Friday, May 30, 2014

I Fancy Friday v. 29

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least! I went to America for my amazing hen do/bridal shower, we went to France to visit Beau's friends from university, we went to Holland to pick up our wedding rings, I hosted an event at Kate Spade last night and well in between…..we have been tying up ALL the loose ends of our wedding, breathe! Yes, our big day is in 15 days, crazy but exciting! Throughout the busy week I have had, I have found so many cute things I fancied along the way, I had to find time to share. I have been looking forward to this Friday for a few days now, the weekend ahead of getting all of our wedding details wrapped up! Enjoy it like I am looking forward to. Happy Friday! 


1. Embroidered J.Crew Tunic -  I might be a bit obsessed about wanting to pack this in my honeymoon suitcase, do you agree? 

2. This is not a new post, however, I am designing my dessert table for our big day this weekend and this post by Amy Atlas is a great tool to use!

3. SO in love with my £14 belt I bought at Oasis that I wore to Blogtacular Pineapple Clasp Belt  like it? 

4.  I think Oliver may need this polka dot dog bow tie by Silly Buddy

5. These mint shoes from Modcloth make me want to DANCE!

6. I think this is my recipe for the weekend, 
Heirloom Tomato and Eggplant Terrine. Pretty and healthy! 

7. This is it! Two weeks until our BIG day this weekend I need this mug….Time to Get Stuff Done Mug by Click & Blossom

A big FRIDAY Thank YOU to everyone who came out to our Blushing Bride Kate Spade event last night at Covent Garden. You can see from my Instagram feed  that it was a lovely evening to celebrate being a bride to be! Thank you Louise with b.loved and Nova with Nu Bride for promoting the event and attending, it was a wonderful evening! Awww, there are SO many ways to add Kate to your big day

xoxo - Becca


{If you liked this post you may like THIS POST, THIS POST, or THIS POST

Thursday, May 29, 2014

My Favorite UK Party Supplies

When I moved to London almost two years ago I missed jumping in my car and running to the nearest mega US craft store Michael's when I needed tissue paper, washi tape, hole punches, etc. I couldn't find any craft shops here! After a year and a half of mini photo shoots, craft projects and wedding planning, I have found some wonderful stores and websites for basic UK party supplies online and in small boutiques. I hope that you may fancy them well!  



Fringe Garland, Metallic Fans, Tissue Pom Poms, Cake Stands- Peach Blossom

Ribbon of ALL sort! I have ordered A LOT of Velvet, Satin, Sequin! - Josy Rose 

Montana Spray Paint, this stuff ROCKS! Fast drying and matte! - Cass Art  {they also have lots of tissue!} 

Oversized Fringe Balloons - Eagle Eyed Bride

Washi Tape - Lovely Tape UK

Paper in every color, Card Stock , Gift Wrap, you can always count on the classic! - Paper Chase

Making Confetti? You need a fun hole punch. - Hobby Craft

My go to spot in town if I need extra ribbons, sewing items, tulle and other fabrics- John Lewis

Don't want to punch confetti yourself? Her Etsy shop is great for handfuls of it! - Its Party Party

Stripey Straws in all colors and patterns! - Pearl & Earl  

Little glassine bags of all shapes and sizes.- Lovely Tape UK

Happy Party Planning! xoxo - Becca

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Blogtacular 2014

A few months back when I read that there was a blog conference happening here in London I jumped at the thought of attending! I knew that the conference was only a month before my wedding, I should spend my time preparing for the big day but with an event named Blogtacular, I couldn't pass up NOT attending. I am beyond thankful that I took two days to attend this inaugural event here in London. After two days, I left being beyond inspired and met so many amazing women. If you are an experienced blogger who has been writing for years or if you are thinking of the idea of writing a blog, I hope my quick recap on the conference inspires you to keep going or just begin! 
 Blogtacular was held May 9th & 10th at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. The amazing bloggers Kat & Kat {of Slugs on the Refrigerator & Housewife Confidential} created this idea of a conference. The conference was for UK bloggers to come together and meet {since we are often behind our computers, by ourselves!}, share ideas and inspire one another and wow, I think all of us who attended are glad they did. I was not sure what to expect from the conference, who I would meet or how two full days of sessions would be, but I left there with some really good lessons and feeling so inspired to go out and change things up a bit! 
Friday night we arrived and were greeted with some pretty fabulous goodie bags that were filled with many items from fellow bloggers in the UK. I went to the event by myself and arrived a bit nervous wondering if I was going to be in the corner of the room for the night. However, I was lucky to run into a few other lovely lady bloggers I had met at a few events before and meet their friends and by the end of the evening, I had met some amazing new women who I would have probably never connected with if I had not attended.
Always, a must, a great photo back drop for an Instagram pic! 
 These ladies were so lovely to meet, check out their blogs: Ruth from The Planned Adventure, Teri with The Lovely Drawer, Rebecca with Really Pretty Useful ….and no we certainly didn't plan the striped shirt look! 
I was really looking forward to hearing Joy of Oh Joy speak as the keynote speaker on Friday evening! Joy's blog is always a delight to read through. As an American living in London, it was so exciting to hear her American voice speak about how she got to where she is today. As a fellow Syracuse Alumni, I really enjoyed listening to this amazing bundle of joy {no pun intended} tell her story of living in NYC, then heading to Philly to be with her love {hello, I'm similar!} and heading out West to make a huge change. Seeing her products in Target now is amazing to think of just how much she has grown her brand starting out as a blogger and designer. I love this picture of the talented Bonnie Tsang instagramming Joy's pic.
OK, I get it, Joy is like a little Super women. She is a designer, wife, mom, blogger, product designer, author, boss, etc. etc. etc. she is fab! Joy spoke a lot about how it may all look like she has it under control, but really, it is hard work and she never truly feels like it is enough and all in place. She isn't just a blogger, there is so much more to it then that. I really took that away! I do not want to be just a blogger, a girl behind a computer writing pretty things, OK, that is great, however, the pretty things, I want to make and create those in person for people. I want to style and design their wedding and make that day special to them. I want to use my blog as a platform to showcase my portfolio and ideas  and why you would want to work with me. Joy truly was inspiring talking about taking the jump and going for it. "If you want something you've never had, you have to do something you've never done." ~ Thomas Jefferson. Love this quote she shared! Thanks for inspiring all of us Joy! 
Leave it to blog events to bring together Meringue Girls and match them up with spray paints B&Q, creative, cool, love it! 
Now here is one amazing blogger I am so glad I was able to meet, Anne with Pret a Voyager. Anne is an American living in Paris as a designer, consultant and editor. Her tips about how she got to where she is today in regards to not working for free, having businesses value bloggers for their talents and voice were great to hear from someone who has created her life very successfully off of her own advice. Anne's advice on living the creative life and getting paid in return to do so, is something that keeps coming back to me over the last week. Anne also mentioned "Do the work you want to be known for." and this is one quote I can not get out of mind. Who agrees with me there! 
You know I LOVED meeting Thea with Sister-Mag, OK, yes, the tutu, but also she created a living by starting an online magazine with her sister about entrepreneurial and creative women. She was super sweet and super stylish and if you haven't read the magazine, click here
Thank you Anne for the amazing Tattly! I was kind of hoping my be happy tattoo never washed off! Take a look at Ashley with Chasing Heartbeats blog. I felt like Ashley was a friend of mine from the States. A wedding photographer, married to a European, owner of an adorable dog, ummm certain to keep in touch from meeting at Blogtacular.  London wedding photo shoot, see you never know where connections are! 

I was glad I chose to sit through the Business and Blog panel. These four women had some great stories on how their blogs went from blogs to a full out business. All four {Annabel with Love My Dress, Allison of the People Shop, Courtney with Babyccinno & Joy of Oh Joy!} all had the same recipe, that it is hard work and dedication and there is not an exact recipe for everyone to make it big.
How cute is Tilly from Tilly & the Buttons! This girl can sew! I mean isn't her dress adorable. I learned a lot about getting your blog, your ideas and how it all comes together into a book at the session. Tilly makes all of her own patterns and sews tons of adorable outfits. Check out her blog
There were quite a few more people I met, a lot of quotes I loved, sessions I attended, however to sum it up, it was so worth and so fun! Putting yourself out there and meeting new people can be stressful but also inspiring to hear their voice and stories of how they took their blog from a small hobby to a blown out, huge business. It has got me thinking a lot about changing things up over here. So lets see what the next months will bring. Thank you Blogtacular for creating this amazing opportunity for all of us to get together! See you in 2015! 
xoxo - Becca
{Images from are a mix of Blogtacular 2014 Official Photos by Will Ireland,
 thank you to Mollie Makes and my Instagram account} 

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Be Nice to Ourselves

Two weeks ago I went in for my first wedding dress fitting. My dress isn't a tight fitting mermaid dress, and I have been working out harder then I have ever have, I've lost over twelve pounds since moving to  London and well, I was feeling good. I went by myself on a Friday afternoon with my big gown in its bag and put it on, zipped it up, stood in front of the mirror for the seamstress and instead of smiling and feeling amazing in this gorgeous dress, what did I say…. "oooo, back fat!". I know this sounds like a ridiculous post but I wanted to share this because I think this taught me a lesson that day, to just be a little nicer to ourselves, stop tearing ourselves apart. 
Happy girls are the prettiest girls, so true! For years since I was little I have struggled with body image, its not a secret there. I may love to share pics and actually take pictures {I mean I LOVE a photoshoot!} however, I'd be lying to say I don't pick apart the pictures. I have never been the person who can indulge in dessert and not gain a pound, nope, if I have a couple cocktails and some fries, the next day, no joke, I will weigh a few more pounds. I use to obsess in high school about eating a crazy fat free, sugar free diet that consisted of disgusting WOW! Potato Chips {Remember those fat free potato chips, yuck} and food that was filled with no nutrients and artificial junk. I was obsessed with being teeny and started running on my own a lot, but no matter how much weight I lost, I was still unhappy about it. People would always say, oh you are small, but I worked for it, I exercised, I watched what I ate and I still wasn't feeling small, I don't really know what changed me exactly, but I decided one day to accept me a bit more an due nicer. I think it probably wasn't until my mid twenties  when I decided to sign up for my third marathon where my body image finally changed and I accepted that this was my body, I would never be a thin rail, I have hips and a butt and that's that. I was and still am healthy and love to run, exercise and push my body to move. I don't want my arms to be skin and bones but want to see muscle definition and the results of the hours I put in my workouts. I am not interested in the artificial sweetener  and fat free diets anymore but would much rather have natural delicious full fat cheese and veggies and indulge in a sweet moderately. I know you are probably wondering, where I am I going with this post. I think I decided to write it because I think that so many of us women battle with this. My wedding is in a few weeks and the last thing I want to do on my wedding day is look in the mirror and not feel like a million bucks, but look in the mirror and say I have back fat, stop. There was not back fat Rebecca, I was tearing myself apart, picking, seeing the little ridiculous things in the mirror, I need to be a little nicer to myself and instead say, "Wow, the 12 months you have put into feeling good, its paying off". 
Image on Left when we got engaged in NYC and recent photo from Blogtacular from Mollie Makes

When we moved to London I started walking a lot more, really watching what I put in my body {a few less Taco Tuesday Florida nights in the past} and made a goal on my wedding day to get back to the weight I was and feel happiest like eight years ago when my Beau met me. I wanted to look and feel good for him and also, for myself. I didn't go on some crash diet, nope, I worked hard at it and still am. 

I hope if you are getting married, being a bridesmaid, wedding guest or just going on the town with the girls, that you can look in the mirror and not tear yourself apart as well. Not say "Ugh, my legs are so fat!" but instead think, damn I've got some fab hair tonight and this dress rocks. We always seem to see the negative points first when there are usually 101 positive points standing in the way. The image above is from a photo shoot I was apart of for a London Wedding Magazine {featured in Wedding Magazine}and I remember thinking, wow, I'm not a model, I'm going to be in a national magazine! But when those pictures came back, I have to say, I may have torn myself apart at first, making fun of my silly faces, but then I stepped back and thought, OK, that was fun, I look happy and good. It just feels so much better to be happy and nice to ourselves doesn't it! 

I remember reading some posts on Rinse Repeat Blog and A Girl A Style's instagram feed about just accepting ourselves and I thought, SO true! We are too hard on ourselves and should really stop picking out the little ridiculous things and see the many things that make us all wonderful. Do you feel that way? Do you feel like sometimes you tear yourself apart just a bit too much? Next time, be a little nicer to yourself, it will make your life feel a lot better!

xoxo - Becca

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

You Are Invited: Blushing Bride Kate Spade Event

I am so excited to share a fun evening out with all the bride to be readers today! It is probably comes of no shock to all of you how much I completely LOVE everything Kate Spade {see here, here & here to name a few!}. I have loved Kate Spade  since I was in university and everything colorful, fun, playful and chic that the brand creates. A couple of months ago when I spoke with the ladies at the Covent Garden store about ideas on how to share with my readers and other blog readers on how to incorporate this amazing brand into their wedding, I didn't believe it would be so soon! 
I hope you can make it.
Newly engaged? Planning your big day next month, tomorrow, next year? Looking to find a new outfit for your honeymoon, some jeweled earrings for your big day, bridesmaids gifts, cute new wedding shoes?!?! Along with two other amazing wedding bloggers; Nu.Bride and b.loved, we will be at the Kate Spade in Covent Garden for an evening to celebrate the Blushing Bride! 
  
A night of shopping with your mom or maybe your maid of honor, sipping on bubbly, hair & makeup sessions, learning about wedding flowers from the amazing Bloomsbury Flowers ,  all while shopping how to incorporate Kate Spade into your wedding.

Five Lucky Brides to Be will be chosen from my site, at random, this Friday. Please leave your date of your wedding and your favorite wedding inspired Kate Spade piece in the comments section of this post. This is a private event. If your name is drawn you will receive an email to confirm you and your guests name. 


Thursday the 29th of May
6:00pm to 8:00pm

kate spade
covent garden
1-4 Langley street

*This is a private event, please RSVP to me! 

I am so looking forward to seeing you there! xoxo - Becca

***RSVP NOW CLOSED***


Thursday, May 15, 2014

VOTE FOR US! Wedding Blog Awards 2014!

I can not believe that a year has passed already,since the time I was lucky enough to attend the first ever Wedding Blog Awards at the Ritz! I had moved to London less then a year before and was delighted to be nominated in the category of best international wedding blog! The event itself was an amazing night  and I was truly honored to be a part of the event and meet so many amazing women!!! Well my lovely blog readers, it is that time of year again and I would be ECSTATIC if you could spread the word to vote for me again in 2014! VOTE HERE

I hope that you enjoy reading this little corner of the blog world and find spending time on Urban Flip Flops a nice little delight. I try to make my blog full of wedding inspiration and positive posts for everyone. With my wedding a month away this would be such a treat, almost like a wedding gift! Once the big day is over in my life, Urban Flip Flops has so many things on the horizon that I can't wait to dive into and move ahead with. Please spread the word and vote here

If you are new to my blog, I have listed a few of my favorite posts from the past year below. 
Happy voting! 










There are SO many more but those are a few of my favorites! I hope you enjoy reading! 

xoxo - Becca


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Will You Be My Bridesmaids?

It had been almost a year since we got engaged and I still had not decided on my wedding party. I had thought we would get engaged and I would ask all of my bridesmaids the week after, nope. Deciding on my bridesmaids was one of the hardest decisions I made of the wedding process I have to say! It was funny discussing it with Beau because I think guys and girls just see it differently. Having come from my bridal shower in the States two weekends ago, it started making me think again about how lucky I am to have so many amazing women in my life and I wanted to 
share my story with you. 
I remember Beau saying, "Do you think they will mind if they are not a bridesmaid? You are in your thirties, do girls care anymore? They won't have to get a dress, that's a plus right!". hahah, well I am lucky to have an amazing circle of strong, wonderful ladies in my life. I am super close with a group of my sorority sisters; we have travelled the world together and stood beside each other in weddings, we have lived together, slept in the same bed for Summers together and celebrated a lot of babies together. Then there are well, my other amazing best friends, my sisters! Yes, I have mentioned them often in my blog over the years, but truly being the youngest of three tight knit sisters is amazing. They are my sisters and my friends and I look up to them as mentors but also love them as besties. I am also so incredibly grateful to still have one of my best friends since 2nd grade as a part of my life and feel like a sister to me. She is my friend from home but also a part of my DC friends and well just best friend. The DC girls are the other chapter of me in my life. These girls are the girls who saw Beau and I together probably the most often, they listened to ups and downs, moves and job changes. They have been there through a lot and I cherish the time I had with them in D.C.! Amongst these friends I have a sprinkle of so many other amazing women I call my best friends over the years that I have met while in D.C., at work, in London, in Florida, I truly cherish these friendships and work hard from a distance to keep the friendships strong. 
All of this being said, you would imagine my bridal party being a party of 12, ummm, no! So Beau was having a smaller side on his part which made me think, OK, every women is important to me, so why not have a small party, a woman from each part of your life stand next to me on my big day. I went back and forth hundreds of time and stressed about it way more then I truly needed to. At the end of the day I figured out that truly, almost every woman I was inviting could be in my bridal party, because of how important they are to me, but you can't do that. I finally decided to have a woman from each part of my life; sorority, DC, sisters.  I invited my best friend from college who I was her maid of honor in her wedding to be my maid of honor. Brandi is like a sister to me, we have truly had some amazing memories together and I am so excited she will be there. It was a hard choice not to have my sisters but in my mind, they are my sisters, my forever maid of honors and best friends and had them be bridesmaids together. My friend from home/DC Besse has known me since I was 6 years old and I couldn't imagine her not there.  I also asked one of my besties, Christa, who was also a sorority sister of mine, we roomed together in NYC for a summer, we lived in the same BED for a summer in DC, and the list of memories go on and on. 
It was difficult not to ask all of the other ladies in my life, however, after talking with my fab wedding planner friend Elizabeth, I decided to take a little Southern bridal tradition and create a "house party". There were four more lovely ladies I wanted to have a part in my day, so I asked them to be part of the house party, dress all in pink and I have asked them to help at the church alongside doing a couple of readings at the ceremony. It was a small way to incorporate them into our day, but still a memorable idea for me having them participate and be part of our day. 
Listen, there is no right or wrong. If I didn't have so many amazing girlfriends I would have had only my sisters. If I didn't have my sisters in my life, I would have had 6 more girlfriends, but listen my sisters aren't leaving;) Truly though, think about it. I know it seems like a small thing, but its your wedding and on your big day you want to be surrounded by the most important ladies in your life. Do not rush it and ask people the second day you are engaged over one too many cocktails! 
I put together a special little something to ask them to be a part of our big British wedding and sent over it in a little British Christmas cracker. I want them to be a part of our day, but I also want to say thank you for being such an amazing part of our life! 
Good luck! If you want to have zero bridesmaids then do, if you want to have ten, then do. You will know what feels right, and truly at the end of the day, they will all love you the same. 
All of these images are by the amazing Aneta Mak from our shoot featured on Style Me Pretty
I can not WAIT to see all of the ladies in almost a month, hooray!!!

xoxo - Becca

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

A Few Favs from a Favorite Weekend

Wow! I got home early yesterday morning from my bridal shower in the States and I can not stop thinking of it. It was such an amazing weekend full of SO many women in my life that I love, it is almost like it was all really good dream. I have so many amazing pictures to share, but I picked out just a few favs throughout the weekend that I had to share sooner then later.
 I do not care how long the line is at Georgetown Cupcake, I LOVE making a stop there every time I'm in D.C. I think it is a little nostalgic for me of my happy memories living in Washington but also…the red velvet cupcake is well, the bomb! 
 Pink heart balloons with fringe, teapots with flowers, an English themed afternoon tea, make your own fascinators…the list goes on. My friends know me SO well, my bridal shower was perfect! 
 I finally got to wear my Camilyn Beth Go Go dress and I can't wait to put it on again! The ruffles, the buttons, everything about it makes me happy! Oh, do you like my huge pink peony fascinator, ummm i kind of loved it. 
 This last picture is one of my favorites because, well, it is adorable. Yep, me showing little baby Henry how great pink bubbly out of a can can be! My maid of honor Brandi just had little Henry and boy, did he have an exhausting weekend hanging out with all of us ladies. 
I can't stop thinking about how truly lucky I am to have such wonderful women in my life. From girlfriends since 2nd grade, my amazing sisters, my sorority sisters, my mom's friends, my besties from DC, oh my, the weekend was everything it should be, amazing. It doesn't matter that I live in London and they live in Seattle, Vermont, Boston, DC, Virginia, Cleveland, NYC, we still remain amazing friends. I will forever cherish the happy memories from this weekend! More photos to come next week! 

xoxo - Becca

*If you liked this post, you might like to read more posts around Planning Our Wedding

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