From me to you

In an effort to diy part of the save our date maps and add a surprise detail to the mailing, I decided to create fun envelope liners. I ordered envelopes in our wedding colors and envelope liner templates from Paper Source. The envelopes are colors: grape, violet, plum, and curry.

Here are all of the supplies I used. Various scrapbook papers from Michaels, A7 envelope liner template, A7 envelopes, scissors, and tombow adhesive. I love this adhesive because it's on a roller and makes application easy.

My favorite paper of the bunch. The butterflies look like the letter "W", which is my future last name :)

I traced the template on the back side of the paper, cut, and got these lovelies.

Once stuffed, I folded the liner over and used the adhesive to glue it to the envelope flap. They fit into each envelope nicely.

I didn't have a specific pattern per envelope, just stuffed each with what looked good.

Then addressed each enveloped, stuffed them with our maps, and stamped them. I mailed the last batch out on Saturday and am very excited for everyone to receive them :)

This was a very easy, low key project but necessary for the love of details. I think it would be so fun to open an envelope and see a super cute pattern sticking out. It's like the red soles of Louboutins or the red lining of a LV damier, something unexpected and cheery.

Blog title is from lyrics by the Beatles

And globes and maps are all around me now, part II

I am very pleased to say that our Laura Hooper maps arrived safe and sound, and in some lovely packaging. Even the mister commented that he liked the paper it was wrapped in.


There was also a nice letterpress thank you card. Mmm letterpress :) So pretty.


Here is a look at our map (please excuse low quality photos). We both agree that while artsy, the map came out pretty true to the locations of each icon. The icons were also sooo cute! I am really loving the turtles.


We chose Camden calligraphy because of the cute and light-hearted feeling, and I liked the way the "J" looks. While it doesn't say "Save the Date", we like to say "Save Our Date", it really doesn't matter too much. We kind of overlooked it. A detail I really like are the the arrows that point towards UCSB (where we met) and Los Angeles (Go Lakers). I also really like the ring icon noting our ceremony location and cake icon noting our reception location. And the bride and groom zipping away in the car is so super cute. We also wanted to note the Santa Barbara Mountains for their beauty and to remember the fire victims of the past year.

Another note about the map is that because of the shape of the Santa Barbara coastline, the mountains are north and the ocean is south. Although the 101 freeway says North and South, it's running east to west. This is random, and I'm sure guests will ask why the compass reads the way it does. I'll just tell them to check a map ;) and we have lovely Mediterranean weather because of it.

Laura was so super cool to work with, professional, accommodating, and so kind. We corresponded through email and I received everything (replies, proofs, updates) in such a timely manner (she even returned an email while on vacation!!). Her map design was just what we wanted, turning out so unique and beautiful. The end product is just so great and my overall experience makes me smile :) I would definitely recommend her to any of you!

And now I'm hoping the mister appreciates the beauty of the maps and agree to splurge on some LH Calligraphy invites. Letterpress invites.

part I can be found here

Blog title is from lyrics by Something Corporate

And globes and maps are all around me now, part I

My first knowledge of save the date cards was towards the end of college when I was at a friend's house and she had a magnet on her fridge. It was a photo of a couple and announced their date. I thought it was cute and fun and way clever... I would love to hang on friends' and family's fridge door. Fast forward a couple of years and after reading countless wedding blogs, we were faced with the overwhelming amount of beautiful and unique save the date inspirations. Photo postcards, lovely designs on lush letterpress, such creative gocco cards, fun wordle clouds, engagement photos, calendars, and the list goes on. While stock piling my ideas, there was one save the date idea that I always went back to: wedding maps.

For some reason I really like maps. From Rand McNally to yahoo maps to a globe, it's always nice to know hot spots and locations. A map would be a fun way to showcase our town, list venues, highlight city streets and freeways, note places we enjoy in our city, and have cute illustrations of everything. And when I saw Laura Hooper's hand drawn maps and lovely calligraphy I knew it would have to be part of the wedding stationery. At this point I had been a frequent visitor to her site and her blog, and had become so very obsessed.

Our stationery budget was initially economical (we had wanted to diy a lot of it, gocco maybe) but I have such a love for paper products that I knew some part of our stationery suite was going to be a splurge. So I contacted Laura, inquiring about save the date maps. She got back to me quickly. Then it was a go!

We completed the client save the date packet and provided some details we liked. The paper size would be 5x7, but we opted to turn it on it's side for a 7x5 layout since it would give us a wider rather than taller map. A wider map would help with icon placement and names of places. Our wording: "J&M are getting married! September xx, 2009. Santa Barbara, CA. Formal Invitation to follow." Highlights of the packet include points of interest (our venues, a hotel nearby, the Wine Cask, SB Bowl, Paseo Nuevo, Stearn's Wharf) and the main streets our guests would likely use to get around town. I also suggested little icons (such as musical notes to depict the SB Bowl) and kissing turtles in the Pacific Ocean because I love turtles so much. I left the rest to Laura. And a few days later we got our first proof!!

The black and white proof came first. It looked good and was laid out well. We changed some streets names and locations of the icons. Then we received a colored proof and it was like "this is for real". We changed a couple more things (hair color of the bride) and were set. Laura sent us back another proof (we were allowed 2 rounds of proof changes before being charged extra), it looked too cute, and we signed off and were ready to go.

Now I try to patiently wait for them to be delivered!!

Here is another small view of our map :) I loooove the illustrations.

*****
I'm happy to report that two of my college friends got engaged to their boyfriends (now very lucky fiances) this December! We lived on the same floor freshman year and enjoyed many a party. All the best to K & J.

I was also given a shout out by The Future Mrs. Darcy blog :) and a nice blog award from Bride Sophisticate :)

And if I could visit NY tomorrow to shop at this store, oh it would be dreamy.

Blog title is from lyrics by Something Corporate

Tiffany is the name, love is the game

Source

While browsing the Tiffany site over the weekend, I saw the above photo on their home page. How cool that my engagement ring is featured in the film Bride Wars!

Source

I'm looking forward to seeing the film and hoping my love will tag along. It premieres this Friday, January 9, so we'll try to catch a showing that weekend. I don't know why I like the photo of Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway chatting and holding their rings so much. I think maybe because I touch my ring like five times a day to make sure it's there. Definitely excited to starting 2009 with a romantic comedy.

Side Note: Here is a little teaser from our save our date cards :) We've been going through the proofing process and the cards should begin the printing process on Monday. I'm totally excited!


Blog title is from song by Tiffany Evans and Ciara

I'll send it along, with love

I know they're called Save the Date cards, but "Save Our Date" sounds more personal and the abbreviation (SOD) isn't as dirty. So with our date set, and the majority of our guests living miles away, planning and work on the SODs has begun.

There are a bounty of creative ideas out there: magnets, engagement shots, movie tickets theme, photobooth cards, monograms, wordle, pop art, letterpress, maps, etc. And choosing one idea is quite important to us since it will provide guests with a first look of the style and personality of our wedding.

We want something that reprents Santa Barbara, our casual personalities, and our wedding colors. We are open to something more fun and less formal, while still awe inspiring. And ofcourse we want to use as much technology as we can, not only to create but to transmit our SODs. We plan to mail and email them, then post on our wedding website and myspace (oh how I love the mediums of communication in which we live).

With all of that in mind, our favorite SOD ideas are wordle and a map of SB. Here are my first attempts at a SOD wordle:

I chose colors that we think would complement each other and be great for the wedding. Ofcourse more work needs to be done with this, but the ball has started rolling :) We have a few months for our ideas to materialize, then off they go!

Blog title is from lyrics by The Beatles.