Destination wedding fun!

This custom invitation had so many charming elements to it, and from what I've heard, it was the perfect prelude to the couple's FUN wedding celebration!

The bride and groom requested an invitation in the style of a boarding pass which we housed in a vibrant lime green pocket fold enclosure. Complete with bar code, seat number and fun tropical design elements, this invitation surely got their guests excited about the destination wedding in Hawaii.

Inside the pocket, we inserted a card packed full of information for the couple's out-of-town guests. We designed color-coordinating icons to go with each category: shave ice for the "Pig Out Spots", surfboard with orchid design for the "Must-Dos" and a pair of "rubbah slippahs" with purple straps for the "Leisure Activities." This was definitely a fun one to work on!

Sweeeet

Last night's Invitations, Favors and Special Touches showcase at The Wedding Cafe was a lot of fun! Emi Ink debuted a couple of new products that were oh-so-sweet!

cupcake sleeves by Emi Ink + cupcakes by A Cake Life

I love the ability to add a personalized touch to just about everything and cupcakes are no exception! These cupcake sleeves are designed to slip around the outside of your cupcakes and you can choose from a wide variety of colors to match your wedding (or any other special event!). Emi Ink can do custom printing, too, for that extra special touch:

Clockwise from top left: "Happily ever after" with stripes, solid teal metallic,
custom printing with floral background, custom printing with text only

Kristin from A Cake Life generously donated these delish vanilla cupcakes with Lilikoi filling for my table display. I asked her to keep a neutral palette for the cake and frosting so I could show off the different  sleeves, but she offers lots of amazing flavors and design options to make your cupcakes a real showpiece! (Side note: if you want to become BFFs with people really fast, just share a box full of Kristin's cupcakes with a room full of hungry wedding vendors!)

If mini cupcakes are more your style, Emi Ink now offers mini cupcake boxes available in (almost) every color under the sun. You can finish it with a pretty ribbon or a custom-printed favor tag, but I think these adorable boxes are cute enough on their own!

Interior box insert keeps your mini cupcake secure + see-through window shows off the sweet treat hiding inside!

mini cupcake boxes by Emi Ink + mini faux cupcakes by Bit of Sugar

Because I had to think of a long-term solution for displaying my boxes, I asked my friend, Lei, from Bit of Sugar, if she could whip up a few mini faux cupcakes (made from deco clay) for last night's event. Lei also created the mini wedding cakes that I've been using as place card holders for my expo displays. If you appreciate anything that's "too cute for words," please check out her website here. If you're on Oahu, you'll definitely want to catch her at one of the local craft fairs this holiday season to check out her work in person!

Invitations, Favors and Special Touches Showcase

Head to The Wedding Cafe tonight @ 6:30pm to check out the latest in invitations and favors! I'll be debuting some SWEET new goodies at the Emi Ink table and can't wait to see if it's a hit or miss with the brides/grooms (hopefully, I'm on target with this one!).

In other news, I was lucky enough to work on a lot of fun projects over the summer, and this recent invitation order was no exception. I'll have to wait a few months before I can display the complete design, but here's a sneak peek:

Balloons with Swarovski crystal accents

Can't reveal the inspiration behind the design, although I'm guessing that I've shown just enough for people in the know to figure it out themselves. Definitely an out-of-the-box wedding theme!

Knot so easy, but worth it

A couple of weeks ago, The Knot hosted a "Cocktails and Connections" event at the Laniakea YWCA for local wedding professionals. Mona Hirata and her team from Weddings by Grace and Mona did a fantastic job of pulling the event together! Emi Ink donated all the stationery for the evening, so there were a LOT of projects to manage in the weeks leading up to the event. Here's an overview of some of the pieces we created for this museum-themed event:

Valet tickets

We produced special valet tickets for Prestige Valet Service, complete with custom logo, perforations for the 3-part ticket, and a hole punch for the key ring. A lot of details went into this one and this project turned out to be the one that I was most paranoid about. Each ticket required three sets of identical numbers and I asked multiple people to proof the stack for me to prevent any mix-ups with someone going home with the wrong car!

Exhibit placards

Beautiful floral arrangements by Spinning Web Florist dressed up the event space and were cordoned off with red velvet ropes. In another area, models posing as living statues were covered in gold paint from head to toe and decked out in gold wedding gowns. For each floral arrangement and living statue, I created a museum-style placard.

Food labels

While the valet tickets made me paranoid, these tent-fold food labels made me frustrated. Ginniberries created an amazing menu of butler-passed hors d'oeuvres and for each food item, I created a raw silk white tented card to go with it. It was particularly hard to create these on an empty stomach.

Tea card

The ladies from A Cup of Tea were stationed in the corner of the room with lovely take-home tea favors for everyone. I designed a simple folded card that listed the assorted teas with a small envelope to hold a tea sample of our choice.

Admission ticket

This admission ticket was more of a decorative piece than a functional piece. It slipped into an antique gold pocket that was attached to the exterior of the program.

Interior view of program/map

While brainstorming with Mona during the early planning stages, we came up with the idea of doing a map or guide to add to the museum feel of this event. I was going to do a simple, black and white map, but after spying a detailed map of Buckingham Palace that appeared in the newspaper on the eve of William and Kate's nuptials, I decided to try a different approach. It was a lot of work, but in the end I was happy with the overall piece.

Soda bottle tags

Even the soda bottles courtesy of Waialua Soda Works were adorned with coordinating hang tags.

Favor bag tags

The finishing touch was a tag hanging from the handles of our take home gift bags.

In terms of volume of work, this was a doozie. I had the help of my normal "supporting cast" but an extra special thank you goes out to my friend, Sonya, who helped me with die-cutting some of the pieces above, and gave up an entire Saturday night to assist with the assembly. (For all of you DIY brides out there, have a crafty friend help you with your projects and it'll make the hours fly by!)

There were a lot of vendors hard at work during the event, but my projects were done by the time I arrived so I could just relax and enjoy myself. Highlights for me included the 10-minute massage courtesy of the Spa at Trump (Trump Waikiki Hotel), the AMAZING cake by cakelava (I took a quick photo with my phone, but it really doesn't do it any justice), and the friends, old and new, that I was able to chat with. Fun night!