A commonwealth cocktail, reinvented.

It's a Friday night and I opted to stay home and edit a wedding I shot last weekend rather than go out. Don't worry I am not alone, I have the London Gentleman to keep me company.

Let me explain...

I stumbled upon a classic British commonwealth cocktail recipe called the Dark & Stormy. Wanting to make it my "own" so I decided to recreate it...but do it Jenna style.

I have to be honest with you, when thinking of this cocktail in my head I thought it would be a drink that I would lightly sip on because it would be strong. But I have to tell you, its not too strong, its just right.

You will need dark rum, ginger flavor beer and a lime. Thats it, just 3 ingredients.

First you will add ice into a cocktail glass. Then you will add one shot of dark rum over ice.

Then you will pour your beer over the shot and ice.

Next you will zest some lime into your glass and add some juice of a lime from your wedge and then stick it on the rim of your glass.

The flavor is like a delicious beer with the crispness of a lime and the spicy warmth of rum, perfectly mixed together. For those of you 21 one and over pick up a six pack and try the London Gentleman. I have to give some credit to Blake for the name of the cocktail. He thinks adding gentleman to the end of any cocktail will class it up, and I think he is right.

Getting Married

You know, I think M. Ward said it best: "hey, I ain't never met anyone like you before...I thought all the good ones were gone you're here to tell me I was wrong". Minutes after meeting Chuck I said to myself "just don't screw this up". Lucky for me, he was saying the same thing to himself. I could talk for hours about what a lucky girl I am, but who's got time for that? Instead, I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my DIY side. While planning for my wedding and even after the wedding I was continually told that the "Jenna touches" were everyones favorite part. I think I let the flattery get to my head because here I am blogging about it.

Being on a budget helped to inspire a lot of my wedding decorations. I also hated the idea of spending SO much money on decorations/accessories that would only be used for one day. Thus, I was forced to think outside the box. Handmade items with recycled materials became my wedding theme. From the button boutonnières to the recycled table decorations and and making my own invitations, I found ways to cut cost. Speaking of invitations. I thought I'd share a few photos.

I used different shades of teals and blue greens for the back color paper.

Chuck insisted on the expensive glue sticks to make the process go faster. I let him win this battle, marriage is about compromise right?

The button boutonnieres and bridesmaids hair pieces were all made with vintage buttons. Though, the invitations used store bought buttons. I hot glued one to every invitation.

...and the finished product. There is something about making them myself that seemed satisfying. We used recycled paper bag envelopes to mail them in. If this bored you, don't worry, I think the next blog will be about food. I know everyone can relate to that. Talk to you soon, friend.