Coffee & Honeycomb

Jon Stewart's monologue on the church shooting in Charleston became viral recently, tugging on audiences' heart strings and forcing Americans to re-evaluate the language and behavior construed around crime, tragedy, racism, and terrorism. His monologue was eye-opening and striking — especially his honest admission that as a comedian he couldn't muster up comedy surrounding this particular event frankly because it's happening so frequently. He mentioned that he is appalled that while we (Americans) recognize the frequency and severity of such hate crimes happening in our own backyards, little action is taken.

I usually don't talk about current events here, not because I don't find them important, but because Coffee & Honeycomb isn't the appropriate place to talk about it... But with all of this happening, urgency is stirring in me and silence doesn't seem like it's the answer. I don't have much to say or to offer... but to be open, aware, and prayerful. #prayforcharleston

As much as I appreciate paper and being able to physically hold design in my hands, E and I made the decision to send our wedding save the dates electronically. While a physical save the date would have been so nice, we decided it was a "want" more than  'need" and we put the money toward something else.(Envelope and stamps are not cheap, people.) However, that was not going to deflate my design dream or make me settle on a mediocre save the date. I still wanted the flexibility to design the card and make it a personal or memorable experience for each recipient. It was a big deal to me to officially announce to our guests that E and I were getting married and an honor to share it with people. :) So, when we discovered GreenEnvelope, we were thrilled. Surprisingly there aren't many services available that offer full design customization and electronic capability as I was looking for, but GreenEnvelope did exactly the trick (plus more!)

Side note: if you are planning to send physical save the dates, I would HIGHLY recommend Minted which offers so many great options and designs.

For those also planning to send out e-save the dates, I highly recommend considering GreenEnvelope. Here are three reasons why:

FLEXIBILITY & CUSTOMIZATION
When first creating your save the date, you have the option of either uploading your own design (cha-ching for me), selecting one of their premade templates, or working with one of their online designers to create the work for you. Depending on how much control you want over the aesthetics, GreenEnvelope should have a simple solution for you.

ADDED FEATURES
Not only do you customize the actual save the date card, but GreenEnvelope' replicates the entire experience to one similar of opening a physical save the date. You choose the envelope color, envelope lining, and background; while it virtually opens in front of you like a real card! There are also options to include additional information if interested: a song, photos, wedding website, etc.

DASHBOARD PORTAL
This was my favorite part of using GreenEnvelope. The portal has an advanced guest list dashboard allowing you to store guests by families and/or association, as well as give you visibility over open rate, messaging, etc. Take a look.



What are your thoughts on electronic save the dates? What services do you recommend?

Hi friends! Today I'm co-hosting a linkup with my dear blog friend, Kiki @ In Its Time. I've known Kiki for over two years now(!!!) and although we've never met IRL, her powerful words of encouragement, faith, and authenticity have impacted my life in multiple ways. If you haven't read her blog before, I highly suggest you set aside a couple of hours and get lost (here). 

WHAT IS THE CIRCLE LINK UP:
The Circle is a monthly link-up for bloggers to get to know each other better while writing on fun, light-hearted prompts. It was created by Kiki two years ago with the intention of creating a space for bloggers of all sizes and from all places of the world to come together and build a better blog community. Since then, she's co-hosted with many other bloggers such as Meg @ Rivers and Roads, Bailey @ Brave Love, and Elizabeth @ Oaks + Oats, just to name a few.

THE THEME: 
Considering that Memorial Weekend is right around the corner and people are ready to bust out their grills, flip flops, and swimwear, this month's theme is MOODBOARD15 — create a moodboard with 15 spring inspired pieces. You can interpret that in multiple ways: What are you most looking forward to about spring? What has inspired you this spring season? What is in your spring wardrobe? What about spring home decor? For my moodboard, I added items on my wishlist and things I've seen trending spring 2015 including both clothes and home decor. Take a look! :)



NOW YOUR TURN!
Join the fun and share with us your spring moodboard! If you haven't made one before, they are easier than you might think. Try these free sites PicMonkey or Polyvore to get started. :) When you're ready... Grab a button, add your link below, and share your post with the hashtag #thecirclelinkup. Yay! I can't wait to see all of your boards! 

If you're like me, you had an exact vision of what you wanted your venue to look like before beginning research. Don't you guys remember my first post on getting wedding inspiration? For me, I wanted a really bright open space with maximal windows (or even better, outdoors), gold chivari chars, and I wanted to stay far away from a traditional ballroom. I had lists of themes, inspirational images, and photo opps. I was going to rock wedding planning's butt. Little did I know, once I actually started to figure out logistics, there were a lot of shock moments like: This venue costs HOW much? You have to pay more for chivari? This venue isn't available til 2050? Maybe an all-inclusive traditional ballroom isn't so bad afterall...

To avoid you the shock and any pre-mature work, here are some tips that may help you realistically find the perfect wedding venue for you:

BE OBJECTIVE
Before the venue reels you in with its complementary bridal gift or the top-notch view of the city, stay as objective as you can and do your homework. Do not bring your emotional giddyness into this. Wedding venues are expensive and will probably be where the bulk of your budget goes (venue rental, food, alcohol, decor, etc.) so be wise. Start with these basic questions to make sure this venue is feasible:
- Can we afford this? 
- Is it available for my date? 
- What is the max capacity? Can it fit my needs?
- What are the restrictions? (i.e. timing, decoration, weather, etc.)
- What is included? 

BE PRACTICAL 
When E and I first started planning, we both agreed to do a backyard wedding. Because how cute and fun and charming and talk about CHEAP would a backyard wedding be? Wrong. We quickly learned that there were a lot of extra hoops to jump through, fines to pay, and things to consider for the so-called cute/fun/charming/cheap backyard wedding. For example: we would need to rent a kitchen and generator for the caterer, fans, lights, and portal pottys for the guests, confirm appropriate landscaping and parking, on top of renting literally everything (tent, tables, chairs, silverware, etc.) The list went on. Don't get me wrong, some brides can rock the details and not break a sweat. For E and I, it wasn't practical considering we were planning long-distance and couldn't sort out those minor details nor did we want to worry about Grandma complaining about the heat, kids covered in mosquito bites, and girls heels all sunken into the grass. 

Now that story may not be relevant for you and you might be the bride who can rock a backyard wedding, but there will most likely come a point in time when you need to choose practical over something else. And that's okay, practical does not have to mean "no fun or cute ideas allowed." You can still have the wedding of your dreams as long as you choose to make the best of the situation (and you won't have the debt or rain or chaos to follow you after.)

BE NICE
Let's not forget that you have a fiance who also gets to have an opinion that may not be aligned with yours. Just because he thinks that ivory is the same thing as white (eye roll, men) or doesn't know what a centerpiece is, he is still allowed to provide input. Don't look at me, you're the one marrying him. Jokes aside, the last rule is to be nice. :) Consult with your fiance and bring him into the process! The extra set of eyes can help poke holes into places that are in your blind spot. Two is always better than one. Don't let a disagreement frustrate you, in fact that's a good opportunity to justify why you like your venue versus his. If you don't have a strong argument, maybe he's right...

WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, MAKE A LIST
Pro/con lists are everything, especially when you are stuck between two really great options. Writing down the pros/cons for each venue can ultimately help you choose the best one - which is the best feeling ever and you can finally move on to the fun stuff! Here is a free printable you and your fiance can use when it comes time to make the final decision. 

Feel free to pin, print, and share as many times as you want!

I discovered Elle & Co recently and have been poring over archives and archives of her blog posts each night before bed (#nerd). Her posts are so inspiring and motivating — and all so beautifully designed. Elle's business model and personal vision has changed the way I think about blogging, and I want to start taking her nuggets of wisdom into action! Hence the re-brand. My goal is to slowly move Coffee & Honeycomb from a hub of scattered personal posts to one that is more purposeful, resourceful, and inspiring! Here are some practical and simple tips I'm going to start implementing around here and ones you can leverage today, too.

DEFINE YOUR READER 
When you write to a large, faceless crowd, it's easy for the quality of your content to become dull, scattered, and pointless. It's important to define exactly who your reader is — or who you want your reader to be. How old is he/she? What are his/her dreams? Why is he/she coming to your blog? Taking the time to wrestle through these questions will give you more clarity as you write each post moving forward and may even give you more ideas of what to blog about.

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
One of my favorite pieces of advice I learned in college was that when you are trying to communicate a message, whatever the medium may be, is to ask yourself three critical questions. What does my audience currently know? What does my audience need to know? How can I bridge that gap? Asking myself those three questions has always helped when writing papers, delivering presentations, and I'm realizing now it's just as important when writing a blog post. Make sure that every piece of your post answers and addresses these questions. It will take more thought and time at first, but it will make the message effective, engaging, and relatable.

SELECT YOUR CATEGORIES
What are the main topics you talk about? How would you group or categorize your blog posts? Is there any sort of similarity or consistency among them? Ask yourself these questions and start just listing out everything that comes to mind. Now look for any pattern or consistency within your list and use that as a starting point for your categories. To take it one step further, identify categories that you are most passionate about, most knowledgable on, and most importantly, add some sort of value to your reader.

DISSECT YOUR CATEGORIES
FREQUENCY: Once you have your categories identified, consider the hierarchy of importance. How frequently do you write about each category per week/month? Does that reflect how important they are? The two should correlate.
  
TIMING: Make yourself an editorial calendar and select the exact days you will write about each category.
  
POSTS: Brainstorm up to 10 possible blog posts for each category so you have a pool of posts to choose from.

TAKE ACTION
You've read my tips and are now hopefully itching to start brainstorming and re-branding your own blog. I created a free printable that you can use to help as you begin that process. There is space for defining your mission, reader, and categories just like we discussed! Click the button below to download the free printable and use it as a guide. Scribble all over it and may it get your creative juices flowing. Feel free to pin, share, and print as many times as you want!

XOXO,
JENNY

Wedding planning is fun, wonderful, and exciting, but also stressful all at the same time. I'm learning that truth firsthand. There's tough decisions to make, realistic expectations to set, and peoples' feelings you need to consider at all times. It sometimes feels like one never ending juggling act - once you cross one thing off the list, four unexpected things come up! But I firmly believe all of wedding planning will be worth it as long as we as brides 1) don't sweat the small stuff 2) hold on to what matters most. So each Wednesday, I will share a wedding tip that can hopefully benefit other brides out with their planning!