today i wanted to share two special wedding-related notes and then i promise i’ll cut back on the happily ever after talk.
i’m excited to announce that for the next 6 months i’ll be guest blogging at martha stewart weddings. the team at ms weddings reached out to me about blogging our wedding planning process and featuring our wedding in the magazine next year and i decided it would be a fun project- and a chance to talk about something different for a while. i know some of you have had it up to hear with any wedding talk on d*s, so you’ll be happy to know 99% of my wedding babble will now remain over at the ms weddings blog. click here to check it out.
and in other wedding news, i was super excited to hear from d*s reader and textile designer heather palmeri about her beautiful vintage-inspired wedding. heather and her husband andrew (who is a web designer for the nytimes) were married at buttermilk falls inn and spa in milton, ny. they took advantage of the beautiful natural setting, and heather’s incredible collection of vintage vera napkins, to create a special day that i thought would be inspiring for anyone planning a wedding, a holiday party, or just looking for some ideas for special meals at home. all of the vintage fabric really got my mind going so i hope you’ll find heather and andrew’s wedding as inspirational as i did. thank you to heather, and her photographer, julia newman, for sharing these shots. (click here for extra shots of the wedding)
[My stepfather cut down all of the stumps for the table. The menus and table numbers were just printed out at home on our ink jet printer. All of the apothecary and milk bottles were found at antique shops by my mom. All of the flowers were dahlias and were purchased from Stems in Red Hook, NY. My friends Allie and Mara did all of the floral arranging and styling of the tables. Allie even made all of the boutonnieres and corsages! (My bouquet was created by the designers at Stems)]
[My stepfather has a sugar shack in CT. and makes the most amazing maple syrup. We knew this would be a great favor and he loved being involved. I used a few of the leftover napkins and cut them up (painful!) and tied them around the jars with twine. I loved the impact of all of them on the table at once!]
[The napkins are all vintage Vera. As a textile designer, I knew that I wanted to incorporate a lot of pattern. We decided to forgo the idea of choosing a specific color palette and instead decided that we wanted it to just be colorful! I had help from family and friends collecting the napkins from ebay and flea markets and vintage shops. A lot of people were so excited by them that they took them home with them after the wedding (which is fine by me, b/c I don't really have room to store 100 napkins anyway!). Additionally, I used the napkins to make fabric flowers to decorate the branches that held the place cards as well as for the fabric covers on the maple syrup jars (see below). We also had a Vera tablecloth (that came with one of the sets of napkins) that we used as a backdrop for a Polaroid photo booth.]
[All of our invitation stationery (invites, rsvp's, thank yous and place cards) were printed by my wonderfully talented friends Anna and Mara at Dutch Door Press. I did all of the artwork and my husband did the typesetting. It was truly a group effort and one of my favorite things about the wedding. All of the calligraphy was done by the incredible Betsy Dunlap.]
[The cake and cupcakes were made by Anne and Rebecca of CAKED in Brooklyn. It is a secret family recipe of chocolate cake with butter cream frosting and they're delicious!! The cake topper was made by a friend of mine, Laura Keenan.]
November 21st, 2008 - 10:00am
now that my work and travel schedule are slowing down a tiny bit i finally have time to work on wedding planning a bit more. we’re working with erin and nicole from bird & banner for our invitations (hooray!) and erin sent over a link to these lovely cake toppers from jennifer murphy. they’re probably not new to most etsy shoppers but i loved them too much to not post. those rabbits are so, so cute. click here to check out jennifer’s full collection.
[ps: jennifer did a great how-to on martha stewart with her toppers, posted here on once wed!]
September 17th, 2008 - 08:00am
one day when i look back on d*s and think about the things that have meant the most to me here, i will remember the incredible people i’ve met along the way most fondly. it’s been such an honor to meet, and in some cases befriend, the people that inspire me on a daily basis. one of the artists who has inspired me the most over the years is llubav choy duerr (formerly llubav obando choy- she’s now married with an adorable baby boy!). i first met llubav when she won the first d*s diy contest with her gorgeous felt flowers and we’ve kept in touch throughout the years as she worked at hable construction and now, as she embarks upon a new journey- starting her own business. originally from the small fishing village of chimbote, peru, llubav left peru for a two year sojourn in mexico and then settled in herndon, virginia. after a few years she took the leap and moved to new york where she studied at the fashion institute of technology. heavily influenced by the vibrant cultures of latin america, llubav brings her love of textiles, surface and interior design to each product she makes, whether its her stitched-felt stationary, handmade fashion accessories, and ornate home adornments. and now llubav is bringing her passion for textiles to the wedding market with her incredible ring pillows. after designing a ring pillow for her friend lucy allen, llubav received a few more orders- and then a few more. and now she’s starting her own company to focus on ring pillows, as well as her existing collection of fashion and home accessories.
llubav’s ring pillows use rich materials like hungarian wool felt, american wool, filigree and vintage embellishments like beads and buttons to create truly unique designs. each one can be custom made to match the theme of a wedding and takes only a few weeks to make. they made a really beautiful wedding gift or keepsake and are another way to personalize your wedding while supporting handmade artists at the same time. prices vary by order but you can contact llubav right here to talk to her about making a ring pillow for your wedding. you’re sure to come away with something truly special for your big day. llubav’s website is still under construction so you can click here to send her an email for more information. or- if you’d like to catch a sneak peek into her home, click here!
September 16th, 2008 - 12:00pm
ok, so mackenzie just made my week with her guest blog post this morning. her first post today is all about some of our favorite designers’ wedding invitations. not only do we get to catch a sneak peek at julia rothman’s upcoming invites (i’ve been dying to see them!) but mackenzie also shares invites from joy, minhee and truman, and lena corwin. click here to check them all out. my head is swimming with ideas now…
July 3rd, 2008 - 08:00am
i’ve had stamps on the brain for the past few days (the rubber kind, not postage) because i’ve been trying to think of creative ways to stamp our wedding invites and save-the-date cards. when i saw this little stamped box by susanne duffner of pica press it gave me all sorts of ideas for favors and fun decorations. so i’m off to do some research on custom stamps and printing options. i hope you all have a wonderful weekend- i’ll see you on monday! until then, here’s a summary of this week’s highlights:
June 6th, 2008 - 02:00pm
last night i returned after a wonderful weekend spent in sunny (and humid!) savannah. after weeks of emails and calls we finally have a location set for our ceremony and reception! hooray! i can’t tell you how stressful that was. any of you who’ve planned a wedding before will definitely understand how i feel. as someone who is admittedly a bit of a control freak (i can hear ac saying “a bit?”) it’s been really tough to put a lot of my trust in people and places that are hundreds of miles away. but thankfully everyone there has been really friendly and helpful. i’m trying to work with as many local artists as possible to do the decorations so hopefully it will be a big celebration of all things savannah. here’s a little peek into some scenes from my trip, including a little peek into where i will officially become mrs. ac.
[i loved this modern gold house number on this incredibly ornate old home (see full photo above). it was such a cool contrast to all of the intense iron work on the facade]
[gold numbered bottles at liz demos' fabulous shop, at home: vintage general]
[the scene above our heads as we say "i do"]
[silly, i know, but i loved the iron letters on the carriage house bathrooms where our reception will be]
[scroll work on the porch at our reception site]
[our wedding tree: i can't wait to decorate the tree and hang a beautiful floral wreath or ribbons from it]
[our secret garden: this door leads to the garden where our reception will be held]
[detail of the iron work on the gate]
June 3rd, 2008 - 08:30am
