Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Any big plans for tomorrow? We will be hosting Christmas dinner at our house with both of our families like we did last year. I love spending time with friends and family at the holidays, and any excuse to decorate and setup the table is good for me. I recently hosted a cookie exchange and brunch with some of my friends that I grew up with. We had 6 people total and yes, mimosas were involved. I made banana nut french toast in the crockpot and a breakfast pizza; I chose these because they were pretty easy to make and gave me time to get everything…

After months of planning and many hours spent at the dining table crafting, we finally made it to Jessica’s bachelorette weekend in Orlando, FL! If you remember her Parisian Bridal Shower a few months ago, this weekend was just as food and fun-filled! Our weekend went a little something like this: After sitting in traffic for far too long, some of us arrived at the Marriott Grande Vista hotel to start decorating before the bride and MOH got there. We stayed in a 2 bedroom villa at the hotel, which was perfect for the 6 of us! We rushed to decorate since we lost some time in traffic, but managed…

There are so many options for the rehearsal dinner. It can be a rehearsal dinner or a rehearsal lunch, it can be formal or casual, or it can be intimate or huge. I love the idea of a rehearsal dinner as a way to get all of your friends and family together before the main event in a more relaxed environment. It can be a great way to allow guests to mingle so they won’t be meeting people for the first time at the wedding, especially members of both families who haven’t yet met. After Joe asked me to marry him, we went to a well-known local restaurant called The Columbia that…

Today I thought I would share some wedding planning advice I learned from planning my own wedding.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved my entire engagement and wedding, and I believe it was perfect exactly how it was. However, looking back, there are a few things I could have done to make things go even smoother. I’m one of those people that puts way too much thought into things, so most of these probably aren’t even a big deal to most people. Not all of these will apply to everyone, but here are the 6 things I would do differently if I could go back in time to planning…

As I mentioned in last week’s Wedding Wednesday post, Saturday was Jessica’s bridal shower. She will be getting married this October, and we spent Saturday celebrating her upcoming marriage. It was a very fun and intimate affair held at the Maid of Honor’s house. It was incredibly humid (typical Florida) so we tried to stay indoors the majority of the time, though there were some outdoor activities. The theme was Chanel and the colors were black and white stripes with lavender accents. Enjoy some pictures of the fun Parisian affair… The entrance was decorated with a gold glittery “I DO” hanging on the door, and a welcome chalkboard that I created.…

This Saturday we are throwing one of my BFFs (Jessica over at Leopurrd, check her out) a bridal shower, which inspired me to post this Wedding Wednesday about my bridal tea party, hosted by my Mother-in-law and godmother-in-law. I know, it seems rare to have a good relationship with an in-law, but I really do feel like mine is just like a second mother, and we have a great relationship. When we got engaged, her and her lifelong BFF (aka Joe’s godmother) said they wanted to throw a tea party for me and my girlfriends. It was super cute and fun, and I definitely want to do it again sometime!…

I got married about 9 months ago, and I could still talk about weddings all day. After spending so much time planning my own wedding, I realized that I really enjoyed it and would possibly love to get into that industry one day. So, I will be dedicating one post on Wednesdays to weddings, whether it’s advice, inspiration, or just random wedding talk. This will be my “Wedding Wednesdays”, very original, I know. To kick of Wedding Wednesdays here at Simply Otte, I will start with my own wedding and a little about our special day… My husband, Joseph, and I got married on October 11, 2014 in St. Petersburg,…