Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Big Paper Source Sale This Week!

If you have read my blog for a while, you probably know about my love for Paper Source. I get lost in the store for hours and always leave inspired and with more than I planned on purchasing.

GOOD NEWS!!!! For all of you paper lovers out there, Paper Source is giving us 20% off of everything- that is right: EVERYTHING! Can you believe that? Now through July 4th, you can get 20% off of your entire purchase online with this code: 20OFF


If you have not discovered the deliciousness that is Paper Source, there is no better time than now. If you are looking for invitations, escort cards, guest books, gift cards, craft goods or random office supplies, hop on over to their site and have fun! Also, they have a fun blog you can read too.

Happy last day of June! (WHAT??)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Looking back: Jill and Harry

This weekend a year ago, Jill and Harry flew over from the UK and got married in a fun and intimate backyard wedding at her mother's house in Fullerton. This wedding has been one of my favorite to date! I realized that I never did a full post of all of the details, other than showing some of Michael Norwood's amazing blog photos.

So, without further ado, here is Jill and Harry's modern geometric wedding:

We pulled the entire decor scheme from the invitations that Jill had selected from Wedding Paper Divas:

We incorporated the W+T (the initials of their nicknames for each other) on many of the details and also pulled inspiration from Bauhaus Designs- very clean, modern and fun,


Half the tables were orange and half were green. The favor boxes contained playing cards printed with the couple's logo, along with personalized pens and pads of paper. Their family is a big game playing family, so they wanted to include that in the wedding somehow. I heard that the family got a lot of use out of them over the next week! They also included Cadbury chocolate bars from England, which Jill frequently stuffs in her luggage when flying to US and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which she sticks in her suitcase when heading back to the UK.

Love the fun style:


(Above photo of the sand ceremony and ring plate, not by Michael Norwood)

For dessert, we had cake (one of my favorite designs ever!), a grooms cake of a traditional British cake, and cookies from Jill's favorite bakery.

Finally, the lovely Jill and Harry:

All of the amazing flowers were crafted by Kristin of The Treasured Petal. We had so much fun designing this wedding- so fresh and different!

The rest of the incredible vendor lineup:
*Photography: Michael Norwood 
*Caterer: TGIS (yummy BBQ!)
*Rentals: Classic Party Rentals  & BBJ Linens
*Lighting: we did it! How much do you love those square lanterns?
*Cake: Erica O'Brien
*All wedding day stationary: Serendipity Designs 

*Sound: Fly By Night 

Friday, June 19, 2009

Uncle Jesse and J Crew

It has been a week since I returned from New York and I am still recovering and reminiscing. I am still planning on showing some of my favorite items from the Renegade Craft Fair, but in the meantime I wanted to share this with you:


Isn't it just so happy?

As I we were star watching at the Tony Awards, I noticed this display as John Stamos walked pass (Oh, Uncle Jesse!). When we were back at Rockefellar Center a few days later, I snapped a picture of J.Crew's window. I love the light grey dress, suit and the beautiful hydrangeas. It made me wish that my local J.Crew carried their wedding line in the store.

If only John Stamos was in the photo as well...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A preview

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of creating a tablescape with the wonderful LaVonne of Adorations Botanical Artistry. The photoshoot was for San Diego Style Weddings Magazine and I cannot even tell you how much fun our design was.

I do not have the professional pictures yet, but I wanted to give you a small sneak peak of one of the centerpieces LaVonne created:

Hope it brings you a little summery cheer this afternoon!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Raquel and Greg's Engagement Photos

Raquel and Greg are getting married in a couple of weeks at the Laguna Cliffs Marriot. We are so excited to see their wedding come to life!

Here are some favorites from their engagement shoot by Ingrid Joy Studio:

You can see more on Ingrid's blog.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Huge Wedding Dress Sale this weekend in San Diego

Encore Bridal, along with the Bridal Bar San Diego, is hosting a huge bridal gown sale this weekend in San Diego- if you are looking for a dress and are local, you have to check it out!


Couture dresses will be discounted 40%-70% off retail- some are designer samples and some are from Encore Bridal's stock of consignment and resale dresses. The sale will include dresses by Melissa Sweet, Vera Wang, Monique Lhuillier, Christos and more. It is friday-sunday at the Omni Hotel  in Downtown. 


For more info, please visit Encore Bridal's blog

Encore Bridal also has a store that you can visit in Los Angeles. It is a wonderful option for brides who are looking for a designer dress for a lower price. 

Good luck with the sale Julie! We hope that everything goes well!  

Our Spring Party on Hostess with the Mostess

We are thrilled to share that our Spring Party has been featured on one of our favorite blogs, Hostess with the Mostess. You can see the post here.



Thanks Jenn!

I am home from New York and am catching up on laundry, emails and catching my breath. It was a wonderful trip and I will share some moments in the upcoming week.

Happy Thursday!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Davis and Sara: A La Jolla Beach Wedding, Part 2

Hello from New York! I am having an amazing time here. Yesterday we spent a large portion of the day at The Renegade Craft Fair- it was amazing! I will be sharing some photos once I return. I grew up dreaming of performing on Broadway and now that is reality for some of my friends and it is incredible to see them in their element!

Enough about New York, lets get back to La Jolla. Today we have Davis and Sara's fun reception at The Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, photos by the wonderful Jason of Garret Photography.

Escort cards:

The Museum is such a wonderful event space. Here is the bride and groom during the cocktail hour, under a cool statue of canoes:







Instead of giving each guest a favor, the bride and groom gave donations to nonprofit organizations. I came up with the idea of choosing multiple organizations so that guests could have some say. They selected three: American Heart Association, World Wildlife Fund and Doctors Without Borders. Guests could choose which organization they wanted their donation to go to and put the round paper from their placesetting into the box of their choice. Guests loved it and it was so meaningful. 

The food, catered by the wonderful Giuseppe Fine Catering, was out of the park. Absolutely delicious! Davis and Sara are vegetarians, so we did all vegetarian appetizers in their honor. 
For dinner, we had stations set up with small plates and it was a huge hit. 
The cake not only looked incredible, but it was the best tasting cake I think I have ever had. Way to go Sweet Cheeks! The picture of the slice does not do it justice- banana peanut butter with chocolate ganache. Yum. We also served gelato along side the cake as a nod to Sara's Italian heritage. 

The topper was made out of fondant to match their monogram from the invitation.



One of the greatest things about the museum is that there are exhibits in the reception area. They change periodically- so you never know what you are going to get when the wedding rolls around. Lucky for us, one of the current exhibits was a cool chalk drawing of a gazebo. The perfect spot to put the cake. It made a lovely backdrop and was so unique. 
The Save-the-Date and invitation:



A view into the reception from outside:
Most of the guests were from out of town, so we hired a school bus to charter them around from the weekend. It was an inexpensive and fun alternative to a charter shuttle. 

A few more shots:
Sara and Davis, I had a blast getting to know you two over the past year. Thank you for entrusting your wedding day to me- it was amazing! Thank you for wanting a day filled with personal touches- I know that all of your guests thought it was a great reflection of your personalities and your relationship together. I wish you two the best- many more happy travels, beach walks and Radiohead concerts. 
Our stellar vendor team:
*Venues: Torrey Pines State Beach
                Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla (they also provided the bar)
*Catering: Giuseppe Fine Catering (One of my new favorites!)
*Photography: Garret Photography, Jason
*Florist: Whimsey Florals 
*Video: Firefly Films 
*DJ: Peyton with La Jolla DJs 
*Rentals: Abbey Party Rentals (ceremony) & Raphaels (reception)
*Papergoods: PinkStar Design