J Crew Bridesmaid Dresses in Action

Jumping off of that last post , I thought I would share a couple of photos of my weddings in which the bridesmaids wore J Crew dresses:

Rachele & Darin's wedding at The Dana on Mission Bay , with photos by En Luce Photography .

Eric & Cindy's San Clemente Wedding , photos by Joe Broccardo :

Bridesmaid Dress Bargains

I was in Gap the other day, and saw this dress :

Wouldn't it be a super cute bridesmaid dress? The best part- it is on sale right now for $39.99! It also comes in navy blue, and that is only $34.99. I would be such a happy bridesmaid! There were still a bunch of them in the store and you can buy them online. I might be getting myself one :)


This got me thinking that there are probably some other good deals out there right now too. Here is what I found for you:


Banana Republic has a few cute ones on sale. Added bonus: an extra 20% with code: EXTRA20

$159.99 Also in White

$119.99 Comes in Black as well. 

This one is a great option for a more formal dress. $199 for black & $149 for pink.

J Crew is one of my favorite places to find cute, stylish bridesmaid dresses. Many of my brides have chosen them for their girls and the maids were so happy! They said they would even wear them again (imagine that!). Fortunately, they have a ton of cute dresses on sale right now. Plus, they are offering free shipping on orders over $150. Here is a sampling of what they have:

$99.99 Grey is the new chocolate brown this year. I love this dress!

I love this classic line of this dress! Also in plum & dark brown. $69.99 

I love the first two colors, but this dress comes in 10 different colors! Most are $149.99, but two shades of green are only $79.99 (the one shown) or $99.99.

Sweet and simple. Only $69.99 . Also comes in black, aqua, green, light pink, and plum.

I think that one of my brides is using this one. $89.99 Also comes in black, espresso, magenta, orange and plum.

$99.99 Also comes in Aqua.

$79.99 

A very simple, clean and classy look. Also in aqua. $99.99 

I love this chartreuse dress! So cool! $169.99 Also in black, aqua, espresso, green, coral and bubblegum pink. 

I wish they still had this dress in my size. Wouldn't it be so cute as a cake cutting/dancing/send off dress? Or maybe for the rehearsal dinner?

This is seriously only a sampling of what they have on sale. If you are still looking, hop on over. They have some great vintage style dresses as well. 

And let's not forget the little ones: J Crew's Crewcuts has some adorable flower girl dresses:

Megan and Jason's Engagement pics

One of my favorite people to work with in the industry, Megan (who works for Classic Party Rentals ) is getting married in March and I was honored when she asked me to coordinate the wedding. It is going to be one amazing event! Listen to this line up: Vibiana , Good Gracious , Ryan Phillips , JL Designs, Vanilla Bake Shop,  Flawless Faces , Joe with Todays the Day and, of course, the best that Classic Party Rentals has to offer. I cannot wait!

Ryan recently took their engagement photos and I thought I would give you a sneak peak. 

Aren't they cute? To see more, check out Ryan's blog . 

O Holy Night

**I just realized that this never posted yesterday, as it was schedule to. I hope you all had an absolutely wonderful Christmas!**

I am headed out of the office for Christmas. I will be back in on Monday, the 29th-Tuesday the 30th and then on vacation again until January 5th. Please feel free to email me if you need to and I will get back to you at the beginning of next week.

Thank you all for following along with my Joyful Joyful series. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to next year already!

May the joy of Christ's birth fill your Christmas with happiness and love. Merry Christmas.

With joy and gratitude,

Courtney & the Joyful Team

Joyful Joyful #18: Last Minute gift card wrap idea

Had to buy some last minute gift cards? When I decide to give a gift card to someone, I always try to think of ways to creatively present it since there is not much to wrap.

We will be giving a few Chipotle giftcards, as it is one of our favorite places to each and many of our friends and family members love it almost as much as we do. Rather than giving the gift card in an envelope, I decided to get creative with it. Here is what I came up with:

I wrapped up the gift card in foil, just like their burritos:

Tied a little bakers twine on:

Then I made a pocket envelope out of a Chipotle napkin:

The final product:

All in all, it took me about 5 minutes and I had everything I needed for free.

Other fun ideas that I will be using are to put an Itunes gift card in a decorated CD case and putting a restaurant gift card in a take out container.

Happy last minute wrapping!

I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Christmas eve. May the joy of the night fill your hearts and homes with love.

Joyful Joyful #17: Home for the Holidays

I promised to give you a sneak peak into my decorated home, so here you go! I did not get all of my creative ideas and projects done, but I still have been enjoying what did get decorated.

I had different plans for displaying my Christmas cards but there just wasn't time. Here is what I ended up doing with some of them:

That lasted one night, until Isaiah woke up in the morning and started taking them all off.

Our tree, from 3ft and up:

From 3ft and under:

Things definitely change when you have an active 1 year old around!

A couple of my favorite ornaments:

This last one is a vintage locket that I found at an antique store. I love hanging photos on the tree!

To spice up my china cabinet, I cut a mirrored glass garland and draped a strand across the top and taped strands inside. There was one in the middle, but it did not want to stay up today! I love my Crate & Barrel Christmas dishes. I bought them years ago before we were married in the middle of summer :)

A reused sign from the Christmas tea , a couple of jars full of ornaments and fun frames. One of the frames holds a photo of me with Santa as a baby, a photo of my hubby with santa as a little boy and our Christmas card from our first year of marriage.

These vases from the tea were empty, but my thoughtful husband picked up some flowers for me at the store so that I could have flowers for Christmas. He is a keeper!

Thought I'd grab some lanterns out of the garage and pin them up:

I do not love my mantle this year. I could not find candles that I liked anywhere and nothing looked right. It is a very small ledge. I just gave up and learned to live with it. I planned on making new stockings- by next year maybe. The polka dot ones were made by me & my mom my sophomore year in college (they looked great in my dorm!) and we made Isaiah's last year and did a terrible job. Next year, next year. 

I do, however, like my wreath:

My favorite Christmas decoration is my banner from Anthropologie . I bought it in the middle of spring my second year of college. My friends thought I was crazy. I absolutely love it. It makes me smile.

I threw a little ribbon & bakers twine on my candles and vases to jazz them up:

The christmas thing (I don't know what to call it- any ideas?) was a last minute craft idea that came out of my hatred for throwing away paper scraps. I had a ton of strips left from my Christmas cards and decided that they were the right size to make a chain. I was wrong- too fat and not long enough, but I decided to still use it. I cut out some letters with my Cricut and voila!

I very much dislike my banisters, but what can you do when you're renting? Throw a glittery banner on them with fun ribbon- that's what.

I also added a little touch to the stairway by double-stick taping cute pieces of scrapbook paper on the wall. They have the words to "Deck the Halls" on them.

I love my tiny downstairs bathroom this year. It is normally blue and black, so I just added in some red accents.

Love those vintage little trees!

Last, but not least, how cute are my anthropologie dish towels that my lovely bride & industry peer Megan gifted me? Thank you so much again Megan! They have brought me so much cheer while doing dishes!

From our house (or downstairs at least) to yours, may your next two days be full of cheer!