Real Wedding: Marnie and Brian

We were super excited to be involved in designing for this ceremony! Marni and Brian's wedding is the stuff plush Gothic romances are made of! We love the dark color palette interspersed with more traditional details.

The couple began their ceremony taking a lovers stroll through the labyrinth at San Francisco's hallmark Grace Cathedral, lighting candles as they passed.

They then met up with their guests, who had only been told they were to be driven to the woods, instructions awaiting. Each guest was then welcomed with "survival kits" of edible treats and well-stocked flasks. The understated ceremony took place beneath a simple white canopy in the redwoods of beautiful Muir Woods.

We started by creating custom designed letterpress invitations which summoned the Victorian details Marni knew she wanted--redwood trees, roses, birds, and Victorian embellishments.

Carrying Marni and Brian's Victorian Gothic theme throughout the events of this two day affair, we also worked to design letterpress programs, menus, seating cards, and cocktail napkins.

One of our absolutely favorite parts? The couple even had the redwood tree graphic from the invitation etched onto whiskey flasks! Cheers to that!

The following night, Marni and Brian gathered everyone together again, this time for a reception party held in San Francisco at Hamlin Mansion. We love the playfully rich palette of rich green and purple fabrics for the table settings. Built in 1901 in Italian Baroque style, this venue offers stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Decked out in whimsical charm, feathers, and purple and magenta accents, we're loving the floral arrangements by Cherries Flowers.

We adore the cigars and doughnut bar by Erin Bell!

Thanks to Erin Beach, who did an amazing job on photography and Moira Gubbins, the wedding coordinator from Hamlin Mansion.

Healdsburg wedding

Once Wed posted this gorgeous real wedding yesterday! The wedding took place at Barn Diva in Healdsberg - such a lovely destination!

The couple, Lisah and Jeremy, came to us for their wedding invitations, a variation on our Heartland design. It's so lovely to see how everything came together!

See all the details here. Congratulations, Lisah and Jeremy!

Photos by Jen Curtis.

Real wedding: Lori & James

Thanks to event planner Morgan Doan and Geoff White Photographers for sharing these stunning photos from Lori and James' recent wedding at the Bently Reserve in San Francisco. For their opulent event, they chose the Chandelier wedding invitation design by EIEIO Studio in coal and a custom berry red. So lovely!

Lori looked gorgeous! (Her makeup was by Neja Cosmetics).

As did James! Elegant minimal bout and floral arrangements by Michael Daigian Floral Design.

For those of you not familiar, the Bently Reserve is a gorgeous neoclassical building near the Embarcadero. Morgan did an amazing job of transforming it into a dramatic event space for the ceremony...

...and the reception.

Lovely cake by Jen's Cakes. Catering was by Taste Catering.

The invitation motif was carried through the seating cards...

and even the lighting (patterned gobos on the ceiling by Got Light?).

Congratulations, Lori and James!

Photography by Geoff White Photographers.

Real wedding: Abby & Ross

Congrats to Abby and Ross, who got married last month at Limn Gallery, a beautiful modern space in San Francisco!

It all began with this custom save the date design that we created for the couple, combining a nod to the fact that the space is a functioning art gallery, and a little bit of wit and whimsy!

Limn provided a chic, minimal backdrop for the reception. The event was catered by Jane Hammond Events.

Emily Dreblow of Soulflower Floral Design created these lovely sculptural boutonnieres, as well as the succulent centerpieces.

We revived the save the date design in a welcome sign carved by Because We Can...and a hand drawn seating chart.

The ceremony was held in gallery's outdoor courtyard.

The bride wore this gorgeous beaded shrug, custom made by seamstress Glenda Pongiglione.

The programs coordinated with their invitations (they chose the Lunaria invitation design in espresso and apple).

Promptly after the ceremony, they left for an amazing honeymoon in Greece (we're so jealous!!). Congratulations, Abby & Ross!!

Photography by Marla Aufmuth.

Real Wedding: Sarah & Patrick

We are sure there is, in some peoples' minds, the assumption that the perfect English wedding should be held in mid-summer with small bridesmaids in pink voile running over emerald green, sun-dappled lawns, bright roses on the tables, food and cake a-plenty and all to the sound of laughter and clink of champagne flutes (or - to each their own - beer glasses!). The August wedding of Sarah McKee and Patrick Barry didn't disappoint on any of the above.

Sarah chose our classic Cherry Blossom design for her wedding stationery and carried the floral theme right through the whole event, even Patrick's tie managed to co-ordinate! The wonderfully relaxed atmosphere was captured perfectly in the photographs taken by Charley Smith.

We love the way that the table plans were strung-out on a silken washing line in the gardens of the house near Windsor where the guests strolled before being seated in the marquee for the meal. A perfect opportunity for showing-off that pink voile dress! Notice the touch of the tiny gold clothes pegs holding each one up - genius!

The flowers for the day were by Richard Elder one of the country's leading floral designers who combined the hot Summer colours in these charming baskets for the bridesmaids. The fabulous and mouth-watering mini cake stack was by Peggy Porschen and the talented Dan McEvoy from Real Cooking did the rest of the catering. We  just love the way that the cherry blossom flower has been picked-out again on the top of each cake!

Thank you so much to Sarah & Patrick for sharing these photos with us. Ah! roll-on next summer!!

Illustrated programs

How adorable are these illustrated programs from Joanna Goddard's wedding? The artwork was done by the talented Anna Bond, and features a quote from one of our favorite books, The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.

Real wedding: Hollin + Eric

We are loving Hollin and Eric's beautiful wedding, full of sweet details and DIY elements. Hollin, along with some helpful friends and family, created most of the decorations, and it all turned out so vintage chic!

Thanks to the very talented Ben Blood for sharing his gorgeous photos of their wedding at Treehouse Point in Issaquah, Washington. Tree-filled and moss-covered, Treehouse Point offers two incredible treehouses for lodging by master treehouse builder Pete Nelson who, along with his wife Judy, host private events and overnight retreats. So natural and ethereal!

The groomsmen donned tweed and wore handmade mismatching boutineers and ties.

Hollin's vintage inspired dress was made by Portland designer Holly Stalder, who even gave Hollin extra fabric for her to make the flower on her veil! So lovely.

Hollin and her bridesmaids made their own headpieces...just gorgeous!

The bride's sister and maid of honor Keiko, hand drew and screen printed coffee and tea bags as favors for the guests.

Hollin's mom made each of the bridesmaid's dresses. We love the fabric and individual sash detailing.

Hello!Lucky designer Anna created whimsical invitations complete with illustrations of the bride and groom dancing under the trees.

What a talented group of people! Congratulations, Hollin and Eric!

Chinese cherry blossom wedding

We're loving these details that Chun Yee, founder of our London office, sent us of her brother's wedding! Having grown up in China & Taiwan (and being half Chinese), we love the idea of giving the traditional gold-and-red Chinese wedding palette a modern twist. Stephanie and Thomas did it to perfection!  They used a folded, dual-language Cherry Blossom wedding invitation in lucky red and chocolate, and incorporated a traditional double happiness seal.

Seating cards were printed with a coordinating motif.

Beautiful cherry blossom cake adorned with paper flowers!

The getaway car!

Cute! Congratulations, Stephanie and Thomas!

Lisa Feldman Design

One of our very favorite Bay Area event planners, Lisa Feldman, just launched her new website! Check it out - it is gorgeous!

Lisa has a way of turning every event she works on into a joyful, personalized occasion. Some of the most memorable weddings we've designed paper for are showcased on the site, including Dana & Julie's - they were married last year in Hualaiai, Hawai.

We collaborated with Lisa to create the invitations and wedding stationery details, including umbrella wraps...

Chopstick holder place cards for the rehearsal dinner (calligraphy by Papineau Calligraphy)...

...and wedding favors. As you know, all the thoughtful details are what makes a wedding special - Lisa is all about these!

Orlee & David's wedding was another wonderful event Lisa designed...

The wedding invitation suite was inspired by organic, Art Nouveau floral patterns.

One of our favorite details from the wedding - a table where guests could read love letters written between the bride and the groom, and write their own!

Lisa is also the Bay Area's go-to event designers for Bar and Bat Mitzvah's.  This gorgeous reception at the St. Regis featured flowers by Kathleen Deery Design. We created the invitations, as well as personalized menu cards...

...and seating cards (calligraphy by Papineau Calligraphy).

And this is just the beginning! Find more inspiration on Lisa's website.

The site design is by the talented Deb Wagner of dstripe. Hello!Lucky designed the logo, Kenneth Sloan edited gorgeous photos, and Curt Sanburn edited the copy.

Congratulations, Lisa!

Real wedding: Georgina 'High Tea' Worthington

  Earlier this year we were delighted to print the invitation suite for the owner of one of our favourite UK stockists, High Tea of Highgate (the fact that this is a delightful tea shop in a lovely part of London and that Georgina is a fabulous cook is entirely co-incidental!)

Georgina's wedding to Riccardo Carrelli took place in the magical setting of Burgh Island, an Art Deco hotel situated just off the coat of Devon and the setting for several Agatha Christie films.  Our letterpress suite printed over images of the island set the mood for Georgina's 1920's inspired celebrations and the whole event was beautifully captured  by the photographer Joanna Wilkinson

The Burgh Island hotel and the equally famous 'Sea Tractor' used to transport guests at high tide.

Georgina's fantastic dress was designed by Alice Temperley and, we are assured, was just perfect for doing the Charleston in!

...and to prove it!

A truly genius way of creating an edible centrepiece!

We just love the detail of these wedding favours a uniquely British delicacy - seaside rock from The Rock People. The couple's name runs right through it!

Congratulations, Georgina and Riccardo!

Invitation photos by yours truly, wedding photos by Joanna Wilkinson.

Red, White & Blue Wedding Invitations

Thanks to Misti Layne for sharing these gorgeous pics of the red, white and blue Classic Cowboy wedding invitations we created for Maggie and John's June wedding at Rancho Nicasio.

The whole wedding, designed by Stacy McCain and Mary Lois of Loop Flowers, is full of delightful rustic homespun details.  Check out more pics on Style Me Pretty today (thanks, Abby!!). And congratulations, Maggie and John!

Photos: Misti Layne

Palm Springs Rehearsal Dinner by Alison Events

Thanks to Style Me Pretty and Jose Villa Wedding Photography for posting these gorgeous pics of a rehearsal dinner designed by Alison Events, for which we created the menus. The wedding was relocating from Mexico to the Parker Palm Springs at the last minute, but Alison maintained the Mexican spirit with this simple, beautiful design.  We designed and printed the menus in just 2 days (it can be done - and it's up there with the time we flew to Nice, France to deliver a seating chart to a client - yes, we take customer service seriously!)

Every detail was gorgeous.

The happy couple!  See more details here and here. And by the way, we have the scoop on a fantastic deal from Alison. Now through the end of August, she and her talented production manager Kelsey are offering hourly rates for all you budget-savvy brides who don't need full service planning. She can walk you through a timeline, floor-plan, design, table scape, vendor referrals, or even a walk through the elements fo your wedding to give you ideas! Her hourly rate is $125 (cash only, please) with a 2 hour minimum. Trust us, this is a great value and gaining the insight, expertise, resources, and creative vision of one of the best in the business. DO it!

Eunice & Daniel's wedding

Eunice & Daniel's Tim Walker-inspired wedding was last weekend in a valley near Wilbur Hot Springs in Northern California! We're so excited we can barely contain ourselves - it was so amazing and wonderful!

We can't share more at the moment as will be featured in an upcoming issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, but stay tuned for behind-the-scenes blog posts on the Martha blog and look out for the article!

In the meantime, the happy couple is heading out to Europe on their honeymoon. Huzzah!

Jenna Hein's Wedding

We have been excitedly watching 100 Layer Cake's coverage of calligrapher Jenna Hein's "Coney Island meets Marie Antoinette" wedding. Check out the amazing inspiration board above...

She also posted this fablous balloon escort card idea, based on a window display Jenna created for Anthropologie.  Check out the full post here!

Can't wait to see more of Jenna's wedding!!

Real Wedding: Ted & Angie

We've blogged about Ted and Angie, owners of Poketo, before...they are such a fabulous pair. Last time we saw them, we got to chatting about taco trucks at weddings and it turns out they had one at theirs! We were soooo excited, and then they made our day by sharing these pictures with us...

The ceremony took place on the roof deck of their Los Angeles loft...

San Francisco-based photographer Myleen Hollero did an amazing job capturing portraits of bride & groom and their family and friends...

The infamous taco truck - such a festive, yummy, and cost-effective idea!

Mmmmm....tacos!!

Guests were treated to a tower of mini cupcakes...

...first tasted by the bride and groom, natch!

Congratulations, Ted & Angie!

Photos courtesy of Myleen Hollero.

Stacy McCain Event Planning

Our friend Stacy McCain, an event planner based in San Francisco, just pinged us to let her know about her wonderful new website!  It's so great to see Stacy's fresh, fabulous work all in one place! We especially love this Mexican fiesta she created - love the colors and the mini maracas!

These Mexican paper flowers are gorgeous, too - find similar ones here.

Love this table name and the beautiful, understated table settings...

So many lovely, rustic touches!

Adorable cake and candy bar...

Stacy does everything from weddings to anniversary parties and takes her inspiration from a range of influences, including her international travels.  Speaking of which, the anniversary party above was inspired by the couple's international travels over their 40 years of marriage (so sweet!) -- love the gorgeous Asian details.

She also is very friendly to same-sex couples - like this ultra-modern wedding she created for Mike and Jeff at the San Jose Museum of Art. Stacy's eye for detail is simply wonderful, and she was a wonderful, energetic personality to boot!

Congratulations, Stacy! Check out more of her work here.

Photo credits (from top): Mel Barlow, Alex Johnson, Sasha Gulish, Emily Merrill

Lovely Letterpress

We happened upon these photos of  a charming letterpress wedding invitation suite via Inspired Bride and  (oh so) beautiful paper.  Maddy, bride-to-be and writer of  Inspired Bride, is also a graphic designer and lover of letterpress (we're with you Maddy!).  And, she asked us to print the beautiful stationery she designed.

How sweet is the bird and pretty dotted pattern?

So wonderful that Maddy is lending such a personal touch to her wedding and we're tickled to have helped.  You can read more details about the inspiration behind the stationery here and can visit Maddy's blog for more wedding details.

Freedom to Marry

We're thrilled to be contributing to the upcoming Freedom to Marry fundraiser at Amy Kuschel Bride benefiting Equality of California. It's going to be a great party, organized by I Do! Wedding & Event Design, catered by Joshua Charles, and featuring a show of Amy's 2009 bridal collection. Here are the details - everyone's invited!

Thursday, February 12, 2009 National Freedom to Marry Day 6 - 8 p.m. Amy Kuschel Design Studio 23 Grant Avenue, 5th Floor San Francisco, California

RSVP to Ruby@amykuschel.com (and if you can't make it, make a donation to EQCA!)

Photo credit: Photomischa

Real Wedding: Danielle Spinetta & Greg Piché

We recently did fabulous invitations and day-of paper for our friend and fellow card maker, Danielle Spinetta of Tallulah.  She and her husband, Greg Piché, were married at Foreign Cinema in San Francisco, and had a fun vintage movie theme - Foreign Cinema has a giant wall for projecting movies (so cool!) - they showed Grease and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid during the reception. Love it!

Photography by Beth Hurley and Deb Mindel of Greg Piché Photography.

Danielle had her save-the-dates printed at the amazing Hatch Show Print and asked us to do the rest of the pieces in a similar show poster style (an aesthetic we happen to love, so needless to say it was a great pleasure to work on). Here's the menu (above)...

The place cards were inspired by vintage movie ticket stubs...

We designed these great custom cocktail napkins from For Your Party - such an adorable detail - served alongside these delicious looking glasses of huckleberry lemonade.

Love these Hooray! flags made by So Inviting (she also made the flag for the cake)...

The truffle cake was made by  I Dream of Cake

Love the earthy modern look of Foreign Cinema.  The giant letters in the background were made by Madeline Edwards. Congratulations, Danielle & Greg!

A few more wedding do's and don't's

Okay, folks, we're on a roll! As a Chinese fortune cookie once told us, "Advice is like kissing. It costs nothing and is a pleasant thing to do." So here are a few more pieces of advice for brides-to-be...

MORE WEDDING DO'S

11. DO send thank you notes. They should be sent as soon as possible, but no more than one month after receiving a gift. Keep a list of gifts and guests. There's nothing worse then looking at a gift and wondering, "who sent us that?", followed by the generic "Dear X, Thank you so much for the lovely gift. It was so thoughtful of you. Sincerely yours..."

12. DO go around to each guest table to say hello to guests during the reception. One of the biggest regrets we hear from the couple is that the day just whizzed by and they never got to spend time with friends and family. So, early in the evening be sure to go around to each table and visit with each guest.

13. DO have a wedding website. There are plenty of free websites available these days (e.g. Project Wedding or Weding Wire; access requires that you sign in) and it's a great way to keep guests up-to-date. Also minimizes the need to send out mass e-mails (and the subsequent accidental/inappropriate reply-all's!).

MORE WEDDING DON'T'S

11. DON'T do a "Best of" slide show during the reception (e.g. featuring baby photos and courtship highlights). If you do succumb, keep it lighthearted and/or save it for your rehearsal dinner. DON'T accompany it with Ave Maria or anything by Bette Midler or Celine Dion.  A Power Point presentation during dinner tends make the reception feel like a board meeting or college reunion, and A/V pyro-technics can be a slightly jarring break from tradition, so think carefully before going down this path.

12.  DON'T try to take a complete wedding group portrait. Remember how long it used to take to assemble your entire 4th grade class for the school photo? Now, multiply that by 10 considering there are children and adults of all ages involved who by this point have likely imbibed a glass or so of champagne apiece. Instead, ask your photographer to take candid shots of guests at each table. A photo booth, in which guests take their own mugs against a decorative backdrop (perhaps with funny props), is also a great way to ensure that all guests are remembered.

13. DON'T have a receiving line at the reception. No one likes queues, let's be honest. More often than not, receiving lines just create a bottle neck and keep guests from getting to their true destination - champagne and hors d'oeuvres!  Instead, keep the party moving and visit guests to pay your mutual respects during the dinner reception (see DO #2)

Photo courtesy of Sara Remington.