Wedding Inspiration: Factory 20

We're delighted to bring you one of our latest obsessions--Factory 20, a mecca of vintage furniture and rustic wedding bric-a-brac. This is a perfect place to get inspiration and potentially splurge for some personalized vintage flair to your special day.

For country chic weddings, we can only imagine what crafty minds could do with this vintage dairy farm metal basket.

Vintage gas station numbers! Can we say Totally Adorable Idea for Table Numbers?

And how cute would this be for a bar or welcome table at a big-top inspired wedding?

A lot of the pieces quite spendy and one-of-a-kind, so if budget allows, think about how to re-use in your home after the event.

View all the inspiring finds here.

Party Inspiration: V-Day Pink Dessert Buffet

Valentine's Day isn't just for couples anymore! We adore this perfectly pink dessert buffet by design all-star, Amy Atlas. It's just too cute for words! Plus, we love the idea of hosting a Valentine's party--uniting our coupled friends with our single friends for a celebration of love in its purest form: dessert.

Design Inspiration: Rob Ryan!

We've blogged about Rob Ryan before, but we're doing it again because, well, we can't help it! The piece below is one of our favorites and reminds us of  papel picados, traditional folk art and design from Mexico. We're bummed that it's currently sold out, but we're feeling a little inspired for our own DIY  Valentine's Day ambitions.

See his other designs here.

Via Wee Birdy

Real Wedding: Amy and Adam

We're so pleased that Amy and Adam's gorgeous Sonoma Wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty this week!  Choosing the beautiful B.R. Cohn Winery as their setting, the couple (best friends since college!), treated their guests to a celebration inspired by the bountiful Sonoma fall harvest.

We love the rustic simplicity of chalkboard directions.

The couple said their "I do's" under one of the oldest trees at the winery.

We customized Amy and Adam's wedding invitation to reflect their California fall theme. Escort cards and save the dates brought the clean, playfully preppy touches together.

Simple autumnal flower arrangements by Kathleen Deery Design popped against the white table settings. A beautiful color palette that continued into the night [courtesy of Got Light?]:

The event was catered by Paula LeDuc Fine Catering, where Amy works. Divine! Our congratulations to Amy and Adam!

Photos courtesy of Elle Jae Photography

Swoon! Valentine's Day is here again!

And we've got some new Valentine's designs to boot!

No lion...Order by February 5th to ensure you get your cards before Valentine's. Free shipping on orders over $20! (Enter code LOVE2010).

Let the wooing and swooning begin!

The Exquisite Book Project!

It's sure turning out to be a good year! This awesome illustration, designed by our own lovely and talented head designer and co-founder, Eunice Moyle, has been accepted to appear in The Exquisite Book Project--published by Chronicle Books and out this Fall!

This project, curated by our friend and fellow designer Julia Rothman and lovingly dubbed "a total experiment"--is a collaborative effort among artists of all sorts; illustrators, designers, and comic artists come together to tell a singular story. Each artist contributes one full illustrated page to the book, and are given no more to go on than the previous artist's illustration!

We're over the moon about The Exquisite Book Project, and are rather humbled to be amongst such other contributors as: Mike Perry, Camilla Engman, Dave Eggers, and our buddies over at Lab Partners.

Introducing Our Brand New Photo Save the Dates!

We've been having way too much fun here at Hello!Lucky with our new Photo Save the Dates! (Not to mention the added bonus of our very own in-house photo booth from Magnolia Photo Booth!)

The new save the dates are as quirky or as classic as you want to be. Use one of your own photos, or come visit us at our San Francisco studio for a nostalgic photo booth photo shoot. And don't worry, prop moustaches provided on request!

Photo credit: Adi Nevo

Hello!Lucky Style Me Pretty Giveaway!

Our friends over at Style Me Pretty are celebrating our 2010 new designs by giving readers a chance to win a set of 100 digitally printed invitations and reply cards! To enter, just head over to their blog and leave a comment telling them which one of our designs--either letterpress or digital--is your favorite. A winner will be chosen this Friday, January 29. Good luck, and we can't wait to read your responses, too!

Drum Roll, Please! New Wedding Designs!

Our long-awaited unveiling is here! We are absolutely thrilled to bring you 12 new designs from our design studio here at Hello!Lucky. These brand new Save the dates, RSVP cards, and wedding invitations have been months in the making, and many have been inspired by our wonderful clients!

Our San Francisco Skyline invitation evokes the beautiful silhouette of your chic urban wedding.

Inspired by the motley sailors of yore, our Vintage Tattoo design is a perfect accompaniment to your hip and stylish wedding.

Our Heartland wedding invitation is full of rustic charm. Inspired by vintage fruit crate packaging, this invite adds a little shabby chic to picturesque farm or ranch weddings.

A beautiful, modern design with retro flourishes, our Nouveau Peonies invite is inspired by the romance and decorative whimsy of  Art Nouveau textiles.

Land ahoy! Our Seagull wedding invitation is a relaxed accompaniment to seaside weddings.

Our other new designs include: a Lake Tahoe-inspired design--perfect for all outdoorsy weddings; a whimsical Cala Lily wedding invitation, a pretty Vintage Lace design with a retro flair; Tuscany and Bordeaux--perfect pairings to your wine country wedding, and and the San Francisco Skyline designs (which complements our London Skyline, New York Skyline designs), showcasing the city silhouette of your urban, city wedding.

Reintroducing Babette!

We're mega swooning over Babette's brand new bridesmaid adornments. We think they'd make the perfect accompaniment to a simple and chic bridesmaid dress--just the right amount of punch and sass.

Patent leather flower bracelets are simple and totally adorable!

Beads and patent leather, glass and silver: Babette showcases some of the best designs in chic minimalism.

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.

Lovely bridesmaid's headbands

We're just loving these gorgeous ethereal handmade hair clips and headbands by YuzuRose by June Wee.

Such pretty fabrics and color palettes - perfect wedding inspiration!

Check out her work here.

San Francisco Wedding Fair

We're looking forward to the San Francisco Wedding Fair this Sunday, January 10 from 11 - 4 at Four Seasons Hotel.  Let's face it: most bridal shows are a kind of lame.  However, this one consistently attracts some quality vendors. If you're thinking of only hitting one of these events, it's the one to check out.

We'll be there exhibiting with partner Magnolia Photo Booth, an awesome photo booth company that just launched in the Bay Area. Magnolia will be demo-ing their booth, and we have some brand spanking new save the date designs that use the photos & photo booth pics!  Magnolia keeps a booth at our studio at 977 Howard Street (between 5th and 6th), so you can drop by use it for free to make awesome save the dates, thank you cards & more (just call ahead, as it's sometimes out on loan).

A few vendors to definitely check out at the show:

Cakes & Sweets

Sibby's Cupcakery

The Buttercream Studio

Cocoa Bella Chocolates

Calligraphy

Papineau Calligraphy

Florists

Floramor Studios

Rentals

Classic Party Rentals Hartmann Studios

Event Designers

Alicia K Designs

Check out the San Francisco Wedding Fair website for a full list of exhibitors. Enjoy!

Bay Area Wedding Venues

With so many engagements happening over the holidays, we thought it would be great to kick off the new year one of the very first things on the wedding planning to-do list: choosing a venue. The Bay Area is a fabulous place for local and destination weddings, and has venues for just about every wedding style, from vintage to modern. Here are a few of our favorites.

Vintage

We love Marin Headlands Center for the Arts (both photos above) for its rustic charm. The drive out there is short but scenic - perfect for wowing out-of-town guests.

Swedenborgian Church, nestled in Pacific Heights, is full of vintage charm. Head to one of San Francisco's classic hotels or reception halls for the post-ceremony bash.

Perched on a bluff overlooking the Bay, Old St. Hilary's in Marin is a one-of-a-kind, historic ceremony site.

Modern

Nestled in Golden Gate Park, the DeYoung Museum features stunning modernist architecture.

With its slightly Asian-contemporary-inspired notes, the St. Regis is an uber-stylish venue - perfect for creating a lounge atmosphere, with luxurious rooms for out-of-town guests.

For a more industrial chic look, check out Foreign Cinema in Mission. Dine on gourmet local organic fare, and project a favorite film (Casablanca, anyone?) on the big screen in their outdoor courtyard.

Wine Country

There are literally dozens of stunning venues in wine country - too many to do justice to here! A couple of our favorites: Calistoga Ranch (above).

Beaulieu Vineyard in Napa.

Annadel Estate Winery in Sonoma. And of course, don't forget Bear Flag Farm!

What venues are you considering??

Photos, from top: Marin Headlands; Swedenborgian Church; Old St. Hilary's; Foreign Cinema 1 and 2; Calistoga Ranch 1 & 2; Beaulieu Vineyards; Annadel.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! A few days ago, we embarked on some New Year's cleaning and came across these wonderful photos from our 1st year anniversary (amazing that now we're coming up on 7 years!).  Back then, Hello!Lucky was just four of us -- Eunice and Sabrina (second and third from left), Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls (second from right), and Jen Kowskie (far right) -- with frequent help on the marketing front from our good friend Ruth Krumbhaar (far left). There were lots of critters and kids around, too -- Simon, Eunice's dog (foreground); Rumi, Ruth's dog (in Maybelle's arms); and Kellen, Jen's 2-year old.

Jen and Eunice had worked together as designers during the web boom of the late 90's; Eunice met Maybelle at a letterpress class at the San Francisco Center for the Book, and with some guidance from Sabrina, Hello!Lucky was hatched.

Eunice and Maybelle did most of the letterpress printing those early days, on a C&P printing press.

One of our earliest designs - a coaster with a sassy girl in a cocktail dress. She was featured on the announcement for our booth at our very first National Stationery Show in 2003 and can still be spotted on our Chi Chi party invitation.

Some more early designs, leaning on an old-fashioned book press that we kept in our studio.

Another early design, now what we think of as a "classic," available here.

A detail of a wall in our first studio, located on 4th Street in Berkeley.

Eunice & Sabrina in front of the C&P press with pooches Indie & Simon!

These days, Eunice & Sabrina are still at the helm, and we're now in our third studio space in San Francisco's SoMA district. Maybelle went on to launch her successful calligraphy business, working for clients such as Martha Stewart Weddings (and just had twins!); and Jen embarked on a free-lance graphic design career and raising her two wonderful boys.  Ruth has switched from marketing to social work, and is raising a darling boy, too.

So, here's to remembering our roots and humble beginnings, and to many good things in the future! And, thanks to all our wonderful partners, fans, customers, staff, and supporters - you're the best!

Photos by Belynda Webb.

Happy holidays!

The holidays are upon us! We're looking forward to celebrating the season with friends and family near and far...

We'll also be taking a break from our blog over the holidays, when we'll have plenty of new things to share, including new wedding invitation and save the date designs!

In the meantime, we wish everyone a joyful, peaceful holiday and a prosperous new year!

Enjoy these lovely images from Such Pretty Things!

Chick-o-meter: Final count!

Well, it's the week of Christmas and since most folks seem to have finished ordering their holiday cards, we're winding down our holiday drive to donate 3,000 chicks to hungry families via Heifer International.

The final result? (drumroll....!) You all helped us donate about 2,500 of of the 3,000 chicks we'd committed. While this fell a little short of making the bonus pair o' llamas, it's still something to crow about! So, THANK YOU, to everyone who participated! Next year, we'll go for a herd of heifers! Happy holidays, everyone!

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.

DIY Holiday Favors

Getting ready for the holiday season, we got inspired to make our own cookie cutters using Cottonwood, one of our favorite fonts, and bake yummy gingerbread cookies. Check out the results! We collaborated with Shana Faust on the project and packaging, which was featured on Style Me Pretty today. Read the full DIY instructions and templates here.  These would be great for wedding favors, too! Note that rather than make your cookie cutters from scratch, you can also buy a DIY cookie cutter kit here - might save time and a trip to Home Depot! (Thanks to Susan, who commented on the Style Me Pretty post for the suggestion!!)

Happy holidays!

Photo by Anna Hurley.

Bear Flag Farm

With Bay Area weather turning so much colder lately, our thoughts are turning to one of our favorite summer wedding venues - Bear Flag Farm. With its fields of lavender, gorgeous orchards, and rustic details, it's the perfect place for an outdoor wedding. Wish we could be there right now! Bear Flag Farm is located about a hour outside of San Francisco in Winters, California. Check out their website for more inspiration & details -- and if you haven't already seen the gorgeous real wedding featured this month on Project Wedding, check it out here.

Photos courtesy of Bear Flag Farm.