH), and myself

I already knew who should be in my bridal party. My cousin was my first choice of Maid of Honor, but she couldn't be there. My second choice was obvious to me, and she turned out to be the best "MOH" (pronounced "Moo") ever!!! She literally laid down her life for me and my fiance the entire week or two before our wedding! My first advice for planning a budget wedding? Find someone who loves you enough to lay their life down for you in preparation for your big day. Make that person your Maid of Honor! I never could have done it without her! My bridesmaids were just as obvious. Siblings, college buddy, done!

Colors? We purposely chose the first weekend of October as our wedding date. There were two reasons behind this: 1. We didn't want to wait to get married. 2. We knew that it would be peak fall color that week. Because I believe that there is no true way to recreate God's glorious colors, we wanted those colors to be our main focus. (Sure, we come close to recreating His colors, but nothing compares to the fall foliage in the mountains!)

We chose black and white to be our wedding party colors, and we drew from nature for the rest. Our decorations, flowers, photos, and more contained the "pop" of autumn color that we were looking for! We used fall colored flowers, gourds, pumpkins, wheat, and more to pull the color into our black and white wedding party. Look around, use what God created to make your wedding look complete. It doesn't cost anything to drive down the road and cut some wildflowers from the fields to fill your table centerpieces or your bouquets.

My choice for a dress was very close to what I'd always dreamed of. I always admired lots of layers to my gown's skirt. I also always imagined a white gown. To keep costs low, I decided to wait for David's Bridal to have their $99 Sale. It took some digging and a lot of changing room action, but I finally found my perfect gown! With a couple of tucks done by a close friend (rather than paying for the tailoring), it was a perfect fit! Between gown, veil, and a bridal garment, the total cost was $330! What a bargain! Having the perfect dress and veil doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. Save the money for the honeymoon! In all honesty, I think my bridal ensemble was the most expensive part of our wedding, after the rings!

Here are some gowns that I found at www.Etsy.com when searching autumn wedding:

Absolutely Breathtaking and Stunningly Beautiful Gowns
from Romantic Threads:

These are quite lovely and would look fabulous with a warm bridal shawl thrown over your shoulders to keep you warm in the crisp autumn breeze!

from Rohm and
from Exquisite Gowns

Fall Shawls (click on photo for link to shop)

Tomorrow, I'll be back with more wedding tips!

More Fall Fancies...

www.PhotogenicGallery.etsy.com

The air is crisp and cool in the morning, and the leaves are starting to change here in the South! In honor of the season, here are some more fall fancies for you to browse!

Today's topic: Pumpkins and Cutie Pies!

Who doesn't love a trip to the pumpkin patch? A time honored tradition of the season...anyone seen Charlie Brown?

"Picking Pumpkins"
Artzy Fartzy Studios by Deborah L Walmer

"Pumpkin" perfection by Red Linc Art by Tracey Rediker

This little guy is all ready to go! And he's soooo incredibly cute! I bet he's as sweet as those pumpkin candies...

This little guy's hat is going to be featured in Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine.
The crafter who made the hat is Deb Robinson.
Her photographer for this shoot is Julia Weatherby.
To see more absolutely precious pictures, please visit her website at:
www.weathershenkerphotography.com

Matt's Crafty Wife

A softie for your little sprout?
Or maybe get a few and put them into a lovely bowl like the ones below
for a great autumn display in your home!

ZizzyBob

Dont' forget to fill them with candy for those little trick or treaters who will be coming your way!

Want something for your cutie pie to wear to the pumpkin patch?
Check out these picks from the Etsy seamstresses:

Yellow is the new black...from Sewn Natural

A bit of country charm...and a really great smile! from Hullabaloo Boutique

And Lovely Long Sleeved Peasant Dresses from All The Numbers...

~ For The Boys ~

The leaves are falling on these pants from Room To Romp


It's the bear necessities in these fun duds from Thumbora!

And finally, Inky Blue Designs is getting ready for Halloween...Where The Wild Things Are!



Join me again next week for some pointers on having an affordable fall wedding, as I celebrate 11 wonderful years with my dearest man!