A House Full of Love

Laura and Brad are married!!! It was truly a perfect weather day with a little breeze and warm air. When you put the setting of Castle Hill in Ipswich in the mix, you cannot help but have a great day.

I’ve been lucky to work with Laura and her lovely mother Beverly, throughout the entire planning. It is great to work with women that really know what they want! It brought out the creative person in me to such a level!

I was also struck with how lovely and warm everyone was. Especially the bridal party. My interaction with the men is usually not as involved as the women and this was no exception. But the men I did engage in conversation were so friendly and helpful. I have to put a special shout out to Laura’s cousin Geoffrey Silvius. He was the herder of guests, the ultimate seater of guests a reader in the ceremony and the bringer of sandwiches to the After Party. Thank you so much for your help! It truly does mean a lot when you have great friends in the bridal party that can help!

Laura had a lovely palette of graphite and pink which we coordinated with everything from the Save the Date to the flowers, to the linens, to the invitation and pretty much everything else in between! Being avid Red Sox fans, we had nice elegant touches with the table numbers also having names of players on their dream roster, Cracker Jack and the Pièce de résistance, a Fenway Park scoreboard Groom’s Cake with matching cookies for the guests to take home!

Their vendor list boasted the best of the best and it truly was my pleasure to work with ALL of them. I always believe in teamwork and this, was a dream roster!!

1) Mary Ellen at Castle Hill
2) Tony the officiant with Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord
3) Tim and Paul with TSH Catering
4) Larry, Jenna and Deanna with Rentals Unlimited
5) Nancy with Le Jardin Blanc
6) Kristin and Jared with Kristin Spencer Photography
7) Eugene at Eugene Works Videography
8) Vanessa at Anima String Quartet
9) Chris with Boston’s Best Band – KAHOOTZ
10) Kristin, Jared and Curtis with RI Photobooths
11) Jimmy at Seacoast Tents
13) Joanne from Joya Beauty
14) Jenny with Jenny’s Cakes

This past Saturday really defines WHY I do what I do. I really do believe it is an honor to be a part of a couple’s special day. Laura’s Matron of Honor Jesi, really gave a beautiful toast which was so heartfelt and had so much love. In fact, there was a lot of that in the Great House at Castle Hill that day and I think it will be a wedding many people will remember for a long time. Don’t ever forget WHY we do what we do. It’s because it’s our passion and we love it!!!

Congrats Laura and Brad! (And thanks to MOB Beverly for your careful editing!! I ALWAYS appreciate it and I will miss it with my other clients!!!!!)

It's up to you, New York, NEW YORK!

I am literally only hours back from being at the National Stationery Show in New York City. If you're not in the "know", the National Stationery Show is kind of a candy store for paper freaks like me. And in addition to all things paper, cards, scrapbooking and invitations, there is the Interational Contemporary Furniture Fair® (ICGG®) and SURTEX® - the largest Show in North America dedicated to the selling and licensing or original art and design. All this under one big roof called the Javits Conventional Center. But I was not to be distracted and concentrated on the Stationery Part.

For those of you who have never gone to a show for the trade, let me tell you how it is in one word : OVERWHELMING!!!!! But so worth it to go!! You learn things and see trends and get re-energized all over again for all things paper. I've learned that the best thing to do is to go through the entire show and pick up literature on things that you're interested in and then once done, take a break, eat lunch, re-group and decide what to buy. Then, buy! I had a very specific hit list in mind and I was looking for some stunning letterpress and engraved invitation lines to carry for my clients. In addition, there were some surprise purchases and companies along the way and eventally I will blog about each one on its own.

I did the show on Tuesday, which was rainy and miserable. A good day to be indoors at a show! But the crowds were much less and talking to the exhibitors, they were complaining about the lack of people. That bad economy is hitting everyone hard. :(

The biggest trend that I noticed was GREEN PAPER options. There were favors that were made of recycled paper and then you could plant them with the seeds embedded in them, there was a company who had paper made from Cacao Trees (I hope I got that right) and even a company that creates paper from Elephant Dung! I'm really REALLY sorry if I got that wrong but I saw the sign and steered clear. This kind of paper, no matter how delightful, was not going to make it on my buy list. But so many GREEN options! It was nice to see. :)

It was a quick trip and I was luck enough to stay with my dear friends Laura and Tim (and Gigi the doggie) too! She was nice enough to pose for the pic above. :)

Stay tuned for my other purchases as I will report back soon! :)

A Groovy Kind of Love

So... it's Sunday morning, you wake up, you brush your teeth, you decide... YOU WANT COFFEE. Where do you go? Chances are if you want a cup o' joe, you're going to head to Starbucks. Well, on April 13, if you were at the Starbucks in Watertown Square around 11:30am, you might have seen a PROPOSAL! Yes, my friends, KATY, beautiful KATY got engaged!

So it all started on Friday night when I started getting text messages from Steve, Katy's BF. He said "You gotta get Katy to Starbucks in Watertown Sq. on Sunday." OK... I'm thinking why? The words "I'm going to propose to her" never actually were texted to me or said (as Katy was in the other room or somewhere nearby when Steve was texting me). But when I asked "Should I bring a camera?" and he said "Yeah, bring a camera". I started to do to a dance in the house and get all excited." And then I was thinking - Could I do it?" Could I be the lure? Could I get Katy to Starbucks? Of course I could!

Now I won't go into all the details but Saturday, I actually saw Katy at her job as she was working and I was there with a client. Katy was working on an invitation job for me and I was supposed to bring something for her to finish the job. Of course I "FORGOT" what I needed to which, in retrospect, must hae been totally annoying to Katy but I "casually" said, "Why not meet me at a Starbucks in Watertown on Sunday after I do some errands?" OK she said.

So, here it is Sunday. THE DAY! Steve is calling me - nervous -
Steve: "Donna - it's CROWDED at Starbucks. I don't know if I can do it!"
Me: " Just look at her when you come in, you don't have to shout it to the world, when she sees you, she will know" JUST LOOK AT HER. (It's like the speech I give to brides about looking at the man they are going to marry at the end of the aisle. No one else matters.)

So, of course Katy has to text me and say, "Want to go somewhere else for a salad?"
NOOOOOO I NEEEED COOOFFFEEEE! (That's how I responded)
She most definitely thought I was psycho now but onward she came to Starbucks.

Now, Starbucks is where Katy and Steve first met. And from what I gather, they have not been back since so Steve was smart in knowing he couldn't just say "Hey, Katy, let's go to Starbucks where we first met."

KATY WOULD TOTALLY HAVE FIGURED IT OUT. You should know, Katy is one of the most organized and intutive people I have ever met. She never is surprised, she is always prepared. And I KNOW she wanted to figure out when Steve was going to propose.

So when she arrived at Starbucks with glasses on, fleece, (not that there is anything wrong with fleece) and hair pulled back, I thought to myself "I GOT HER!!! SHE HAS NOOOOO CLUE!

After she arrived, we ordered something, she sat down and I probably put my coffee down on the table for a second and then said "Gotta go to the ladies room!" From there I called Steve who had very smartly parked his car around the corner and was going to be there in 20 seconds. One-one thousand.... I started to count and got my camera out. I was so nervous! How was he feeling!?!?! :)

So out I come of the bathroom, and in he is walking towards her. She is clearly STILL CLUELESS - why are you here? I couldn't hear her because I had my camera and I was shaking and hiding behind Sumatra bags of coffee but I did manage to catch this:

And she said YES!!! Seriously, it was one of the sweetest and most romantic moments that I have ever witnessed and I was so happy and honored to be there!

And here is the happy couple! Newly engaged!

and the INCREDIBLE RING!

Steve, you did well!!!!! I am so happy for the both of them! And take a WILD guess where Katy will be getting her invites and all things paper for the wedding? You guessed it. Stay tuned in the next months for the fabulosity to unfold. :)

I'm sure I'm not the only one to feel like they should get free coffee for life (or at least on their anniversary!?)

CONGRATULATIONS KATY AND STEVE!!

We Got the Feet

My lovely friend Jenna recently had her baby shower and I was honored to be invited! It was a perfectly lovely day and she was literally SHOWERED with presents! Kind of like a thunder shower! I volunteered to make cookies and seeing that we had this "baby feet" theme , I decided to make sugar cookies that look like feet and then ice them PINK since she's having a girl. In addition, I was inspired by Martha Stewart's Cupcake week and created a tiny version of the S'more cupcake. They were so cute and toasty with their marshmallow tops. I got to use my kitchen torch and the entire house smelled like toasted marshmallows! (That would be a great scent for Yankee Candle but I digress)

Jenna's mother made some very yummy baked goods too. There were raspberry squares, apricot squares, chocolate cookies, almond cookies and Jenna's mother in law made pizelles. All delish!

That little baby has some loving parents and grandparents!! :) It was great FUN! You can't say that about too many baby showers but leave it to Jenna to have a very lovely event!

SPRING has finally sprung and I'm trying to finish updating my website and getting more pics of some of the great invites I've done for clients. But enjoy the lilacs and try and avoid the pollen. :)

Joya to the World

Yesterday I had to drive in the first snowfall of the season and do a meeting and then head up to my wonderful friend Joanne, the owner of Joya Beauty. For those of you who are not in the know, Joya Beauty is a little oasis in Dover, New Hampshire. Joanne is not only a great friend and person, but a gifted artist of makeup and all things skin. After a lovely facial in which she used the new Clarisonic brush (just mentioned as one of Oprah's favorite things!), she mixed up a new custom foundation for moi! I kept looking at my face in the rear view mirror while I was driving home because I loved how it looked! After lunch her wonderful husband made lunch and I was able to spend a little time with my "boyfriend", Romeo, one of her golden retrievers. If you're looking for a great idea for a gift (or need to give a hint to someone for a great idea), Joanne sells makeup palettes which are totally customizable. You can call or email her, buy a blank palette and a gift certificate and be done! She will ship it right to you. The gift of beauty can be a facial, microdermabrasion, custom lipstick or some of the lovely skin products she carries. And then you can take a day, pamper yourself at Joya and walk away with some makeup! It's the gift that keeps giving. I will be carrying some of her products on my e-store so stay tuned.

http://www.joyabeauty.com/


Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Save the Date!

Laura and Brad gave me the honor of creating their Save the Dates and as of this past Friday, they have been mailed! They are unique and fun, just like the two of them! Kristin Spencer, their AWESOME photographer, met them up at Castle Hill and took a lot of fabulous photos! We used one of the photos for the save the date and one for their cute little stamp which they created from zazzle.com. It is a layered piece with information on accommodations beneath the picture. Finishing up the look was the wonderful calligraphy of Exquisite Ink. Thanks Laura and Brad!

http://www.kristinspencer.com/

http://www.exquisiteink.com/

TGIF!

TGIF! I am sure most of you are getting ready for a nice long weekend and I hope there are some nice plans!. I'll be working on finishing things in the office and getting caught up on a few things. If you have time and are looking for favors, please check out the "shop" section (or click the banner below). We have partnered with Kate Aspen Shops to offer you great favors! I'm working on different ideas for things to carry in the studio. One of the items are cuff links and necklaces with a piece of Fenway Park (and other ballparks) embedded in sterling silver! They are handcrafted from salvaged stadium seats and they are so cool! I'll leave you all on that note and hope you all have a great weekend! :)