Alejandra + Daniel - A San Francisco City Hall Elopement

Not every wedding project I take on is traditional. This was the case for Alejandra. Her fiance, Daniel, and herself had made plans to elope over in San Francisco, California and she wanted to have a special detail for her special day. Having seen the leather jacket I painted for this styled shoot elopement, Alejandra wanted to have similarly designed. These are the results.

If you want have your breath taken away, go check out more details on Dipp Photography's blog. I promise you will be gushing over them too.  

What I Think About Digital Invitations & RSVPs

With the ever changing world we live in, it seems like the next technological advance is almost seconds away from being discovered. One of the latest items to affect the wedding and event game is the introduction of the Digital RSVP. In this new age of managing your schedule through your ever useful smart phone, it was just only a matter of time that digital Invitations and RSVPs would hit the market promising a cheaper way to afford one of the most important details for your special event. While I’m totally up for not breaking the bank for your big day or special life time event, but here are a few points I would like to make about digital RSVPs and Invites.

📧 Digital Invitations are great for INFORMAL Events. 

Having a backyard BBQ or small get together is in no way shape or form a time to break out the paper and send out paper invitations, especially if they are last minute (although you totally could if you really wanted to 😉😊). There are some great sites that will provide designs as well as a system to include all of the attendees emails. They are even known to collect an RSVP count and even request quests to pick from a list and confirm what they will be bringing to contribute to your shindig. But I would only suggest using these for an informal event. Not for a lifetime event like a wedding, baby shower, birthday, etc.

📬 Snail Mail still gets folks excited. 

Even now for my baby shower, I’m excited to receive my own invite in the mail (I was barred from creating my own invite and have been also lovingly banned from any involvement of planning pertaining to my shower). This is something I can put into my baby book and share with Baby G when he is older. This is the same sentiment I think most people have when planning their big events. I mean, how exciting is it when you receive an envelope in the mail that may even have a wax seal on it. How impressionable! It’s like I tell clients when they come in for a consult, the invitation is 

If you don’t want to are my word for it, check out this segment of After Elvis once he received his invite to the Grammys this year. 

While it is totally up to you whether to send out a digital invitation for your big event, I would consider the following if you are going to receive RSVPs digitally. 

• Make sure your site to RSVP is password protected. The last thing you want is the link to your site being posted and folks inviting themselves to your special event.
• If you are budget conscious and limited on seats for the party, make sure your site can limit the amount of RSVPs per guest. Similar to the note above, you want to make sure folks don't go nuts adding their friends and family who weren't intentionally invited by you. 
• Still make paper RSVPs available for older guests so they feel included in their own way. Although I have known a few grandmas to be super tech savvy, not all older family members may know how to go online. Also consider that as we get older in age, we are creatures of habit and prefer to do things the way that we have always done them. Another point to be made is that little by little, older folks are stripped from actions that they used to do every day because of their age or health barriers. Making it a point to at least include a few paper RSVPs for these family members will make them feel included as well as special because you made it a point to make them feel included.

What do you think about this new way to RSVP for events? Comment below!

Meant to Beeman - A Millbrook Vineyards & Winery Wedding

Melissa and I met each other a few years ago when she posted on Facebook that she was looking for cowriters for her blog, Picturing Disney. As time went on, we became friends and have shared some of the best and the worst life has thrown at us. And want to know something funny - Melissa and I have never met in person.  Needless to say that the day Melissa announced that she and her awesome beau, Jason, were getting hitched was met with endless congratulations and brainstorming about how I could assist her with her big day.

Before we worked on anything for her big day, we worked together on a design for both her Engagement Announcement and her housewarming party. When it came time to start working on her invitation for her big day, Melissa wanted to take a little bit of a slightly different direction. She wanted to share a little bit of a more rustic vibe with a little bit of modern convenience. 

Melissa + Jason's invitation was constructed with a tear away RSVP. That RSVP was a post card that only required a stamp to send out.

Needless to say that her big day was out of a fairytale, rustic dream. Here are some detail shots of her big day and some insight directly from Melissa herself.

What did your big day feel like?

"It was perfect. It was worth everything I went through before that. It was worth everything Jason went through before that. It was a fairy tale. It was crazy, and had its disorganizations and snafus, but our family and our friends and the people we surround ourselves with are the kind to laugh it off with us and move on. Our cups runneth over from start to finish, with love (and wine)!"

"My mother made our wedding cake and all of the book bouquets, she did it because she is wonderful and used to bake as a side hustle for a while. The books featured in the bouquets were: Bride - The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Bridesmaids - MacBeth, Pride & Prejudice, A Child Called It, Mists of Avalon, Everything Everything, Alice in Wonderland, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh."

What is the best memory from your big day?

"The knot tying ceremony with my entire family (Jay and the Kids) at the ceremony, and our first dance (When I Am Married by Wilder Adkins, performed by the Squids whose lead singer happens to be my Uncle."

Do you have any advice for future brides in what to look for in a stationer?

"Be honest with yourself and be fair to the stationer. I think some people expect miracles or have no idea what they want and then blame other people when things do not come out perfect. We had a vision and we had complete faith in Monique to bring that vision to fruition."

Did your stationery design reflect what your wedding looked and felt like?

"Absolutely, 100% from start to finish. I used to much chalkboard (painted with white acrylic paint rather than chalk) for decorations, similar to our initial announcement and Engagement/Housewarming invite, and mimicked the font on the Invites for a lot of the stuff I created. I also think the kraft paper was perfect for our romantic-rustic vibe."

Is there any additional advice you would like to share?

"Life is short and when you meet the right person you know it. If you don't know it in your soul. Don't settle, don't waste your time or your hustle on anything less than big love that shines in your eyes brighter than any constellation in the night sky. The person who makes your foot pop, heart skip a beat, and rights all your wrongs is out there for you. When you find them, don't let go, just be brave, smile, say 'hello', swipe right."

Vendors

Wedding Venue - Millbrook Vineyard & Winery

Pre-Wedding Venue for the Bride and Bridesmaids - Fairytale Cottage at Wing's Castle

Photographer - JacPfef Photography

Hair and Makeup - Revivalon Main Salon Spa

Caterer - Victoria's Wood Fired Pizza

Invitations - Only One Mark, Inc. (US!! 😍)

Officiant - Rev. Jim Rooney

Musicians - The Squids

What No One Tells You About Being Engaged

Although it feels like a forever ago, it was only a short time ago that Gus and I were engaged and planning one of the most important days of our lives. It is one of the most meaningful experiences we’ve ever had as well as one of the most stressful experiences too.

Here are 3 of the most important lessons I learned about being engaged.

Photo Credit - Dipp Photography

1. EVERYONE WILL GIVE YOU THEIR OPINION

No matter who it is - Mother, Mother-In-Law, Friends, Co-workers, that random person in the store - everyone has an opinion about YOUR big day. It’s almost like a tube of toothpaste. Once you open the cap, if you aren’t too careful, the toothpaste is just going to keep flowing out. And in no way do I mean to demean the advice of your loved ones. Most are just trying to be helpful. But too much of that help can sometimes feel really overwhelming. 

Advice - Limit what you tell folks about your big day. If they aren’t really apart of your bridal party or wedding vendor team, they really don’t need to know #allofthedetails about your plans. Some loved ones won’t understand why you want to do a first look or not want to do a bouquet toss. That’s ok, because at the end of the day, YOU and your future spouse need to be happy with how you want to shape YOUR DAY.

PHoto Credit: Kristy & Vic Photography

2. THERE WILL BE DISAPPOINTMENTS

One of the biggest disappointments from our planning experience was truly knowing the difference of a “dream budget” and what our “actual budget” was. Although we paid for parts of our wedding, we still had a lot of help from family and friends. It was truly a blessing as we were gifted some of the main items (my dress, our cake to name a few) so we could concentrate our budget on other items that were details we wouldn’t have had.  Another disappointment was the reality of planning on a tv show to real life planning. When visiting the first florist we initially booked, I fantized about a bouquet being built in front of me and hand picking the flowers, in person, that would go into the floral details of our big day. Boy was that bubble burst. Not only did they not build any bouquet in front of me, but they didn’t have any fresh flowers in person PERIOD. After two other big let downs, we terminated our contract and found an amazing florist (who did build the bouquet in front of me). 

Advice - Before you go visit any venues or book your first vendor, write out wishes and needs on a sheet of paper and have an idea of what your budget really is. You will need an initial list of guests to really help you get an idea of the cost per guest. If you need an idea of what to write down, click here to download a sample worksheet that you can work from to get started.

Photo Credit: Erica Melissa

3. HAVE FUN + ENJOY THIS SPECIAL TIME

Yes, this is one of those pieces of advice that you’ve probably heard from 90% of the people you chat with. From experience, you and your fiancé have to mentally make the decision to do so. And trust me, with all of the details that can go awry, it’s super easy to displace your anger or disappointment on your partner. This is why at one point of our planning story, Gus and I decided that any time we would spend together on a date would be just that - a date. There would be no talk of wedding planning unless we had both agreed to set that time as planning time. One of the ways we did that was by playing games of UNO until our food arrived to the table. One of our favorite restaurants even dubbed us as the “Uno Couple” because of how much entertainment they received from watching us play (it was super competitive and there may have been a few choice words shared). 

Advice - God willing, this is the one and only time you will ever plan your own wedding. That is one of my hopes and prayers for all of my brides. But you and your fiancé really need to agree ahead of time on what details or possible occurances you are willing to entertain or shoot down. This is, in a way, a build up to what marriage is like. Being a team that works together to make the best life possible WITH one another. #foodforthought

At the end of the day, everyone’s wedding planning experience is different. You can watch #allthemovies and read #alltheblogposts, but no one experience is ever alike. My hope for all my brides is that no matter what their planning experience was like, that they feel nothing but calm and peace as they get ready for their big day. I call it the “calm of the storm” GET THE REAL NAME. (Eye of the storm?)

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me at the button below. I’m more than happy to share some of my experiences from my big day.