Lately I'm a bit obsessive, I don't know what it is but the whole spring cleaning buzz gets me obsessed about everything. As I've been busily cleaning and organizing our home and trying to pretty it up as much as possible I have been adding something "green" to each room. A potted plant here, a herb plant there, you get the idea. So when I sat down this evening and started to surf Pinterest (yes obsessed) I was thrilled to see a ton of pins from people I follow with ideas for bouquets. I seriously could have gawked for hours. Instead I've rounded up my top 5 inspirations for Wedding Bouquets, you can thank me later :) 

From left to right clockwise:

1. Awesome mix of textures and colors in this lovely bouquet 2. Perfectly Pink Peonies 3. Succulents are a great way to add interest to any floral arrangement 4.Love the natural elements including the twigs in this masterpiece 5. Great mix of cream and pink 

Hello everyone! Today is an exciting day for me, as I finally get to introduce myself to all you lovely Eco Chicsters. Greetings from me, Grace Ohlin! 

I am a 5'2" tall, quirky, Italian, fashion lover who spends her time reading, writing, going to shows, visiting museums, beaches, trying out new recipes, taking bike rides, and adventuring with friends. I can be a little spunky, and am passionate about living life to the fullest, and loving every minute of it!

I am a daughter, a sister, a friend, and most fun, a newlywed! I was married on November 10, 2012, and it was truly the best day of my life. (More on that later ;D) My husband, Kevin, is a man better then my wildest dreams, who still gives me butterflies!

Apart from what I do here at Eco Chic, I also nanny, work in retail, and serve often at my local church.

I love being a part of Eco Chic Styled Celebrations because it's so exciting to me to hear every proposal story, to help think of every detail of a wedding, and to help my brides find their dream dress at our boutique, I can't get enough!

My goal on the blog is to bring some inspiration and encouragement to you, be it through quotes, stories, pictures, recipes, music; I just want to GIVE. Besides the blog, there are so many ways you can find us! Check out our FACEBOOK, here is our TWITTER, we love INSTAGRAM! And we can't forget about our PINTEREST. Keep in touch with us at all these places for a regular dose of fashion and fun!

As a treat to you all, I have put together a few of my favorite pictures from my wedding, and I would love to share these moments with you. I look forward to all that is in store here at Eco Chic, until next time!!




= Eco Chic Grace

Hubby and I are foodies, big time! We love trying out new places and we love sharing the love! if I find a place that has good food and believes in the same things I do regarding food standards I just want to tell everyone about it! Unfortunately for me Vacaville is not exactly a foodie mecca. Fortunately for me we have a lot of great places within very little driving distance. Lately the family and I have been venturing to Davis more and more. Their Farmer's Market is awesome and so much fun for my two boys, There are lots of cute shops and restaurants. So the hubby and I have been searching for a sitter for the weekends so we can try out some new places and have a dinner that involves no whinny, crying or food throwing. A few weeks back we were lucky enough to snag a sitter and try out a new place. 

After tossing around some ideas we decided on Seasons. The food looked yummy and when I read this on their website I knew I was in:

"Seasons Restaurant serves American cuisine, utilizing fresh, local ingredients. Seasonal menus change every three months and guests may expect nightly specials. The restaurant features a full bar, wood burning oven, outdoor dining, live music, and a private dining room which houses the restaurant's wine collection. Our philosophy is to cook good food simply, using the best ingredients available.  We believe in supporting local growers, ranchers, and farmers by buying locally whenever possible."


When walked in my first thought was this place is so cute! There was a large party sitting in front of the wood fire stove and I thought ... perfect for a Bachelorette Dinner or Engagement Dinner or Family Birthday outing! The place is just low key enough that you could go for any reason and just special enough to make it even worthy. 

After starring at the menu for a while Hubby and I made our choices. I started with an Organic Beet Salad and he started with fresh lump crab meat crab cakes. Obviously I would be sharing :) When our appetizers came out I was shocked at how generous the portion sizes were (especially for my salad) Both appetizers were GREAT! The beats were so fresh and yummy! 

For Dinner I chose a Wood Fired Chicken Risotto and my hubby had the special of the night, Pork Osso Bucco. Oh.Mee.GEE! 
That chicken was SO good. I mean it was cooked to perfection, nice and tender and juicy and the wood fire flavor was amazing. Hubby's pork literally fell off the bone and was so delectable! 

I took a few moments after eating to speak with our server and he confirmed that they source about 90&% of their ingredients locally. Their meat is all local and grass fed. Another aspect of this restaurant that I really appreciated was their wine list. Not just the variety but the pride they take in the talented UC Davis Alums who have gone on to create some of the countries best wines. Each wine that is produced by an UC Davis Alum Winemaker is noted on the Wine List. How cool is that? 

Overall we had a great experience at Seasons and will be sure to go back again soon. Maybe even with the kids next time or maybe not :) 

So hubby and I will be planning our next date night soon, what other local treasures should we check out? 

I may have missed my calling in life because I LOVE to throw a party! What I particularly love is the planning phase. See I'm a list maker. And planning a party is like a giant list making party in itself :) So I figured with spring in the air and summer fast approaching I would share with you my party planning process so you can hopefully pick up a few tips to plan your own party. 

Step One: Choose a Theme or basis for the party 
Example: Cole's First Birthday, A Very Hungry Caterpillar

Step Two: Research or in my case Pinterest. 
For me it is very important to have a place to put all my ideas for the party. I use Pinterest for this. I basically go through and pin every single thing I can find that I love that I might possibly want to do for that party. 

Step Three: Decide on the guest list

Step Four: Go back and narrow down all those ideas. 
I normally wait about a week to go back through my ideas to really think about what is doable and important to me. This normally means I have to go back through and narrow down all the invitation ideas I have to just one so I can move on to the next step. 

Step Five: Send out the invites
For less formal get togethers I LOVE using an evite. I either use their website or come up with an awesome invite in Photoshop and email it to all my guests. We don't need to waste the paper and I often get quicker responses via email. 

Step Six: Start working on all those projects
I try to start planning a party at least a month in advance so I can have plenty of time to spread out expenses and make decorations. I also narrow down the menu at this time and finalize it. 

Step Seven: Come up with a day of timeline. 
This is especially needed for events where you are cooking a lot like Thanksgiving. Every year I go through all my recipes and plan out a timeline of what needs to be done when. This may seem totally OCD but it is the best way to make sure everything is hot at the right time and that I do not forget anything. I also always have a full menu printed out that I can cross things off of as I go so I don't forget to put out a dish. One year I slaved over cranberry sauce and totally forgot to put it out until everyone was already stuffed. EPIC FAIL! 

Step Eight: Enjoy the day! All your planning should have paid off so you got everything done and looking great and still had time to enjoy the event! 

Everyone ready to go throw a huge bash now? What is the next party you have planned? I love hearing and seeing all the great ideas other people come up with. If you have a had a great party link it up in the comments so I can check it out! 

~Eco Chic Rachel

You've picked out your best girls, they've been dress shopping, event space hunting, and picking up the phone when you call in less than one ring. It's getting close to the big day and you really want to do something sweet for your Bridesmaids. You want something they will use again, love and that shows how truly special they are to you. But what????

I've been scouring the web and have found 6 pretty cool picks if I do say so myself.  I would be happy to receive any of these! I also love that a few of them you can DIY (the canvas Alphabet bag and coin purse) to truly make the gift personalized. 

1. Alphabet Bag 2.Vintage Cosmetic Bag 3. Initial Bracelet 4. Monogramed Iphone Cover 
5. Initial Coin Purse 6. Monogramed Robes

So if you follow us on Pinterest or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram you have to know we LOVE Mason Jars in all 3 areas of Eco Chic! We love them at Eco Chic Home for adding to that vintage feel in our styling. We love them in Eco Chic Styled Celebrations to create centerpieces and amazing tablescapes. And we love them at Eco Chic Baby to store all those cute little baby odds and ends (snappies, hair ties, diaper cream, etc) 

I use Mason Jars literally ALL over my home. I think there are about two rooms in this house that do not have a Mason Jar and I probably have a plan to put one there eventually. They are cheap and versatile so I thought I would walk you through the many uses of Mason Jars in my home.

The very first thing you see when you walk in my home is a little Ikea shoe holder table. I have a big gallery wall above it so I needed something simple to style the top. Enter Mason Jars! Currently I have some fresh lavender from my yard in one and some twine and small clothespins in the other (opposite this wall is the playroom where we use clothespins to hang up all of Travis' artwork). Its the perfect solution for this area of my home. 

The area in my home where Mason Jars get the most use is my kitchen. I know they are traditional for a kitchen so what I'm telling you is not mind blowing but it is hands down the best storage vessel I have found for everything in my kitchen. I use it to store all of  Cole's ground oatmeal, ground flaxseed and chia seeds. I also use them to store our rice and grains. 

Honestly my favorite use for Mason Jars in the kitchen is for snacks for the kids. I work from home and with two boys I feel like one is ALWAYS ready to eat something. It seems silly to some but even the 5 minutes it takes to cut up some apple slices are precious to me. The less time I spend away from my job the shorter my work day is the more time I get to spend with my family. So I try to make it a habbit to cut up snacks the night before, put them in some Mason Jars and then all I have to do is grab the jar. It also makes it easy for me to make good decisions for the boys for snacks. Instead of just grabbing a cracker to tide them over I'm making sure they get their fruits and veggies in. I also find this works great for when I have someone over to watch the boys. Everything is laid out for them and there is no guesswork! 

Another place in my home I love to use Mason Jars is my bathroom. I wash my face using coconut oil and I also use it as lotion. But the huge jar of it is less than attractive and I don't want to be bringing it back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom. So I scooped a smaller amount out into a Mason Jar and put it in a basket of washcloths I keep on my counter. I also coupled a Mason Jar with a small votive holder to hold my cotton balls and q-tips. I despise digging under the counter to just pull out one so this is the perfect solution for me. Cute and Functional :) 

Those are just some of the reasons I LOVE MASON JARS! Tell me, do you share the love? What great uses have you come up with for Mason Jars? 

Ok so the big day is finally here, you've been planning for months (17 in my case), you wake up and you are ready for everything to go perfectly. Sorry ladies, I have to burst your bubble... something will go wrong. I know I sound like Debbie Downer but its just true. Something  has to go wrong. It's Murphy's Law. But I have some good news for you...

It does not matter!!!!!!

Seriously, whatever goes wrong that day no one but you, maybe your groom and your MOH will know. Your guests are all going to think your day went off without a hitch. 

What I wish I would have known prior to my wedding day is that no matter what could possibly go wrong you have to roll with it and enjoy the day. It goes by so quickly you do not want to waste a single second fretting over the wrong color flower or table linen. On my wedding day the tables were not set up correctly (my hubby caught this before our ceremony and had it fixed), my makeup artist was late, and my MOH's dressed ripped about 10 minutes into our reception. All of this could have sent me into a frenzy but I took a deep breath and figured it was not the end of the world. 

I'm sure you are thinking ok, great she stayed calm but how do I? Never worry, I've got you covered. My 5 tips for relaxing and enjoying your big day no matter what the hiccups may be are:

1. Know you did your homework -- If you know you have communitcated your wishes for the big day with everyone that needs to know (planners, caterers, photographers, wedding party, etc) you should be able to rest a bit easier because you will know they are trying to give you exactly what you want. 

2. Have a great support system -- When picking your bridal party pick at least one person that can always calm you down. For me it was my best friend Meg, This girl can always make me laugh no matter what the situation is. When you put her together with my sister there is just no way I could be too grumpy or stressed out. 

3. Relax before the big day -- The day before my wedding my bridal party and I went to get our nails done. It seems silly but this 2 hours of calm at the salon with my girls drinking champagne and chatting it up really set the mood for my wedding. It was great bonding time and so much fun! When I got a bit stressed out on my wedding day I had those few calming hours to look back on. 

4. Talk to your groom to be -- This one was huge for me. Instead of taking on the burden of all the details myself I spoke with my groom to be in advance and we seperated things. He took care of the catering and event details the day of the wedding and made sure everything was going according to plan. I took care of the flowers and the ceremony details. So when we were 3 hours into our reception and we decided everyone was having such a great time we should extenend that open bar another 30 minutes my hubby was all over that. Right before the ceremony I was in charge of making sure the staff double checked the mics, had everyone seated in time, etc. Splitting the tasks for the day really allowed us to both be more relaxed. 

5. Now this one is the most important, REMEMBER WHAT THIS DAY IS ALL ABOUT! -- Yes, you want to throw a great party that everyone will enjoy. Yes, you want everything to look like something out of a magazine. Most importantly though you want to profess to the world that you are committing to the wonderful man standing beside you for the rest of your life. You are there because you are madly and deeply in love and you cannot wait to share that love every single day. When things get a bit stressful on your wedding day look into his eyes and remember all of that. Steal a secret moment away just the two of you to decompress a bit. For hubby and I it was a ride in a golf cart from our ceremony site after take pictures to our reception site. Probably 10 of the best minutes of my entire wedding day. 

So take a deep breath and relax, this really will be the best day of your life no matter what goes wrong! 

What are your go to strategies for enjoying an event even when something goes slightly wrong? 

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Well to me a wedding photo is worth about a million. I've been married for 5 years and I still look back on my wedding photos all the time. There is something so special about those treasured moments that I just cannot draw myself away from them. I also love to look at other people's wedding photographs, especially editorial and fashion ones. 

Below I have compiled a number of images that I find to be absolutely stunning. Check out our Pinterest page for all the credits. I highly recommend compiling your own group of images to tell your photographer the feel you are going for your own wedding.  TheKnot.com has a great list of 50 must have wedding photos; http://images.theknot.com/pdf/theknot_musthave_photolist_2.pdf

One of the best pieces of advice I received when going through photographs and trying to come up with a list of "must have" photos was to make the list what I wanted not what was recommended. Some photos may be really important to one bride but not wanted at all for another bride. For me what makes a stunning image has so much to do with the mood of a photo. I love photo journalism type images that convey the feeling of a day or someones emotion at the moment. I love when a picture has the feeling that the photographer has captured something secret that no one else noticed as it was happening. I love photos with a sense of humor (see the pinky promise photo in the slide show below, LOVE!) And as you might have guessed,  I love photos with a vintage feel!

So what are some must have shots for you? What makes an image stunning to you? 

~Rachel

We have been collecting original vintage transfer ware in blue, red and brown. We have several weddings coming up that request these and we know many more in the future! 
We just LOVE these sets!! They pair perfectly with lace, burlap and anything else vintage chic!

Here is a peek at 2 tables we set on reclaimed wood tables (also available to rent) 
Which is your favorite??

Simple elements such as books, silver, doilies, jars, cloth napkins and burlap speak timeless, simple, pure and most of all unique. 

We used simple glass jars as the place settings that doubled as a favor with a succulent planted inside.