Porto Heli, Greece

Greece is one of my favorite vacation destinations, so I was more than happy to create this adorable map for a September 2010 wedding. I just love the simplicity of this map and that the couple wanted the central focus to be the water of the island nation. All the boats lined up are just perfect, and I especially enjoyed creating the "realistic" coastline with the representation of the sand. It truly gives it a beachy feel.

You can't miss the signature blue and white coloring, but perhaps the sweetest feature is the "Just Married" couple jetting off on their red moped!

Calligraphy style is Upright.

Emotional Map

This travel-themed emotional map was used for a 3.5" x 5" save the date postcard - check out all the places this couple has been to!

The couple met in Seoul, South Korea in 2000 and have a decade of travel ending up at the New York City wedding. Barcelona, Paris, Waikiki, Lisbon, Granada, Buenos Aires (honestly our jealousy is brimming!!) ~ there are tons of vacation hotspots featured in this map.

But one of our favorite touches? The reverse side features the groom with his electric guitar! So sweet.

Midnight Snacks

Midnight snacks have become increasingly popular at weddings and other special events. Last week we attended an event by The Broke-Ass Bride, and guess who was there catering - Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt!

That's right - Pinkberry now offers catering. The staff was so friendly, and the yogurt is obviously a delicious addition, so we had to share this exciting news. It's a perfect end of the night snack for your wedding, or would be a great addition to any bridal or baby shower.

Pinkberry is known to introduce new flavors and often rotates in seasonal flavors, so be sure to check out their website for updates!

Other fun catering ideas from you favorite food shops? Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, In N Out Burger, and Sprinkles all cater too!

Invitation Assembly

Now that we've given you tips on formatting your invitations, we will tell you how to assemble the various pieces in your invitation suite!

• Your invitation lays face up as the bottom piece.
• Slip your reply card under it's envelope flap (be sure to affix first class postage to the front of your reply envelope). It will be placed address side down so the reply card text faces up.
• Layer the other inserts (reception card, map or directions, and reply set) on top of the invitation with the largest item at the bottom and smallest item on top.
• Insert all pieces into inner envelope with the top of the invitation to the left side.
• Turn the inner envelope over to expose your guests' names and insert into outer envelope.  

Voila! You are ready to stamp, seal and send because you're now "officially" getting married!

Adventures of a Maid of Honor

(Photo by Steve Steinhardt)

A funny thing happened last week. My sister gave me a call on Thursday evening.  Typically if I am working, I will let it go to voicemail, but this time I answered. We spoke briefly and when I asked why she was calling she said, "I realized I haven't called to talk to you about you in a really long time!" Well, I'm not sure what was going on with her, because she never calls just to chat, but she said, "We're sisters! We should chat!" (which is very true)

Anyway, the point of this is that even though we did end up discussing her wedding in the end, it was really sweet that she realized she has only been talking about her wedding for weeks. In doing what I do, I'm used to pretty much focusing all my attention on the biggest day of someone else's life, so it's not a big deal at all. It was just nice to talk about me, and my life, for a few minutes!

New York City Map

This adorable map just makes me want to take a vacation to New York! The cool colors look so lovely and I adore the city skyline icon at the bottom of the map!

No matter how many maps we do of New York City, each one is special and unique. How great is it that the couple is getting married right in Bryant Park?

Vendor Spotlight: Bottle Your Brand

Last April we featured a post on Bottle Your Brand, a custom product label company.

Earlier this month they launched a new website with upgraded features that include:

• Lower costs on custom bottled water
• Brand new products: Custom wedding stickers (perfect for wedding favor seals, bridal shower favor seals, invitations seals, wedding programs, etc.)
• A new Design Online tool enables people to upload their own images to labels easily and quickly. It's now super easy to add custom monograms and custom calligraphy to custom labels!
• People can also save their designs and come back and work on them later

Bottle Your Brand is not only for water, either. Check out these adorable custom beer and wine labels!

Custom labels are perfect not only for weddings, but also for showers, bachelorette parties and birthday parties too! Visit their blog for daily ideas.

And now through the end of March, Lucky Orchid Wedding readers can get 10% off their order by using this special promo code: LUCKYORCHID.

Adventures of a Maid of Honor

This morning, I was pleased to find out that Abby Larson of the FABULOUS blog Style Me Pretty had chosen my sister's engagement party last month to feature on her blog today. We hope you'll check it out here.

In the meantime, here are some details (as well as a token shot of the Bride and Groom, above). To start the day, I went with my mom and sis and we had our makeup done at the Chanel counter at Nordstom (I think my sister had hers done at Bobbi Brown). I then rushed over to help Beth Helmstetter with set up at the Border Grill in Santa Monica. Well, I tried to help, but she and her crew pretty much had the whole thing in order by the time I arrived (sorry Beth! Side note: Traffic on the streets in Santa Monica on a Saturday is NOT pretty). Anyway, it was amazing how she totally converted a small dark space and made it completely Southern California chic, and all around amazing!

As a surprise to my sis, we created an adorable seating chart in the nightingale theme of her party. The chart greeted guests as they came up the stairs. As they made their way to their tables, they found them decorated with sweet succulents and were able to nosh on the chips and delicious guacamole.

Each seat had a letterpress menu to match the invitations (see below) and was labeled with a caspian blue wrap around with the guest's name in metallic gold calligraphy ink. The calligraphy style my sister chose for all her stationery for the party was my ella font.

Instead of cake, we decided on cupcakes, which we ordered from Vanilla Bake Shop. These cupcakes were seriously awesome. I highly recommend the Key Lime cupcake and the red velvet and carrot cake cupcakes were snatched up like nobody's business. Beth arranged them on makeshift cakeplates made from assorted terracotta pots which we picked out the Thursday before at Michael's. It was an inexpensive, yet totally cute way which really worked with our theme. I also made cute little signs which we hung over the display to tell people which flavor was which.

We covered the tables in ivory runners from LaTavola Linens.

A genius last second idea from Beth (I think she saw something on Style Me Pretty) lead to this creative compliation of photos, both of my sister and Ryan, and our families and some childhood pics.

Lots of candles made for a romantic mood.

And we used even more candles to edge every corner of the space.

We had monogrammed napkins made for the cocktails...

Which consisted of white sangria and margaritas.

We had an hour of passed hors d'oeurves while the guests mingled and chatted. Yummy.

At the party, we were joined by Ryan's parents, grandparents, and his aunt and uncle, who traveled from Texas to join in the celebration, as well as many of my sister and Ryan's friends.

It was a great time enjoyed by all!

 

And finally, my team and I created this letterpress invitation suite just for Alyssa and Ryan. The invitations were letterpressed on pearl white paper in caspian blue and ivory inks. Instead of an RSVP card/envelope we opted for a postcard. The back of the postcard was imprinted with the invitation design in a simple pattern in ivory. On the envelopes, I used a soft metallic gold for the hand calligraphy and the letterpress return address on the back flap. Since parking is terrible in SM, I thought it best to include a simple map of the area with the parking lots conveniently labeled (as well as the Pier, and 3rd Street Promenade for our out-of-towners). We ordered custom stamps from Zazzle to post the invitations and the RSVP postcards.

And, a special thanks to Steve Steinhardt and Hannah Bergman for their amazing photography shots.

Invitation Etiquette

Last week we gave you etiquette tips for addressing your envelopes. Here we will share common etiquette for the invitation itself. These rules of etiquette are only suggestions. Please feel free to contact us for additional assistance or more etiquette resources.  

• Be sure that you count one invitation per household address, not per guest; however, anyone over the age of 18 should receive his/her own invitation; plus you should always order about a 10% overage for any added guests
• Once you figure out your invitation count, be sure to add another 10% for the envelope count. You, or your calligrapher, will require extras for mistakes. Remember to order extra of both inner and outer envelopes.
• If your parents are hosting the wedding, their names should be on the first line of the invitation; for couples who are hosting their wedding together, their names can appear first, but remember to list the bride's name first.
• Mr., Mrs. and Dr. may be abbreviated - but no other abbreviations should be included. Your names should be competely spelled out; titles should be used consistently among the hosts, or not at all. Initials should not be used in names on invitations. Middle names are either in or out.
• Always include the day of the week, date and year of your wedding.
• The street address of the wedding and reception location should not be printed on the invitation itself, but on a separate map/direction/accomodations card. However, be sure to list the city and state, unless the city is internationally recognizable, such as Los Angeles, New York or Paris.
• Never include gift registry information on your wedding invitation or enclosures - your family and members of your wedding party should pass on that information; one invitation where registry information is acceptable? The bridal shower invites.
• If your wedding is a formal event and you want your guests to be dressed most formally, include "Black Tie" in your invitation; if you say "optional" be prepared to have guests dressed much less formally than you are looking for. 
• If your reception is at the same location as the ceremony, add "Reception immediately following" to your invitation wording. If you aren't having a full dinner, you may want to adjust the wording to "Cocktails following." It is proper to indicate that your wedding and reception are in different locations by using a separate card.

Other notes...

• Monograms are a beautiful tradition and are regaining popularity, but since you're not married yet, don't put your married monogram on your invitation. Your initials will make just as beautiful a design. If you must use a monogram, it is proper to use the bride's. A married monogram shouldn't make its appearance until the reception. Think about introducing your married monogram on the reception menus or place cards. 
• Many couples choose to discretely number their reply cards so that they can identify their guests if they forget to include their name(s) on the reply card itself.
• Be sure to weigh your invitations at the post office for the proper amount of postage. The cost per invitation will depend on the size and shape of your invitation. Squares are automatically extra postage (this also applies to square reply cards); remember to affix first class postage to your reply envelopes. This will help to ensure your guests will respond in a timely manner.
• It is a good idea to have your envelopes hand-canceled at the post office to avoid the "tire tread" left behind by mechanical stamping machines.

These may seem like a lot of "rules," but most are probably things you would do anyways. If you have any specific questions, feel free to contact us directly.

Tote Favors with a Twist

Back in December we showed you a 50th Birthday celebration that included our compass placecards. Here we share the map that was made into totes as favors. This map is special because it includes the names and cities of all of the guests!

Beverly Hills (the location of the party) is the focal point and the map represents the travels of the guests to get there. The distant locations each include an icon representative of their location (kangaroo, pineapple, grapes, Big Ben). This works best with smaller groups, so it would be appropriate for a shower gift, rehearsal dinner momento, small/destination wedding or of course a birthday. What a special gift to remind your guests of the occasion they shared in for years to come!

Customer Pickups

One of my favorite aspects of being in the "industry" (of weddings that is) is handling customer pickups. When clients come to pick up their envelopes (or maps and invitations) it's always fun to present them with their package and show them their calligraphy. More often than not, my brides will sometimes start to tear up because they feel that seeing their names on the invitations, or their guest names in calligraphy, really makes the fact that they are getting married "real!"  We love this, and look forward to being a part of many, many more of our clients' special days.

Eco Friendly Inspiration

Tina LaMorte and the team from Oh So Fabulous! designed these lovely table tops and we were pleased to be a part of the shoot! They put together some eco-friendly but not impossible tabletop ideas for NJ News 12 to show brides how they can go "green" without sacrificing style.

First was a beach inspired table top using a denim linen, shells and candles.

Next they featured a nature inspired theme with succulents, river rocks and a burlap linen.

Rocks like these can be hand calligraphed with your guests names and make for excellent place cards or escort cards!

Thank you to the team at Oh So Fabulous for including our pieces in this special shoot! Visit their blog for more details on these eco-friendly table tops.

The shoot will air on NJ News 12 starting today and will also be in the next NJ Bride issue {along with another one of our weddings!}

Floral design by Stem & Co. Photographs courtesy of Images by Berit.

Envelope Addressing Etiquette

Many couples have questions on appropriate traditional envelope etiquette. The following guidelines give examples from the most common situations. Keep in mind that these are formal guidelines. Many couples are less formal in their approach to addressing. For example, they use first names on the inner envelopes (Ex: John and Mary). 

Our suggestion is that you enter your guests' names the way you feel most comfortable. My policy is that we write the addresses exactly as our clients submit their lists, so feel free to apply these notes as desired.

Outer Envelopes

• Use full names, including the first names. Example: Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jackson
• Do not write "and Family" if children are to be included on the invitation. Write their first names on the inner envelope beneath their parents' names. (See "Inner Envelopes" below)
• Write out the words "Street," "Boulevard," "Avenue," "Road," etc.
• Do not use symbols. Spell out the word "and".
• Use figures only when writing house numbers and zip codes. Example: 225 Third Street
• Spell out state names.

Inner Envelopes

• Exclude the first names of the guests. Example: Mr. and Mrs. Jackson
• Write the first names of children to be invited below the parents’ names in age order. Example:
  Mr. and Mrs. Jackson
  Susie, Jane and Thomas
• Children over the age of 16 should receive their own invitation.
• 
  
  Omit names of children if you are planning an adult-only celebration.
• 
  
  If an invitation to a single guest extends to an unknown escort, address the inner envelope with your friend's name followed by "and Guest." Example Miss Jones and Guest
  
  

If you do not have inner envelopes, it's perfectly acceptable to include "and guest," guest's names, and children's names on the outer envelope.

For more information and situations, please visit our website and do not hesitate to contact me if you have specific questions regarding etiquette.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico Map

This sunny and bright map of Playa del Carmen is full of charming icons including the lighthouse, tropical drinks and beach hut umbrellas, but we especially love the representation of the historic landmarks of the Mayan Ruins and Tulum. The local architecture is also captured in the "Iglesia" icon.

We also love the character that the sun adds to the map and the sweet seashells in each corner! These maps were made into totes for all of the guests at this wedding. Be sure you notice the title of the map too ~ such a cute spin on the hit romantic comedy from a few years back.

San Diego, CA/Tijuana, Mexico Map

Talk about a wedding/event weekend ~ this family is hosting a San Diego wedding immediately followed by a Tijuana Quinceanera!

The highlights of San Diego include Sea World (with Shamu of course!), Coronado, Chargers Stadium and the downtown area. Guests will cross the border into Mexico the next day for the party festivities to continue!

Calligraphy style is Costello.

Vendor Spotlight: QuatreCoeur

We are pleased to introduce our readers to a new blog by QuatreCoeur, floral design studio in Brooklyn!

QuatreCoeur is the work of two friends (Ruth Muzio and Amanda Peters) who share a love for flowers and plants that are just a little bit unusual, things that are made by hand, and containers that are out of the ordinary. The flowers are hand selected and always fresh and seasonal.

They specialize in creative arrangements and botanical designs that are simple and elegant ~ they even do fabric bouquets!

Available for all of your floral needs, QuatreCoeur specializes in simple arrangements, weddings, dinner parties or any special event. Visit their new blog today for ideas, inspiration and simply beautiful florals!