Archive for December, 2010

« Older Entries

The Details in the Fabric.

December 31, 2010

written by Sebrina of Mismikado Creations.

No wedding decor is complete without gorgeous linens to accentuate your other design elements.

This can be one of the most difficult decisions to make so I whole-heartedly recommend consulting with an expert. As a NYC bride, you have some great options for selecting a linen rental company.

Here are a few very good choices:

Taylor Creative Inc. “offers an exclusive rental collection of modern furniture ideally suited for engagement parties, weddings ceremonies and receptions, bridal luncheons and private events.” They also have a 5-star review on WeddingWire.

Magnolias Linens is a preferred vendor on Season 2 of the hit WE TV show “My Fair Wedding” with David Tutera and specializes in upscale event decor and custom creations. They have sourced and decorated events from Phantom of the Opera to weddings of royal families.

A Perfect Setting Wedding and Events, Inc. not only offers haute couture linen options but are full service wedding planning firm as well. Owner Tamieka is highly praised for her wonderful work throughout the wedding review boards.

While Dress My Chair Party Rentals & Fine Linens is not located in NYC they offer nationwide service to bring their high quality unique linens to brides everywhere. In one WeddingBee review, bride Michelle raved, “They did a fantastic job on our wedding! I was blown away by the work to detail and everything came together and it looked so nice. After months and months of planning, the final product was more amazing than I imagined it to be! The flowers were absolutely stunning. They helped me to select linens and chairs that would complement the floral decor. They were such a pleasure to work with and I highly recommend them.”

{sources 1, 2, 3}

Tags: ,
Posted in By Sebrina Schultz, Event Design | No Comments »

A Few of My Favorite Things, Part 3: Fonts, Part 2.

December 30, 2010

Written by Jill of Shindig Invitations.

I don’t believe I’ve ever had a client come in and request that I use a specific font on their invitation. I have, however, been asked to remove a font from an invitation after designing it. I guess some typefaces just rub people the wrong way. What can you do?

Following are a few more fonts for your viewing pleasure. I probably use these three fonts more than I use any other. When I start a new design I go to these first. I can always depend on them. If I had a meeting in which a client requested the presence of any of the following three typefaces I would be very impressed and happily oblige.

I mean, the artist’s signature kind of looks like the font, but not enough so that it seems to have been directly based on it. It’s clearly based on someone’s signature though because it’s little messy…but it a good way. This is one of those I discussed above that is a hard sell for some people. It’s not for everyone. It’s a little quirky…but in a good way! I think its perfect placement would be on an invitation for a wedding at a plantation. Here it is in action…

Oh Engravers…how do I love thee? If we were dating you’d think I were too clingy. Sometimes I know I shouldn’t call on you, but when I’ve tried every other classic, serif, all cap font and none of them will do, I always come back to you. You’re not that exciting, but man, are you dependable.

From the same makers as Cezanne, The P22 Foundry, Dearest lights my bulb. When people aren’t ready for the madness of Cezanne this is where I go next, but it’s not really ever second fiddle. It’s a little more feminine, but still roughed around the edges (literally) like its been scratched into parchment with a fountain pen.

I actually like Dearest SO much, I committed to my skin forever. Now that’s love!

Visit www.shindiginvites.com to see our gallery or call 917.405.9366 for an appointment today.

Tags:
Posted in By Jill Ryder, Stationery | No Comments »

A Few of My Favorite Things, Part 2: Fonts.

December 29, 2010

Written by Jill of Shindig Invitations.

The are a GABILLION fonts out there, (actually, according to my research there are only somewhere between 40,000 and 100,000). We’ve come a long way since writing on cave walls. Some people spend their entire careers studying the origins and histories of typefaces and designing them for all other humans to use. There is even a documentary that pays tribute to one of the most prolific fonts.

Thankfully, not all fonts are appropriate when applying them to wedding invitations and there are certain fonts I come back to again and again. Some are print. Some are script. Some are classic. Some are avant guard. Some can be used on almost any invitation. Some are very specific in style.

Below are some examples of the fonts I carry around in my back pocket for easy access…

I really love anything that looks handwritten only neater. I’m new to Business Penmanship, but I’m totally in love. You could say we’re in our honeymoon phase. It’s romantic and elegant, but also whimsical and casual. What’s more, it comes with a huge variety of scrolly glyphs to further enhance your type treatment. Its one drawback is that it’s very thin, like a hair, with no bold version. Sometimes I reward it with a little outline to fatten it up.

Chevalier…Oui? Ouuuuiiii! It sounds French and it’s got a quintessentially classic style. However, Chevalier deceives us. Scoundrel! It’s not as old as it looks and was, in fact, designed in 1946 by E. A. Neukomm, who was Swiss, not French.

This little guy is bold and a little arrogant, but he can definitely get away with anything on the right invitation. Why? Well, take a look. Something similar is used on our money.

This is another one I just found and I can’t stop using. It seems to work anywhere. Comfortable with both print and script crowds, I don’t have to baby sit. It’s kind of Old West, but also European.

And look at the rag tag group of dingbats that come with it! Yup, that is indeed a dragon….and a flower pot. What a character! Yes, I punned.

Rosewood is a little particular, but I find myself using it a lot lately. It might be because I’m obsessed with “barn chic” right now and so is everyone else, (see “A Few of My Favorite Things, Part 1”). Plus there are two of them…they’re fraternal twins. There’s the flamboyant and circusy, “get your rodeo on!” Rosewood Regular, and its more subtle yet diverse little brother, Rosewood Fill.

I have plenty more font crushes so stay tuned for “A Few of My Favorite Things, Part 3: Fonts, Part 2”.  Cheers!

­­

Visit www.shindiginvites.com to see our gallery or call 917.405.9366 for an appointment today.

Tags: ,
Posted in By Jill Ryder, Inspiration, Stationery | No Comments »

Real Emotion.

December 28, 2010

Written by Stephanie of Stephanie Reinish Photography.

During the wedding day my goal is to capture real emotion, the real moments that make you feel something when you look back on the images.

I once received an inquiry that changed the way I looked at a wedding day. The groom asked me to “capture everything we wouldn’t be able to see”.

Sometimes I get so focused on creating beautiful portraits for the bride and groom and making sure that we have every grouping of family known to man that we all miss the little moments that are happening all around us.

In some ways this is just as much about real life as it is about wedding photography. I was a concert the other night and there were so many people trying to get a picture on their camera that they weren’t really there and in the moment and enjoying the show. They were so concerned with capturing the moment to spark the memory that they weren’t living and creating the moment. Everyday, but especially on your wedding day you should enjoy every moment, seen or unseen. Experience everything, don’t get so caught up in making sure everything’s perfect, what’s done is done and all the planning in the world can’t change anything at this point. So just accept it and enjoy every minute of your wedding, it’s the start of a new life together that should be celebrated and captured.

Posted in By Stephanie Reinish, Photography | No Comments »

Sweet Alternatives.

December 27, 2010

Written by Tammy of Tammy Golson Events.

Your favorite cupcakes didn’t make the final cut for the reception? Rice pudding is what makes you drool? Dreaming of a dessert bar?  There are many opportunities to share your favorite foods with your guests throughout all the wedding related events you plan to host. Engagement Parties, Welcome Receptions and Rehearsal Dinners are excellent opportunities to be decadent, adventurous and creative with your culinary offerings.

Rice to Riches is a Manhattan based dessert restaurant that serves only rice pudding in so many fun flavors.

Baked my Melissa’s cupcakes are sweet and pretty and tiny enough to keep your guests mingling, dancing and engaged in their conversations. Standard cupcakes are a commitment, Melissa’s allow you to sample a variety of her fun flavors and are single bites of goodness that make balancing a cocktail or other sweet temptations simple.

Amy Atlas is the queen of dessert tables. Her masterpieces inspire like no other.Be sure your event planner is highly skilled in procuring the very finest quality of products as the ingredients paired with a meticulous presentation will take dessert tables from great to excellent. Those who produce first-rate treats in New York (and of course now all are available elsewhere when by ordering online) include: Jacques Torres, he creates elegant and sophisticated chocolates, Eleni’s decorates the most whimsical and delightful sugar cookies and the Chocolate Chunk N’Caramel popcorn by Dale and Thomas is addictive, it’s so delicious. There were two stores in Manhattan but now this must-have snack is only available online.

What is your favorite dessert or sweet indulgence?

{source 1}

Tags: , , ,
Posted in By Tammy Golson, Food | No Comments »

What a Bright Idea: Decorating with Light Bulbs.

December 24, 2010

Written by Sebrina of Mismikado Creations.

Seeing as how we found that amazing venue with the light bulb ceiling, it only seems natural to incorporate light bulbs in other decorating details.

This Oyule Lamp by Sergio Silva can cleverly be recreated using supplies you have on hand. These two tutorials are great guides in creating your own.

Light Bulb Lamp

Light Bulb Lamp: Another Option

To incorporate our favorite bloom selections, why not make adorable light bulb vases?

Or how about hanging some of these lovelies on the aisle chairs at the ceremony?

And if the raw edges of the bulbs make you nervous, remember you can always smooth them out with some simple hand tools.



Tags: ,
Posted in By Sebrina Schultz, Event Design, Inspiration | No Comments »

Wood, Glass & Brass.

December 23, 2010

Written by Jill of Shindig Invitations. 

Don’t get me wrong, paper is great. It’s versatile, flexible, lightweight, recyclable, colorful, texturally diverse…can be written on, printed on, folded into a paper airplane or a lotus flower. Its myriad uses allow a graphic designer’s creativity to run wild.

Fact is, if you’re that creative eventually you reach the end of the paper trail. It can be a little two-dimensional. You start to hunt for other things to print on or, at the very least, accompany paper in its presentation of the facts. Sometimes I find myself envying event designers because they get to use so many different kinds of media to create their vision. Luckily, every once in a while, a client lets me think outside the page.

A destination wedding in the Dominican Republic uses corked jars filled with sand as a place card. We shipped the jars down empty and the bridesmaids fill the jars with sand from the beach on the day of the wedding. It was a fun way for the girls to bond and leisurely as the chores of bridesmaids go. The jars double as a keepsake for guests and a paperweight, protecting the place cards from flying off in the tropical beach winds.

Similarly, we created place card tags to accompany incense burners for this Moroccan themed wedding.

Working on a smaller wedding allows for a lot of creative ideas to come to fruition.

The three-dimensional invitation was shipped in a box (technically made of paper, but who’s counting?) and the belly band was made of silk ribbon and a gold cord clasp from a fashion accessory store.

For the event, (an Autumn wedding), we cut slices from a birch branch to prop up the place cards and stained thin sheets of wood for menus.

Stay tuned for more non-paper items from Shindig on upcoming projects.

Visit www.shindiginvites.com to see our gallery or call 917.405.9366 for an appointment today.

Tags: ,
Posted in By Jill Ryder, Inspiration, Stationery | No Comments »

A Foodie Wedding.

December 22, 2010

Written by Tammy of Tammy Golson Events.

If you care deeply about the food you eat year round, why would you abandon those standards on what is often referred to as the most important day of your life and likely the biggest and best party you will ever host? Guests know you and will expect a delicious experience.

Placing a priority on the food at your wedding goes well beyond what is served for dinner. Food can be infused into almost every aspect of your wedding festivities. I look forward to addressing many areas of how to impress the palates of your guests from first bite to last morsel.

Starting at the beginning, the date of your wedding and the venue chosen can contribute considerably to the culinary experience you are sharing with your guests. Keep the seasonality of fruits and vegetable and the proximately to an ocean if fresh seafood is important, in mind when deciding on the when and where to get married. Getting a sense of the experience, personality and flexibility of the chef at the venue can prove valuable later in the process as menu is being discussed.

Last summer a foodie client married at a lake club in Montauk, a fishing village on the farthest tip of Long Island. The couple and I sat down with the chef and came up with the menu together, course by course. Having worked at the private club for a long time, his menu caterers to the palates of the member ship. They club doesn’t host many weddings each season, so the Chef was thrilled to meet a couple who cared so sincerely about the food and he was very happy to have an opportunity to flex his culinary muscles and to deviate from the club’s menu. A luxury like this is extremely uncommon, but it exists and it’s worth looking for and in the end you’ll be happy you made the extra effort to find someone open to preparing the best meal possible.

Finding the right venue can be one of the many fun tasks of planning your wedding. Find venues that are inspired by great food and schedule time to visit the properties, talk with the on-site professionals and most importantly, try the food.

When touring and tasting, remember to take note of:

-Presentation

-Ingredients listed on menu

-Taste

-Service

-Staff

While ala carte food (food served in the dining room) and service often varies from the food and service at a wedding, the criteria listed above can measure the integrity of the food, the seasonality of the ingredients and the priority placed on guest satisfaction.

There are no shortage of food influenced venues in New York City! One high quality wedding venue just out side of the city is: Blue Hill at Stone Barnes. It rests on an organic farm and the menus are created around local and seasonal ingredients. It’s a short trip by train or car from the city. If it’s difficult for you schedule a visit, you can sample their succulent creations and superb service at Blue Hill in Manhattan located at 75 Washington Place within Manhattan’s historic Greenwich Village, between Washington Square Park and 6th Avenue, and between Waverly Place and West 4th Street.

Please come back for more about food and weddings in the weeks and months to come.

What is the most memorable food experience you have had at a wedding?

{source 1}

Tags: , ,
Posted in By Tammy Golson, Food, Venues | No Comments »

Maps!

December 21, 2010

Written by Jill of Shindig Invitations.

I’ve always had a thing for maps. I can stare at a detailed map for hours trying to make myself better understand how the Earth has laid itself out. On a recent rainy day at my family’s lake house my father and I decided to memorize the locations of all of the African countries. Using a map, we created a test for ourselves covering all of the names of the countries with slivers of Post-It Notes.

Why? I don’t know…we’re nerds.

With destination weddings seemingly on the rise, it pleases me that I can study and design maps as part of creating invitations. A map is not only a useful part of an invitation because it shows people how to get where they’re going, it also make a fabulous graphic element combining font, color and line art in infinite ways to match any wedding style and location.

Below are six maps from invitations created by Shindig all showing a different style and usage.

1. A wedding in St. Barth’s with several events spread over a long weekend and all over the island features an accompanying key with stars used to bullet the location of each event.

2. The largest invitation I’ve ever created is, itself, a map. A full 8.5×11 sheet of cardstock shows the two forks of Long Island and incorporates all the wedding details in one self-contained unit. The reply postcard is held down by photo corners to easily detach.

3. A map and key are translated into a western style for a wedding taking place at a botanical garden in Austin, Texas. Desert florals such as a cactus and other succulents mark the spots of the events.

4. A simple map provided on the itinerary for a wedding on Maui, Hawaii is printed on a bright and tropical green paper stock.

5. For a minimalist and monochromatic invitation to a New York City event, a map helps add a little something more to look at even if the guests already know their way.

6. A save the date for another pair of map lovers, (he-an engineer, she-an elementary school teacher), uses a historic map showing Manhattan, New Jersey, and the Hudson River. The usage is mostly aesthetic, but with the addition of a dotted line pointing to the general location of the wedding venue, it becomes a useful element, helping to acclimate out of town guests.

Visit www.shindiginvites.com to see our gallery or call 917.405.9366 for an appointment today.

Tags:
Posted in By Jill Ryder, Event Design, Inspiration, Stationery | No Comments »

Creating Texture with Winter Flowers.

December 20, 2010

Written by Sebrina of Mismikado Creations.

Remember what I said about texture. Texture is one of the best ways to affect the mood of your event and has a huge play on the decor. A key element of texture is flowers. The various visual feels of flowers can emit different moods from lush to edgy to ethereal and woodsy.

Therefore you have to consider your overall mood and design when selecting your desired flowers. Of course it’s also best to keep in mind what flowers are in season for your wedding.

The above flowers are an Iris, Wintersweet, Winter Daphne, and Viburnums.

These can be incorporated in various means throughout the decorations. One of my favorite decoration ideas is to create a bookcase display with overflowing Winter Daphne to accent the vibrant colors of The Private Roof Club & Garden at the Gramercy Park Hotel.

Stay tune for more creative ways of incorporating flowers into the aesthetic design.

{source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}

Posted in By Sebrina Schultz, Event Design, Inspiration, Uncategorized | No Comments »

« Older Entries