hillary schuster

» wedding invitations: caitlin + steve «

I’m hard to impress when it comes to invitations. I follow countless wedding and design blogs—pinning and drooling over beautiful invitation suites all the time. That said, Michael and I have a slew of designers for friends—when a couple we know gets married, there’s a pretty good chance that their invitation might be pin-worthy. Steve and Caitlin are getting married next month at a winery in Northern California. When their save-the-date came to us in the mail, I was impressed by how classic it was without feeling stuffy. The invitation suite echos this same simplicity. The colors and type choices are elegant and modern—evoking a rustic, coastal feel. I, sadly, have to miss their wedding but emailed them and ask if I could showcase their beautiful work, anyway. Here’s what Caitlin had to say…

The invites were a labor of love. Steve (and I) designed them and printed them using a borrowed Gocco (which is a Japanese tabletop screen printing machine). We are on a tight budget for the wedding so we tried to be as resourceful as possible, which is why we did everything at home. The paper came from Paper Source—we were able to get the quality we wanted with the discounts that we needed by buying in bulk. 

Steve wanted to make sure that the save the dates, invitations, website, and all of the paper materials felt as if they were part of the same system. The save the dates and website were born first and that gave us ground to work off of for the rest of the wedding design. I’m really proud of the outcome of everything so far and definitely feel lucky to have an in-house designer!

[image credit: Michael Kiser - who WILL be attending the wedding]

» DIY: sock monkey «

I’ve made a handful of sock monkeys over the past few years. It’s actually not that hard if you find a tutorial you like. I think this one by Web Goddess is genius. It’s been awhile since I made one, but here are a few notes on making your own monkey:

• If you use tall socks (like knee highs), the monkeys will have insanely long limbs (pictured) - this is really fun but very time consuming and tedious to stuff
• Stuffing can be a bit tricky - under stuff and it’s too floppy or lumpy, over stuff and it’s like a rock…I think more expensive stuffing material is probably helpful
• You can get fun socks at Target for cheap (that’s where a lot of mine have been from)
• That said, a lot of the cool patterned ones that I’ve liked didn’t have solid colored heels and toes—I think this is essential for the monkey to look right
• Stripes are harder to work with that dots (harder to line up the seams) and dark colors hide sloppy stitches better
• I tried to make a monkey once out of a pair of socks that just FAILED—I think that particular pair had too much spandex/stretch to them and the stitches just kind of slid out of the fabric
• A sewing machine is clutch, especially if you are going to do one of these lanky monkeys

The monkey pictured above I made for my husband a few years back. It has a removable hat and scarf made out of scrap fabric and a removable beard. I was too worried about screwing-up the monkey to glue the beard right on - it’s glued to a scrap of fabric and held on with elastic. I also gave his ears an inner stitch.

The monkey below was for a gift I made for my cousin’s daughter several years back (these are shots of him hanging out at my old office).

[image credits: gray striped monkey by Michael Kiser, brown and pink monkey by Hillary Schuster]

» obsessed: hunger games «

For the past week I’ve been OBSESSED with the Hunger Games. Stuff on the order of:

Michael: What’s that a picture of? [gesturing to the lock screen wallpaper on my iPhone]
Me: Uh…Peeta.   

I read all 3 books this past week and saw the movie right after reading book one. The movie was alright. I think I’ll like it more when I see it again sometime - after having read all the books and putting some distance between them and the film. The actors are great but condensing a long book into 2.5 hrs can be tricky. You lose a lot of the subtlety. The books, however, I love, love, loved. They were so good. I especially love Peeta (obvs) - I think Catching Fire was my favorite in the series. If you haven’t read the series (and like that kind of thing), you should totally check them out. I got the first book at Target for $7 and then bought the others for about the same price from the Amazon Kindle Store.

Anyway, I can’t stop thinking about them (I finished Mockingjay on Saturday in the bleachers at tennis—crying while kids below worked on their backhands). I finished the third book and briefly considered immediately starting them over again. You know I’m really gone on something when I start looking up fan videos and merchandise—listening to scores and changing the backgrounds on all of my devices [insert admission to owning MANY Buffy the Vampire Slayer action figures].   

Here’s some stuff I’ve come across that might interest you if you’re a fan of the Hunger Games…

Fan art: God, this is, like, my internet in 2002 and being obsessed with Buffy. Someday, I’m going to find some of my old work like this and post it—I really didn’t think people did this anymore. It almost makes me want to start my own Tumblr of crap like this - my fandom needs an outlet! Right now I just have a Pinterest board called star#$%*ing and it doesn’t seem like enough. Anyway, I pinned a couple of HG graphics that I really liked on my General Miscellaneous board—here are some sites that I pulled them from (although I’m sure there are millions of sites just like these):

• dandelion in the spring
• I must have loved you a lot
• Forever Young
• Handful of Berries

Wallpaper: This is the image I used of Peeta for my iPhone (b/c the colors were so good). I put this image as my iPad lock screen wallpaper and might use this one on my computer.

Crafts: I bet there’s tons and tons of HG crafts out there. This embroidered map is my favorite that I’ve found. I also love anything having to do with the districts - these blankets/knit panels are cool. This diy patch looks like something rebels would attach to their gear. Lastly, the shoes about 1/2 way down this post are incredible (the two images right after Here are some other Hunger Games inspired shoes that were hand crafted, all way better than mine!).

Posters: Here are a few posters/prints I really like…

• Screenprinted Mockingjay by Goodnightkittens Design on Etsy
• Happy Hunger Games print and Rue’s song and Parachute print, all by Entropy Trading Company on Etsy
• Mockingjay poster by Purple Cow Posters on Etsy
• Re-designed book cover print by Jared Fancy on Etsy—I especially like this b/c it uses the theme of the book and not the literal imagery

Videos: I didn’t find a ton of fan videos that I loved. I guess it’s hard when the movie isn’t even out of theaters, yet. Also, so much of the story is from the 2nd and 3rd books and those haven’t even been filmed. What’s cool, though, is that doesn’t stop people from telling the stories they want to tell. This video is about the first half of Catching Fire. The maker does such a good job of making scenes look real that are actually spliced together. I also enjoyed this video with the song “The Hanging Tree.” There’s a bunch of Katniss/Peeta videos but none that really stuck out from the pack.

Other:

• Josh Hutcherson rocking out (found via Busy Bee Lauren)
• Some awesome maps of Panem (I love stuff like this) - here’s another great map
• Hunger Games someecards
• Capitol Couture: a Capitol fashion blog (I love stuff that, instead of being ABOUT a world, creates some fake part of that world - I’d love to see more stuff like this if anyone knows of any)
• Some party printables (I thought I’d find a lot of these but didn’t - there are some good ones for purchase on Etsy, though - these are my two favorites: party package or Arena DIY printable party)
• Cross stitch patterns
• Hunger Games inspired wedding shoot (I saw others but this one was far superior) - this kind of inspired me to think about doing my own shoot; today we were out walking in the Forest Preserve, around the Skokie Lagoons, and I thought it was a pretty ideal location

If anyone comes across (or makes) any other good HG stuff I’d love to see it. I’d also, embarrassingly, be into some good fanfic. It can be hard to come by - good writers who care about building on other’s work. I’ve read a bunch of Pacey-Joey fanfic and Ron-Hermione stuff. I once wrote a short My So-Called Life piece…I think it’s lost to the gods of outdated computer software, though. We’ll see, maybe some day I’ll find it. For now, may the odds be ever in your favor.

[image credit: Parent Grapevine]

» jessie + phil’s wedding invitations «

I’ve been helping my friend Jessie plan her wedding to her fiance, Phil. These are her awesome invites. The original basis of the invitation design was something I started for another friend’s save-the-date, that we didn’t end up using. Jessie took my design and ran with it. I advised along the way—offering critique, inspiration and suggestions. 

A few of the influences that I find particularly notable:

• The amazing F. Scott Fitzgerald covers designed by Penguin Books’ senior cover designer, Coralie Bickford-Smith. You can see beautiful images of them over at My Modern Met.
• This GORGEOUS set of invitations by Kate Arends

Jessie had the pieces printed at 4x6 but trimmed them herself (a great budget option). Jessie is a great designer and I think they turned out great.

[image credit: Jessie Gatto]

» our wedding featured on 100 Layer Cake «

Our wedding is featured on 100 Layer Cake today! I’m very excited to have a large audience share even a tiny bit of the awesomeness that we experienced back in October. Head over there and leave a comment—let me know what you think! 

[image credit: Steven Michael Photography - you can see more images from the wedding on his blog]

» happy valentine’s day! «

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of my family and friends, but especially to my husband, Michael.

You are my best friend and the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. From drinking beer overlooking the ocean in Portugal to getting married on a small lake in Michigan, this past year has been amazing (and, apparently, aquatic). I am so lucky to have such a smart, funny and talented partner to share my life with. I love you with all of my heart and can’t wait for everything to come this year—I know it’s going to be good. 

xo

At our wedding last fall, we had friends read selected poems during the ceremony. I think they all speak to our relationship in different ways but the one below is my absolute favorite (the other two were Litany by Billy Collins and The Master Speed by Robert Frost).

Superbly Situated by Robert Hershon

you politely ask me not to die and i promise not to   
right from the beginning—a relationship based on   
good sense and thoughtfulness in little things

i would like to be loved for such simple attainments   
as breathing regularly and not falling down too often   
or because my eyes are brown or my father left-handed

and to be on the safe side i wouldn’t mind if somehow
i became entangled in your perception of admirable objects   
so you might say to yourself: i have recently noticed

how superbly situated the empire state building is
how it looms up suddenly behind cemeteries and rivers   
so far away you could touch it—therefore i love you

part of me fears that some moron is already plotting   
to tear down the empire state building and replace it   
with a block of staten island mother/daughter houses

just as part of me fears that if you love me for my cleanliness   
i will grow filthy if you admire my elegant clothes   
i’ll start wearing shirts with sailboats on them

but i have decided to become a public beach an opera house   
a regularly scheduled flight—something that can’t help being   
in the right place at the right time—come take your seat

we’ll raise the curtain fill the house start the engines   
fly off into the sunrise, the spire of the empire state
the last sight on the horizon as the earth begins to curve

Robert Herson, “Superbly Situated” from How to Ride on the Woodlawn Express. 
Copyright © 1985 by Robert Hershon.

[image credits: Michigan wedding and Kansas City engagement sessions by Steven Michael Photography]

» this week, last week, etc. «

I’ve been putting off blogging because I’ve been wanting to recap the Altitude Design Summit, which I attended three weeks ago out in Salt Lake City. Yes, I’ve been putting off blogging about a blogging conference. I haven‘t really known where to start, but I finally broke down my ideas into two (maybe 3) posts. I’ll hopefully have them up before I head to Vegas this weekend for Abby’s bachelorette party.

In the meantime, here are a few things I missed mentioning in the past few weeks…

• MK and I are all caught-up on Vampire Diaries. I know, you were on the edge of your seat, right? It’s so flippin’ good. In other TV news: Pretty Little Liars has gotten DULL but Revenge is still good. The Bachelor is consistently entertaining (I loved last week when all the girls kept using “prude” as an adjective).
• Each month this year I’m making a handmade gift for Michael. Pictured above are January’s and February’s. The idea for the tiger head plaque came from all of these toy animal head hooks I’ve been seeing around. The tiger was a $1 Michael’s purchase. I had my dad saw off the head (I knew it’d be a clean cut if he used his power tools—me struggling with a handsaw would be like Ben hacking a coconut with a machete). I used epoxy to attach it to the backside of a weird antique plaque we bought awhile back. I had planned to have just the head on the plaque but it didn’t seem to be big enough so I ordered an engraved plate. February’s gift was a snowglobe (using Martha’s directions). It has a tree, astronaut, dinosaur and squirrel in it.
• I have been working a lot more on Jessie and Phil’s wedding. We visited the venue a few weeks ago and have been working on table arrangements. Another big thing is figuring out the centerpieces. I experimented with floral foam for the first time, it was really fun (maybe I’ll do a post about it later). 
• A lot is going on lately…today I had my last training session (although I may try and scrape together some money to continue working out with Catie), Michael och jag lär svenska (I think), tennis has been going only okay (bah) and I’ve been socializing WAY more than I should be (this is where my mother would quote drunk Hortense Daigle from the Bad Seed - something like “I didn’t know little girls had such important social calendars!”). 

Okay, that’s all for today!

[images: Michael Kiser]

» browsing: 29 january 12 «

Last week was kind of weird. I think I had a sort of hangover from Alt Summit…it left my head spinning pretty hard and I struggled all week having people ask how the conference was. I found myself constantly going “Oh! It was, uh, good…yeah…” I mean, how do you boil down such a big event into a sentence or two? Anyway, I hope to be back tomorrow or Tuesday with a full re-cap of the conference. I’ve made tons of notes. Then, I swear, I’ll try to stop mentioning it in every post.

Until then, here’s what else was spinning ‘round my world last week:

• We. Cannot. Stop. Watching. Vampire. Diaries. And by we, I mean Michael and I. Lindsay was already forced to stop because she got caught-up. That’s what happens when you are on your own schedule. Anyway, we watched 3 last night and a few already today. We are about 6 or so episodes behind. It is truly incredible. I’ll watch Downton Abbey later, kids, I promise.
• Speaking of Vampire Diaries, I told Maggie about it and I think she’s been watching it a bunch, too. I’m sorry, Maggie, but it’s only fair. Maggie, albeit indirectly, got me addicted to Get Off My Internets. It’s such a bizarre website but I’m oddly fascinated. And it’s snarky as hell, which…I find funny. Sue me.
• I met Maggie at Alt. I also met Margot (they were roommates). I was really hoping to connect with Chicagoans at Alt. but there weren’t many of us. I only know of 5 that were there from the “Chicagoland area.” Margot was my favorite. From what I’ve seen she’s a great designer, artist and blogger—and a fun and interesting person. I’ve been digging back through her blog archives and making various connections between our worlds. I hope we get to meet up again - maybe find some ways to contribute to each other’s work.
• There are a lot of weddings and events this year that I’m going to be helping out with—designing and advising, concepting and creating. It’s fun but it can get confusing and overwhelming sometimes, doing bits and pieces of work for different “clients” (friends). I like to use Pinterest to help organize ideas (duh). It’s nice because you can use it to collaborate. I’m helping Jessie plan her April wedding and I started an inspiration board that she and I can use to share ideas. After looking at the board and talking to her more, I finally nailed down that she was going for a sort of Hollywood Regency look. Glam but not stuffy. Sort of modern but traditional at the same time. I think finding small ways to make the event a little quirky will be fun.

Okay, enjoy the rest of your weekend, kiddos! I’m going to do a bit more bloggy work and I have tennis later. Oh, and I need to get back to writing thank you notes. We are so late with these. Ugh.

[image credits: balloons at Alt - Justin Hackworth via the Alt Summit 2012 photostream on Flickr; Vampire Diaries image by Kurt Iswarienko for TV Guide Magazine, via Vampire-Diaries.net; vintage office supply kits - Re:Classified, December 2011 exhibit by Margot Harrington in collaboration withPost 27 and winterbureau; Hollywood Regency room designed by Jonathan Adler]

» reuse: vintage teacups «

As I mentioned in my last post, there’s a ton of different ways to reuse vintage teacups. You may already have a cup or two laying around, but if not, you can find them cheaply at most thrift stores. Depending on your style, a lot of these teacup DIYs might not be for you but there’s bound to be a few ideas that spark an interest.

Here are some of my favorites teacup reuses:

• Vintage DIY candles on Hello Gorgeous
• Teacup succulent garden on Epheriell Designs / Teacup Planter on SweetHome / or you can do a FAKE planter like these “terrariums” on freshlyblended
• Jewelry storage from Martha Stewart
• Hanging lights from Domestic Construction (via papernstitch - who was at Alt, too, apparently!)
• Teacup pincushion (there are a ton out there - here’s another)
• Bangles by Lindsay Pemberton (not sure how easy it’d be to DIY these - what cuts porcelain?)
• I love these Urban Outfitters dessert stands (via the Funky Rooster) - I don’t think you can buy them anymore but here’s a good dessert stand DIY (or another cool record one)

Didn’t see something you liked on that list? Here are some round ups of teacup inspiration:

• Teacup DIY projects on Amanda Factor
• Teacup Crafts Roundup on luvinthemommyhood
• Creative uses for old china teacups
• 20 Creative and Cool Teacup Inspired Designs and Products
• What to do with a vintage teacup?

I’ve made candles before, following Martha’s directions. They turned out good but I had trouble getting rid of the well she mentions in step 3. They made a great gift for the women in my family a few years back. 

Since I have some teacups left from the baby shower, I’ll have to pick a new project from the list or come up with a new DIY on my own.

[image credits: teacup illustration by Rebekahleigh on Etsy; top fine art photo by alice b. gardens on Etsy; bottom image found on Elements Design via Google Image Search]

» baby shower: sara + george «

I’m 33. My husband and I don’t have children, but hope to sometime in the next 2 years. The majority of my friends are between 30 and 40 and most are either single, trying to get pregnant or have children who are less than two years old. In my very scientific and lengthy research (read: Googling “average age having baby in US”), I found the confirmation that what I suspected was true: we are a bit older than the average new parent. The average age to have a baby for developed nations is 26.8 years and in the US it is 24.8 years. The average age to have a baby for White/Europeans is 26.5 years. This is from the Average Age To Have A Baby Calculator, so it’s surely 100% accurate.

What I’m saying is, in addition to holiday parties, bachelorette weekends and weddings, I’ve been throwing and attending a decent number of baby showers as-of-late. In the past two years, I have helped to throw three fairly elaborate co-ed showers. The most recent one was for our friends Sara and George (who run Greater Good Studio) and was held at Michael’s and my home. Their daughter, Sophie, is about to celebrate her first birthday, so I thought it’d be fitting to feature their shower today.

I planned the party with Emily, our local culinary genius, and we decided to make it a girly party, despite it being co-ed, since Sophie was the first girl to be born among our group of friends. We decided that a tea party would be cute and appropriate—in part, because George is British.

The tea party theme was realized through sort of shabby chic, thrifted décor and objects. In the time leading up to the party, I found over 30 teacups and saucers at local thrift stores, as well as some mismatched serving pieces (like large plates, cake stands and pitchers). I used my Silhouette machine to cut out gift tags, wrote everyone’s name on one and attached them to the teacups, which I stacked haphazardly on our dining room and entryway tables. Guests were invited to take home their teacups at the end of the party. I had intended to send out to our guests a list of ideas for what to do with old teacups but I never did. Maybe I’ll post the ideas here on the blog.

Decorations at the party included:

• bunting made of twine and ribbon
• hanging crepe paper streamers, which looks better in photos I’ve seen online than it did at my house
• pink balloons
• grocery store flowers in pink, white and green
• burlap covering the table, leftover from Halloween
• table cloths borrowed from Emily
• tchotchkes from around our apartment, like ceramic birds and colored vases
• various signs made from cheapo white IKEA frames that I’ve had forever, scrapbook paper and Craig’s awesome handwriting
• drink stirs made with various pink ribbon knotted around broken-down skewers

In addition to tea we served coffee and Mimosas. Emily took care of all of the food, which included finger sandwiches, fruit and various desserts. Keeping up with the tea and coffee was a bit of a chore. Make sure you are set up to do hot beverages like this is the most efficient manner possible. Carafes and multiple teapots are helpful. And you can never have too much Champagne and orange juice. People drink mimosas like crazy.

Games and activities at showers are typically excruciating, especially at baby showers. I always think of the Gilmore Girls episode where Rory and Lorelai attend Christopher’s girlfriend Sherry’s baby shower—it’s so painful…

…but still, I struggle with having a themed party (like a shower or bachelorette) where there isn’t something “extra” to do. My friends and I get together all the time, so I like to be creative when we have a specific reason to celebrate.

I decided to do one of those Q&A type of “games” where the respective parents answer questions and the guests try and determine who said what, winner gets a prize. I designed a ballot-type of form that had questions like: What personal talent or skill do you hope to pass on to your daughter? (example answer, you had to guess if it came from Sara or George: A musical ear ([Spouse] can’t sing). Being a good speller and a clear communicator. Having empathy for other people.) I asked them both the same questions and then picked one answer to each, subbing in [Spouse] where I needed to. Some of the answers were fairly easy to guess (with George saying things like “balls” and whatnot), but it was fun. I think the winner only missed one.

Sara and George had asked for their guests to gift children’s books so we decided to make book plates for the guests to fill-out. Craig drew some up graphics and type and I laid it out and printed them on full-sheet 8.5 x 11 label paper. 

The soon-to-be parents opened their gifts and books, passing the latter around for everyone to reminisce. The party was cute and fun. Everyone liked liked the theme and the food was simple but tasty. In addition to managing the drinks, the hardest thing was finding room for everyone to sit. The party started out without any space issues, but once we moved on to the game, it got crowded to all be gathered in the living room. It was also the first time we had young children running around our apartment. We have a lot of stuff for kids to get into.

All told, pretty successful. Watch in coming weeks as I’ll showcase Emily and Craig’s woodland-themed shower and April and Lucas’s carnival-like shower.

[image credits: photos by Michael Kiser; digital images grabbed by me]

» styling paper for photo shoots «

I’m back from Alt Summit and…honestly, I don’t even know where to start to break down the experience. I’m still digesting it and will try to get up a post about it in the next week or so. In the meantime, I’m going to get back to (somewhat) regularly scheduled programming…

Last week I shared some design work that I had done for my friend Katie’s wedding in the fall of 2009. The images I shared of the print goods—the ones taken by my husband and I—represent the first time I have ever styled a shoot. 

When preparing to take the photos, I sought out inspiration for ways to enliven these still, flat pieces of stationary. Spurred by the great images I found (like the ones above), I sought out objects around my house that were relevant to Katie’s wedding theme and colors. I also used components from other parts of the design process (namely the large paper dots that were used in the photo booth backdrop).

Styling and taking images of print work is a lot harder than it looks and I hope to get better at it as I document more work for this site. I’m going to make photography a big design/blog goal of mine for 2012. I got some great tips at Alt from the the bloggers on creating DIY tutorials panel: Creature Comforts, Not Martha, Makes and Takes, and Charles & Hudson / Built by Kids. Anyone have any great resources or tips for shooting flat goods without any serious skills or equipment?

Anyway, you can see my design work on the other post. Below I’ve included images of Katie’s and Aaron’s wedding invitations—designed by Kyle Fletcher, letterpress printed by Olivia Samson and styled by me.

[image credits: 1 - Unruly Things via Oh So Beautiful Paper; 2 - Edyta Photography for Hello!Lucky; 3 - Inspired Goodness; Katie and Aaron’s invites - Michael Kiser and me]

» browsing: 17 january 12 «

This set of links roundups is a bit late. I’m still trying to find the time for regular blogging—sacrificing social time, getting up early mornings, slowing down the consumption of Vampire Diaries…but I’ll get the hang of it. It already feels really good to be sharing my little corner of the design world. Here are some other things I’ve been geeking out about this week:

• I’ve been posting on this blog about other parties and weddings that I’ve helped design. At some point, I’ll feature Michael’s and my wedding—which, obviously, was the biggest and most important of my many party-design gigs. In the next couple of months, it’ll be featured on 100 Layer Cake (eee!), but in the meantime, just this week, it was briefly featured on Tereasa Suratt’s blog, Wandawega (I’m actually not sure what to call the blog, as it’s an outlet for all of Tereasa’s incredible work). I have been stalking Camp Wandawega for ages (it’s where I originally wanted to have our wedding), and it was awesome to finally get an introduction to Tereasa. She is an amazing stylist (like, check out this winter dresser-top bar), interior designer and crafter. Mega jealous. Hopefully MK and I will get to head up to Wandawega at some point this year to see what it’s all about.
• Speaking of weddings, it was wedding week over at The Senses Five, a blog I came across while planning our wedding (a friend sent along a link to their Save the Dates, which were on Cup of Jo, I believe). Anyway, Natalie and her husband also had a summer camp wedding and she was showing it off on the blog this week (her “how we met” story is particularly fun).
• I was bummed to find out that Chelsea, the woman behind one of my absolute favorite blogs {frolic!}, was not going to be at Alt. (she went last year). I really wanted to meet her (and bug her about floral design). Apparently she used to own a floral shop when she was younger - which is so fascinating, especially since she can’t be that old. Chelsea is also an amazing stylist and has spent a bunch of time in Sweden (where I’m heading back to for the 3rd time in June).
• I thought I’d give a little shout-out this week to one of my husband’s MANY blogs, Real Men Swear - which he collaborates on with our friend Craighton Berman. It’s a very on-the-nose look at current men’s fashion and they’ve been getting a lot of notice for it. Way to go, guys.
• In addition to following all the buzz/tweeting around Alt. Summit (and blog stalking speakers and attendees), I expect to be devouring a bunch of Golden Globes fashion critiques over the next few days. I didn’t watch the awards show but saw Tom & Lorenzo live tweeting like mad. Their first couple of GGs posts are up - have at it.

[image credits: natalie’s wedding - via The Senses Five, photo by Lovella Photography; our invitations - photo by Michael Kiser on Flickr; RMS image - via Real Men Swear, photo from Need Supply Co. Holiday Lookbook; flowers - via Frolic! for Project Wedding, photo by Lisa Warninger]

» wedding design: katie + aaron part 1«

Two falls ago I had the pleasure of helping my friends Katie and Aaron with the various design elements for their wedding. I did a lot of different things but one component that I helped concept, design and execute was the escort card “system.”

Katie and I originally came up with a color scheme and then she had other friends design and letterpress the invitations (Kyle and Olivia, respectively). Together, Katie, Aaron and I came up with ideas for the other communications pieces at the wedding.

The first idea we really liked was the idea of having fancy sodas with tags on them (an example can be seen here on the Wedding Chicks blog), but we kept thinking through the logistics of this idea and couldn’t figure out how to best make it work.

As we were thinking about all of the other information we needed to communicate, we eventually decided just to consolidate all the information into a single packet (ideas like this guestbook and the one seen here, these seating cards and these, contributed to the final idea). The outside of the pack contained the guests names (written by me) and table number (stamped). The inside had a welcome note printed on vellum, wrapped in a band around the rest of the content. There were 1-2 guestbook cards and a fold-out information sheet that included the menu, shuttle and after party info, what to do to get K+A to kiss (read: don’t clink your glass) and info about the photo booth.

I used Kyle’s invitation as inspiration around the type and design and produced it all myself. I used Paper Source cover stock in Chartreuse for the guestbook cards (which later were hole-punched and put on a giant ring). The envelopes were 4bar, I believe - in Gravel or Slate. I built and stained the wood stand for displaying the packets (huge pain - I should have painted not stained it).

I think it all turned out great. Katie said she got tons of compliments on the design of the wedding. In the future I’ll post more about Katie and Aaron’s suburban Chicago wedding.

[image credits: shots from wedding - Paper Antler; studio shots - styled by me and shot by Michael Kiser]