Boudoir Photography: Vixens by Sara Lil

Has your spouse or significant other ever asked you to get in your lingerie and have your picture taken? Have you ever wanted professional "sexy" pictures of yourself? Well then Boudoir photography is for you! Sara Lil, known for her amazing photography (from weddings to seniors) recently created a new line called Vixens by Sara Lil, to shoot just these kinds of photos. Her goal is to empower women through photography. The images taken stand for: beauty, empowerment, femininity, and class. The photos you're about to see are gorgeous, and I think they really showcase the beauty of the female body without being too risque. If I drink a few cocktails, I may just gather up the courage to do one of these myself--my fiancee's been wanting boudoir pictures for a long time!



I absolutely LOVE these pics....and as usual Sara shows us how amazing she is at photography! If you want to be a vixen, go to http://vixenportraits.blogspot.com. Sessions begin at $450 and she's located in Albany, OR!

48 Ways to Personalize Your Wedding, Cont.

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday...it was my mom's birthday! We spent the night watching our Blazers beat Houston, drinking cocktails made by my fiancee and my sister, and playing late-night poker. It was tons of fun, and my mom deserved the break!

But anyways, back to the continuation of the last few posts. Here are ten more ideas for you guys!

1. Juice it up. For couples who don't drink alcohol, create a fruit juice bar so that guests can order virgin tropical drinks.
2. Use new or vintage pottery in lieu of plain glass vases. It adds texture to an otherwise traditional arrangement.
3. Make them laugh. For one wedding, Preston Bailey made two extremely large dog sculptures out of flowers to flank either side of the aisle.
4. Instead of a monogram opt for a coat of arms or a family tartan for an unexpected touch. Check out houseofnames.com to see if a coat of arms already exists for your surname; if not, visit a site like makeyourcoatofarms.com to create one that can be incorporated into your guest book, stitched into your linen napkins, or printed on stationery.
5. Forget the guest book. Ask everyone to sign swatches of mismatched fabric, which can later be sewn into a quilt to treasure for years to come.
6. Share your feelings. At one wedding, the husband-to-be wrote a surprise love note to his bride which was then calligraphed and set at each place setting for guests to read.
7. Add interest to your ice sculptures by freezing some of your flowers inside.
8. Show you care about the environment by sending guests off with a customized grocery tote bag.
9. Keep the continuity going by using customized stamps on your thank you notes.
10. Draw inspiration from the city where your reception will be held. A lot of cities have different flavors to them--boiled peanuts in the South, saltwater taffy by the beach, etc. Use them as favors or in your reception menu.

Sorry guys, I know posts have been a little less extraordinary lately, but we have some fun posts to come soon. Tonight though, I have to take care of my two cats who just got spayed and are not very happy!

48 Ways to Personalize Your Wedding, Cont.

On to the next set of ways to make your wedding special...

1. Skip newer, trendier desserts for gourmet takes on childhood treats like scooter pies and devil dogs.
2. Make sure you mark your territory--i.e. keep seats of honor and decorate them special for just the two of you.
3. For the foodie bride who'd rather skip a traditional cake, consider a gourmet slant on a dessert bar...like a chocolate buffet where guests can shave chunks of of very high-quality milk and dark chocolate off of larger blocks a la a cheese bar.
4. Recall memories of a favorite vacation by breaking the cake mold. If you got engaged somewhere tropical, you could make the cake in the shape of a big banana or an oversized pineapple.
5. Create games to facilitate mingling between guests.
6. Repeat signature patterns as your wedding motif. Use the lace detailing of the bride's dress in the gobo light pattern of the dance floor, or incorporate it onto the cake.
7. Swap out monogrammed cocktail napkins for elegant letter-pressed coasters that can be customized to match your invitations and other stationery.
8. Give a garden as your favor. By giving guests potted plants that will bloom in a few months you extend the life of your wedding.
9. Serve yummy comfort foods, like mac n cheese or mini burgers.
10. Pick fun table names. Instead of "one", "two", and "three", guests can sit at "beautiful", "creative", and "sexy" (or picking places that mean something to you is even better!)

These are taken from InStyle Weddings' Summer 2008 Issue.

48 Ways to Personalize Your Wedding, Cont.

As I said yesterday, I'd continue to give you more of the hints from InStyle Weddings' 48 Ways to Personalize Your Wedding. Here's the next 10:

1. Sprinkle rose petals around the groom in an almost full circle, then when the bride joins him inside, finish the circle, as if symbolizing them both being in the circle of love.
2. Incorporate alternative seating (like benches, chairs, couches, and more).
3. Ask the hotel to provide turn-down service for each of your guests, and provide them with different gifts to place on their pillows each night.
4. Have your valet slip a CD of your wedding music in the CD players of the cars at your wedding, so that when your guests hop in, it's like the event still continues.
5. If you're having an after-party, use that space to get expressive with color and texture.
6. Secretly slap a customized magnetic bumper sticker on guests' cars.
7. Incorporate regional fares in your wedding, like serving mint juleps for a Southern wedding.
8. Embrace both of your cultural backgrounds in the wedding (i.e. print key parts of the readings or poems in each language).
9. Evoke the past, by recreating different eras of decor, as a tribute to the couples' origins.
10. Instead of tossing grains, choose something more personal for guests to throw your way at a pivotal moment. For example, guests threw paper airplanes at an airline industry executive's wedding.
    

10 Ways to Personalize Your Wedding

Sorry guys, that I didn't get to post yesterday. It was an absolutely crazy day at work (Salem Chamber Greeters, ACE meeting, job fair, blood donation, etc.) plus as soon as I got home I had to run and get ready for G and I's anniversary dinner (the one that was supposed to happen Tuesday). But when we got up to Ruth's Chris Steak House and were led to our table, I found that he had invited both of our parents to dine with us. It was a great treat and I am further surprised by how good he is getting at surprises.

But anyway, enough about me. Here is today's wedding tidbit:

48 Ways to Personalize Your Wedding from InStyle Weddings Summer 2008 (although today I'm only giving you ten..you'll have to stay tuned for more):

1. Have the groom give the planner/florist a short note (1-2 sentences) to the bride, which is then attached to her flower bouquet as a sweet surprise.
2. Honor loved ones, especially those that have passed away, by doing things like hanging a deceased grandmother's wedding rings from the bouquet, or sewing a piece of your grandfather's handkerchief inside your dress.
3. Organize daytime activities for out-of-town guests.
4. Think big--do crazy and over-the-top decor.
5. Glam up a specialty cocktail by servin it in a unique glass and garnishing it with something fun, such as colored sugar or a playful drink stirrer.
6. While you're getting photos taken, consider providing guests with something to do other than nibble on HDO's and drink cocktails. Examples given are: a caricature artist, henna tattoo artist, and craft table.
7. Before the wedding ceremony, ask guests to light a candle ad place it on the alter. It creates a great visual and allows everyone to be a part of the celebration.
8. Pay tribute to your mother and/or grandmother by recreating their bouquets and displaying them at the reception, next to photos from their weddings.
9. Create a medley of your and your groom's favorite songs to use for your processional, instead of just one.
10. Incorporate meaningful dates into your theme for a fresh take on the monogram.

Well that's all for now. Stay tuned for more!

PS: If you live in Oregon, stop by the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon. I was volunteering there all morning, and the tulip beds are absolutely gorgeous in full bloom! It only costs $10 per car for parking and admission (so cheap if you can fit everyone in one car)!

Book Review: The Knot Book of Wedding Lists

So I went to a store in our medical center, called The Source, looking for a gift for my best friend who's pregnant again, and ended up finding a gift for myself, this book! (What a crummy friend I am, right?)

The Knot Book of Wedding Lists starts off with a timeline you can check off, followed by individual chapters per topic. The chapters are listed here in chapter order:

1. The wedding plan
2. The reception
3. The ceremony
4. The menu
5. The guests
6. The other parties
7. The wedding party
8. The wedding invitations and stationery
9. The flowers and decor
10. The wedding cake
11. The photography and videography
12. The gown
13. The entertainment
14. The transportation
15. The gift registry
16. The honeymoon
17. The final details

To give you an example of how absolutely great this book is (especially for people like me who spend their lives living off lists), here's a list from the "final details" chapter.

The Week Before

• Get a marriage license
• Prepare a weekend timeline of events. Distribute it to key vendors like the photographer and bridal party. Include: key guest and arrival times, transportation pickups and dropoffs, beauty appointments, any events that should be documented or attended (photo sessions, toasts, first dance, cake cutting).
• Prepare an emergency contact list. Include cell phone numbers for these VIPs: bride's parents, groom's parent's, maid of honor, best man, bridesmaids, groomsmen, child attendants and their parents, ceremony site, officiant, wedding planner, reception site, bridal salon, formalwear shop, ceremony musicians, dj/band, caterer, florist, photographer, videographer, cake baker, limousine, hotel.
• Deliver your seating chart. Confirm any last minute changes and hand off that final list to your reception site for setup and to take care of any seating mishaps.
• Prepare a "day-of package" for each vendor. Note any last-minute requests you have made. Also include items they will need in case they forget their copies (like the playlist for the dj, special food requests for the caterer, and a family portrait list for the photographer).
• Confirm your wedding night hotel.
• Coordinate any airport pickups for close friends and relatives.
• Review registry and make additions if gift options are running low.
• Pack for your honeymoon. Go to chapter 16 for the ultimate list.
• Get tip money together.
• Write and revise your vows (if applicable).
• Create bathroom amenity baskets. Or ask your planner or site manager to take care of it.

This is followed by tipping guidelines and another list for the day before and another for the day-of and another for post-wedding. I particularly love the check boxes, because it makes you feel like you could just check everything off and be done with it--the ultimate checklist for your wedding! It's obvious that their goal was to guide you from beginning (engagement) to end (changing your name) while telling you EVERYTHING you should do. If you're not using a planner, this book is a must have!

And at the end, it says "Smile, you're all done!" What a great piece of advice! And this book will definitely help you to smile instead of frown during the planning process. My vote is that you must buy it. I got mine at full price ($12.95) but Amazon.com is selling it for $10.15. So run run run to your nearest bookstore or online shop. You'll thank me later!

My Wedding: In Real Time

Well, so for any of you who saw the last post, I'm now engaged! And I figure that since I am, I'll now be able to offer a different perspective of the planning process. I mean a wedding planner, planning her own wedding, it has to be interesting right? I figure I'll tell you everything I learned by actually getting married, versus all of the stuff I knew from event planning...and believe me, there will be much to write about.

So for today's topic, the proposal. Well not the proposal itself, you're not in charge of that. But the proposal in terms of what happens afterward...and what to remember!

• My fiancee proposed at about 7:30-8:30pm (honestly all that time is a blur), so after the "yes" I knew I had to go tell people. My first thought was, they'll want pictures. So I took a few pics of my ring. This was a smart thing to do, as it was one of the first things they asked me! I would definitely recommend doing this. Although my boyfriend yelled at me while I was doing it saying "it was hard enough for me to give you this ring (and knowing him yes it was) so please put it back on!"
• Then I called the parentals. Not as much fun for me, because G told me they had all known (as I expected), but it's a necessary evil. Plus for me I have so many step parents and ex-step parents and what not, that just this process took awhile!!! Then I sat there staring at my phone list, trying to figure out who to tell next. Another key thing I learned, just text them. You will not have enough time to call everyone that day (well unless your proposal occurs in the morning, unlike mine). You can do it another time and it will still be just as special.
  
• All in all I spent hours calling friends and family (and talking to them when they called me instead) and didn't even have the time to really even talk to Guillaume. He laughed it off but you really should try to revel in the moment and try to spend some time with your fiancee, at least in between each call if you can. We finally got to talk for a few minutes before bed, but it's not enough time!
• This I did not know! The first thing everyone asks you after, "how'd he propose" and "what does the ring look like" is "have you set a date?" C'mon people, are you crazy! Yes, of course I said yes and then two seconds later I said now let's plan the date, time, location, etc of our wedding right now! (Can you sense the sarcasm!) I had to keep reminding people that this had just happened, and that we would figure it out but we weren't to that point yet. I mean hell it had been two hours and we hadn't even talked to each other since "yes". Now I'm aware some couples actually book the venue before the engagement, and for them this answer is easy, but for the rest of you couples out there, do not feel bad about saying, "no, but when we do we'll let you know". Or if you want to be able to give them an answer, sit there for a minute and discuss a general time frame before you call anyone, so that you can say "sometime next June" and please everyone.
  
• Be totally proud and happy to tell the world about your engagement. I announced mine a few seconds after it happened on facebook, just because I knew it would tell all of those friends I didn't have time to call, and also tell friends I hadn't talked to in forever. This takes a lot of work off your hands. PS all of the congratulatory wishes will really make your day! The next day at a public meeting, we were asked to tell something about ourselves the group didn't know in three words. I said "got engaged yesterday" and showed my ring. The whole group clapped and yelled and was so excited for me that I was actually surprised. People revel in happy moments, so share yours with them. It's not boastful, I promise. On the other hand, some people (AKA my boss) will announce it for you in a public email to the whole medical center. Don't be mad at them, they're just happy for you!
• Oh another thing I left out, you will love the ring! I don't know, maybe there are a few that don't, but anyways...I always worried that I'd hate the ring. G and I had gone to a few jewelry stores over the years and I'd shown him things I had liked, but he had a small budget and a penchant for rings I did not like. So all I could do was stress over getting my engagement ring and hating it! Honestly, there is so much more to a ring than the ring. It's a symbol of your love that you will wear forever, and he loved you enough to give it to you! So even if it's ugly, I don't think you'll hate it. You'll love that he picked it out and he gave it to you. As you saw on the last post, my boyfriend (with modest budget) found the most beautiful ring and it is definitely exactly what I wanted! So give your guy a little credit. Helpful hint to guys from G: go to a wholesaler. It's much cheaper!

Well I know that's all a bunch of random information, but that's everything I learned from yesterday-real life style. Today I get to go home and actually start talking to him about the details (like date, location, etc) and I'm really excited. From now on I'll keep you updated on my planning process as it happens and hopefully something I say will help someone out there!

I'M ENGAGED!!!!!

So I couldn't wait until tomorrow to let all of you know that I'm engaged! And because everyone's first question is "how'd he ask?" here's the answer:

Our first Christmas together he gave me two "how to be a good military wife" books (he's a Marine). It was just kind of funny because obviously we weren't that serious at the time (at least in terms of getting married soon), and even funnier because that's all he gave me.

For the past few weeks I had a feeling he might propose today (on our 2 year anniversary) but then yesterday he totally made me think otherwise when he told me he'd wrapped my anniversary present, and that it cost $40. So it guilted me into buying him an anniversary present of the same price.

I got home today after work, and found nothing. No flowers, no candles, no nothing, just Guillaume cleaning the house. So I was sure it was not happening. So sure that I texted and instant messaged my friends that it wasn't tonight.

So we made dinner (a mighty good spaghetti, corn, and rolls), ate it all, and then went to open presents. I gave him a gift certificate and a letter about all of the reasons I loved him. He handed me a book. Once again it was a military wife book. He told me to read the inside. On the inside cover he'd written lots of lovely words (ps I need to reread them because I think I spead read them at the time) and at the end it said to go to a certain page. I did and the ring fell out! He had cut a hole in the book and stuck the ring inside of it!

I was a bit shocked and so was he, because he didn't say anything (in his defense the words on the page were very much his proposal) and so I asked "do you have something you want to say to me?!" kind of in excitement. So he asked me to marry him, and I said yes of course, and then I was still holding the ring, so I made him put it on my finger.

I don't think this proposal was what I expected at all, but it was so "us"! BTW he was even smart enough to buy me another copy of the book to actually read! I spent the next few minutes taking pics of the ring for my facebook (since he told me our parents already knew) and so I wanted to share some of the photos with you!


Here's to one more wedding to plan for me! My own!!!

Advice to Read Before Picking Your Bridal Party

I don't know what I'm writing this post about yet, so first of all, happy 2 year anniversary to me and my boyfriend Guillaume! Who knew that a shaggy-haired, young skater boy would have the ability to charm a preppy do-gooder like myself....it must have been his french accent! Just kidding, love you babe!

Anyway, I'm looking through the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings to see if I can find anything to share with you, and I've decided to post a question that was answered in her magazine. I think it's a question we often ask ourselves before asking our bridal party to be our bridal party, and I think it's something you definitely have to consider when you're trying to figure out who has the time, the money, and the resources, to help you out on your big day. So here goes:

Q: When I ask my friends to be bridesmaids, I want to let them know up front exactly what their responsibilities are going to be. But I'm afraid I'll forget something! What sorts of things do bridesmaids typically need to know before they say yes to the honor?

A: Try not to make a formal request to your prospective attendants until some of your planning is out of the way. You'll want to have chosen a date, a locale, and a level of formality, since these will affect so much. But you should also allow at least six months for buying dresses, and banking both cash and vacation days for the event.

The first question likely to leap to a friend's mind will be, "how much will this cost me?" That can be hard to answer right away--you haven't even looked at dresses yet! But do some scouting and pick a range (don't forget to factor in shoes, accessories, and hairstyling). Will you ask them to travel? If you're not sure yet, be candid about the possibility. And speaking of travel: What sort of bachelorette party do you have in mind--an evening at a local restaurant, a limo-chauffeured pub crawl, or a weekend in Vegas?

The question right behind that one will be, "How much time will this require?" Look at your own to-do list and decide how much participation you'll want from your bridesmaids. Will you ask them to help address envelopes, go dress shopping with you, visit venues, pick the bouquets, research carbon offsets, etc? Though there's a good chance your friends will want to help you because they enjoy being part of your life, make it clear that they can decline to do these favors if they prove difficult.

The question lurking in the back of her mind will be, "How much energy will this require?" This may be the hardest question to answer. You've never been a bride before, so you may not know how you'll handle the stress. Talk openly with your friends about your worries and your intentions, and ask them to be honest about how much of your venting they can bear.

Once your attendants have made a commitment, be sure you stay committed to the level of involvement you've asked of them. And if you do find yourself wanting something from them that wasn't part of the original briefing, be aware how much extra you're asking. Make sure your bridesmaids know that they can always come to you if the burden gets to be too much.

I hope this has helped you, as it's a nice overview of what to consider when choosing your bridal party. And always be aware that if you're asking something of your bridesmaid that is just out of their budget or time range, they may not participate in your wedding, reception, or both. Then you'll have to make the decision of what is most important, a wedding in Tahiti without your bridal party, or a wedding close to home that everyone could attend. There is no wrong answer, just make sure to consider it!

Well I'm headed back to work for a short time, and then home for anniversary night with the man. I promise to write some great (individual) posts later this week!

Love, A

Gotta Love Paperwink!

Do you remember in an earlier post, how I talked about using stamps instead of handwriting your address? Well I recently found a fabulous company, named Paperwink, who creates gorgeous address stamps with not only your name and address, but a monogram as well. The one I love only costs $18 and Paperwink also sells many great colors of ink to personalize it even more!


In addition to these great stamps, they also make invitations and stationery! Here are a few samples of their work:

So go check out Paperwink! You might find something uniquely ornate that you just have to have.

Realtime Event Planning...

So today, I went with Kristin to her tasting or "Summer Soiree" as they called it at the Oregon Garden Resort. The Oregon Garden Resort is located in Silverton, Oregon (my hometown) at the Oregon Garden (big surprise huh?). This is a fabulous venue if you want your wedding day to be surrounded by gorgeous plants, flowers, trees, water features, a Dr. Seuss inspired garden, and more (sidenote: they do have indoor reception rooms as well).

Anyway, it was my first time at a "group tasting." All of the couples getting married this summer (including another friend of mine from high school) were invited to come to the resort, with their families or totally awesome planners like me, and taste the potential food for their wedding date, along with the wine options. Note to everyone, Willamette Valley Vineyards' Cuve is SO GOOD and Kristin and I both give it a thumbs up if you like white wine. While I was not used to having a tasting with so many people present, it was also very nice to be able to just gab and chat and taste food at your own pace, without feeling like it was a meeting you needed to complete in due time.

More important, after tasting the food, was getting to walk around the ceremony and reception spaces figuring out the key details (walking paths, table setups, sign locations, and more) for her special day. It was so helpful to both of us to be able to walk through the day and figure out all of those little things, asking questions, shooting ideas off of each other, and more. I suggest, that even if you're only having a day-of coordinator, you ask if he/she will come with you for at least one visit to the venue awhile before hand. Kristin and I will likely be visiting there once or twice more before her big day.

So just thought I'd share my day with you and give you my words of advice....but it's one of the first sunny (80 degree plus) days in Oregon and I am going to take advantage of it (despite the sunburn I already gained from my first outing at the garden). See you tomorrow!

Purple and Green Inspiration Board

I decided today, while bored at a health fair I was participating in, to create another inspiration board. I picked two colors that look good together (purple and green) and went with it. I hope you like it! PS if you do this color scheme, do either two lights (light purple, light green) or two darks (dark green, dark purple) to make sure it looks the best it can! I also love the incorporation of black and white as accent colors, like you see in the upper lefthand picture.


Pictures from the inspiration board above come from the following sites/companies: BeeGee Bags, Zenadia Design, Sweet B Papers on Etsy, Class Act Event Coordinators (Salem, OR), and more (likely The Knot, Martha Stewart Weddings, or Brides.com). If you see that your photo has not been properly attributed, please let me know and I will correct it right away. Thank you!

I Won!

Mindy Weiss was the first event planner I had ever heard of...a long time ago (fyi, I'm young, and she's not that old). I have followed so many of her weddings and events over the years. She is a genius! So I was really excited when I found out that she had started a blog. I was perusing the posts and saw a great giveaway/drawing (not sure exactly how she ended up doing it) where she asked viewers to post the three items they wish they could have from her e-store. If you won, she'd give you those three items plus a signed copy of her wedding book. I already have the book (it's kind of my bible) but to have a signed copy from the "Goddess" of event planning was something to die for. I selected her wedding planner, the groom survival kit, and "mr. and mrs." passport holders. I figured it was one thing for me, one thing for him, and one for both of us. I never really planned on being selected....

Until I was! I happened to go to her blog yesterday, to check up on it, and found a post that said "Congratulations Amber, you've won!" I felt pretty lucky to have won the first giveaway on her new blog, and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next. This was definitely the best thing I could win!



You should check out her site too! She has a site for her planning, a site for her e-store, and a site for her blog. Visit all three! Maybe you'll win the next one.

Real Wedding: Jason & Christina

This is a wedding (photographed by Paul Rich Studio) that just occurred on April 11th. Jason and Christina live in NYC but decided to get married in Portland, Oregon (how lucky are we!). This international couple (the bride is from Switzerland, the groom is from Korea) got ready at the Downtown Hilton in Portland, walked to the Willamette Star (a cruise ship) for the ceremony, walked back to the hotel to change into Korean dress, and took a pedicab from there to Thirst Bar for the after party/reception. Talk about getting the most out of Portland in one night! As you can tell she incorporated orange and white into most of the wedding and it turned out great (I love his tie!). I hope you enjoy the photos, and thanks again to Paul for sending us these great shots!

Here's a Sneak Peak!

Tomorrow, I will be featuring some photos from Jason and Christina's wedding thanks to Paul Rich Studio. I contacted Paul after I saw his work in the Oregon Bride Resource Guide, and he was nice enough to send me photos from a very recent wedding...in fact these photos aren't even up on his blog yet! I can't wait to share them with you.

So here's a sneak peak, and I promise to show you the rest tomorrow!

Wedding Day Perfume!

So I was browsing the Nordstrom April 2009 Catalog today and came across those common perfume ads. Usually I just skip them, but this time I lifted the edge, and wow! I don't think I've ever smelled a perfume this good!

The perfume is called Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf and for $150 you can get 1.7 ounces of the eau de parfum in the coffret, and 3.4 fluid ounces of the eau de parfum refill and a funnel. It's not cheap. I'm the first one to admit it, but I think that pretty soon I may be hiding this purchase from my boyfriend...it's THAT GOOD! If you want your man to never forget how you smelled that day, buy this perfume!

PS this is not a sponsored Nordstrom post, I just really really like this perfume!

A Great Deal!

Are you wanting to create your own invitations or save-the-dates or table numbers or more, but you're only working with MS Word? Can you not dream of affording a great design program like Adobe Creative Suite 3 because well it costs almost $900? Then I have the answer for you!

My friend Shante, the creator of Songbird Stationary, is an advertising student with the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and is required by her school to have CS3, so she bought it less than a year ago. For this term, they are now requiring her to have CS4, so she is selling her CS3 suite.

And you get an amazing deal! Because she is a student at the University, instead of paying the $899 for the suite she only had to pay $399. And now that she's switching to CS4, she's selling her CS3 version for only $200!

Included in CS3 is:

• Adobe InDesign CS3
• Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended
• Adobe Illustrator CS3
• Adobe Flash CS3 Professional
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
• Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro
• Adobe Fireworks CS3
  
• Adobe Bridge CS3
• Adobe Version Cue CS3
• Adobe Device Central CS3
• Adobe Acrobat Connect
• Adobe Video Workshop Training
  

If I didn't already have the suite for the graphic design work I do, I'd be purchasing it from her. So if you're interested, act quick and email her at lilcupcake013@yahoo.com!

A Brand New Venue!

So as I always do, I stumbled upon a great new event venue called Georgetown Studios, located within 10 miles of Seattle, WA (a favorite spot for me and my family). This venue is the perfect spot if you want a blank canvas to work with. Surrounded by gorgeous floor-to-ceiling windows, you would have the most amazing lighting, in this former engine room of the Seattle Brewing & Malting Company. The great arches could be used to separate the rooms without having to use fabric--so it's also a money saver! Another great thing is that the co-owner of the studio is the owner of Pulp Catering. I haven't asked them, but you might be able to work out a deal for working with them for both the venue and the catering. Or at least you won't have a hard time finding someone to do your food!

Check out these great photos of the venue, or go directly to their site at www.georgetownstudios.com. And if you do look into booking the site, let them know that Amber of Tried and True sent you.

Save the Date Idea

I wanted to share with all of you, the Save-the-Date for my mother's wedding. It's a totally cute way to let people know when you're getting married, especially for a destination wedding. I found these luggage tags from Tepper Jackson on Plum Party originally, but when we finally went to order them they were out, so I got them directly from the source (their personal website). Each tag was $17 and the supplies to make each one cost pretty much nothing. We picked a tag that somewhat matched the theme colors, but there are so many to choose from. If you're traveling internationally there are ones that say "Bonjour" or "Par Avion" etc. which would be perfect. Go to the site and check them out! I made the wording on Adobe CS3's Adobe Illustrator but you can make these on simple sites like MS Word if you want. Just measure the inside viewable area of the tag (1.5x2.75) and make sure the wording fits within it. I then cut the inserts out and taped them to the card that comes inside. And voila!

I think they turned out great! If you have any questions about them, just ask.

-A

Happy Easter!

Just wanted to wish all of you a Happy Easter! I will be spending most of my time with my family today, so in the event that I don't get back in time to post, have a great day! I will post again on Monday.

Excellent Etsy Finds!

Check out these recent and totally amazing finds from vendors on Etsy!

The custom calligraphy work done by leafiecalligraphy is just fabulous! You should definitely look into using her for your invitations/envelopes or if you can't afford it, think about only using calligraphy for table numbers or special signs, just to add an extra beautiful touch.

Elanink creates custom maps for your invitation suite for only $20 (printing not included)! What a fabulous idea and a great deal.


These custom lipbalms are just too cute! Longwinterfarm offers 100 for $130 and you get to pick a custom flavor, determine the custom wording, and pick colors that match your wedding. What a great favor!


Marie Antoinette weddings are all the rage right now, and I can't imagine a bride without one of these. It reminds me of Sarah Jessica Parker's wedding as Carrie on Sex and the City, except in pink. Bluesugarbridal does some fabulous work.


Chandeliers have been a frequent inclusion in black and white, black and red, black and green--just black weddings in general. They offer such a sense of regality. Modernartstamps makes this stamp (wording optional) for you to use on everything from invitations to notecards to table numbers and more for only $10! The size of the stamp is also customizable.

What a great idea! Do you have an invitation with a bunch of different cards and you don't want to throw them all in the usual pocket invitation? Then incorporate all of the items into one great box and mail them out to your attendees. It'll probably be the first time they've received an invitation in such unique packaging. And you could even throw in a special momento or personal note to go with it if you want! Thank you BGDesignstudio for this idea.