Photo Booths!

I love them!

from Green Wedding Shoes

 They're whimsical, nostalgic, and fun. It an activity for your guests, a great backdrop for memories.

It seems they are more and more common.

Our invitations featured photobooth pics.

Hmmm....

There are these doors at Studio B that are lead to storage closets...

I can cover them up with a back drop...

And give my guests a photobooth! This will go perfectly with certain items I'm ordering for the candy bar that are wax and look like red lips! Oh, did I mention the candy bar? I'll elaborate on that later.

Thao, Brandy, Me, Ads.

Even funnier during the "set up."

Who needs to pose, really?

This past weekend Hubbs & I drove to Atlanta to see mom & sis. We stopped by my friend Adriane's 30th birthday celebration (its THAT time for us!) and her friend Brandy had set up a photobooth. I've seen them on her facebook page, because its one of her thangs. Finally, I got to be in one.

Hubbs

Add your own caption with chalk paint!

In another life, this would've been my shower.

   My friend Lindsay send me a link to this fabulous bridal shower. I swear this is totally up my alley and would have been exactly what I would have wanted if I had wanted a shower in the first place. Well, not that I didn't want one, but Shawn and I had a three month long engagement, which left no time for showering.
  This makes me a little more accepting to the whole bridal industrial complex and I think its because its designed so well.

Good design cans sell me on anything.

Awesome details: Pinkberry bar, Scent bar, mini cupcakes, Phillipe Starck furniture, and the bride's name is LEILA .

Yes, in another life.

Here's a video of the pink fabulousness:


Bridal Shower - Leila Khalil of Inspired By This from Ben Potter & Drew Barefoot on Vimeo.

and read all about it here:
http://greenweddingshoes.com/a-modern-pretty-pink-bridal-shower/.

We are a Contest!

 Care to Join?

  Photography is important to me. So many artistic views of your event can be captured forever, making them a worthwhile investment. I love good photography as art up on my walls.

So why was finding a good photographer so hard to do? There are so many to choose from! Plus, it took me a while to decide our aesthetic. Naturally, 90 days prior to our event, everyone is booked. Well, every one affordable, that is. I really can't spend two grand on photography, even though I believe its worth every penny.

 I called Christopher Geotte, knowing he's shot this location  before. I liked his portfolio. He's very active with photography groups and setting up meeting ans mock shoots. He was booked, but came up with an interesting idea for the group:

Read about it here:

I like that it gives a budding artist a chance, as well as gives us the opportunity to decide.

Its a mutually symbiotic relationship.

The Story of our Invitations

    Shawn and I are very budget conscious. If there is an element we can improvise and re-allocate our resources, we will. We did with our invitations.


     Everyone says your invitation is a reflection of your event, and sets the tone to your guests in advance. My personal feeling about our invitations, was that I wanted an initial "aww" when our guests opened it, knowing it would get tossed eventually. We included magnets with our invites as  favors to our invited, and also as  tool to keep them reminded. Its sort of like a save the date/invitation. I felt the need to send them early this way because our reception is on a Friday, and people should be aware of this (especialy out-of towners). Our guests get a present just for being in our lives, even if they can't come.  Presents are fun!

  One side was printed cardstock with the details and on the other, we attached the magnets with photo corners. We got the magnets from Costco, as my sister did the same for her save-t-d's. It was super affordable, and we didn't have to have memberships. Plus, then sent us extra :)!

The photo on the bottom left was taken in an actual photo booth in Florida.Top, Photo shop tweaking, I used this font for nostalgia.

   We scored the paper for the invitations at TJMaxx, of all places! I got 2 boxes of multi-colored, texturized, scalloped edged cardstock notecards, with envelopes. The rsvp cards were smaller notecards. Two boxes of those, all for about $22. Earlier this year I shopped around at Sam Flax and on-line shops and was convinced I could do it for cheaper. It really didn't matter to me that they were all different colored because I don't really have colors. No bridesmaids dresses to refer to!

I thought about doing an on-line rsvp, or just a post card to save money and paper, but really, its so much easier for guests to pop a SASE in the mail. I feel that if we are requesting their presence, its the least we could do, plus we already had the envelopes. I spent about the same on stamps than on the paper+magnet combo, but we always need stamps, right?

 Its so worth it!!! I think we pulled it off, as I have received 3 Rsvps so far, and a few praises on our creation! Oddly, we received two envelopes that weren't sealed. The RSVP was intact, so no big. Just Odd?

Sweet Hubbs did the collating and the printing.

Hard at work.

Bully did absolutely nothing to help.

The book I used for reference. My mom's had this for ages.

Rsvp's inspired by tickets.

Our invitations.

Ready to go out! 

I tried to do some cool design with stamps but didn't quite work out. So I have about 100 1cent stamps.
Other expenses are a return address stamp $20 online, and an acorn stamp for the other side of the envelope, $5, from Michaels.

Martha Stewart Weddings.com really helped me with ideas, as well as other wedding blogs, in particular A Homegrown Wedding. Check out their Save-t-d's here. I am such an amateur!

Oh, I forgot to print the rsvp date, so please as soon as you can??? I still have to send out 4 more. Yikes, better go!

About Studio B

Studio B at the Broach Theater is an event space located behind the Broach Theater on Elm Street, downtown. It has the feeling of a 1920s industrial loft, but totally modernized by the large windows, bright blue floor, and original art on the walls.

Enter from Elm Street into an alley way, which takes you to the Studio B entrance: 

Some signage

No doubt will this be spruced up.

A pretty Terrace

The view from the street.

Parking

If you are staying at the Marriott Hotel, you may want to consider these parking options, as they charge a steep fee for using their deck.

 There are tons of street parking, which is free after 6pm. You can park on Elm street or any side street with a meter. There are several parking decks:

Public Parking - Greene St. Deck

Greene St. Parking Deck

211 S Greene St, Greensboro, NC
Telephone: 336-373-2113
map it
This public City parking deck is across the street from the Biltmore Hotel, closest deck to City Hall, Triad Stage, Elm Street shopping, restaurants and nightlife. Entrance into deck from S. Greene Street and W. Washington Street.

Parking is FREE for the 1st hour, $0.50 cents per hour thereafter, FREE after 6 p.m. AND on weekends (effective as of January 1, 2007).
 

From Washington street, just head south down Elm a couple blocks, and you will arrive at Studio B.

Directions to Studio B:

Traveling North on I-85 (From Atlanta)

	Merge onto I-85 N Entering North Carolina		149 mi
	Slight right at I-85 BUS N (signs for I-29 N/I-70 E/I-40 BUS/Greensboro)		4.6 mi
	Take exit 221 for S Elm Eugene St toward Downtown		0.1 mi
	Turn left at S Elm Eugene St		1.3 mi
	Continue onto S Eugene St		0.8 mi
	Turn right at W Lee St		0.1 mi
	Take the 1st left onto S Elm St Destination will be on the left		0.1 mi

Traveling South (From Virginia)

1.	Head east toward State Route 640/Woolridge Rd		295 ft
2.	Turn left at State Route 640/Woolridge Rd		0.3 mi
3.	Sharp left at Francisco Rd/State Route 636		2.5 mi
4.	Turn left at VA-24 W/Mt Rush Hwy Continue to follow VA-24 W		11.4 mi
5.	Turn right to merge onto US-460 W/VA-24 W Continue to follow US-460 W		22.9 mi
6.	Merge onto US-29 S/Wards Rd via the ramp to Danville Continue to follow US-29 S		68.4 mi
7.	Merge onto US-29 S via the ramp on the left to Greensboro Entering North Carolina		38.9 mi
8.	Slight right toward E Lee St		0.2 mi
9.	Take the 2nd right onto E Lee St		1.2 mi
10.	Turn right at S Elm St Destination will be on the left

Traveling West (from RDU)

1.	Head northwest on Airport Blvd toward W International Dr		492 ft
2.	Slight right to stay on Airport Blvd		1.8 mi
3.	Turn right to merge onto I-40 W toward RTP/Durham/Chapel Hill		59.9 mi
4.	Take exit 224 to merge onto N Carolina 6 W/E Lee St toward US-29 N		3.5 mi
5.	Turn right at S Elm St

 Destination will be on the left

Happy Travels everyone. Feel free to call us with questions.

Greensboro Airport & Travel Accomodations & Things to do

Greensboro, North Carolina is located in the Piedmont Triad region in the north of middle of the state. We are right off I-40 and convenient to I-85.

See?

We have a small airport, The Piedmont Triad International, or PTI, which is literally 5 minutes away. The second closest airport is RDU in Durham and CLT in Charlotte. We are about 5.5 hours north of Atlanta and about 6 hours south of Washington, D.C.

We are about three hours east of Asheville, and three hours west of the beach. 

Things to see and do in the area:

Replacements LTD

Furnitureland South
Guilford College
The International Civil Rights Museum 
North Carolina A&T University Art Museum
Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of NC at Greensboro
The Cultural Arts Center & Museum

The Guilford Courthouse Battleground Military Park

The Natural Science Center

Seagrove pottery

Shopping at the Friendly Center

Arts, shops, and restaurants downtown.
Old Salem in Winston-Salem and The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA)
The Greensboro Coliseum, which will be having a holiday craft show that weekend. 


You can access events here from the local paper and learn all about Greensboro!

Our favorite places to eat are:
Mexican- San Luis or Kiosko
Biggest Biscuits-Smith Street Diner
Green Valley Grill
Print works Bistro
Italian- Bianca's
Vietnamese: Pho Hien Voung


Our favorite watering holes are:
Natty Greene's Brewery
Vintage 301
Longshanks Billiards.... 
...and where ever there are specials.

Posting directions to the reception site tomorrow!


Just ask us if you have any questions!

Hotel Accomodations

We reserved a block of rooms at the Marriott in downtown Greensboro, under the "Shawn and Leilani Whitmire Party." This hotel is about a three minute drive or a fifteen minute walk to Studio B. Parking there is pretty high, so you may want to consider dropping off your belongings and parking on the street or the Greene Street Deck or the Washington Street Deck. See the next post for this info. Street and deck parking is relatively safe in Greensboro. We are under contract for a $92.00 nightly rate, plus tax.

Greensboro Marriott Downtown 304 N. Greene Street Greensboro, North Carolina 27401 USA Phone:  1-336-379-8000 Fax :  1-336-275-2810 Sales:  1-336-379-8000

To get to Studio B from the Marriott:
Head south on N Greene St toward Bellemeade Street 0.2 mi Turn left at W Market St/US-29 Alt N   367 ft Take the 1st right onto S Elm St

You can also stay at favorite hotel, The Proximity Hotel, where we stayed after our wedding. It's modern and gorgeous, and the first LEED platinum hotel in the country. Its close to shopping, restaurants, and has a car service to dining, shopping and the airport. Parking there is free. Here is their info: 704 Green Valley Road Greensboro, NC 27408  (336) 379-8200 proximityhotel.com To get to Studio B from The Proximity Hotel:  1. Head northeast on Green Valley Rd toward Green Valley Rd 0.6 mi 2. Turn right at Battleground Ave 1.0 mi 3. Continue onto W Smith St 0.4 mi 4. Turn right at N Spring St 0.4 mi 5. Turn left at W Market St/US-29 Alt N 0.4 mi 6. Turn right at S Elm St Destination will be on the right 0.4 mi You may also enjoy the Grandover Hotel and Resort. They have spa services and golf, in you want to make a vacation out of the weekend. More Hotels:   Here is a list of Greensboro hotels. We live by the Coliseum Area, which is minutes from the venue. On HWY 68 there are several affordable hotels, which is about 20 minutes away.  Or, Try couchsurfing.com to find a couch on which to crash!! Or, use this comment space as a forum to share rooms, rides, and to find locals willing to board you. I'll help spread the word if you need assistance! (....can't wait!) Get Directions