Jersey Shore Engagement Session | Susan and Brad

By Liz,
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Ohh my goodness! We are so excited to share our sweet friends, Susan and Brad’s Jersey Shore Engagement Session with you! This post makes us so excited just to even write! ;)

Susan, Ryan and I all went to Bucknell together! In fact, Susan and I worked in the Dean of Students Office and found ourselves involved in as many student activities as possible together! Susan is the girl that ALWAYS always leaves a smile on your face! She has a sense of humor that leaves your cheeks hurting at the end of the day! ;)

When we got the call from Susan that she was engaged, we definitely screamed with excitement and immediately our cheeks were hurting because our smiles were so big! ;) We could not wait to hang out with her new fiancé Brad! Even though he isn’t a Bucknellian, we embraced him quickly! ;) He won our hearts when we saw the smile he brings out in Susan! Who knew the girl that makes us smile so much our cheeks hurt could have an even brighter smile than we have ever seen before!?! LOVE that! ;) So grateful for Susan and Brad for lighting up our day in a special way!

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Stop Wishing and Start Doing

By Liz and Ryan,

Note to self. ;) Stop Wishing and Start Doing.

Our blog may be a little sparse this week… (as this late in the day blog post indicates! ;) )… we are making this week a week of DO! We have a lot of BIG BIG things on our mind and we have decided that now is the time to act on them! ;) We will be spending a lot of time in coffee shops over the next week as we take action on a few things! If you have any favorite coffee shops in the Baltimore/Annapolis area that we definitely should hit up, please let us know! ;)

In the meantime… we hope you will give us some grace on the blog posts and join us in taking action on all of those things you have been dreaming about!!!

Ryan Cooks: Strawberry Shortcake Pie and a Strawberry Cocktail

By Ryan,
Strawberry Shortcake and Red Head in Bed Drink Recipe (3)

What do you do with 18 pounds of strawberries? Try out some tasty new strawberry shortcake and strawberry drink recipes! :) We’ve been making all sorts of tasty strawberry treats this week. The results of two of our favorites from Food & Wine are shown below.

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE PIE

Liz and I are huge strawberry shortcake fans. Normally we pull out the recipe from Liz’s grandmother but with 18 pounds of strawberries we had to try something new.  This Strawberry Shortcake Pie recipe from Food and Wine was the perfect choice.  Plus we learned how to make our own whipped cream, which is surprisingly much easier than you might expect. Check out the full recipe here and then enjoy a few photos from our creation below.
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STRAWBERRY REDHEAD IN BED DRINK RECIPE

Tasty beverages in bed are definitely the way to go.  Especially if the drink is part of a tasty breakfast in bed with someone you love! So when we saw a strawberry drink recipe with “In Bed” in the title, we had to give it a try.  The results were the perfect summer brunch drink to replace the traditional Mimosa or Bloody Mary.  Just blend up a few strawberries, add vodka and a splash of white wine for a refreshing treat. Check out the full recipe we used from Food and Wine here.

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Happy first day of Summer and have an AMAZING Weekend!!!

  Category: Entertaining
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New Jersey Wedding | Sarah and Joe’s Love Story

By Liz and Ryan,
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In his brand new plaid shirt and nervous, yet excited, smile, Joe sat in our living room just a few days before leaving for their New Jersey wedding and poured his heart out to Sarah in front of the video camera. When his months-long search for the perfect card came up short, he contacted us to see if he could create a video message for Sarah to give to her on their wedding day! (WOW, right!?!?!) He wanted to be able to share his heart with her on their special day and he knew this was the perfect way to do it.

As Sarah opened her gift, to find Joe’s iPad with his face smiling back at her, her smile could not have been bigger! Joe shared his emotions that he felt on the day he was first able to say I Love You to Sarah! It happened to be the day of Sarah’s sister’s wedding… and as Joe watched Sarah walk down the aisle, he knew his heart had fallen in love. He knew at that moment that the “next time she walks down the aisle [he] want[ed] to be the guy at the end of it waiting for her.” Just a few short years later, his dream was about to come true! Sarah would soon be the one in the white dress walking towards Joe. And as beautiful as he thought she was then (which he described as the most beautiful he had ever seen her)… it could not compare to how beautiful she looked on Saturday!

Sarah and Joe’s day was full of so much love and emotion. They had worked so hard to make their day everything they dreamed it to be… and we can pretty confidently say, it was probably better than they even imagined it! ;) Sarah and Joe- it was such an honor to be there to capture your special day and this incredible time of your lives! We are so excited for you to begin this next chapter in your love story! Congratulations!

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Special shout out to the fabulous Carly (Joe’s cousin) and Bobby who originally sent Sarah and Joe our way! It is always so much fun to see past clients/now friends and their families as guests at other weddings! They always bring a huge smile to our faces! Thanks Carly and Bobby for introducing us to Sarah and Joe! We can’t wait to see you again in August!!! ;)

Also- huge thanks to all of the wedding professionals who made Sarah and Joe’s wedding day so special!

Stationery & All things paper!: magnetstreet.com | Table numbers: Marv’s Cars | Hair & Makeup: Rumors II Hair Salon | Florist: Sussex County Florist |
Ceremony & Reception Venue: Ballyowen Golf Club | Officiant: Pastor Diane Koob |
Bakery: Cafe Pierrott | DJ: Global Productions | Transportation: Joe’s Limos | Bride & Bridesmaid’s Attire: Enelda’s Happy Brides | Groom and Groomsmen’s Attire: Jos A. Bank | Wedding Bands: Venus Jewelers | Photographer: Liz and Ryan | Photobooth: Liz and Ryan

Strawberry Picking Date Day Adventure

By Ryan,
Liz and Ryan's Strawberry Picking Date Date Adventure (8)

I remember when I was little going strawberry picking.  I would sit on the back seat of my mom’s bicycle as we adventured over to the local strawberry fields. As we approached the field, the sweet smell of strawberries tickled my nose.  We picked and we picked until our  containers were full.  And on one particular trip I can still remember getting home only to have my favorite shirt covered with berry juices.  Oh well, at least we had dozens upon dozens of strawberries to enjoy!

Fast forward to earlier this spring as Liz and I we were planning out some of the fun things we wanted to do this summer for our Summer Bucket List.  One of us, I am not sure who, said let’s go strawberry picking.  The fields we used to pick strawberries in as a kids are no longer around, instead replaced by a Walmart I believe :( , so this would be the perfect way to remember the innocence of our childhood.  Plus it would be a super fun excuse for a Date Day on a Monday afternoon! :)  So thanks to the suggestion of one our past brides, (Thanks Jami!!), we headed up to Baugher’s Farm.

It has probably been twenty years since we have been strawberry picking so we weren’t sure quite what to expect.  Liz put on her best strawberry red dress and I put on my best Farmer Ryan outfit, that of course included one of my favorite pairs of Sperrys. I mean who doesn’t wear Sperrys to go strawberry picking :).

As we arrived we were immediately greeted by one of the happiest old farmers.  As we waited for the tractor to start Liz asked how his day was to which he replied with a big smile, “I’m still here [on earth], so its great!!!”  A statement we couldn’t agree with more!

Prior to going out to the field we had to choose our containers to fill with strawberries.  Ambitious, we took three of the largest baskets.  In total, we filled two to the top.  We decided as we picked and picked that three might be one too many. Thank goodness we did because the two we did fill ended up weighing over eighteen pounds!!!  Enjoy the photos from our Strawberry Picking Date Day Adventure below and be sure to check out our blog on Friday to see some of the fun things we made with all the berries!

Cheers to crossing off another adventure from our Summer Bucket List!

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