The Wedding University

Lately we've been chatting with a lot of Bay Area brides who are in the throes of wedding planning, and understandably feeling a little overwhelmed!  So, we were thrilled to hear about our friend and event planner extraordinaire Jubilee Lau's upcoming Wedding University. What a great idea!

This day-long event is an educational seminar to school brides- and grooms-to-be in the myriad aspects of wedding planning, including how to stretch that wedding budget as far as it'll go! Check out the A-list vendors who'll be sharing their expertise here. Check out the U's blog here.

The Wedding University Sunday, February 8, 2009 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Four Seasons Silicon Valley Tickets are $25 for one guest, $40 for two guests

Invitation trend: Silhouettes

We recently were invited to write a guest post on invitation trends for The Knot editors' blog...Silhouettes was one of 'em and since posting, we keep on noticing new ones to add to our list of favorites!

We just spotted this gorgeous silhouette custom invite on Rob Ryan's blog. It's in English and Spanish - how fabulous!

Gorgeous cameo wedding invitation by Mok Duk.

Silhouettes work for flora and fauna, too! Step by Step wedding invitation by Chewing the Cud

 

Our L'Oiseau design, of course! (coordinating wedding website template just became available on Project Wedding - woot!).

There's also this hilarious silhouette bride from Paper Relics (works for a congrats card, shower invite, or will you be my bridesmaid? card), as well as our vintage-y Beautiful Bride letterpress thank you note.

View more of our invitation trend-spotting here.

Destination wedding invitations

We're thrilled to release our new Destination series wedding invitations designed by local artists (and friends!) from Lab Partners. Inspired by vintage travel posters, their adorable illustrations couldn't be more perfect for a fun San Francisco affair, a glamorous London soirée, a tropical event in Hawaii or an elegant wedding in New York!

Don't see your destination? Contact us to learn more about our custom design services.

Our New (Extra Fancy!) Website is Here!

We're so excited our new website is finally here - check it out!

You can now order wedding invitations and save-the-dates easily online!

Check out our new proof preview feature when you shop for wedding invitations or save-the-dates (additional products will have this soon) - you can play around with type, color, & formatting - our favorite feature is the ability to drag the text boxes around so you can change your text placement on the fly!

Browse our inspiration boards created by Kathryn from Snippet & Ink...

Learn all about the letterpress process...

Meet our awesome staff...

Shop for cute personalized stationery!

and greeting cards...

as well as fabulous gifts, including our new book, Handmade Hellos!

We are so thrilled with the way it turned out!  That being said, it's brand-spanking new, so there are a couple bugs here and there which we are fixing as fast as we can.  If you come across something that isn't working properly or have any feedback, we'd love to hear from you - please email us here!  Note to folks on Internet Explorer 6 - it's time to upgrade! Sadly, our site is now too schmancy for the abilities of IE6 - but you can download IE7 here...

Happy browsing!

Topsy Turvy's Fabulous Hats!

We always love an excuse to don a smart hat (don't you wish someone would bring back that trend? We do!).   The charming, vintage-inspired chapeaux from Oakland-based Topsy Turvy make us wish that hats were a de rigeur fashion accessory!

This Oh-So-Flirty Cocktail Hat was modeled after a vintage headpiece found at the flea market dating from the 1950's.

We love this sassy, burlesquey number...

Kim Brown-Dye, the sometime costumier & full-time milliner behind Topsy-Turvy makes a wide range of beautiful hats, with nods to a wide variety of eras and suitable for everything from a swank evening out to an outrageous costume party.  She builds each one from scratch using buckram & wire construction which is then covered & trimmed using the finest materials & hand finishing.

The Evelyn - Victorian Top Hat...makes us want to don our riding habits, slap on the side-saddle and ride off into the sunset!

Who wouldn't want to have an excuse to channel Marie Antoinette?

Leopard print pillbox!  So rock-a-billy fabulous!

Leather Bell Hop!

Rhinestone Mini Top Hat! Glittery!

Ah, glittery AND feathered...who can resist?  We are positively swooning - if only we could have one of each!

Check out a video on Kim's studio and her hat-making here!

Free Wedding Websites

  Our first two wedding websites just launched over at Project Wedding. Hooray! The websites are free, private, and easy to customize. They're the perfect place to store all the event details, directions, photos, and guest book. How fabulous is that? The one above is based on our popular Cherry Blossom wedding invitation, originally created for an editor at Martha Stewart Weddings. (Note - we're now offering our designs in an affordable digitally printed format; contact us for more details!).

This one's based on our Antoinette wedding invitation design. We'll be adding lots more designs to the Project Wedding gallery in the next few weeks, so stay tuned and feel free to let us know if there's a design you particularly want us to adapt!

Vintageous Dresses

While were on the topic of things vintage, we have to confess our obsession with Vintageous. We love their selection of vintage dresses and accessories, and while shopping there takes patience (especially for those of us that don't have, ahem, a 20-inch waist!), it's completely addictive and there are some amazing gems to be found!

It's the perfect place to troll for bridesmaid's dresses, like these beauties!

We also love vintage dresses for their daring use of color; okay, some of the colors (puce, bubble gum pink) are a little dated, but there are some like this cute gingham number and this fab teal print, that'll never go out of style:

Of course there are also great vintage dresses to be found at flea markets and on ebay. Here are a couple looks we're loving from ebay seller Red House Vintage, on sale now! The gunmetal blue wrap dress is calling our name...!

We find that the 40's and 50's are the best for fun (and figure-flattering) party dresses, but we gotta admit we love the 60's  70's too...like this amazing Sarmi dress from Vintageous:

A couple of quick tips for shopping vintage:

- Find a seller whose taste you like and keep going back. Half the battle is picking through the duds (and the gorgeous dresses that were made for midgets!); working with a seller who has a great eye and selection let's you get to the good stuff more quickly.

- Get a good tailor. Even the best vintage garb will need little alteration to fit perfectly. It's worth spending an extra $20 or $30 getting it to fit just right - after all, the dress itself is usually a steal compared to current designer fashions!

Happy shopping!

Vintage Cake Toppers

We just love vintage cake toppers - here's one we found at the Alameda Flea Market a few months ago. Flea markets are by far the best place to look for these beauties - there are only a couple of sites online we've been able to find that specialize in them - Fancy Flours and Gulden & Brown but the prices are pretty steep (we paid about $75 for this one, and prices online can touch $300!)

Martha Stewart Weddings took elements from a vintage cake topper and incorporated it into the design of the cake - brilliant idea!

Love these parasol toppers - $65 for the set - we're tempted! How fabulous would these be for a bridal shower or bridesmaid's luncheon?

And how 'bout this cheeky and charming sailor boy and his gal? Just love it but at $295 it's definitely an heirloom piece!

And for all you beauty queens out there - here's a fabulous old-Hollywood-glamour inspired piece of fabulousness. Let me powder my nose...there, now I'm ready for my close-up, darlings!

Learning the Letters

In a never ending effort to increase our stationery geekiness, a couple of us made our initial foray on a quest to learn calligraphy. With the help of the talented Michele Papineau of Papineau Calligraphy (the go-to specialist for all H!L calligraphy needs) we learned the basics of letterforms, angles, and some tricks of the trade. Michele has been doing calligraphy for over twenty years - her work has been featured in Elegant Bride, Martha Stewart Living and Cooking Light among others.

Her Oakland studio is full of beautiful calligraphed wedding invitations, handlettered  poems and a vast array of pens, nibs, inks and paints.

Michele showed us some basic letters - she made it look so easy!

Calligraphy is definitely a lot harder than it looks. It's going to take a bit more practice for the rest of us!

Thanks for all your help Michele!

Max Wanger Photography

We just love these super-cute wedding photos by Max Wanger, via You are My Fave via Oh Joy! Such a lovely wedding & couple - love the porch, peonies, lanterns, swings...everything about it!

Check out more of Max's work here.

Hostess with the Mostess

Hostess with the Mostess is a fantastic resource for ideas, inspiration and sources for hosting a fabulous get together.  Makes us want to throw together a little party... just because!

We stumbled across this  post about a lovely bridal shower hosted by Alison Donahue, a photographer, in honor of her close friend.  There are loads of great DIY details and she used our letterpress coasters (yay!).    Contact us if you are interested in purchasing them for yourself.

Go here for all the details about this stylish shower and be sure to visit Hostess with the Mostess for amazing (and tempting) inspiration for your next party.

Blueprint Studios event rental furniture

Looking to create a sleek, glamorous and modern vibe for your wedding or party? Blueprint Studios just may be the answer.  Co-founded by a team with roots in architecture and interior design, this San Francisco-based firm designs and rents ultra-modern furniture lines for special events.

We especially love this vignette from their Fresco Collection, which can make your party feel like it's happening at Kelly Wearstler's Viceroy Hotel (add some DIY spray painted plates as wall decoration and voila!).

A couple more fun and uber-glam pieces to create that hip lounge atmosphere. This is not your grandma's furniture rental company!

Real Wedding: Michelle and Ken

A big thanks to Mollie from Paula LeDuc Fine Catering for referring her friends, Michelle and Ken, to us for their stationery for their wedding this past September at The Tides in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.  We designed and letterpress printed invitations, menus and fan programs with a delicate floral pattern in bright raspberry and acid green.  And, from the looks of the photos from the talented Melissa Mermin, it was quite a  party (sorry, resistance is futile)...fiesta!

Fireworks, shot glass necklaces and absinthe lollipops?  Quite a festive evening, we're sure.  Love the cocktail napkin!

Congratulations Michelle and Ken!

A big thank you to Melissa Mermin Love Stories for sharing these photos.  You can read more about this wedding and see photos here.

Real Wedding: Heather and Tom

We are so excited to share these amazing photos of Heather and Tom's wedding this past August! We met Heather and Tom when they approached us to work with them on their wedding stationery.  When we heard they were getting married at Heather's dad's home in Cape Cod (where Heather grew up), we were smitten.  Oh, did we neglect to mention Heather's childhood home is an amazing 11-acre property with an apple orchard, pond and a farm house built sometime in the late 1700s?  Obviously, we drew heaps of inspiration from their venue and designed their wedding stationery accordingly - the save the dates and invitations were designed with vintage fruit crate packaging in mind.

Heather looked stunning in French chantilly gown by Liancarlo with a floral motif resembling apple blossoms.

A vibrant color palette of oranges, reds, greens, yellows and pinks was evident throughout.

Guests were greeted with vodka spiked Arnold Palmers (iced tea and lemonade) and Heather walked down the aisle to "You are My Sunshine"  performed by Uni and her Ukelele who also played during the cocktail hour.

We worked with the delightful Allison of Pineapple Productions on these seating cards which Allison threaded onto bamboo skewers and inserted into mini macintosh apples.

Allison writes:

The party tent, provided by UnderCover Tents, featured lanterns in various abstract shapes in the spectrum of late summer colors -- pomegranate red, spicy orange, mango yellow and deep raspberry.  Tables were dressed in linens in the same color palette.

Guests lounged on hay bale "sofas" draped with colorful quilt and outdoor pillows all placed under an heirloom apple tree.  We used upturned antique cranberry crates as occasional tables.  Hanging votives and staked lanterns were placed throughout the property.

Guests danced (and sang) the night away to Sticky Fingers, a Rolling Stones cover band.

Beautiful photos courtesy of Kristin Spencer Photography.  Check out more photos here.

Catering:   The Lobster Trap

Cake:   Delicious Desserts

Flowers:  E. Sandwich Florist

Congratulations Heather and Tom!

DIY Postcard Table Cards

We came across this cute and relatively easy to execute idea for do-it-yourself table cards on Lovely Morning.

Kristina has taken vintage postcards with different images of Palms Spring (her wedding venue) and has mounted them to card stock.   The actual table numbers are on the opposite side.

And, voila!  A highly personalized table card.  Of course, you can adapt this idea to just about anything. Patterned paper, wall paper, photographs, etc... could all make suitable backings.  Nice to remember that a do-it-yourself project doesn't have to mean hours and hours of crafting and can add such a memorable and personal touch to an event.   Check out more of Kristin's wedding planning and more here.

Mix-and-match table clothes

We just love these charming & eclectic mix-and-match table clothes from Piper & Mark's wedding via The Bride's Cafe. Zofia of Zofia Photography also did a splendid job capturing them!

This wedding was just full of gorgeous details - check them all out here.

Wendy Kromer's Gorgeous Cakes

You've likely seen Wendy Kromer's work if you have ever picked up a copy of Martha Stewart Weddings - she is an incredibly talented cake designer and has created some of our all-time favorite cakes.

Wendy has a bakery and design studio in Sandusky, Ohio which would seem incredibly inconvenient for those of us who covet her cakes, but much to our delight we have discovered via BFF Bridal that you can buy her gorgeous sugar flowers as well as cake kits (like the amazing Magical Marzipan Forest Cake featured above) so that you (or for those of us who are less daring, your favorite local baker) can emulate some of her most fabulous designs.  Shop online at  Wendy Kromer Specialty Confections.

If you're still dreaming of one of her cakes for your big day, she will deliver her wedding cakes throughout Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois.  If you're further away, no need to fret; they will deliver throughout the United States and even internationally!  All of their cakes are hand-carried on planes - it seems like a nerve-wracking job to us, but there you go!

You can also check out more of her cakes the new book she co-authored with Martha Stewart, titled Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes, where over 100 of her cakes are featured.

BFF Bridal Top 100

Practice makes perfect...but when planning your wedding, you usually only have one chance to figure out each and every last detail.  Once you have the experience of planning a wedding, you'll inevitably think about what you'd do differently if you were to do it again. That is, unless you take full advantage of the great advice dispensed on a regular basis by Meredith Levy and Tara Mandy of BFF Bridal.  We're admirers and readers of their newsletter and are happy to see they've posted a list of the top 100 things they would do if they were planning a wedding in honor of their 100th issue.   The list is chock full of great ideas like asking a bridesmaid to send some wedding photos to you on your honeymoon. Admit it, you're dying to see them!  And, recommendations ranging from hair accessories by the talented Jennifer Behr...

...to crafty do-it-yourself fabric boutonnierres courtesy of Martha Stewart...

...to calligraphy by Jenna Hein.

Have a look at the list here and plan away!

Well Rehearsed

Sometimes you meet someone and you can just tell they have equal doses of impeccable style and flawless organizational skills...not to mention a gracious, spot-on formula for creating a memorable, personal celebration...

That's how we felt when we met Kathy Goodman of Well Rehearsed, a San Francisco-based event-planning company that specializes in rehearsal dinners. So you should meet her, too!

Kathy specializes in designing rehearsal dinners. Brilliant idea, right?

Above, a charming Yosemite rehearsal dinner...

..and a fun football-inspired rehearsal dinner for two devoted fans (to USC, and, of course, to each other!).

Keep an eye out for Kathy's work featured in the inaugural issue of San Francisco Brides magazine, coming out in December.

PS. Kathy does all kinds of other parties as well, including bridal showers and baby showers!

Real Wedding: Mary-Kevin and Patrick

This week we're thrilled share these gorgeous pictures of the wedding of Mary-Kevin (founder of Luxe Paperie) and her husband, Patrick. The wedding took place on July 19 in La Jolla, California. The bride wore a beautiful gown by Jenny Yoo, and used pink peonies in her hair and bouquet. The groom wore a summer suit from J. Crew and an orchid.

The ceremony took place at Calumet Park in La Jolla, with a garden party at the lovely Darlington House. Each guest received a program and a fan decorated with a pretty DIY patterned flag that said "Welcome."

The reception was on a veranda surrounded by lovely rose bushes...

Mary-Kevin used lots of DIY details throughout the celebration. She writes:

We also made our favors, which were kraft boxes filled with salt water taffy from my most favorite sweet shop...Marini's at the beach in Santa Cruz.  We tied the boxes with brown and white baker's twine and a tag that we made using a custom rubber stamp and white tags that you can purchase at any office supply store.  My mom also participated in the diy fun...she made the beautiful champagne colored silk shantung runners that were used on the dining tables!

Mary-Kevin's stunning (and, we're sure, delicious!) cake was by Miette Patisserie, one of our favorite bakeries in San Francisco:

Mary-Kevin used our Cherry Blossom wedding invitation with calligraphy by the talented Crystal Kluge. We provided patterned papers and images from the invite, which she used to make custom rubber stamps and other DIY details.

An avid collector of milk glass, the bride used several stunning pieces to present the cake and other baked goods/sweets. The couple asked guests to fill out "Wish" tickets - such a cute idea!

These fabulous photos were taken by Carrie McCluskey.

Congratulations, Mary-Kevin and Patrick!