Courtney & Michael's Wedding

All my blog postings have a story that relates to the client/couple, who they are, how they met and what they envision for their invitation design. This post is slightly different because not only does it have a story but a little bit of my own childhood memories. Courtney found me through her sister and matron of honor Kerri, ironically Kerri and I were childhood friends and like everyone these days re-connected on facebook. I could only remember Courtney as she was the last time I saw her which would have been when she was around 4 or 5 years old. I spent quite a few of my childhood days playing at the O'Brien's house after school; back then we didn't call them "play dates" either. I remember Kerri trying to teach me all the dance moves to The New Kids on the Block "You've Got It (The Right Stuff) in Courtney's then playroom. Thank GOD the O'Brien's had a VCR, Kerri had to keep re-winding the tape because I was struggling to keep up....LOL! It's funny to think that 20 something years later that I would be designing Courtney's wedding invitations. When Courtney and her fiance Mike arrived for their design consult, here was this pretty blonde all grown up and I still could only remember the little girl version of her.

Well I guess we should discuss the design now......the chosen color palette was gold and amethyst, gold can be a little difficult when it comes to card stocks as the range of golds can really vary. She wanted a clean, elegant design and for the amethyst not to be overpowering. Like majority of my brides this year Courtney LOVED the portable pocket which had a beautiful pattern called Regalia the color of the pattern wasn't exactly pure gold but when we paired it with the amethyst it was perfect. If my memory is correct it was actually Mike that found the "winning" pattern.......see who said guys don't care about the details too! When it came to the overall design and layout Courtney like the idea of using their names with just a bit of ornamental design surrounding it. You can see that the use of the ornamental design was carried over to all the other pieces of the invitation suite as well as the place cards, menu cards, table numbers, programs and signage.

Normally when I post a wedding blog I try really hard to not only include photos of the invitation design and accessories but of all the other elements. I was thrilled when I reached out to Courtney's & Mike's Photographer Bharat of Bharat Parmar Photography about using some of the photos he took at their wedding. Bharat immediately responded to my email and gave me the code to choose what photos I would like for my blog, clearly you can see what photos I took and what photos Bharat took:) I looked through his entire portfolio which was really notable; so for all the brides out there that have not found a Photographer I highly recommend looking at Bharat's work, you will not be disappointed.

I have to take a moment to discuss Courtney's WEDDING DRESS.......it was seriously STUNNING, I just loved all the elegant details of it. I have seen tons of wedding gowns but never one as unique as hers, it was so light and airy. Her choice for the bridesmaids was also fabulous, the deep amethyst color was perfect for a March Wedding and all her bridesmaids look beautiful in it. There was only ONE other little lady that day who may have stolen the show for just a few minutes.......flower girl extraordinaire and Courtney's niece AVA who learned to walk just three months before her big day. She was the cutest flower girl with the most perfect dress and even her own pair of sparkly gold shoes.....simply PRECIOUS.

The wedding ceremony took place at Saint Agnes Church in Arlington....looking through the photos Bharat took of the church was like walking down memory lane. I had forgotten just how beautiful that Church truly is......I grew up in Arlington and went to Saint Agnes Grammar School and spent many a days sitting in those pews, obviously not thinking much about the architecture though. The reception was held in Hudson Massachusetts at the Charter Oak Country Club, a breathtaking venue with a beautiful interior and exterior. Courtney's gorgeous bouquet and wedding flowers all came from A Whole Bunch Flower Market in Burlington who did an exceptional job on all the arrangements and bouquets. Now for the cake....for me picking the wedding cake is right up there with picking the wedding dress....oh and of course picking the wedding invitations too! If I was not a graphic designer I totally would want to be a cake designer, I actually have an entire PINTEREST BOARD dedicated to CAKE. What I loved about Courtney and Mike's wedding cake was how simply elegant it was, Kristen Repa owner of Dessert Works in Westwood did a flawless job with the design of their cake. The four tiers each had a band of of gold with pretty dot piping but it's the perfectly placed magenta dendrobium orchid blooms that truly make this cake astounding.

Congratulations to Courtney and Mike, thank you for choosing me to design your wedding invitations. I wish you both nothing but happiness for the future. To Kerri I thank you for following my blog and thinking enough of me to recommend me to your sister, it's so funny how life works out!

PHOTOGRAPHY:  Bharat Parmar Photography
FLOWERS: A Whole Bunch Flower Market
VENUE: Charter Oak Country Club
CAKE:  Dessert Works
ENTERTAINMENT: NuImage Entertainment

A Wedding In Ireland

It's not often that you work with a bride who is planning her wedding in Ireland, I feel privilege to have been a part of it and wanted to share not only what I designed for her wedding but the incredible venue and breath taking Church where it all took place. I first sat with Eileen and her mom Elizabeth to do her save the dates which you can see in a previous blog posting DESTINATION Ireland.  It was that design which set the tone for the entire wedding.

Eileen wanted the Celtic Knot we used in the save the date to be carried over and used in the invitation design. The only thing or I should say person missing from the design session was the bride herself as she was already over in Ireland but lucky for her she has a SAINT of a mother (Saint Elizabeth) and Grandmother (Saint Shirley) that came in her place. The color palette was a subtle green called serpentine and a rich purple called amethyst. The main component of the invitation was a portable pocket which honestly has been very popular with many of my brides this year. Everyone loves that is it self contained and clean looking. To accent the color palette we used a brocade pattern in graphite, the main invite and additional cards were a shimmery white called first snow.

After seeing the venue Slieve Donard Resort in New Castle and the Church Saint Therese of Lisieux in Belfast I knew I wanted the design to have a classic old world feel. I decided to use a few different vintage frames that were incorporated throughout the entire design. Mother of the bride had a fabulous idea for table numbers, instead of using traditional numbers she wanted to bring more than just a STELLA (stellar) ACCENT to Ireland...... from the Swan Boats to Fenway Park, Bunker Hill Monument to Faneuil Hall, The Black Rose to the U.S.S. Constitution and even The Big Dig; Boston clearly had a presence in Ireland that day.

One of my favorite design pieces was the welcome card for all their guests. I chose a Z card which folds out to reveal two additional panels. For the cover I created a custom map of Ireland to point out the three different locations of where guests would be. I must say I learned so much about what it takes to not only plan a destination wedding but one that is international.

Working with the Paquette family over the last year has been truly wonderful, they're the type of people that make you feel like your part of their family and treat you that way too! So to Elizabeth, Leo, Eileen and "Shirl the Whirl" thank you for choosing me as your designer it was a pleasure working with all of you!

Kathryn & Steven

 Kathryn and Steven were looking for an elegant wedding invitation and wanted a very clean look. That being said Kathryn did not want her design to look boring or plain. I always try to reassure brides that just because you don't use a fancy fold out pocket or patterned card stocks doesn't mean your invitation will look plain. This design is a perfect example of how to use a classic color palette of silver, white and black and still have a WOW factor.

For the main invitation backer I started with an over sized flat square in tahitian pearl, a heavy weight metallic silver card stock that has a beautiful texture to it. The invitation was printed using a mix of black an silver inks on first snow then accented by a hint of black linen. The wedding envelope was black linen and had a custom address label wrap in tahitian pearl. For the design Kathryn wanted to use their initials which sat on top of an elegant ornamental piece which I then incorporated through out the invitation design and onto their place cards and table numbers.

Kathryn and Steven were married just a few days ago and I wish them a happy future together. They were such a nice couple to work with and I just LOVE how their invitation turn out.

Winter Wonderland Bridal Shower

Well hello everyone, it seems like forever since I have posted a blog mainly because I needed a new battery for my camera and we all know how the little tedious items on our todo lists never seem to get done. Have no fear I am back with plenty of new designs to share and a fully charged camera battery!

First up is a winter wonderland bridal shower for bride Katharine! I need to thank Elisabeth from Upon A Star for referring mother of the bride Kelley to me. The color palette was navy and silver and the main invite was a square envelofold sealed with a custom glittered snowflake button. The main invite was one of my favorite card stocks called first snow I continued the use of the snowflakes in the background of the design adding a hint of glitter to just one. I LOVE this sleigh and felt it was perfect for the overall theme and having the the rsvp information coming out of the back to give the look of wind just tied everything together.

Even though Katharine's wedding invitations were already designed she and her mom where so happy with what I designed for the bridal shower that they have hired me on to do all the accessories for her upcoming wedding in May.......stay tuned I have been working on the design over the last week and can not wait to share it.

Emily & Charlie....A Winter Wonderland

It was just about this time last year that I first met with Emily and Charlie to begin the design process for their Winter Wonderland Wedding that would take place January 7, 2012. I was so grateful to Gregory at FLOUER as he is the one that referred them to me. In order to give you the full picture lets start with their Save The Dates, this was the first piece that their guests would see a little hint of what to expect. The venue would be the Harvard Club in Boston a stunning city venue rich in history with a color palate of silver, white and just the slightest hint of ice blue. For the Save the dates we began with a long 4x9 2 layer card in platinum with the text card in first snow. The coordinating platinum envelopes had each of the guests addresses custom printed and the wedding date was highlighted by clear glitter.

The next part of the design process were the invitations for Emily's Bridal Shower click here to re-visit the blog I did about her design.......this was one of my favorites!

When we began the design process for the Wedding Invitations the first thing Emily told me was she did not want to use a snowflake because she felt it was to typical of her overall theme. However, after a few rounds of samples with monograms in the end I gave her one with a snowflake which was the winner. The main invitation was a portable pocket in graphite with a stunning brocade design in the back. We used an ever so slight edge of the ice blue and continued the use of that color throughout different accents in the text. The main invitation and coordinating cards were all first snow and the outer envelope was graphite custom printed with each of the guests addresses in the same fonts used throughout the design.

When I say they cared about the details I was not lying just look at the aisle runner, printed in a pattern almost identical to what we used for her invitations the pattern even had glitter in it too. Their caring was not just reserved for the material items of the wedding but also for their guests, notice the menu card......there were TWO four course offerings one solely designed for guests requiring a Gluten Free Vegan Diet. The menu card was on the longer side with a titanium backer and all the text printed on first snow, you can see from the chosen table linens how stunning the menu looks against the white napkin.

When it came to the topic of place cards they wanted something different......why not mittens for this Winter Wonderland Wedding. The paper was slightly more casual so in order to dress them up each number was hand embellished with an ice blue glitter and then the cuff of the mitten was accented by a stunning blue double faced satin ribbon. The wedding program was a folded 4x9 card which match the over design and feel of the wedding.

As you know it is not often that I am on site at the actual weddings of my clients but when Gregory at FLOUER who was handling all their arrangements told me he would be the one setting up the menu cards, place cards, signage and programs I offered to come in and do it myself. It was truly incredible to see everything come full circle.........all the details that they cared about truly showed. From the STUNNING table arrangements, to the linens, to the ceremony site not one item was out of place.

I always enjoy working with Gregory he is extremely talented and has the NICEST staff. It was amazing to see how they built all Emily and Charlies arrangements on site. When she told me that her arrangements were going to be ALL WHITE I was not sure how that would work until I walked into the ballroom. Every inch of this room has beautiful deep wood paneled walls it was at that moment I realized one, I was wrong and two, Gregory knows what he is doing. Color would not have looked as nice as the white because it would have competed with the darkness of the wood paneled walls.

The best part of the day was being able to see Emily and Charlie.....yes Charlies Tux was nice but on this day Emily's wedding gown totally took center stage...........seriously STUNNING! I have yet to have a client not be happy with my services and I hope I never do but as I was saying my goodbyes Charlie gave me the nicest compliment.....he said, "that he and Emily felt like they had the DREAM TEAM of wedding professionals" I am thrilled that I was just one of the professionals that made up that team. Yesterday, was unseasonable warm for Boston and there was not a snowflake on the ground to be found but inside at the Harvard Club it was a PERFECT Winter Wonderland for such a great couple.

Congratulations to Emily and Charlie I wish you all the happiness and are so honored that you chose me to be a part of your wedding.


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