UK Beauty

I love browsing Brides Magazine UK Edition (sooner or later you'll find out why I super love it)- but they always provide a fresh take on fashion, with a simplistic feel, yet refined and somewhat traditional approach.  The inspiration is  unending, even for ladies who are brides-no-more (uuhh hum), although I'll continue to peruse for the amazing fashion and goodies.  Still waiting for the new issue to arrive to my local bookstore (dang importing time frames), but I can't wait to snatch it up!

All photos via Brides Magazine UK

A-lo-haaaaaaa

I've had the opportunity to work with some amazing people since my Etsy shop opened a few months back.  I am so grateful for the bride's I've worked with and continue to work with.  I've made some amazing friendships and couldn't feel happier for these ladies as I help with planning even a small design detail in their special day.  When I really sit back and think about it, it's quite amazing that something I design will be incorporated in a couple's most special day- wow! 
I've been working with Margo on some wedding items, and I've told her that I can start an entire collection from her designs.  It's been a great working with her as her colors are so close to my own wedding color palette and she's another Hawaiian wedding client!  So fun.  Here's a bit of what we've been up to:

Hang tags for her welcome boxes

Place cards / favor tags

Bouquet Tags

Welcome Guides for her guests

Her table numbers- still in progress

She's also got an amazing table runner in progress, can't wait until that's completed as well! Sweet clients make me smile, Margo is one of them!  Thanks for allowing me to design elements for your special day Margo!

Wedding Memories

So, there's not a simpler way to put it- but yes, I lag on getting our wedding photos up around the house and printed out.  We have not one wedding photo displayed in our home!  How bad is this?  It's been almost a year since D and I got married and it's time to get crackin.  Photography was our number one splurge/must have for our wedding, yet we have not fully taken advantage of the amazing results we received.  We cannot be more stoked with our photographer Ian Shepherd of Photographer's Hawaii for capturing so many special moments of the most perfect day.  Perhaps there are just too many photos we love, that we cannot be selective as to what we should display.  I don't want to turn our home into a wedding shrine, but I do want to choose a few special ones.  Oh the choices!

Any ideas on which one should be framed and placed on my nightstand?

Why So Fast

This weekend has come and gone so fast (as weekends usually do), but I woke up feeling like I'm just not ready for the week yet!  Can I just fast forward to going back to wearing sweat pants, comfy socks, and being home with the hubs?  I SO WISH!!!

As many of you know, my Etsy shop is my ultimate life project and I enjoy working with clients to create custom pieces to be incorporated for special events in their lives.  My goal is for S&S to be my career, and if I could just get there, it would be so rewarding and satisfying. 

I've had a great time working on some recent orders for wonderful clients.  Here are some latest projects:

Wedding Party Tags

Place Cards

Remember Patti's awesome color scheme on her bouquet tags?  Well here are her completed table numbers and reserved signs!

More recent orders pending that involve table runners- super excited to be working with some amazing people! 

Another Lovely Maui Affair

So this weekend was jam packed with Etsy orders- I mean, packed to the MAX!  I did have a lovely Saturday evening with hubs walking around Coronado with a tasty dinner and classic stop for gelato, yet Sunday was an all work day, straight through.

I've been working with Haley, a soon-to-be bride getting married in Maui (which I always love).  She is getting married next week, so her order that started out as wedding programs, then grew into menus, place cards, and a table sign had to be completed ASAP.  I'm loving the result with her vibrant colors and fun tropical feel.  This is one wedding that I can't wait to see the photos of. 

Haley- have an amazing wedding day at the gorgeous Olowalu Plantation!

Menus and Place Cards

Cake Table Sign

Programs

Sample program was "fixed" to correctly spell the bride's name (funny story on that one!) eeeek!

A Few More Done

It's been an accomplishing past week with wrapping up a few orders, and it's been extra exciting that they were for PW ladies!  It's so fun to work with Project Wedding brides because I can tap into their planning bios and see what their visions and color schemes are. 

Ashley's chair signs are now completed, and I love the design she chose for her beachside destination wedding.  She's got a gorgeous color scheme and I cannot wait to see her professional photos.

I've also been working with Patti, another PW bride, on her bouquet tags and now some table numbers for her reception decor as well.  I also adore her color scheme and I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together.

Thanks ladies, I wish you the very best in your planning!!!

Sneak Peak for Ash

I've been working straight through on this one!  It's my first chair sign project and I honestly cannot wait to see them all completed and tied onto a chair back (I just might throw my arms up in excitement)!  The bride chose to have signs made for the couple's wedding reception chairs, yet instead of "Mr. & Mrs.", they will spell out their names with added flourishes above and below. 

Having the pleasure to work with Mrs. Ashley again has been awesome and she's been so patient as I continue to press on this week to try and have these babies done by this week's end.  Here's a sneak peak Ash:

Can't wait to post the final result.  This beauties will get another post for sure come completion time.

Weekend Preparation

It's Friday!!!!!  And since the beginning of this year, Friday really means Friday for me and my work schedule ( I have ALWAYS worked weekends)!  I still "work" weekends on Etsy orders, but as for driving to an office, discussing design with clients, wearing heels- Nope, I get weekends off from that type of work!

So I am soooo looking forward to a lunch date with hubster on Sunday- can't wait!  While he attends the LA Comic Con on Saturday, I will get in my last long 12 miles run with my sis before our half marathon next weekend- YAY!  Then I'll be working on Etsy orders and helping my sis prepare for Zach's 3rd birthday party on Sunday in the evening.  My nephew is turing 3!!!!  Seriously, where has the time gone?  Can't help but love the little dude, especially when he runs out of the house as we leave to give big hugs and tell us he loved us (to my husband and I - awwww)!

On a random note, I know I may get grief from free-spirited bride's here, but really....................what is up with the staches?  This mustache fad has got to fade eventually right?  It's been ongoing for over a year now- photos on blogs, photographer's sites, magazines.  I am totally over the damn things.  I understand it's a little light-hearted fun, but in the end, not my taste, not my style, so glad I will not be looking back showing my children photos of the stache.  Absolutely no offense is meant toward bride's who love the idea.  In respectful S&S fashion, the identities of the following bride's have been disguised:

Someone please come up with a new trend not involving faux facial hair- FAST!!!!

Lovely Monograms:

I've been working with PW bride Mandy the past few days on monogram designs.  She asked me to "think peacock" in terms  of design.  Little did I know, she didn't mean for me to interpret it literally, just in terms of color.  She's not a fan of monograms with images incorporated in them, so the first options with feathers weren't quite her style.  After some clarification, we simplified them and stuck with classic designs.  It was such a fun process!

From one Maui bride to Another

Jen's cake table runner is completed!  I am so excited!  This baby has been my latest project for days straight, the obsession of layering colors, mixing colors, shading, and carefully painting within those thin lines as best as my little paintbrush could handle!  I still can't get over Jen's amazing color scheme, she's probably tired of me saying so, but it's true, I love the bright colors she chose.

I'm sort of sad that's it's done now, as I'm sure my husband is stoked it's completed (I can't even count how many times I've asked him, does it look ok, what about this part, should I add more to this, is this part to dark/light)?  Seriously, he's been so supportive because this little project was a challenge for sure.  I hope the lovely bride enjoys it, and I hope I get to work with her on more projects!

Destination Brides' Decor

Being that I was a destination bride myself, I love working with other DW brides and hearing their planning details and all the work that goes into pulling off an awesome event away from home.

I've had the pleasure of  not only working with some awesome and talented brides, but by doing so, have created some wonderful friendships.  I truly care for each of the ladies I work with and look forward to hearing about their big day and seeing their amazing photos!

I had the opportunity to create Ashley's table runner for her cake table and oh did her project bring back memories!  I used the same exact linen for her runner that I created my runner with for my very own wedding.  She is having a beachside wedding, as did I.  She used the same monochromatic scheme as I did for the runner's fonts-  ohhhh Ashley, I can't wait to see your decor "in action"!!!  I am currently working on chair signs for Ashley to coordinate with the runner- can't wait until they are done!

I've also had the pleasure of working with Jen!  If you remember those hang tags I made for her recently, you'd recall her out of this world color scheme.  I've been working on her runner days straight (who would have known my Maui brides end up having fabrics that soak up paint like crazy), but I certainly cannot wait to reveal it to Jen.  In fact, I am going to torture her now with a sneak peak:

                         

It's coming along Jen!!!   Just a matter of time now!  I wish I could capture the amazing turquoise color of the fabric through the camera- I guess it's just so out-of-this-world, it's bold gorgeousness can only be seen in person.

And for my Tami-Tams who just got married this past week................I will be waiting on those pro photos of your runner my dear- I can't wait to show it off among all of your fabulous wedding decor!

BLOOMS

I've always admired Myra's beautiful flower pieces- hair pieces, belts, pins, all her work!  I was honored to have her make my custom hair flower for my own wedding and was so glad to have found her early on in my planning, as she gets booked up like crazy for her custom orders!  She's got some beautiful pieces out lately, so bright and fun!

Photos via Twigs and Honey

The Special Day of a Bride- Tami's Day is Here!!!!!

Today is Tami and Adam's wedding day.  To a stunning bride and deserving husband- may today be a day you will cherish always.  Tami- Shine on beautiful bride, I hope nothing but the most amazing day for you and Adam.  Your planning and dedication to this day, and most importantly, the love you share will make today one of the most special days within your lifetime. 

Tami is such an awesome friend that I had the pleasure of meeting during my own wedding planning on the networking wedding site Project Wedding.  We have kept contact through both our planning processes and become close friends during that time.  Tami lives on the East Coast and I live on the West, but she will be moving to LA this summer and I can't wait to plan BFF get togethers!

Throughout our rather long emails at times, which turned into texts once she left for her destination wedding in Maui, Hawaii, we have  formed a friendship that I have no doubt will be life-long.  Perhaps we have such a bond because we both planned our weddings on the same island in Hawaii and have a passion for that location and the emotions it envokes just being there.  Reading her texts and viewing the photos she sends brings back memories that seem so recent, I feel as if I were back in Maui.  I so proudly text her the infamous "wedding day weather report" this morning and her demeanor seemed calm and focused.  I'm patiently waiting for the photos to begin texting in to see her smiling face. 

Tami- today is your day gorgeous, rock it out and have a lava flow for me by the end of the night! 

xoxoxoxo
M

Maui- licious

Jen, another PW bride, is getting married in Maui, Hawaii  (a bride after my own heart)!  I've had a fabulous time working on some monograms for her, as well as designing some hang tags for her guest fan favors and a monogramed table runner.  Her runner is still a work in progress, yet I'm loving how her other projects are turning out.  She has an out-of-this-world color scheme, so bright and fun, that I can't wait to see how her planning progresses!

Monograms designed by S&S:

Hang tags designed by S&S: