Watters Visit With My Bridesmaids

March 23, 2018 in Lifestyle

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Watters. The opinions and text are all mine.

I'm so happy to announce that I'm collaborating with Watters for my wedding! On Monday, all 6 of my bridesmaids and I visited the Watters headquarters in Dallas for bridesmaids dress fittings! We were welcomed with champagne and cookies, but best of all... we got to meet the CEO herself, Vatana Watters, and the entire Watters design team! It was such an honor, and we were all so thrilled! I'm truly so grateful that Watters is sponsoring all of my girls' dresses because their selections are ALL so amazing! We got to pick from all 3 of their collections: Watters, Wtoo, and Willowby. Nothing but the best for MY girls ;) The experience of being there as everyone tried on selections was one of the best moments of the year!

Sydney at Watters helped the girls try on dresses, recommending styles and colors to us the entire time. She was so patient with us, even though I think we asked the same questions multiple times! We couldn't have done it without her! I originally wanted all navy blue dresses for my bridesmaids, but I thought it would be fun to have different variations of blue. I also wanted my bridesmaids to be able to wear what they thought looked best on them, so I told every person to pick a dress that they liked.

What we all love about Watters is that the bridesmaids dresses don't look like bridesmaids dresses... they're all beautiful pieces that can stand on their own! I was fine if some girls ended up picking the same dresses, but I'm so happy that everyone ended up choosing a unique piece!

The beginning was a bit hectic because not every dress style came in the same kind of blue, and I wanted to be sure there were at least enough different blues to alternate colors. Sydney came up with a game plan to decide on the colors once everyone chose their dress style.

After everything was picked out, the girls got their measurements taken, and we were all done! It was such a fun experience, and I'm so happy with what everyone chose! As you can see above, we went with half Navy Blue and half French Blue. Sydney was sweet enough to put together how it would look. Are you ready....

Top: Summer, Deni, 209 | Bottom: Aldridge, Fiona, Lottie — Top: Summer, Deni, 209 | Bottom: Aldridge, Fiona, Lottie

AHH! It was better than I could have imagined! I cannot wait until my girls get their dresses. They're going to look so beautiful standing beside me on my wedding day!

Great News with NUTRO!

March 21, 2018 in Lifestyle

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of NUTRO™. The opinions and text are all mine.

I've partnered with NUTRO™ to happily announce that a variety of the NUTRO™ brand's products, including NUTRO™ WHOLESOME ESSENTIAL™ dry dog food lines, are now available at major retailers! If you remember, last year, our favorite line of dog food, NUTRO™, re-launched their dry dog food line and created their new NUTRO. FEED CLEAN™ philosophy. Brian and I have had Mika on NUTRO™ since the day we got her, so it was something that really impacted us! Not only do we care about the importance of an active and healthy lifestyle for both us and our dog, but we believe in a balanced diet too, which NUTRO™ is able to provide with their real, recognizable, non-GMO ingredients†.

When we lived in the city, we drove out of our way to pet specialty stores to make sure that Mika got her NUTRO™ WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS™ Adult Chicken, Whole Brown Rice & Sweet Potato. Unfortunately, it wasn't carried in retailers closest to us, but it was the only brand we trusted to feed Mika! Now that NUTRO™ WHOLESOME ESSENTIALS™ has expanded to more major retailers across the country, our daily lives are so much easier because we can run to the closest store to pick up food for Mika.

If you're looking for simple, purposeful, and trustworthy food for your pet, keep an eye out for the NUTRO™ line at major retailers near you!Learn more here: https://www.nutro.com/our-pet-food.

†Trace amounts of genetically modified ingredients may be present due to cross contact during manufacturing.

Wayfair Wedding Registry

February 23, 2018 in Lifestyle

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Wayfair. The opinions and text are all mine.

I've been a long-time fan of Wayfair, especially when I first started upgrading my home decor. My first bedroom bedside tables were actually from Wayfair!

A post shared by Karen Lao (@karen.lao) on May 9, 2017 at 6:50am PDT

This year, with a wedding underway, I've decided to partner with them to write about some of my favorite recommended picks from their wedding registry!

Brian and I recently moved into our first house in January, and furnishing has been on my mind 24/7. The Wayfair Registry was SO fun to look through because they have so many styles, from the more practical items to premiere brands that have always been on my wishlist. Even though they have over 8 MILLION items, you can narrow down your selections by browsing and clicking on an item with a style that catches your eye, and then go through the "Compare Similar Items" carousel. That's how I found all my picks for the roundup!

Don't worry about putting big-ticket items on your wishlist either because Wayfair Registry offers a “group gifting” option, where guests can contribute a dollar amount to items like sofas, large appliances, or home renovation needs like lighting fixtures, plumbing materials and more! Without further ado, here are my roundups.

Kitchen

My kitchen is currently all white panels, white subway tile backsplash, black farmhouse sink, with a large gray marbled countertop. To be honest, kitchen items are not something we shop often for. We have some kitchen utensils that have been with us since our college days! To bring our kitchen together, I've picked these items: