9A Then & Now

This past weekend, Brooklyn Boy and I made the quick drive down to Potomac, Maryland to see the last of my 4 original roommates from 9A get married! All 4 original roommates and their now husbands made it to the wedding! 

It's hard to even describe what it was like to live in our Upper West Side's 9A apartment, with these girls. To say the least, it was fun, hilarious, filled with baking and talking and Bachelorette watching, 1 shared bathroom, a kitchen always stocked with ingredients for dump cake, spotted with trips to visit family in DC, lots of time at the beach, Monday night Bible Study, a little write up about our apartment, and Joe, our delightfully pushy Yugoslavian super who was always worried we'd never get married . . . . If only Joe knew!

Taken in front of the sketch NJ motel we stayed in one summer - it was on the beach! 

Potomac, Maryland.

Eating banana pudding at Magnolia Bakery. 

And here we are this weekend past at Emily's wedding! 4 years later!

Love these girls and loved seeing them this weekend! To think what can happen over the course of a few years . . .

letterpress business cards!!

Has anyone else researched business cards online only to get simultaneously over + underwhelmed by the options out there? I love all the expensive lux options, but don't really want to shell out a bazillion dollars. And then there are the dunder-mifflin-esque options with head shots and 1 ply paper. Which aren't really my thing either. It's been a challenge to find something sharp and clean and affordable, not to mention, letterpress!

So I emailed almost every graphic designer friend I have to get some suggestions. After looking at a few different vendors, I landed on The Mandate Press, a vendor on Etsy that I had briefly looked at for wedding stuff last year, but had forgotten about. 

They're based in Salt Lake City, Utah and were fantastic to work with. Quick responders and eager to help. They offer 250 letterpress business cards for $95! Which is a DEAL if you've looked for anything letterpress.

They helped keep the design simple, as I wanted a calling email card, and was thrilled at how they turned out. Here's the really fun part, the lovely team at Mandate Press is actually offering 10% off to our readers - head on over to their store and use this code: MODERNHANNAH. Getcha some letterpress! 

Logo by the one and only LeighAnn Tufts. 

Jane Street Bedroom After

Hello hello! I'm returning to normal life after a week of being totally blissfully disconnected. What a treat. Last Sunday, Brooklyn Boy and I flew into Dallas to hang out with my family for a few days before heading to Oklahoma to help with Brooklyn Boy's sisters wedding. It was a packed to the max week! We had quality time with both families and got sister all married off!

This week we'll get back into the regular swing of things - starting with the bedroom afters from the Jane Street Redo!

Here's the before:

The room had potential, but lacked consistency and personality - But not once we were done with it! Here's the after:

Like the living room, we went for a glamorous, old Hollywood, neutral and feminine feel. We brought in lots of metallic, different textures and lots of mirrored and gilded items.

We hung metallic linen curtains behind the headboard to add height and structure to the room. It gave such impact to the room. I also loved these Cubist Euro Shams from West Elm - they added a modern kick to this very sophisticated palette.

We found these natural coral lamps from Jcpennys of all places! Bringing in natural textures is a great way to soften a space.

It was fun indulging my own love of gold and shiny things in this redo! If you're looking for large statement mirrors - check out Z Gallerie! Not only large scaled, but affordable.

I've mentioned her before, but Leeanne Rickey is a friend of mine from college who is a floral stylist in the city. She put together the most beautiful arrangements for this redo!

Especially love them on this rustic table.

And there you have it! The full redo of the Jane Street Apartment.

one year later - part 2

And onto the ceremony! 

This is my mom about to walk down the aisle. She found some fabric she liked and had a girl on Etsy MAKE that skirt for her - pockets and all! Talk about clever!

Here's Tom Sellek or John Stossle my dad! We were giddy all the way down the aisle.

I do. I do. Kiss. Bam. Married!

It's about 90 seconds after these pictures (below) were taken when Brooklyn Boy finally told me where we were going on our honeymoon! Dominican Republic! 

Naturally we broke out into an impromptu dance party immediately following the ceremony.

Now our getaway car. My dad is long time friends with Don, who has a small collection of fabulous cars and gigantic longhorns :) It was a done deal the second Brooklyn Boy heard Rolls Royce and longhorns in the same sentence. So off we went in true Texas style. 

We had our reception at Patrizio's, a long time family favorite restaurant of ours! It was an unconventional option that I'd always had in the back of my mind. We didn't seriously consider it, though, until we decided to swap wedding dates and venues early in the game. Thankfully, Patrizio's was interested and available in hosting our reception which was HUGE, considering they'd never housed a wedding reception! 

For our wedding, I wanted the ceremony to feel reverent and the reception to be a PARTY! We decided to nix some of the traditional wedding things (garter/bouquet toss, cutting the cake, speeches) to keep the momentum of the night moving. 

All of our flower details were done by Junior at Garden Gate, who I just loved. 

We had a variety of small and medium sized cakes provided by Chocolate Angel, a bakery in Plano.  Lots of different flavors, all delicious! 

Walking into our reception was certainly surreal! 

What had upbeat first dances and father/daughter + mother/son dances. 

And we danced the night away!! Some of our dear friends from Brooklyn took care of music for us and legitimately played the night away! 

There was a beautiful patio strung with very Father of the Bride lights. It was a great spot for cooling off or traking a break from the crazy dance party happening inside.

I think we were singing Jay Z's New York at this point . . .  The music that night was out of this world. Brooklyn Boy and I just danced and danced and danced!!

Sweet friends came from all over the place! 

I'm getting so tickled just looking at these pictures.

And before we knew it, it was time to leave!

I think Brooklyn Boy and I would agree - we felt present, thankful and overwhelmed with our precious family and friends that night. They made that whole experience for us! 

While nothing is ever perfect, there isn't one thing I'd change about that whole weekend. To us, it was just the best. 

Thanks for reading the recap! Sorry it was a year late :_

One Year Later - Part 1

Brooklyn Boy and I celebrated our one year anniversary yesterday! Can't believe it's already been a year. What in the world! I never did a proper recap of the wedding, whoops, so why not do it a year later!  Back to May 12, 2012 everyone . . . 

Saturday morning, all the girls in the wedding headed over to my parents house for coffee and pigs-in-a-blanket (a flora family tradition). It was casual and wonderful :)

We lounged around and apparently looked at something VERY interesting on someone's ipad! All the girls wore their bridesmaid / house-party gift - an oversized monogram button down. 

Here's the whole adorable group. Most of us know each other from Auburn, but there are a few sisters and New York gals in there too. Between the group, we cover New York, Birmingham, Nashville, Atlanta, Tulsa, St. Petersburg, Dallas and Autaugaville. 

The girls also picked up their snazzy Target Exhilaration shoes to wear with their bridesmaid dresses :) And we cleaned our wedding rings/bands. Cause thats what you do before you get married. 

Invites by the one and only LeighAnn Tufts. 

One of my grandmothers has always been known to my sister and I as the "Purse Granny." Before Christmas, each year, she would take us to pick out a new handbag. She was building our handbag collection that we'd have forever. And she was right, I still have all the classic little bags that she gifted to me over the years. Well, she felt the same way about my wedding shoes. She got these for me (and got my sisters weddings shoes too!) I just love knowing they are from her. 

Back to the house! Once all the girls had grazed as much as we possibly could, we started getting ready. 

Then we headed over to the church! I grew up in Plano, Texas, but hadn't lived there for almost 10 years (4 years at Auburn and 5 years in New York). So you can imagine how surreal and exciting it was to get married in the church I grew up in. 

Sister and I before I put on my dress. 

We took full advantage of the Bridal suite at church and loaded everyone in! Mom and sister helped me into my dress. 

 I love this picture of Brooklyn Boy and his sister! 

It was just the most bizare and wonderfully overwhelming feeling for all of my worlds plus all of Brooklyn Boy's worlds to converge in the hometown that I grew up in! 

We decided to have a first look before the ceremony. Honestly, I felt like we got TWO big reveal moments - the first look and the walk down the aisle. I gave him monogramed cuff links and he gave me a pair of Tiffany pearl studs. Bling bling. 

Check out that pheasant feather. Brooklyn Boy looked so handsome in his Ralph Lauren!

Oh man, I love these next two pictures. Meet Luke, Elijah and Loretta - our ring bearers and flower girl. We are good friends with both sets of parents from our Church community in Brooklyn. It meant the world to us that they were in the wedding! Lorettas dress was from Zara Kids and those bowties were from a vendor on Etsy! 

And here come the bridesmaids! The girls wore a variety of dresses from Donna Morgan's line at Nordstrom. Geez, bridesmaid dresses and shoes can totally get the best of you if you aren't careful. I don't know why, but it's weirdly stressful! So to make things a little easier, we did affordable dresses off the rack and shoes (like I mentioned) from Target!

Each girl held a bouquet of different flowers. Huge thank you to Junior at Garden Gate in Dallas! 

Wouldn't be a wedding without a picture of 13 Auburn Friends (minus Melanie!).

And the boys! They looked SO sharp. Each wore their own black suit + a monogramed RL button down and bow tie. 

Who doesn't love a simple understated monogram!

These brothers, high school, college and current friends represent Brooklyn, Florida, Charlottesville, Nashville and Dallas!

 And that's all for part one!!! GIANT thank you to my dear friend Jessica Rawlings who captured everything just perfectly :)

Ceremony and Reception coming tomorrow!!