Damask favor wraps

350 black and white damask favor wraps hot off the presses and ready to be slipped onto Menehune Mac chocolates...yum.

Can you hear it?

It started as a low rumbling at first, then it got louder and more resonant, like a pack of wildebeests stampeding across the plain. It's the excited murmurs among Anthropologie addicts celebrating the store's official launch of their wedding collection, BHLDN. To say the least, it was highly anticipated and long overdue.

I've been asked on numerous occasions where brides can look for inspiration for their invitations or wedding decor. This, my dear readers, is what would inspire me:

happy valentine's day!

Hardy (and hearty!)

Worked on a big project last week. Really big. My normal canvas of choice measures 5" x 7", but my latest project came in at a whopping 4 feet by 6 feet. Here's the story of how it came to be.

PREFACE
A couple of weeks ago, I chatted with Mona Hirata of Weddings by Grace and Mona about her upcoming workshop @ The Wedding Cafe. Mona had an idea for her table and asked if I could help her execute it. Now, the one thing I can always count on happening during any meeting with Mona is that she'll challenge me as a designer. This was no exception.

CHAPTER 1: Mona's BIG Idea
A 4-ft x 6-ft foam core board that would hang from the pipe and drape behind her table. She referred me to a couple of Ed Hardy prints as inspiration and wanted something to pop against the black drape and linen. Mona envisioned a vine with three large roses in purple, pink, and red...and, uh, no thorns and no dripping blood, please. Turnaround on design and printing would have to be QUICK, QUICK, QUICK as she would then turn the board over to Jae Yoo at My Florist for embellishment.

CHAPTER 2: The Basics
Here's the initial concept as I sketched it out during our meeting:

CHAPTER 3: This Is Gonna Be HUGE
We quickly realized that a piece this large with only three flowers would mean a lot of empty white space. Normally, I love white space but the first design concept looked too bare, too simple.

CHAPTER 4: Less Is More...Unless It's Not Enough
With 24 square feet of space to fill up, the first thing I did was add some leaves. The vine needed a little more life, too. Added in some curly cues here and there, a few more roses, and a few more colors.

CHAPTER 5: Off To Print And A Tiny Hiccup
A few rounds of revisions, and the design was approved for print. Successfully submitted my artwork and got it in the print queue. Delivering a piece this large proved to be a challenge for the print shop,though, so we arranged to have Jae (aka florist extraordinaire) pick up the piece in his van. Small hiccup, no biggie.

CHAPTER 6: If I Can't See It, It Doesn't Exist
It's hard for a designer to produce something and not see the finished piece. The turnaround at the print shop was less than 24 hours (yippee!) and since Jae picked up the piece himself, I didn't get to see what the board looked like. Were the colors right? Did they put the grommets in the right place? Did it have the glossy finish that I asked for? I had to hope for the best and wait patiently while Jae performed his magic.

CHAPTER 7: Success!
Here is the finished product with a happy Mona standing next to it:

And a close-up shot of the crystals that Jae laboriously added to each and every petal. Amazing...

CHAPTER 8: Oh, There's More?

In addition to producing this larger than life display board, Mona asked me to create a suite of custom stationery to hand out as prize giveaways during the workshop. To my delight, she gave me carte blanche to come up with something fabulous.

The first set came in a silk portfolio embellished with a large crystal buckle on the front:

Tucked into the interior portfolio pockets were four color-coordinated notecards with smaller rhinestone buckles and Swarovski crystals.

The second stationery set included ten notecards with hot pink and clear Swarovski crystals, pearl metallic envelopes, and a chocolate brown silk pouch.

The final set included pretty floral patterned cards with one super fancy showcase piece finished with a fabric flower and feathers...all housed in a flip-top silk box.

EPILOGUE

I love it when I'm afforded the opportunity to flex my design muscles a bit. I love it even more when I can collaborate with talented individuals and breathe life into someone's fantastic vision. Thanks, Mona!

Photos courtesy of Kris Labang Photography

Last words about the expo

Almost forgot to post this photo from the Hawaii Bride and Groom Booth at the Bridal Expo. The beautiful florals were designed by Su-V Expressions and the linens, chair covers and napkins were provided by Les Saisons.

To complement the pewter gray linen, I designed this menu card (inspired by one of our new invitation designs):

In collaborating with other wedding vendors, I always get a Project Runway "group challenge" vibe. We're each working on our own designs and hope that in the end we'll come up with something cohesive that brings our shared vision to life.

I'm contributing stationery items for a photo shoot next week and am, again, crossing my fingers that my pieces will mesh with the designs envisioned by the talented florists that I'm working with! More to come on that later...

Proof it. Proof it good.

There's nothing more frustrating than having to reprint a job because of a typo. Reprinting, for any reason, incurs extra time and cost...the very thing that brides and grooms want desperately to avoid.

I always urge my clients to have a parent or friend review their proofs because sometimes a fresh pair of eyes will catch something they didn't. Maybe the ceremony start time is off by an hour, maybe the reception venue address is missing a number, maybe the RSVP deadline is two weeks too late???

I've got a handful of invitation orders in the queue that are all in the proofing stage and I'm beginning to sound like a broken record: "Check the spelling of names, confirm addresses, times, dates...and then check it again!" If you mispell your future mother-in-law's name, you'll never hear the end of it. You've been warned.

Once your invitations are in the hands of your guests, any error that was overlooked can't easily be fixed. Take another ten minutes and go over your wording carefully, it's worth it.

Note: This post is dedicated to my own personal proofreader who never fails to catch my typos in this blog, which I THOUGHT were few and far between. Apparently not. Thanks, Mom.

Sink or swim? She swam!

Meet Jessica. I call her the "chosen one."

For the record, she chose me...and I'm so thankful that she did! At the time that her short and sweet email inquiry appeared in my inbox, I wasn't sure if I was ready to bring on an intern. I played out different scenarios in my head, weighed the pros and cons, and ultimately went with my what-the-heck gut feeling.

If you visited my booth at the Hawaii Bridal Expo, you may have met Jessica. It was her first show and after arming her with a short list of FAQs to study a few weeks earlier, I threw her into the bride-infested waters of a busy show (much busier than I had anticipated!). It was sink or swim time and Jess freestyled her way through three days of wedding mania with absolute style and grace.

I don't underestimate my good fortune in having an intern whose passion for paper may very well surpass my own. Her crafty talents also crossover into the jewelry world and she's working towards the launch of her own web site while juggling a full class schedule.

But, the one person who may appreciate Jess even more than me? My husband. With Jess assisting me at the expo my husband had the house to himself most of the weekend to do manly man things. For the first time in five years, he didn't need to be my wingman and he l-o-v-e-d it. Needless to say, Jess is a popular person in my house and a wonderful addition to Emi Ink!