Real Weddings | Kim & Shane

 Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working on invitations for a lakeside wedding featuring our rowboat illustration. One of my favorite and beautifully simplistic designs. The bride, Kim Grassie, works at Etsy so it came as no surprise when the most recent Etsy Weddings e-newsletter arrived in my inbox and her wedding was featured!

I get so much joy out of seeing pictures from clients weddings. Being the invitation designer my work is usually done and over with weeks before the wedding even takes place, so I rarely get a glimpse into them. Kim and Shane's lakeside ceremony and reception in Wisconsin is absolutely idyllic! And I love that Kim worked with so many Etsy artists to make her wedding special.

Check out more about Kim and Shane's wedding on the Etsy blog.

Wedding Video Love | Lola Video & Film

Film by Lola Video & Film found via Style Me Pretty

I am just swooning over this gorgeous wedding video I saw on Style Me Pretty today. Shot in Super 8mm, it has a vintage, grainy texture that I find so alluring. It is a perfect format for the location and ambiance of the wedding. Speaking of which, you should really check out all of the lovely pictures on SMP.

I love the song playing too, but can't figure out who it is, so if you know please tell!

Real Weddings | Amanda & Reid

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my friends Amanda and Reid's wedding in Cornelius, North Carolina. It also was my first weekend away without a tiny toddler in tow. Bliss is pretty much the perfect word to describe both events.

Reid and Amanda moved up to Burlington, Vermont a few years ago but shortly after becoming engaged, they decided to head back to their home state of North Carolina. We were sad to see them go but excited for the excuse to travel down south for their nuptials. While there for our whirlwind weekend we were more than happy to take advantage of the (much) warmer weather and the amazing authentic Mexican food that Reid and Amanda were constantly pining for in the Green Mountain State.

Their wedding was beautiful and many of the details were DIY'd by the bride and groom and their friends and families. The ceremony itself took place in Jettison Park in a peaceful clearing of trees called The Formal Garden. I loved the chalkboard signs that were handwritten directing guests on their way. They played a theme throughout the wedding day. I especially liked the idea of the chalkboard sign detailing the wedding party, propped against a wooden chair with a bouquet of flowers casually laying on it's seat.

A delicate arbor was constructed from branches, potted flowers and a lovely crocheted lace throw. It's ivory color against the woodsy backdrop gave the setting a vintage, old-world feel. We all gathered in friendly clusters around the arbor, something I had never encountered at a wedding before, which gave it a homey, informal feel. Everything from the color of the bridesmaid's dresses to the soft guitar accompaniment created an earthy, bohemian feel to the event.

That earthy, bohemain feel carried over to the reception, which took place at the home of the Groom's parents. Right on the shore of Lake Norman, the setting could not have been any prettier. We arrived right at sunset, just in time for me to snap some shots of the view and table settings. Each table had a cluster of glass jars containing flowers that the Bride and her Aunt purchased at the flower market in Charlotte the day before. Heirloom crocheted throws warmed up the standard white linen tablecloths and echoed the feel of the arbor from the ceremony.

 

When Amanda asked me to design her wedding invitations she had a clear vision of what she wanted. She knew that the reception would have charming cafe lights strung under the tent and so she wanted to play up that element in the design. I loved the warm glow that the cafe lights lent to the reception- it is definitely becoming a popular choice for adding charm and an old-world feel.

The reception was labeled 'heavy hors d'oeuvres and lawn party' so there were lots of tasty treats for guest's to help themselves to, in addition to some passed goodies. The chalkboard signs came in to play with the different tables set-up for self service. I loved the row of drink dispensers, each with it's own sign telling you what it contained. Of course there was the southern favorites of 'Sweet Tea' and 'Lemonade'. The cupcakes were almost too lovely to eat. I said 'almost' :-)

Overall the wedding was simple and elegant, charming and casual, filled with warmth and sentiment. The perfect beginning for Reid and Amanda's new life together.

Cristina & Jeffrey | Invitation Booklets

Things have been pretty busy over here in the studio. I have been working hard at finding new ways to connect with customers and re-evaluating where I spend my advertising dollars. It has been exciting and rewarding, and hopefully it will be producing real results soon!

One of my bigger project over the last couple of weeks are these beautiful booklet invitations I did for a charming Maine couple, Cristina and Jeffrey. They were married in a traditional ceremony in Scotland, in the ruins of Jeffrey's ancient Scottish clan's castle. How romantic! Now they are having a celebration in the states for their family and friends.

To fill everyone in on their Scottish nuptials and all the other details, they opted for a five page booklet, bound by brass eyelets. The pages are staggered so you can see the title indicating what you can find on each page. And the last page is a tear-out RSVP post card.

They were very fun to put design and put together! I even got to buy a fun new tool since they are the first booklet style invitation I have created. Looking forward to making more of these beauties in the future.

Amazing Wedding Video

You simply must check out this amazing wedding video I spied on Snippet & Ink today. Absolutely breathtaking!

Neda + Sati "A Marriage of Two Cultures" from Cherish Films on Vimeo.

Chelsea & Andre

Chelsea and Andre were special clients of mine- Chelsea was a good childhood friend of my brother-in-law, so I had known them for a while. I was absolutely thrilled when Chelsea contacted me to do their invitations and when I saw the photos from their amazing wedding, I had to ask to share them with all of you.


Their ceremony took place at St. Francis Xavier Church in Winooski, VT and they took a cool vintage car to their reception which was held at Chelsea's parent's home in Jericho. They have a beautiful view of the mountains from their property and even though the morning was a little overcast, the sun came out for some great photo ops later on.


I love the photo with the umbrellas! So fun and colorful. There were so many good pics to choose from, it was hard to decide on just a few to share. Congratulations Chelsea and Andre!

All photos are by Raiden Shine Photography.

Fall Wedding Details

Many months ago I got to create some Engagement Party Invites for Jenn and Jason, so I was thrilled when Jenn contacted me recently to do her wedding elements. Above is a sweet sign (ha! pun was so intended) for the candy bar.


Here is the menu, which sounded delicious bytheway. It's hard to tell, but around most of the signs and the menus was a great textured paper that looked like the bark of a tree.


A fun sign for the apple cider and donut pre-ceremony gathering.



The programs were one of my favorite projects that I put together for Jenn. A rich chocolate background with white reverse type, then rolled and tied with satin ribbon in a cranberry red.

Tom & KK

I just finished these gorgeous Wedding Announcements for Tom & KK. They got married in a small ceremony on Prince Edward Island and wanted something to send to all of their friends and family. The text is printed on vellum overlayed over their picture and secured with dupioni silk ribbon.


I love the bag piper in the background. So lovely.


One of my favorite Robert Frost poems. Love the fringe on the ribbon.

Flowers, Candles, and Embiance

I wish I had more photos of the flowers at my wedding. I poured over many Martha Steward Wedding magazines and I had this great Wedding Reception magazine I found in the grocery store one day, that gave me all of the inspiration for my flowers. I was so happy when I found A Schoolhouse Garden, in Waitsfield, and the talented Nancy who made all of my flower ideas come to fruition.


I knew I wanted a big wreath hanging above the barn door welcoming people in, and big hurricane vases with candles on wrought iron stands at each post inside the barn. On the tables, instead of floral centerpieces I wanted to showcase the elements of the season- red and orange maple leaves, slender stalks of wheat, and plump berries on branches. These were encased in more glass vases with candles.

It was the perfect balance of rustic and elegant that I wanted to my wedding to embrace. When I first met with Nancy I could tell immediately that she 'got' my vision and then she ran with it.


Everything was so beautiful, I wish the flowers, heck I wish the evening, would have lasted forever. I am bummed the photographer didn't get a picture of the wreath that was outside- nor did I think to take the wreath home with me! The night just went by so fast and everything was such a blur I forgot details like that until many months later. It's true what they say- it really does go by in the blink of an eye. So make sure you try and stop and enjoy the moment!

Food- The Most Important Part Of The Wedding! (no, really it is)

Clockwise from top left: The Antipasto board, selection of fruit, Artichoke & Spinach dip, Stuffed Chicken Breasts, the amazing Mashed Potato Bar (everyone's favorite), and Roasted Seasonal Vegetables

The one thing that both my husband and I really wanted for our wedding was amazing food. We had been to a lot of weddings where the food was sub par, at best, and we figured if you are going to spend thousands of dollars on a wedding and people were coming from thousands of miles away to attend it then the least we could do was feed them (and us) a decent meal. It was the one thing we were prepared to splurge on.

I can't even remember how many caterer's websites I looked at or if I even talked to anyone else before I contacted Spice of Life catering. That's because as soon as I tasted their food everything I had ever eaten before immediately was forgotten. Yes, it was that good. We met with Matt and Maggie, the husband and wife team behind SOL, at the Ethan Allen Club in Burlington where they were in charge of providing dinner. It was a little strange since the Ethan Allen Club is a men's only club and so I was the only female in there, other than Maggie. But they set us up in a secluded corner and just started bringing us out sample after sample after sample. And we just kept eating and staring at each other in a hazy food coma wondering how each thing could possibly be better than the last.

So we booked them- right then on the spot. Then the fun part of browsing through all of their selections came. It took us a long time to narrow it down to just a few items. And everything we picked was so amazing. All night long all we heard was how great the food was. My Mother-in-law personally thanked them and immediately started recommending them to all of her friends. In fact, a couple of years later when my brother-in-law was getting married she hired them to cater the rehearsal dinner (having abandoned the idea of cooking all of the food herself, again, as she had done for ours).

They did not do the cake, but I couldn't do a food post about our wedding and not include a picture of our wedding cake, could I? Ashley Woods, based in Waitsfield, made our cake and it was another item that I was intent on being amazing. Wedding cake sort of has a bad rap as being pretty to look at but not so great to eat, and I wanted to make sure our cake didn't fall into that category. Ashley really delivered and the cake was amazing.


The bottom layer was chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse and raspberry coulis filling, the center layer was white cake with a lemon mousse filling, and the top layer was the chocolate again. The frosting was just a simple buttercream and Ashley put a monogram of our initials on the front and our florist put a cascade of flowers on the top. It was exactly what I envisioned.

Three Years Ago

Three years ago I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I was fretting over the fading foliage, the weather forcast, and shoot! we totally forgot to make signs for the road so people knew where to turn! Yes, that's right, I was mere hours away from my wedding day.

The days preceding my wedding are a blur- filled with last minute details and finally letting go of the idea that I could do it all. (Maybe hand-stitched hankies was going a little overboard?) My relatives were starting to arrive and my phone was ringing off the hook with questions and concerns. My parents had arrived and were each fielding requests from their families. My soon-to-be in-laws were also welcoming house guests and shuttling grandparents to and from the hotel. It was chaos. It was pandemonium.

That night, of October 13th, 2006, we all gathered in my in-laws home for the Welcome Dinner. I have no idea how many people were there, but we were spread out on every seat in the whole house. My soon-to-be Mother-in-law and her sister had prepared all of the food from scratch. It was amazing.

After dinner my father called everyone out to the back deck then he set off the most fantastic firework show feet from where we all stood breathless. The bursts of green and purple filled the sky above our heads and the booms and bangs were so loud we all expected the police to show up at any moment. My friend Tara's four month old baby slept through the whole thing. It was almost the best night of my life.

Except the next day I got to do this:

Gorgeous Travel Themed Wedding

One of my favorite bloggers, Holly Burns of Nothing But Bonfires, recently got hitched in idyllic San Diego and not only was her wedding detailed on her own blog (for months, really, but I gobbled up every post), it was also a featured wedding on Style Me Pretty. It's not surprising, either, when you see all the awesome handmade details that Holly and her new husband Sean put together for their special day.



Holly is a travel writer and has lived in many different parts of the world and her and Sean have done extensive traveling. Plus their friends are so widespread that most of their guests traveled from far away to attend their special day. So it just made sense to do a world-travel themed affair and everything they did was so creative and charming! From the 'Where in the World Are You Sitting' seating chart to the vintage map lined lanterns on the table, every detail was perfect.

Check out all four installments here, here, here, and here!
All photos are by Erin Hearts Court.

If I Had Hired A Videographer For My Wedding

When we got married I didn't even look at videographers- who still does that anyway? That is so, like, 1999! Why pay someone hundreds of dollars for a video that will just end up collecting dust in the far reaches of your TV stand?

Well not if you hire someone like Joel Serrato and your wedding film ends up looking like this!

(be sure to mute my playlist down on the right before you hit play)

ainjil + chris from joel serrato on Vimeo.

See more of Ainjil & Chris' wedding on design*sponge.

Now That's An Entrance

Make sure you pause my playlist before you hit play!

Home Run Wedding

My husband and I (really, more my husband) are avid baseball fans- Red Sox of course! When we get a chance to go to a game it's a special treat and we always have tons of fun. If he had known about Sara and Brett McGinness' wedding at AT&T stadium (home of the San Francisco Giants) I think our wedding probably would have ended up differently.


Why get married in a barn in rural Vermont, when you can get married in the stands at a baseball stadium? And serve your guests popcorn and cracker jacks during the ceremony? And give your groomsmen personalized baseball bats as gifts?


This wedding is so creative and fun, I am tempted to show it to my husband just so I can hear him say, 'Oh man! A baseball themed wedding? That's so cool- why didn't we do that?!'.


Check out all of the details over at The McGinness Clan!

Finally! Pictures of the Thai Wedding

Disclaimer: What follows is most definitely the longest post EVER! But it was hard to leave anything out because it is all so fascinating and beautiful. The ceremony was very elaborate so, there are a lot of pictures! I broke it up into several storyboards followed with a description of what is going on in the pictures, but feel free to take a break and read it in installments!

In my previous post I showed you some of the 'gifts' that we had to carry in the procession to the ceremony site. Well here are the pictures of the procession itself! The top left photo is showing part of the dowry that was presented. All of the groomsmen, bridesmaids, the groom's parents, the groom and some random friends and family formed a long line, with each person carrying a 'gift'. The groom and his mother carried the dowry, which was the most important part of the gifts.

The point of all this was to arrive at the ceremony with enough to convince the bride's family that the groom was serious about marrying her and was willing to give gifts to show what she was worth to him. Most of it was just for show and tradition, but it was still fascinating to be a part of.

When the groom reached the entrance to the ceremony there were several 'gates' that he had to pass through. In order to do this he had to barter with the 'gate keepers' with envelopes full of money. They screeched and made noises at him to try and scare him away, to test if his intentions were true. He had to convince them that he would do anything in order to get inside and marry the bride.

Thankfully he made it in! Yay! We made our way to the stage at the front, handing off our gifts to other family and friends of the bride. Once the groom and his parents were up on the stage the father of the bride went and got her. He led her through the crowd of people to the stage to meet the groom.

Now one of the more interesting things I found was that the guests did not sit during the ceremony. There were no neat rows of chairs- they just stood in a large mass at the edge of the stage. It made everything feel more like a performance and a spectacle, especially when they would hoot and holler and make a lot of noise in general. The feeling was very communal.

So the parents of the bride and groom sat on chairs and the bride and groom knelt on the floor in front of them- with the dowry being center stage. The groom's parents formally presented the dowry to the bride's parents and then it was all thrown onto a gold cloth. Then other people came and threw flower petals and more money onto the cloth before it was wound up into a sack and presented to the mother of the bride.

Part of the dowry were the wedding bands so they were fished out of the sack and placed between the bride and groom. They bowed to each other and then exchanged rings. It was all a little crazy and even though I was only a couple of feet from them I couldn't hear if they said anything to each other as they placed the rings on their fingers.

Then the bride and groom had the bow before each of their parents to receive their blessing. The parent would place their hand on each of their backs to signify they approved of the union.

After the ring ceremony the bride and groom left for a few minutes. When they returned the four chairs from the earlier ceremony had been replaced with red and gold benches. They sat on a lower bench and leaned over another in front of them. The parents of the bride placed rings on their heads, with a string that attached the two rings.

Afterwards a gentleman came and placed three dots on each of their foreheads. Then all of the guests came and took turns pouring water from gold shells over their hands. This was to wish them luck and bless their union. It took a while since there were hundreds of people there. There were lots of women up on stage helping to fill the shells and shuttle them back and forth on the stage.

I loved that they placed a beautiful bouquet of flowers beneath both of their hands so that the water dripped off of their hands and onto the flowers.

After the water ceremony was complete the bride and groom went and changed into their reception outfits. The rest of the night was very much like a typical American wedding. The bride and groom were announced as they entered the reception and there was a head table set up on the stage where the bride, groom, groomsmen and bridesmaids all sat to eat dinner. Later on they cut the cake, had their first dance, and the bride threw her bouquet to all the eligible ladies.

There was tons of food and dancing to Thai music and the party went well into the night. Everything was so different than anything I had ever been to before, but the same basic emotions as an American wedding were there- everyone was happy and joyful to be celebrating this new union.

Hey, wanna see the invitation?

I thought you all might be interested in seeing the invitation I designed for the Thai wedding I went to this weekend! Cus, you know, that's why I'm here- ha!



It was a very simple, elegant flat invitation with multiple layers of off white and pyrite cardstock. There is a layer of patterned cardstock in there too to break up the solid colors.



It went rather nicely with the whole ambiance of the wedding since the reception hall was done in all white- white table cloths, white orchids, white candles hanging from silver trees, and an arbor done up in white roses.

Simple and gorgeous.

What A Weekend

I finally rolled back into Jericho at 12 a.m. last night after a whirlwind weekend in Burlington, Mass. The whole weekend was full of fun, hanging out with old friends, seeing family, meeting new faces, and eating tons of good food.

The wedding was a sensory experience on all levels- nothing like anything I have ever witnessed or been apart of before. All I have to say is if you get a chance to attend a traditional Asian wedding- do it!

Unfortunately, since I was part of the bridal party I was occupied with my bridesmaid responsibilities most of the night and therefore was unable to take many pictures myself. I have some photos coming to me and when I get them I will write up a very detailed description of how the whole thing went down (and its one heck of a story).

But in the meantime I have a few shots from behind the scenes as we were all getting ready.



Here are a couple of the other bridesmaids getting ready. On the left is Carla getting her hair done- we all had these crazy up-dos with real orchids pinned to the side. On the right is Nareh getting wrapped in the final sash that was part of our outfit. Our dresses were so involved that there was a person dedicated to helping us get into them!



Here are four of the five groomsmen all dressed up in their jackets. The groomsmen were very understated compared to what the bridesmaids were wearing.



These are some of the things that were offered up as gifts to gain the wedding party entry into the wedding- yeah that's right- the groom had to barter his way in to the ceremony! All of the groomsmen, bridesmaids, and the grooms parents carried gifts and a dowry to convince the friends and family of the bride that the groom was worthy enough to even be there.



And last, but not least, here are the bride and groom moments before the festivities started. Don't worry- they didn't get to see each other! This is one of two outfits the bride wore during the ceremony. The groom also got to change outfits halfway through.

I hope I get pictures of the rest of the night soon so I can share all of the details of this amazing night!