My wedding! part deux

Here are MORE pics as promised. Planning my own wedding was so much fun. I guess this is why I love being involved in the wedding industry. :) My own wedding invites are really popular with my clients too. I have made at least 4 variations of them for different couples.

Anyways enjoy my Modern, Rustic, Mediterranean inspired wedding.  Oh,  and the dj's shown in pic are of my nephew and Erin's little brother. Our friend help with the music and let them play for a while. :)

Venue: Huron Substation

Dress: Pronovias 

Suit: Banana Republic

Flowers & decor: Me 

Specialty china Rentals: Classic Party Rentals

Other Rentals: Arcadia Party Rentals

Gelato Cart: Bulgarini Gelato

Day of coordination: Fresh Events Company

Photography: by Fontaine Su of Paloma Images

The maracas were both the escort cards and party  favors, and the "kissing" bell.... :)

"Shake your maraca to have us kiss, you are seated at table number six" 

my wedding!

Since I pretty much breathe weddings now, I thought I would actually post my wedding up. I started the blog about 6 months after our June 9th 2007 wedding date so I guess I just never thought to post it. But as I looked over the photo's again from that most fantastic day I felt inclined to share. So here is a first peak at the photos. Knowing what I know now, I would have done a bunch of stuff different, except of course my husband would stay the same. :) I will upload the rest later in the day.
All the photos were taken by Erin's Partner for Paloma Images Fontaine Su.

I am now part of weddingbee pro!

I am happy to say I will now be a part of weddingbeepro! Many thanks to both Emily at Once Wed for the opportunity to show off. :) And to Bee for taking the time to take at look at my work. Tune in at least once a week for many updates and posts.
Happy Holidays!

I am going to rant like Andy Rooney! JUST THIS ONCE. (don't be mad)

I am not a huge ranter, although often I will say something like " I hate this pen!" or " I hate my computer" but these are more like complaints with really no meaning at all and completely ignorable. So when I say "I like feeling appreciated" or "I don't like to be left wondering if I will book this or that client" this really is true.
Okay here is my Rant. In the spirit of the holidays, a nice "Thank You" (minus air quotes, as that can symbolize sarcasm or secret code) really goes a long way!
As wedding vendors, (although i don't like the word vedor for me as I am my own self, no employees, no help, just me, I prefer artist who provides wedding related products) my husband and myself get a lot of inquires. This is part of the job and we of course LOVE getting inquires and questions as this means people like our work! Plus they are all potential clients. However, the emailing back and forth or the meetings at the coffee shop can potentially take up a good portion of the work day, in which becomes part of the overall work and adds to the business overhead costs.
So when the meetings go well, or the emails are filled with nice little emoticons :-) or :) or :D or lol or Haha..... This leaves me (or him) very hopeful. I always send out a little "So nice to meet you..." or "let me know if you have more questions...." emails. AND NOTHING! No response, nada! It was like a cheap date or one night stand. But I thought you liked me?

Even if your scared off by the pricing or maybe our style doesn't actually fit what your looking for, all we ask is a nice Thank You in return. I would even be happy if I got a "Thanks, but no thanks to your services. I chose someone else to do my stationery or take my photos." or " Your great, but too expensive" or " So great to meet you I will keep you in mind and let you know." This lets us know that at least you felt a little bit of appreciation for us taking the time to meet and discuss with you about the process, pricing, or answer questions etc. Plus we are not left thinking, Did they get the last email? or Should I call them, or is that too obnoxious? I don't expect to book every inquiry by far, but a nice response back solidifies my "super sensitive wondering self" to a "I'll get you next time Gadget" confident self. And keeps our calendar free of maybes.

I know that getting married can be super overwhelming and the pricing for vendors is sickening. I know many couples contact multiple vendors for pricing ideas just so they even know where to begin with the budget, this is expected and greatly encouraged and we will happily answer all questions! That all being said I guarantee that if any of the vendors you meet with (whether you choose them or not), get a nice THANK YOU your wedding planning experience will be so much nicer.
So in the spirit of the holidays send a quick email to all the vendors you inquired with and say "Thanks for meeting with us, we appreciate your work, all the best to you and your business."
Unless of course they were totally rude or never emailed you back from your initial inquiry, in this case just send them a quick email with just a :-(
(I hope I don't get one of those)

Table top design

I am so excited to have my table top design up on Once Wed today! Go check it out! Here are some more pictures for you! I loved doing this design and seeing my vision come to life. I especially loved making my pretend wedding bouquet and boutieneerre. I really love flower arranging. don't forget to look at the pretend invites i made for this on OnceWed site too.
I can not wait to take on some more table top designs for her. My brain is swarming with ideas...
I feel so privileged and giddy.

a diptych= Flower+lock

Two photos I took that I thought looked really nice together.

A Scotland wedding- letterpress invitation.

Here is my latest design, for a wedding in scotland very, very soon. :) This was originally the design for their june wedding save the date, but the couple decided to move the date up and we changed it to the invite! But it turned out absolutely beautiful.
As it needed to be completed in about 10 days and I already had plans for thanksgiving in AZ, I actually had to send this out to get letterpress printed to Spark Letterpress printing company. This is my first design I have not printed myself. :( However, it felt really good to just design and POOF it comes back all done. I loved it. No stressing over the printer, no crazy ink mixing, no crying, no sore leg or sore arms.... I think I might do this more often for the bigger jobs for sure. I can take on more volume this way too. It does feel weird to not have printed it all myself, but I must say I am proud of the design!! More designing, more clients.... I can also do more challenging designs that I couldn't print myself. this is a good thing! The image on the top is a drawing of the venue in which they will be married, so pretty on the lake surrounded by mountains. The hydrangea and the scottish thistle design on the back are to represent her and him (he is scottish) I wanted to pull in the casual rustic feel they were going after by doing a stitching all around the invite giving it a bit of softness.

Sneak peek....

This past weekend was my 31st birthday. Not a huge milestone like turning 30 but it really makes me wonder where the last year went! I celebrated the 1st anniversary of my 30th birthday and official adulthood with a dinner party. As I was asked to put together a table top design for Emily at Once Wed I decided I would not only design the table top but use it as well! Why waste it.
So on my birthday I worked my ass off! But it was so fun. It became a holiday kitschy party with a lot of silliness! my husband and I dressed up to fit the winter, folky, rustic, kitschy, holiday, wedding theme. As I don't want to spoil anything for Emily's post I will only post one picture from the night I took of my husband along side on of the boutonnieres I made. Isn't he so cute in his red chucks! Love it. I can't wait to post the rest.

As I just went to her blog to see the newest table top trend by Darling Dexter I about threw up! Her design is so beautiful it made me not want to send my pics to emily. But then I realized mine is just different. Right? that's what it is all about. Differences in designs...But it sure is amazing! My table top is definitely the most silly of all so far... I can't control my silliness when designing. I need to work on my sophistication.... This is probably why my mom still calls me "little girl"

Hope when she posts it, it will put a smile to everyones face. Now I need to work on a design that causes a gasp of beauty instead of a laugh of delight... this will be a challenge....