Category — MiRANDA LaMBERT…our SOUL sista

OK. so yes. it’s been like foreverrrrr since i’ve updated y’all. and there’s soooo much to tell.

let’s start with this little ole wedding we helped with. it was… um, kinda like…a big deal.

and i’m soooo happy to finally share some of the pictures with y’all (more will be forthcoming). the fruits of our labor. it was, the biggest and grandest and most beautifully, awesomely, magically SUBLIME thing we’ve ever done. i only wish i had a magic school bus (or maybe magic airstream in our case:)) to transport you back to that night at the don strange ranch outside of BoERNE texas so that each of you could actually FEEL and touch and taste the sublimeness of the entire event.

{the reception barn from afar...dreamy}

{psst...click on the image to enlarge...we want you to see ALL the details!}

thanks to the amazing skills of RoBERT EVaNS for all images unless noted otherwise (he did brad & jen’s wedding and katie & tom’s!!! wow. AND…he’s like the nicest guy ever).

you know the story of how this project came to be…and for a bit, we struggled with the theme for this reception.

we laid awake at night.

we tossed.

we turned.

our heads whirling a million glittery rockstar miles a minute.

wedding-induced-insomnia. writers block. we were lost in our creative thoughts and unable to pull ‘em all together. and then, like a double-shot o’ love it hit us.

moonshine & mason jars, fireflies & pink guitars. GRIT. GLAMOUR. glam dEER-CAmP. MariLYN MonROE meets ‘OUT of AfRiCA’. it was perfect. it would be beautiful and rustic and rockstar and wedding-ish all at the same time. it was so MIRANDA. and so BLAKE. & SO JuNK GypSY.

there’s just so many things we want y’all to know and to see…so many little details. i’ll attempt to commentate the above shot…giant 5 foot NEON custom made mason jars with blinking fireflies (one hung in the barn, one hung outside from a tree), custom chair slipcovers, seat sashes made of canvas and tied back with vintage belt buckles & metal die cast cap guns, grapevine deer heads flanked the center of the barn and grapevine bee hives (in honor of blake’s hit song, honey bee), crystal chandeliers, vintage boudouir-style fringe lampshades. 

the head table…created from a salvaged architectural piece and recycled table legs…then painted pink and stained bronze for a way cool rustic effect. vintage rugs, cowhides, gothic chairs covered with JG custom-made slipcovers (each embellished with over 60 crystals for extra glitz)…all nestled under an authentic camp tent. atop the table are jugs of homemade moonshine along with flower-filled minnow buckets & mason jars…and hanging above are our awesome amazing imported hand-forged deer head crystal chandeliers. we commissioned our good friend, ToDD SANDERS of ROADHouSE RELiCS, to make ’THE ShELTONS’ sign inspired by miranda’s logo which we designed for her years ago (check out our new guns & wings buckle!!). (and please ignore the BLUE tarpy stuff in the background…it was part of the venue and couldn’t be removed…but seriously, it almost killlllled us having it there! :)) 

thanks to KeLLY CHRiSTINE for this image…XOXOX!

remember this? GunPOWdER & LeAD. our version of a shotgun-wedding. our idea of fancy-schmancy wedding decor. the final product…

after the firing squad got finished with these restaurant cans, we drilled holes in the bottom with a hole saw, ran $5 light cords through ‘em and added PINK light bulbs.

{i took this shot while the reception was still a work in progress...ignore the mess in the background.}

clustered together in groups of 5, they were the PERFECT complement to our custom made porch swings emblazoned with miranda’s logo (which we stained HOT piNK). 

we hung 4 of these in the barn…and they were seriously awwwwwesome.

above each table hung a different eclectic vintage find… including tattered lampshades (softly glowing with twinkle lights) and crystal chandeliers…

{big east texas thanks to kelly christine for this shot}

when MirANDA and BeV (miranda’s mom) first walked in thursday night as we were working…they both cried. (which of course, made us cry too:).

after the wedding, miranda later twittered: “I finally got to see my wedding pics in US weekly. Amazing day. @junkgypsy made it a rock and roll wonderland with a splash of hillbilly:)”

in short, it was the best night ever. we danced side-by-side with kelly clarkson (i’m dying), kellie pickler, laura bell bundy, hillary, charles, & DaVE of LadY AnteBELLUM, and sooo many more. we met reba mcentire (seriously. i’m speechless. i’ve loved her since ‘whoever’s in new england’). we loved seeing our good friend dierks bentley and catching up with katherine heigl (aka: katie…since we are BFF’s and all…click her name to read about our BFF night in MirANDA’s airstream) & husband josh kelley. we united with our brutha from another mutha, cake designer extraordinaire- jay qualls. we boogied down to NEAL McCOY (i ain’t kiddin, BEST concert EvER!) with the PiSTOL ANNieS and then partied to the tunes of celebrity-style karoake until the early hours of the morning.

but all of that, is another blog…

P.S. check out our wedding section online to get tha LOOK!!! it’s still in the works so check back frequently!

magic. pure magic.

despite the whir of 3 paparazzi helicopters overhead, the sacred yet simple wedding ceremony of miranda & blake was nothing short of magic. we cried. we laughed. we sat in anxious anticipation.

we worked our booties off decking out the reception in complete junk gypsy style…and for us, it was a project of epic proportions. it was grit. and glamour. marilyn monroe meets out of africa. it was glittery and rustic. it was so completely TEXAS. and it was the best time of our lives.

i’m soooo anxious to show you pictures and tell you alllll the priceless details…but that has to wait just a bit.

in the meantime…

here’s amie about an hour before we were supposed to be back at the ranch for the wedding….

{yep, that's right. hand-sewing last minute modifications to her dress}

annnnd here’s me about the same time…(mom & i had modified my dress earlier with a pair of scissors…if it requires sewing, count me out! :))

{nothing like a rockin' chair on a perfect day in may...lovin' on my new boots}

and here’s mom….just thankful we’re done…

{...and thinkin' of a corona with lime...:)}

so that’s about it for now…i pinky SwEAR to tell more soooooon!!!!

in the meantime, RUN, don’t WALK to your nearest market…the current US WEEKLY features the wedding as the cover story!!!!

{on newsstands nowww!!}

(we haven’t even seen it yet!)

happy trails to you….

***update 5/19/2011 7 pm…US WEEKLY article officially in hand! and although we are soooo super excited to be featured in the publication, we just want to make note that the TABLE shot pictured in the mag, was taken BEFORE we even styled the table!!!! aghhhh!!!! the tables were awesome, y’all!! filled with junk (our junker friends from near and far provided goods!) and flowers and beautiful things that were personal to miranda and blake! we’ll show you pics when we can…..XXOXOXXO!***

the countdown is on…and we’re working ’round the clock on fancy-schmancy, highly sophisticated, royal-esque details….

{no animals were harmed during the making of this blog}

just yer everyday, normal preparations…that involve a shotgun. and some ammo. and lots o’ restaurant-sized biggo tin cans…

{the stand-off...(cue CLiNT EaSTWOOD's 'the good, the bad, and the ugly' theme song here)}

the wildest, meanest, show-no-mercy, gunslinger of the wild west…

{just kiddin...(i do love to shoot...but don't tell anyone i'm a lover, not a fighter:)}

and i submit exhibit A. the first victim.

{decided we probably needed to scoot back a little....}

fire in the hole!

{just another day on the job, y'all}

{biggo restaurant cans pre-gunslingin' action}

{and post-gunslingin action...}

we’re half way there….stay tuned for the rest of our high-society decor! here in gypsyville, we’ve decided this is our version of a shotgun weddin’… :)

“he hatEs THESE caNS! stay away from the cans!” ~steve martin as navin r. johnson in the jerk (one of amie’s all-time fave movies…if you haven’t seen it, go GET IT NOW. dammit.)

P.S. industrial size cans compliments of RoYERS CaFE!  HoLes in the cans, compliments of JG!

P.S.S. in case you’re wonderin what the heck we’re preparin’ for…read HERE.

hello old friends…yes, it’s been awhile. and for that, i have no excuses except to say that our current project is, to say the least, consuming us.

so this is how it all started. this is how the project began…

with a text…and a picture… and a phone call…

on mothers day, may 2010.

the texts were from bev and miranda lambert. the picture, from miranda. and the phone calls…well, i don’t even remember now…

mom, amie & i were on the road weaving our way through the hill country…in and out of signal. bev lambert was excitedly calling and texting all of our phones…and finally, one of her calls came through. miranda had gotten engaged the day before.

and when miranda asked us to help with the wedding reception, we promptly responded: “you do know we’re junkers, right?!”. only miranda would ask a group of junkers to deck out her WEDDDDDDING. one of the biggest events in her life. only miranda would ask people that have never, ever, everrrrrrr been wedding planners, wedding coordinators, or wedding decorators to deck out HER wedding. hell, i haven’t ever even watched an episode of bridezillas, say yes to the dress, or my redneck wedding! (but, i did see my big, fat, greek wedding…does that count?!).

so here we are, almost a year later, the BiG DaY is less than a month away. and our sanity walked out the back door weeks ago. we’re completely gypsy-fyin’ the reception (aka southern RoCKStAR glamour & grit party central) at the venue. and in true small-town, country-girl, anti-diva, miranda form, she’s left it completely in our hands. no opinions on color palettes, theme, or layout. she just keeps saying “do what y’all do, i trust y’all”…. and i think in a perfect world this should probably relax us…… right?

complete control. all decisions. no direction. “do what you do.” where’s my wine?

on the eve of the 44th annual CMA awards – we’re giddy with excitement for our 2 BFF’s of CounTRY MusiC, MirANDA LaMBERT & DiERKS BeNTLEY…

{dierks & ran sportin their JG}

we recently caught up with MiRANDA on the road….and let me tell ya, ain’t nobody out there that can rock it like this little EaST TExAS girl! as we were jammin side-stage with 2 of our favorite people in the world, her parents-RiCK & BeV LAmBERT, Rick proudly repeated the comparison that miranda has been called “country music’s JaNIS JOPLin”. 2 kick-hiney, bold, daring, ain’t-gonna-take-anything-off-anybody-girls…from texas. perfect.

{miranda gettin the parttttty started!}

it was a perfect night. a beyond perfect show. and perfect timing…right before country music’s biggest night…the CMA AwaRDS this wednesday. of which MiRANDA is up for 9, yes NINE awards. this is THE MOST awards any female has EVER been nominated for in HISTORY. and we couldn’t be prouder. MirANDa is the real deal. she’s what-you-see-is-what-you-get. she’s TRULY an amazingly talented songwriter, singer, and performer. she’s a renegade. an outlaw. a trailblazer.

and if i woulda been thinking enough to put my beer down and pick up my camera i would have pics to share from friday night. pics with ran and bev. pics with katherine heigl (um, that’s katie to me now…we’re like total BFFs), pics with eric church and josh kelley. all in her JuNK GypSY-fide airstream…all freezing in a good texas kind o’ way. while ran played old vinyls on the turntable (a fan sent miranda her recently-deceased mom’s extensive vinyl collection…we paid tribute and played them religiously that night).

and today, we’re barely able to sit still anticipating the CMA’s…we’re just so stinkin proud of MirANDA and DiERKS and their big night tomorrow night!

there’s only 2 people in HiSTORY that have ever gotten more nominations than MirANDA…her idol, MerLE HAGGARD, and ALaN JaCKSON.

and sweet dierks…his latest album is gritty. it’s grimey. it’s bluegrass-southern-soul. and we LOVE it.

his BaD ANgEL song (a collaboration with MirANDA) is up for ‘MuSICAL EVENT of the YEAR’ and there’s a BoB DyLAn cover that’s a little gypsy, a little spooky, and pure genius.

and y’all keep this on the down-low but DiERKS and JuNK GypSY may be teaming up on a biggo southern gothic project in the nearrrr future.

AND in honor of DiERKS and MIRaNDA and the CMA’s tomorrow night, we’re gonna have a little fun on FaCEBOOK tomorrow! giveaways allll day! PLuS, we’ve marked down our custom-designed just for MiRANDA LAMBERT RoADSIDE BarS  & PinK GuiTARS tees down to $18! and we’ve released the newest JG 4 MirANDA design: ‘SavED BY the GrACE of SouTHERN CharM’ tee … designed for MirANDA’s huge hit, “ONLY PrettiER”.

the 411 and waaaay important links:

the 44th annual CMA AWArDS - wednesday night, NOvEMBER 10 – LIVE on ABC

miranda lambert

MiRANda’S ‘GREASE meets FOOTLooSE’ ONLy PRETTiER video:

dierks bentley

dierks bentley’s BaD ANgEL video with MiRANDA and JaMEY JOHNsoN

eric church

josh kelley

KaTHERINE HeiGL - (aka katie)

 soooo, here’s to all y’all and here’s to MiRANDA and DiERKS. and all of CounTRY MUSIC.

pop some popcorn, grab a drink, and pull up a chair for tomorrow night’s LIVE show! we’ll cry, we’ll laugh, we’ll cheer. and when it’s over, our hearts will be filled with warm fuzzies…

happy birthday ran…may you have a heck-raisin’ good time!

“i guess if you don’t jump,

you’ll never know if you can fly.”

~new strings, miranda lambert

 **and in a text we just received from bev: “the good ole days have nothin on this…it’s been the craziest day ever! from fittings to stylists to make-up to rehearsals!”