Monday, September 29, 2014

Message in a Bottle, Intimate Wedding at City Hall

Up next: Samantha and Mark!! In case you're not completely throwing up from hearing me say it over and over, I love the folks that call WNY their home. And I am thankful we live in an age where you can "meet" and get to know strangers in the crazy living room of Twitter in a way that was never possible before. That was how Samantha and I first met, probably volleying clever/stupid/snarky tweets back and forth, but when she asked me to do her invitations for her, I could not have been more thrilled. I had been wanting to do a boxed invitation for some time, and her intimate, extremely small, extremely personalized wedding lent itself perfectly. How to get over the shipping cost dilemma? She hand delivered each one! A manageable feat when you only have 25 invitations. Lets look, shall we?


 We wanted to tie a sort of "audience participation" element to the invites, so each package was tied neatly with a jute metallic twine, with a small, empty glass bottle on the outside. 

Once opened, there was a small slip of paper that requested that guests write on the back a message, a bit of advice, or a wish for the couple. They were then asked to roll up the piece of paper and slide it into the bottle, and keep it to bring with them to the wedding. Once at the reception, they hung it on the branches of a tree, which served as a lovely, very personal guest book.

Inside was also a feather, and a twig, tied together with the same metallic twine. The feather was a nod to Samantha's native heritage (the eagle feather is a symbol of her tribe) and the twig represented a story of her parents, who had both passed some years ago. It was a way for them to be a part of the wedding in a very real and emotional way. 


The invitation itself featured a drawing of City Hall, outlined in a metallic copper that matched the copper in the twine. Their information was short, sweet, and to the point.



Thank you, Sam and Mark, for asking me to create such a personal, emotional invitation for your wedding. I look forward to seeing your happy faces around town! 

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Silver and Blush on the Rooftop

I stink at blogging. I'm just going to power through the next few designs, because I suspect no one wants to hear me drone on about them anyway! :)

This was Adam and Sarah's beautiful, classic, blush and silver wedding invitation and placecards. She described her reception as "blush accents, ivory lace, and silver candelabras." SWOON - AMIRITE??
This gorgeous wedding took place at one of our favorite venues in Western New York - the rooftop of Templeton Landing!
Here is the loveliness:


The invitation suite was held together with a blush and ivory lace patterned vertical band.


In addition to their invitations, we also printed Sarah and Adam's place cards for their reception.


We also digitally printed the guest addresses and return addresses on the outer envelopes. Grey ink with matching font design as the invitation was the lovely icing on the cake. Thank you so much for having us design your beautiful invitations Sarah and Adam, wishing you both a lifetime of making each other happy!

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Navy Downtown Chic

Back to blogging! We've made it all the way to last July, hooray! Here is Britney and Brendon's navy downtown chic suite. 
Britney and Brendon got married at the Hotel at the Lafayette, and they wanted their whole wedding to feel very "Buffalo." The main invitation featured a skyline of the city, the RSVP postcard had our drawing of the Hotel, and we drew Christ the King Chapel at Canisius {where they were having their ceremony} and a map for their additional insert. 

 We also designed and created fans for them. Apparently the Chapel gets VERY hot in July, and they didn't want any guests passing out! The back of the fans had a note of thanks, and info for parking at the Lafayette. 




Photo credit City Lights Photography

Photo credit City Lights Photography

Photo credit City Lights Photography
We also did placecards and table numbers for each of the tables! We love these table numbers so much, each table had a trio of frames, lit from the inside by a votive. In one frame was the table number, for example, table three, another frame had a photo of Britney at age three, and the last was a photo of Brendon at age three. And so on and so forth, all the way up through their wedding day! They were fab!

Britney and Brendon, I hope you enjoyed your first year of marriage as much as I enjoyed helping design your wedding! 

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Table Names with a Super Twist

Okay, so normally I try to blog weddings in the order they happened, but for selfish and boring reasons not worth explaining, we're gonna jump in the TARDIS and skip ahead to October for JUST a tick. {Sorry, this post has me totally nerding out...}

Cassie and Roy came to me with my favoritest kind of problem: we have this amazing idea but we're not sure how to pull it off and still make it feel "wedding-y." They are both huge comic book fans, and make sure you get that right, NOT comic book MOVIE fans... since most of my knowledge is based on bad Hollywood interpretations of the comic books, there was quite a bit of schooling to be had on my part. 
Cassie and Roy wanted their table names to be super heroes, without feeling like a kid's birthday party. So their idea? Use the heroes' alias last names, coupled with a graphic/picture/illustration of something that would HINT at their superhero identity. And... okay, enough talking, just look at these amazing photos by Dawn M. Gibson Photography:
Photo by Dawn M. Gibson Photography
Each superhero alias got a hand drawn illustration to hint at who they were, all supplied by Cassie and Roy {this is where the schooling came in.} The name and drawing were then used on the table cards, for each table, and on each place card with the guests' names.

Photo by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

Photo by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

Photo by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

Photo by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

Photo by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

Photo by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

Photo by Dawn M. Gibson Photography

Um, so not only was it awesome, but it also turned into a guessing game for the guests. So cool. I love these so much, Cassie and Roy, thank you again for letting me create something so unique to you and your day. From what I saw of the rest of the photos it was a perfect, happy, gorgeous day for two amazing people. 

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Design, Coordination, and Mandatory Dancing

OKAY, let's keep this blog train a-rolling! (Alright, to be fair 2 posts in one month wouldn't really be considered "rolling" but let's go with it, shall we?)

Next up we have Amy and Steve. Sometimes weddings make me sad, because they mean the end of a really long, fun road I get to go along with - often - a new friend! We started with Amy all the way back in 2012 with her Save the Dates, and when our first meeting took almost two hours (they usually last about 45min to an hour) I knew we were kindred spirits. Ridiculous, hilarious, kindred spirits.


The paper they chose, and used throughout the whole wedding design, was this beautiful bright white, column textured paper. It was such a nice compliment to the classic black and white designs.



We were lucky enough to be asked to do Amy's total wedding design, from the invitations, to the centerpieces, the flowers, even the linens. But first, the invitations! Amy and Steve decided on a black, white and silver color palate, with touches of deep kelly green. Colors that coordinated beautifully with their chosen venue, Asbury Hall.

We are by no means a "letterpress studio" but my little Kelsey tabletop does give me the opportunity to offer touches of letterpress to our digital designs. Enter this gorgeous silver monogram. Pressed into the already textured column paper, against the black and deep green, it adds a spectacular little pop of sophistication.




There was a lot of info to convey with these invites, so we opted for a black pocketfold. We weren't quite sure initially how we were going to display all those cards in a horizontal pocket, until one morning in the shower the idea struck me to have each card tiered and at an angle! {Doesn't everyone do all their best thinking in the shower?}


We had an additional silver letterpress element on the inside! We pressed Amy and Steve's names onto each of the invitation cards, which were then mounted on a green layer, and then a silver one. 


Here you can see each of the cards, along with a place card, and the program. You can see we letterpressed their monogram again on the programs, hooray!!
I think my favorite part of the cards is where it says "Mandatory Dancing."  

SO, we didn't necessarily attend Amy and Steve's wedding to coordinate as much as we were invited to attend as guests... I mean what greater feeling in the world is there to get invited to a wedding you've helped design? There is none, FYI. We did do a bit of "making sure everything ran smoothly," but we also did our share of partying and "mandatory dancing."

SIDENOTE on the "mandatory dancing": Amy and her sister were long time dancers, and as adults teachers at a dance school. Seeing an entire bridal party and half the guest list do the Thriller dance from beginning to end = perfection.

Photo by Nickel City Studios

As for the rest of the details, I told you already Amy is hilarious. She's also really smart, and loves books, so obviously for her centerpieces she had to get roses made from the pages of the Princess Bride. {What? Yes.} 
All the guest and entry tables had these hand made paper flowers {I cannot for the life of me find the link to the Etsy seller who made them!!} 

Photo by Nickel City Studios

So remember last time when I said sitting at the vendor table is pretty much the funnest part of my job? Especially when its with awesome photographers? Rich and Alyssa from Nickel City Studios  are definitely one of our favs because they are so much fun and seriously, they always make what we do look so cool... Thank you to them for these gorgeous reception photos. Asbury Hall is dark, and not very friendly to regular {read: iPhone} cameras.

Photo by Nickel City Studios
We did half of the centerpieces high, with these lovely tall vases, wrapped in lace and satin. The other half were lower, with urns filled with white sand and taper candles. Here is a terrible photo of it from my iPhone (I'm sorry, my photos will be better next year, I promise!):


Also, as you can sort of see in the above photo, but better in the photo below, we had silver free-standing numbers for the table numbers. They really popped against the black linens and white candles... Speaking of, thank you to the lovely ladies of Thelma & Louise Catering for the lovely linens, and for not killing us for returning them covered in white candle wax. :)

Photo by Nickel City Studios

More detail shots:

Photo by Nickel City Studios

Photo by Nickel City Studios

Photo by Nickel City Studios

Photo by Nickel City Studios

Photo by Nickel City Studios




Oh, we also did these flowers:
Photo by Nickel City Studios

Since Amy and Steve opted for paper flowers at the reception, we did simple baby's breath bouquets for the girls, a white rose bouquet for the bride, and baby's breath boutonnieres for the gents. 


Amy and Steve, we have loved getting to know you, and your families, we are beyond honored and thrilled to have been invited to be such a huge part of your big day. Thank you for being beautiful people and I'm sure you will spend the rest of your lives making each other happy. You absolutely deserve it.





Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Windmills and Pinwheels

Our next wedding from 2013 is Lindsay and Bill's Lake Erie wedding on the beach. Woodlawn Beach is a gorgeous venue for a WNY beach wedding, and we were so excited Lindsay and Bill asked us to not only design their printed materials, but also coordinate their big day, so we got to see {and design} first hand how beautiful a beach wedding in Buffalo can be!
One of the coolest things about Woodlawn (in my opinion) is the view of the windmills down the "coast." Lindsay and Bill thought so too, so much so that they incorporated pinwheels as the major focus of their invitation and reception design, as a nod to, and reflection of, the giants themselves.

Photo by Shaw Photography
The color scheme for the wedding was based on the sunflowers they had decided to use as their main floral. So we used a bright, pearlized green layer for the invitations and programs, and the envelopes were a bright, beautiful gold. To reflect some of the rustic feeling of their event, we decided to print on a light kraft paper, and wrap everything in a jute twine, with a hint of metallic copper running through it. 



 We used a hand drawn illustration of a pinwheel throughout the design, with the watercolor-painted gold color in some places, and just the green line art in others. The oval return label on the back of their envelopes was also kraft, with green printing. 

Photo by Shaw Photography

We also had the great honor and privilege of being asked to coordinate their day. {Sidenote: to anyone getting married at Woodlawn, I definitely recommend a day-of coordinator, even if its not us! This locale has a lot of back and forth and moving parts, and it will just make your life much easier to let someone else worry about them!!}

One of our favorite parts of coordinating, besides getting to share in a sweet party on one of the happiest days in two people's lives, is hanging out with other wedding pros. Shout out to the amazing Christina and Brian Shaw of Shaw Photography. They are awesome; at what they do, and to hang out with - an important one-two-punch for choosing your wedding day photogs! If you are not familiar with their work yet, you should definitely check them out. 

Photo by Shaw Photography

Lindsay and Bill's wedding was on the beach; a GORGEOUS, intimate ceremony with a knot tying and their own vows. At the entrance to the beach, we set up a vintage picnic basket, where their fan programs sat on a bed of baby's breath, for guests to grab on their way down. It was a super hot day, so set up next to the programs was a cooler of bottled water on ice - SUCH a thoughtful touch by the bride's father!

Photo by Shaw Photography

We also made the favor tags for these adorable Coca Cola bottle and straw favors Lindsay and Bill put together themselves. So perfect, in the late June heat?? These did not last long...

Photo by Shaw Photography

Photo by Shaw Photography
Lindsay and Bill, thank you so much for inviting us to design so many parts of your beautiful day, and for asking us to be there with you to pull it all off. You guys are an amazing, fun couple, and we wish you 100 years of happiness together!! 

OH WAIT, did I mention they had a zombie cake???
Photo by Shaw Photography

 So awesome. The End.

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Shades of Neutral

Well, at long last, here I am BACK AT BLOGGING!! I am thrilled to say 2013 was such a whirlwind for us that I just could not find the time {make the time} for blogging, but one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2014 is to BLOG REGULARLY!! For realsies. So, without further ado, we'll start with the beginning of last year's wedding season with Chris and Tori. 

Now I have said, more than once, that one of my favorite things in the whole world is when a client says, "This might be a crazy idea but..." Because whatever follows ALMOST ALWAYS ends up being the coolest part of their invitation! {For example, the Whitehouse wax seal.} So whenever someone says that to me, it makes me giddy, because I know something awesome is going to happen.


Chris and Tori love baseball. Not one team, just BASEBALL in general. They have been to almost every MLB park in the country... so they thought it would be cool to incorporate something about that into their invitation. Admittedly, sports is THE HARDEST thing for me to incorporate into weddings without it coming off like a kid's birthday party. But this, I love. Check out our letterpressed laces petal card. 
It was subtle, and not everyone caught it, but the ones who did LOVED it. And of course it was a special detail that meant a lot to the couple, and part of what made their truly custom invitation all about them!
Topping the folded petal card was a circular monogram featuring their initials.


When the whole thing was opened, you saw their enclosure cards tied with a delicate pale green bow. Tori has an amazing garden...  the most amazing garden you could imagine outside of the Botanical Gardens. She wanted inspiration from the garden incorporated into the design, so the only bit of color outside of their shades of nude was this green.



Since their reception was being held at the Hotel Lafayette, they wanted their design to have a cool art deco feel to it, while incorporating some floral aspects, inspired by the flowers in Tori's garden. We ended up with a design that was graphic and floral without being too feminine, and art deco without looking like it came out of The Great Gatsby. We also played around with a range of fonts, which always creates a really interesting look all on its own.


The invitation itself was double mounted, with a cream pearlized layer and a cocoa pearlized layer, to contrast with the heavy texture in the petal fold and the watercolor textured paper we printed on.



And last, but not least, the envelopes. Tori and Chris opted for our pearlized, patterned lined envelopes, and they just make me SWOON. Even after the glue and the paper cuts of lining 175 outer envelopes and 175 rsvp envelopes by hand, I still love them to death. They just add the most elegant touch.


Oh yes! We also did these super clever place cards - Tori and Chris gave each couple a mini potted succulent to take home, and in each was this little post with their name and table number on it! Such a sweet little detail, and carrying the theme through to the reception, which we ALWAYS love!

Chris and Tori, your wedding looked spectacular, thank you so much for asking us to be a small part of it. Your impeccable taste and attention to detail is what made this piece shine, and you were both truly a pleasure to work with!
{This post is SO overdue, C + T just welcomed their beautiful baby girl to the world, so DOUBLE CONGRATULATIONS to you both!!!!}