Julia & Thomas – November 27, 2009
I wanted to feature another amazing wedding from last year: Julia & Thomas!
Julia & Tom were married the day after Thanksgiving, November 27, 2009 at Saint Mary’s Church in Derby, CT. Their lakeside reception was held at The Waterview in Monroe, CT. As a late fall/early winter wedding, Julia wanted a color palette of silver, charcoal and deep purples. For their wedding day paper colors, they chose Amethyst, Luster and the paisley pattern, Luster Mehndi. One of the details that Julia & Tom had a lot of fun with were the Table Names. As a play off of Tom’s last name (Soda), the couple decided to have custom bottles of soda made as a favor to each wedding guest. Then the tables were named for each different flavor of soda. If guests were at the Club Soda Table, they would get a bottle of Julia & Tom’s Club Soda, the Root Beer Table; a bottle of Root Beer, and so on. Another of the many beautiful details at Julia & Tom’s wedding were the custom luminaries created with the paisley patterned Mehndi Vellum. These were designed in a pillow shape to wrap around flameless flickering candles. Placed around the room during cocktail hour, the glimmer from behind the vellum highlighted the couple’s names and wedding date. (Tip: The flameless candles are great for use both outdoors – think wind factor – and with the luminaries there is no danger of catching fire since there is no actual flame!) In the photo gallery, you will also see Julia & Tom’s custom ceremony programs, seating charts, dinner menus, matches and a special memorial candle to honor the life of Julia’s grandmother.
Thank you to Julia and her wonderful Aunt Lisa – I had a blast designing everything with you, and I’m so happy it was such an incredible wedding day! Congratulations, Julia & Tom!
A big thank you to Victoria Souza for the amazing photography! You can view Victoria’s website here.
Sarah & Michael – March 20, 2010
Sarah and Mike are a couple with a serious passion for travel. They have visited such amazing destinations as Thailand, Spain, Cambodia, Germany, Italy, Greece, and many, many others, and are not stopping any time soon! It was no surprise that they wanted this love of travel to inspire many of their wedding day stationery pieces. Sarah and Mike were married on March 20, 2010 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Springfield, MA with their reception at The Riverview in Simsbury, CT. Their vibrant color palette of deep blue and hot pink was incorporated into all of the pieces I designed for them. Sarah and Mike described their wedding style as “informal and fun, but with a modern feel.” For the wedding invitation, Sarah wanted a simple layout that was clean, but also easy to keep organized. We decided that a Pocket Fold® Booklet enclosure would be perfect. The colors we used are Lapis, Rubelite and Ecru Micah. For interest, Sarah and Mike chose the Lapis Abaca pattern for the Pocket Fold. The invitations were a huge hit!
I was able to sneak into The Riverview prior to the reception to take some photos of all the additional pieces we designed for the wedding. In the entrance hall Sarah and Mike chose to do a Champagne “guest book” where their guests could write wishes for the couple on bottles of champagne that will be popped open on their first wedding anniversary. Further down the hall were larger framed portraits of the couple’s parents and grandparents on their wedding days. We created small folded signs on Classic Ecru stock to list the names and wedding date of each pair. At the end of the hall was the incredible map board featuring the escort cards. Each card was pinned into the board with a tiny blue map marker, and as each guest removed their card the world map was revealed. Sarah and Mike chose 2 signature drinks to be served at the bar (one pink, one blue!), so we created a drink menu where guests could choose which cocktail to try first. Once I entered the main reception room I was blown away by the gorgeous tables with deep blue pintuck linens and the pop of bright pink flowers everywhere! Each table was named for a different location that Sarah and Mike had visited, so we created table numbers with photos that the couple had taken on their various travels. Their favors were tiny glassine boxes of Hershey’s Hugs & Kisses with our custom gift tags in Lapis with Brushed Silver foil imprint reading “Hugs & Kisses from the new Mr. & Mrs.”
All the amazing details of this wedding were brought together by Erica from Ambiance {Chic} Wedding Designs, who I also have to thank for her help with measuring, lining up and pinning all the escort cards in the map board! I also took a few shots of the beautiful work by Elisabeth of Blush Floral Design in Madison.
We also designed wedding programs for the ceremony. You can view a photo of these on the blog of Sarah and Mike’s photographer, Robert & Kathleen Photographers.
Maureen & Joseph – May 9, 2009
Maureen & Joseph are one of the wonderful couples I met and was able to work with in 2009. Their gorgeous swirl-inspired wedding suite has been featured on my main website for some time now, (you can view it here), but I wanted to feature some of their wedding day stationery for the blog. Maureen and Joseph’s wedding was designed around a vintage color palette of antique pinks and creams with the warm base of chocolate brown. Their selected color swatches from Envelopments® were Blush Pink Repousse, Ecru Micah and Bronze. For their wedding ceremony Maureen wanted a traditional folded program. We decided to go with a 5×5 Folded Program in the Ecru Micah. This matched their wedding invitation which was set in a 5×5 Signature Side Pocket Fold. Keeping the same shape from your invitation to your program to table numbers, etc. can bring a continuity to all your wedding related stationery, especially if it’s a unique shape like a square. At the spine of the wedding program is a hand-tied bow of double-faced satin ribbon in chocolate brown.
*Planning tip: When figuring out how many programs you need, don’t worry about getting 1 per guest. Many guests will share a program. You can base your order on how many invitations you had to send out, and then add in enough extras for your wedding party and keepsakes. For example if your wedding will have 150 guests, order about 100 programs. Note: Set the keepsake programs aside prior to your wedding! (An exception to this rule is if you are planning on placing programs on seats prior to the ceremony – then you will need 1 for each guest.)
Instead of traditional escort cards, Maureen opted to do 2 seating charts. Seating charts are a wonderful alternative to escort cards for a few reasons:
• for a large wedding escort cards can get easily confusing – too many cards make it difficult for guests to find their name
• for outdoor weddings where wind/weather is a factor and escort cards can take flight!
• seating charts are easy to use, easy to setup, easy to read
Maureen & Joseph had a large wedding and opted to do two 18×24-inch seating charts framed in Satin Gold frames. Check out the charts being used at the wedding in the photos below!
A big thank you to Massachusetts Wedding Photographer Eric Limon who graciously provided the photos below.
2010 Bride’s Choice Award
Admire Design has just won a 2010 Bride’s Choice Award from WeddingWire!
Check out the press release:
WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Admire Design LLC has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Invitations.
The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.
Admire Design LLC is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.
“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”
We are happy to announce that Admire Design LLC is among the very best in invitation design within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings.
A big thank you to our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards!