a sparkling winter wedding

yes...it's been quite a while since i've blogged. the past year has gone so fast and it has been a very busy one! so many celebrations have come and gone. the invitations have flown out at a fast and furious pace:) before any more time elapses i have a few photos to share.

today's post is about the wedding of the daughter of a long-time friend and "supporter". it is always wonderful to be a part of making some one's wedding dreams a reality and working on this wedding was extra special. i first met liz years ago when we were both volunteers for various school organizations. she was one of my first clients and i've had the pleasure of working on numerous invitations from surprise birthday parties and 50th wedding anniversaries to bridal showers with her. so when she asked me to help with carly and jason's wedding stationery i was thrilled. the couple wanted a traditional and elegant invitation in their color palette of black, cream and soft champagne gold. a simple floral swish in those colors paired with the beautiful layered papers set the tone for the stationery suite we created. carly did a great job with her diy invitations which i'm told her guests loved. using that design basis we proceed to create custom table signs, placecards, signage for the photo tables, buffet table menus, and programs. the family also created hotel gift bags for their out of town guests which contained homemade goodies (made by the brides grandparents and aunt) packaged with custom tags and assembled by liz and a group of her friends. this is one very crafty and talented family.

one amusing note...just as i thought we had the invitation wrapped up and ready to print carly decided she wanted to try a different script font for their names. she was surprised to learn that the font they ultimately chose had been selected several years earlier for her maternal grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary invitation...i guess good taste runs in the family!

special thanks to cindi and lorenzo bartone of cinzo photography for sharing their beautiful images...love their work!

label it....

i love labels...fun, creative labels. when used for mailing or return addresses, they can really make a boring envelope pop. use them for favor tags on simple cello bags or plain paper boxes and bags to make a statement...the possibilities are endless! so i was very, very excited to find a new source that offers some fabulous labels in awesome shapes and a multitude of wonderful colors including metallic papers!

with my first order set to arrive later this week i can't wait to create some fun examples...i promise to post a few pictures as soon as they are done.

how pretty is this...

i'm so excited...one of my very first blog posts was about crystal and conor's 07.04.09 wedding. today crystal emailed to say their wedding was being featured on the style me pretty website. congratulations to the happy couple and their photographer, jessica from stout photography, who submitted the awesome images. check it out here

crystal was so much fun to work with and her attention to detail made for a beautiful and fun wedding day...i couldn't be happier for them!

let raise our glass...

recently my husband and i spent a few days in yountville. we love it there and one of our favorite stops in town is the v wine cellar in the v marketplace. we always have fun talking to the guys and inevitably walk away with some great wines from small boutique producers we had never heard of before...this time was no exception. one of the wines we tasted was an awesome cab from poem cellars by the name of "engaged". naturally i just had to get a bottle to take at an engagement party we are invited to next month...how fun is that!

it turns out poem cellars also has a wine called "marriage". i think these would make great gifts for any newly engaged or married wine enthusiast. it doesn't hurt that they taste good too!

"pretty in pink"

what could possibly be more precious than an ultra girly, frilly, pink baby shower invitation!

this past year i created quite a few and here are some of these sweet creations...i was tickled pink by the outcome of the invitations...my photography skills not so much!
toile inspired...from the bird's nest graphics with a touch of glitter, to the custom designed peonies matting and the striped envelope liner the finished invitation was simply precious and elegant. perfect for a first time mommy.

tricked out pram... when my daughter asked me to create an invitation for her best friend from college i knew a little bling would be required!

baa baa baby girl...with a mommy-to-be who's last name is lamb it had to be a lamb themed...so sweet

p is for pink and b is for baby...a fairytale in the making

a little more "love"...

new resolution...post more images, include less text!

above are the previously promised photographs of holly and kevin's wedding invitaton and save the date book. sorry the quality isn't so good.

love...love...love-the "love". it was so much fun to have this fantastic artwork with so much family history to use as the centerpiece of their wedding stationery!

it all started with a little "love"

about this time last year i meet one of my september brides, holly and her mom, kathy, for an initial consultation. their first request was to use artwork that had been created for the wedding invitation of kathy and her husband, bill in 1976 by bill's great aunt, vivian smith who was the very first artist hired by hallmark greeting card company. she had intertwined the word "love" with scrolls, hearts and flowers for the cover of their inviation. this graphic became the centerpiece of holly and kevin's wedding stationery, serving as a beautiful and cherished "something borrowed".

our first piece was a save the date booklet. the happy couple had begun dating as high school freshmen, which grew into a long distant relationship when they left for separate colleges in different states, finally ending in a proposal. since they really wanted to share their story of "love". a book theme quickly took shape and on the cover of the save the date their "love" made it's debut, with an engagement photo of the "authors" on the inside back.

then we moved on to the invitation. holly really liked the idea of some type of outer jacket for the invitation but wanted something different, dramatic and unique. ultimately we settled on a custom trifold jacket wrapped with wide double faced satin midori ribbon in antique gold. the ribbon wrapped around to the inside of the jacket holding the insert cards in place. again their "love" was used as the seal. everything was printed in gold thermography and the overall effect was beautiful.

once the invitations were in the mail it was time for the other pieces... since holly and kathy were into details we set about designing all sorts of things for this destination wedding at the beautiful ritz carleton in half moon bay, california.

as guests arrived they were greeted in their hotel rooms by a beautiful gift basket containing among other things...water bottles with custom labels featuring...their "love". each basket bore a coordinating welcome tag from the bride and groom's parents and a note from the bride and groom welcoming guests to the weekend festivities.

once the wedding day arrived their "love" just kept flowing. bridesmaids sipped champagne poured from custom "love" labeled bottles as they primped for the big day. the program modeled after the save the date booklet contained a bookmark telling the story of their "love" artwork. the tables were given chapter titles relating to their story of "love". escort cards gave guests their "assignments" and each table sign was a book, complete with chapter title, stories written by the bride and groom and photographs which corresponded to their courtship. kathy made english toffee as wedding favors for all 225 guests. this toffee was a family tradition of 30+ years, a brief story was included in each box, along with custom seals for each piece of candy and a beautiful rhinestoned favor tag. these were given a place of honor at each placesetting right next to the custom designed menus.


in addition to the wedding stationery the groom's parents asked me to design an invitation and placecards for the rehearsal dinner...although their "love" wasn't used, a lot of love did go into the process. i also designed one of the shower invitations, an invitation to the bridesmaid luncheon, coordinating thank you notes for each of the 3 bridal showers and the wedding thank you note. by the time everything had been completed i decided my business logo should say "a personal stationer" instead of "custom stationery" and thanks to holly and kathy a new logo was created!

thanks so much to the happy newlyweds and their families for the opportunity to create so many beautiful pieces.. it was a labor of "love".