SATURDAYS WITH STYLE

Welcome to my blog! If you've been reading, you know that I've been a little bit "all over the place" up to this point in regards to blogging. I just haven't been able to decide on a direction! But, I may be getting on track now...or at least beginning to get on track...

I have decided to have "theme days" on my blog...not everyday, all the time, but sometimes. I like the idea of the following theme days (let me know what you think!): Monday's Ministry, Travelin' Tuesdays, Worshipful Wednesdays, Thinner Thursdays, Family & Friends Friday, Saturdays with Style, and Sundays are the "So Blessed, Day of Rest" days. These are subject to change. :)

Saturdays with Style is exciting to me, because I have always been obsessed with design, especially interior decorating and event planning. I have enjoyed decorating our homes over the years, & helping family and friends decorate theirs. I've also had several opportunities to work as an event and wedding stylist. I've been a little bit of a "jack of all trades", doing everything from assisting the client with choosing a theme, doing the actual styling and floral arrangements for the event, to even doing the catering and "food styling"! I love this work, but it is HARD and time consuming! And, it tends to put my loved ones through the wringer because I always call upon them for help. :) So, I limit the number of events I take on each year.

I love design, decorating, and staging so much that a couple of years ago I became a certified specialist in "Redesign & Staging" by IRIS (Interior Redesign Industry Specialists), and also as a "Certified Color Consultant" by Dewey Color Consulting.

My plans at the time were to begin my own business in redesign, staging and event planning, and I started out doing this with a friend in a business we called Interior Expressions. However, I became pregnant in the early days of our business with my second child, William, and this brought all of my plans to an abrupt halt. (My pregnancies are another blog story altogether - I am always out of commission for the full nine months.) So, I had to postpone my dream of my own business for a time. Thankfully, my friend was able to go on and successfully establish her own business as a real estate agent and staging/redesign specialist.

I hope to start up a business again one day soon. For now, I am content to help out friends and family whenever I can, and loan my services to charities on occasion, as I am raising my sons and addressing a few health issues. Maybe by next year I'll be ready to get it going again, if I can narrow all of my interests down into a marketable product/service! We'll see what the Good Lord has in store!

But for now, on Saturdays with Style, I'd love to take the opportunity to share some of the ideas that I've either had and implemented, or some of the great ones that are shared with me by so many of the talented individuals I know. Sometimes, I may just run across something on the internet, in a shop, or in a magazine that just calls out to be shared! I'd love to see and hear about the stylish ideas you love! Just email them directly to me if you want to share! Who knows? I may want to "borrow" them, with your permission, for Saturdays with Style! :)

Since today's blog entry has been so long, I will only share with you a few pictures of some of the table decorations I created for an autumn wedding reception at the gorgeous Allandale Mansion in Kingsport last fall.

I'm inspired to post these today because my church had their annual Women's Ministries Holiday Dinner last night. At this event, many of the wonderful ladies share their gifts and talents by beautifully decorating a table for the holidays with their own personal style, and serving for the evening as a hostess to seven guests, for dinner and a wonderful program of entertainment, which includes music, skits, and a speaker. I was so sad to miss this year's event! I usually help decorate for the event and serve as a hostess for one of the tables, but this year I have had a lot of health issues that prevented me from attending. I am sure it was an incredible event, however, and I can't wait to see the pictures! I am sure they will be posted on our Women's Minsitries blogsite very soon: www.isbcwm.blogspot.com.

So, today, I hope you'll enjoy these pictures of table arrangements that I designed for the wedding reception. I did the floral arranging and styling, as well as the catering for this event.

In the weeks ahead, I will share some more photos of the other decorations, such as the entry, doors, etc... from the same reception. In the meantime, maybe you will find some ideas among these that you would like to include for your own table decor this season! Enjoy!









It rained before the reception, so we had to fold the chairs for a while: