30 Jun

Next up in our guest tote series: Palm Springs, where the sun is always shining, the cocktails are always flowing, and you can get a great deal on gorgeous, modern furniture at the DWR Annex.

1. Vintage Palm Springs postcards for your welcome note. Find them on ebay, at flea markets, or order repros from Cafe Press.
2. Knock off Wayfarers! Or any cheap, fun sunglasses. Try Venice Beach or Santee Alley if you’re in LA.
3. DIY Martini kit for 2 (including the Advil).
4. Palm Springs Maptote
5. Lattes at Koffi (or a little gift card for the morning after the wedding)
6. Dates from Flying Disc Ranch, whose fruit you can find at farmer’s markets and by mail order.
7. And tangerines or oranges from the farmer’s market on Thursday night (if you’re in town early).
8. Passes for the Aerial Tramway
9. Sunscreen, obvs.
10. Pool towels. These Amy Butler designs from Bed Bath & Beyond are pretty cute.

12 comments

24 Jun

Remember those super cute MapTotes that were making the rounds a few months ago? We love them. They’re so perfect for things like grocery shopping, beach going, flea marketing and the like. But they’d also make exceptional gift bags for guests of your wedding, filled with local treats of course. Inspired by Erin’s guest post on NYC welcome gifts, we thought we’d take on a few more cities.

Here’s our take on Brooklyn:

1. Marlow & Sons snacks
2. One Girl Cookies
3. Map Tote welcome card
4. Map Tote bag
5. McClures Pickles
6. Brooklyn Brewery beer
7. Fine & Raw bonbons
8. Brooklyn coasters from Fish’s Eddy
9. Tickets to a Brooklyn Cyclones game (season permitting)
10. And of course, Brooklyn gum.

We’re taking suggestions for our next city guest tote post, so let us know what you’d like to see!

52 comments

3 Jun

So so happy we finally get to post Jenna and Jon’s wedding! It’s in the new issue of Martha (which is a good issue, btw), so you can check it out there too, but as guests of the wedding we can say that it was a totally insanely creative ceremony and party.

The happy couple. Aren’t they cute? They each wore a locket with their grandparents’ photos. Jon’s on his lapel and Jenna’s in a huge custom necklace she had made.

Remember the inspiration for her dress that we posted last year? Here it is for real. Amazing right? Her sister designed and made it. Le WOW!

They were married in Dumbo, under the Brooklyn Bridge. See those red hearts on the sidewalk? They led guests to the ceremony spot and told little bits of Jenna and Jon’s story along the way.

Instead of having music, guests played “Here Comes the Bride” on kazoos as Jenna walked down the aisle. Even cuter? They were custom printed to say “I love JY”, Jon’s initials.

That’s Jillian in the green dress, carrying the chuppah!

Which was the coolest chuppah ever, for the record. It was made by Domestic Construction and minifrenchie and mimicked a delicate big top circus tent. Idea of the year, if you ask us. The balloons held the structure in place and then at the end of the ceremony, Jenna and Jon cut them free and everyone watched them sail up over the bridge.

Let’s take a moment for their officiant and master of ceremonies, Mr. Donny V, the gentleman oddity. He’s actually from Coney Island, to start. And he swallowed fire (which represented their “unity candle”), pounded nails into his head and had the ringbearer put the rings on the end of the nail for Jenna and Jon to grab off. Jon planned and wrote the entire ceremony but Donny added little surprises that kept everyone super entertained. Clearly.

That little “Just Married” ribbon was part of Jenna’s dress that she let down after the ceremony. Thinks. of. everything.

Now for the fiesta. Jenna turned Galapagos Art Space into a mini circus tent. Her escort cards were color coded tickets, telling the guests which table they were assigned to by color. You know, instead of the boring old numbers way.

Tickets are a big theme here, can you tell? Jenna made that ticket cake.

See, each table was a different color, with vintage plates that matched and sweet little brass animal centerpieces that held matching balloons.

That’s Amanda up there with her man, Tim. She made her headpiece. Isn’t it cute?

Next we have Miss Saturn, the hula hoop performer who surprised everyone after dinner with her daring feats of plastic hoopery. At one point she had 30 hoops going at once.

Every bride should have a golden trumpet to get the crowd’s attention.

And that, friends, is how you get married in a most creative fashion. Wait, and AFTER the wedding, Jenna and Jon traveled around Europe for six months on their honeymoon. They definitely know how to do things RIGHT.

Congratulations you two! We love you, but maybe your wedding just a little bit more? Okay, no of course not. But it’s close. Maybe.

Ceremony location: Brooklyn Bridge Park
Reception location: Galapagos
Officiant: Donny Vomit
Calligraphy: Love*Jenna
Styling: Anne le Guern of minifrenchie
Design + Fabrication: Domestic Construction
Photos: Anna Rozenblat and Jonny Miller
Flowers: Emily Rose Floral Design
Brides Gown: Sarah Boomz
Bridesmaids dresses: JCrew
Custom Headbands: Bambako
Custom jewelry: Purevile
Kazoos: Kazoobie Kazoos
Popcorn Boxes: Instawares
Cake topper: Goldburg Studio from Rose Miller
Hair & makeup: Christie Lee
Hula Hoop Performer: Miss Saturn
Balloons: BalloonsFast

57 comments

26 May

A few months ago Simply Bloom shot a beautiful styled session full of splendid décor ideas; one of the most original details was a creation by their bride, Tori. She with the help of her new husband, Devin crafted—a vintage inspired cabinet knob bouquet!

The unique bouquet had an overwhelming response from our readers so we decided to show everyone exactly how you can create your own unique knob bouquet!

Step 1. Scavenge antique shops, thrift stores, your local Anthropologie, as well as craft stores for a collection of knobs that are just your taste.

Step 2. Acquire lace, fabric and trims to adorn the stem & circumference of your bouquet.

Step 3. Be sure to have a Styrofoam cone, scissors, fabric glue as well as a mini glue gun on hand! *Suggestion—you can “carve” your Styrofoam cone on the sides to make the shape less solid.

Step 4. You are going to want to cover the flat surface of your cone with some thin fabric. Draw the circumference on the fabric. This fabric must be thin because you will later press the knob through this—lace is ideal!

Step 5. Glue the thin fabric you’ve cut around the cone.

Step 6. Now with new thicker fabric of your choice alternate ruffling and gluing all around the cone. You can choose to go around the cone twice with ruffles for a fuller effect!

Step 7. Wind ribbon around the cone starting three quarters of the way down from the tip.

Step 8. Decorate with additional patterned fabric of your taste!

Step 9. Begin to push knobs through the lace and Styrofoam. You can secure the knobs into the Styrofoam by adding a small dollop of hot glue.

Step 10. Voila’ your own cabinet knob bouquet is created!

Thanks, Simply Bloom, for sharing your beautiful DIY project with us!

19 comments

11 May

We have a super cute wedding shoot today, sent to us by Megan of Honey and Poppies. Her parents opened a flower shop when she was two and she grew up among the pretty stems and petals. As you can imagine, she LOVES flowers and she’s also got a soft spot for books. She’s been really into the trend of incorporating books into wedding design, and wanted to do something bigger with this shoot.

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Enter ceremony arch made with bookcases! Such a cute idea Megan. And while this would take a bit of work to create and set up, it would be an EPIC DIY project for a wedding.

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Plus book-themed invite and pretty primary palette.

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Gorgeous little cake and cups made by Erica O’Brien.

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And test tubes filled with wildflower seeds for favors, which included a perfect quote by John Galsworthy:

“Love is no hot-house flower, but a wild plant, born of a wet night, born of an hour of sunshine; sprung from wild seed, blown along the road by a wild wind. A wild plant that, when it blooms by chance within the hedge of our gardens, we call a flower; and when it blooms outside we call a weed; but, flower or weed, whose scent and colour are always, wild!”

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Ooooo. Good table number idea.

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So pretty, Megan! We know how much thought and work and creativity goes into these shoots and we thank you so much for sharing this one with us.

Design, concept and styling: Megan Gray of Honey and Poppies
Cake & cupcakes: Erica O’Brien

Make up:  Stacy Bisel
Photography:  Jessica Claire

Models:  Monica Medina and Joshua Hernandez
They’re a real life couple and getting married in November!

Venue: The Heritage Museum of Orange County in Santa Ana

43 comments