sail away with me honey

friends of ours have asked me to do their save-the-dates + wedding invitations for their destination wedding.  they have chosen sunny punta cana in the dominican republic. 

i'm excited about doing these because i think you can have a little more fun when scripting your pieces for a destination wedding. chances are, everyone you want involved in your special day as already been given a heads up that it's going to be overseas so when they get the save the date they won't be blindsided.

i also cannot stand when couples put too much information on a save the date. 

the save-the-date is just that. it tells you who, what, where + when and THATS IT.

if you have pertinent information that you feel is crucial then i would suggest setting up a wedding website. or a wedding blog (hello FREE!). it will keep your guests up to date on everything without trying to squeeze a ton of verbiage onto a 4x6 inch postcard!

here are some of my absolute favorite destination save the dates that i found while perusing the web they are all postcards so you can use the front + back, and the 4th one down are luggage tags - how cute is that!?

photos courtesy of etsy.com

it's a party in the USA.

party invitations are my absolute favorite thing to design.

i especially love when i can incorporate some play on words or a song lyric to

make them super fun + playful.

i wanted to show you some party invitations that i've done along with

some others i find inspiring.

these invitations were designed for a christmas bridal shower. 

i had so much fun literally brainstorming classic

christmas songs + substituting words in

to make it wedding related.

the winners shown here were:

"have yourself a merry little shower"

 +           

"joy to the bride"

my jersey girl engagement party invitations.
she asked me to design swirls that incorporated a heart. simple + romantic.
clean lines are important to me.
i don't like clutter.

who doesn't love a pig roast? 

vegans maybe?

i mean, i don't really dig on swine but the

vibe of a pig roast is undeniably fun

regardless of your food preferences.



i designed these pig roast invitations

for my uncle los' 50th surprise party.

playful + bold.

i am now planning a 30th birthday party for

my husband with a caribbean theme.

look for his invitations coming soon!

i am using bob marley's

"let's get together & feel alright"

besos!

i love you, blogs + coffee.

i decided to be festive + don red lipstick in honor of today.

i never wear red lipstick + i must say it gives me
a whole new demeanor.  i kinda like it!

i pulled some of my recent favorite valentine's day

inspired cards + prints.   cute alternatives to the

typical mushy crap found in your local drugstore.

enjoy!

photos courtesy of http://www.etsy.com/

no surf + turf for us tonight.
my hubby + i are sharing a nice romantic dinner
of homemade cheesteaks + fries + cervezas.
we rarely indulge in this type of food .. so it's a special
meal for us! 

hope you all get extra love today!
xoxo

the flat card phenomenon.

lately many brides i talk to + many wedding invitations 

i receive are flat card style. no fancy pocket-fold, 

no gatefold, no ribbons - just a sweet + simple invitation. 

i must say, while i do enjoy an over-the-top wedding

invitation with tons of inserts & pieces [it's like christmas!]

i also appreciate the simplicity of flat card invitations as well. 

below are some flat card invitations i've designed..

i designed these for a fall morning wedding 

with a brunch reception. the bride was sweet + modest.

i made her matching thank you's as well.

the RSVP postcard is popular. it saves on postage 

+ an RSVP envelope.

lovebirds! this is the first flat card invitation i ever

designed. i think it came out beautifully. it was 

exactly what they wanted. simple+sweet+green.

reception details

it's all in the details. 

i am a strong believer of that. 

i absolutely LOATHE when venues or 

restaurants disregard the little things ... 

like wrinkled table linens or no music, or poor lighting.   

these are all simple details that will 

make someone's experience so much better,

 whether they realize it or not. 

continuing on with the project to start all projects.... 

i wanted to give you taste of the 

personal touches + details that we put into 

our reception that made it all our own... 

we handmade our placecards + holders out 

of hundreds of used wine corks -with TONS of help

 from my bridesmaids. and we presented 

them over a candlelit table of all of our grandparents 

old love letters + pictures.  [more below]

i made the table numbers in a similar way

to our placecards, using used wine corks.

my husband + i love wine, plus my family

 makes their own, so we thought it'd be a 

perfect personal touch.

these are some closeups of our placecard table. 
the top is a picture of my father's parents + poems,

and below are letters between my other set of grandparents. 

most of them are in italian. 

my mother's parents began their courtship during

his 4 years of service in the air force. 

he wrote her for 13 months while she lived in italy.

how romantic is that!?

the above 4  photographs courtesy of alisonconklin.com

this is one of my favorites: my pop-pop wrote in the corner of the envelope, "fly-it please-hurry" 
xoxo

where it all began

so what better place to start than with the project that started it all? 

these were our wedding invitations.
we wanted to capture the essence of late fall without using
the typical falling leaves, etc. ours is more representative
of late fall. 

i wanted to share with you the final outcomes of some of the pieces i made for our wedding ... i have ALWAYS been interested in party planning + decorating, but these are the pieces that jumpstarted my love affair with paper. hope you enjoy. xoxo 

we had a little fun with our rsvps. we used pictures of
a fish, a vegetable + a cow instead of just words...
i wish more couples would have a little fun with their wording.

our ceremony programs. simple, modern, long & rectangular.
our favorite parts are the wedding diagram +  "just in case" tissue.

the wedding diagram showed the name + title of each member of
 our wedding party + the "just in case" tissue was for those in the audience
who found themselves in tears at our joyous occasion. [wink]