Fête with Fabric ~ Martha Stewart Weddings Summer Issue

I was so excited when Martha Stewart Weddings asked me to calligraph seating cards for their Summer 2011 issue.

 This is a page from the magazine, showing a portion of the cards.

I love doing this fun script!

Or you can go here to see more...

 ...and if you look really, really closely, you can see the dessert signs I made.

~Bonne Fête~
*(I think that can translate to Happy Celebration, Happy Birthday or Happy 4th of July, so whichever ~ have a Fun, Festive week)*

Your Presence is Key ~ no. 2

For brides not wanting to add an actual key to this save the date style ~ a hand-painted, illustrated key is the key.

The formal invitation and reception pieces from this wedding coming soon...

Also, I will be posting my J and K - from my alphabet project - together in a few weeks.  For now ~ little time for painting and posting as I am penciling, penning, planting, pruning and pulling. 'Tis the season for spring weddings, time spent working in my gardens and not enough hours in the day!

~~

Featured Wedding ~ Emily & John

What an adorable, sweet couple Emily and John are!  I had the great pleasure of working with Emily and her mother last year.  As I said in the "Sneak Peek", the couple were both students at Wake Forest but did not meet until they studied abroad, some years later, in Sicily.

After leaving Sicily, John wrote to Emily in his journal every day for a month and later sent this journal to her.  He also sent her a journal on their wedding day, as well as a watercolor of the breathtaking Mediterranean view they had as students in Erice, Sicily.  How romantic is that?

I love Emily's dress, which was designed by Monique Lhullier.  The tulle skirt is detachable, making it appear that she wore an entirely different dress at the reception.  So gorgeous!

Rings by Tiffany & Co.

Breathtaking bouquets by The Bloom Room

John and Emily were married at the Basilica of St. Lawrence.The Catholic church has the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America.  The stunning stained glass windows were made in Munich, Germany.
Wedding programs by me ~ A Fine Line Studio

Asheville Historic Trolley transported the wedding party from the Basilica to the Biltmore Forest Country Club for the reception.

With Sicily being so dear to the couple, each table was named after different regions they visited in Sicily, which I calligraphed onto each hand-painted table number I created.  I also calligraphed guests names on tiny cards, which were tied to little vases or pinned to pears. I also designed the couple's married monogram and used it at the top of each menu.

Tara Jordan, the amazing event designer with Wedding with Tara, sprinkled more touches of Sicily throughout the wedding reception with an assortment of gelato, served along with the wedding cake...

...and Limoncellos given as favors.

Emily dancing with her dad as her sweet mother watches on.  I have to say, Emily's mother is truly one of the sweetest mothers I have ever, ever worked with!  She was so appreciate and complimentary of everything I did for them. I have the kindest notes from her, which I saved and will always treasure.
I love what Emily's mother told me - she said they were "thrilled Emily and John found one another and this is coming from her parents who married later in life and told Emily she could not even date until she was 30!"

The couple honeymooned in the Turks and Caicos and now live in an old candy factory, converted to loft apartments where she is working on her Ph.D. in psychology (she is also a ballet dancer) and he is in law school.
I have no doubt, they will live happily ever after!

I hope you have enjoyed this spectacular photography by Abigail Seymour. Click on each image to better see her work.  I really had a difficult time narrowing my choices to only these!

~Have a beautiful weekend.~

Invitation Suites ~ Pendergrast

This is an invitation suite I created for the most precious bride last year.  Even though the couple attended the same university, they did not meet until much later, when they studied abroad in Sicily. It was not until after we already decided to do an illustration of sweet peas on the invitation that we found sweet peas are native to Sicily ~ serendipity!

The suite is also engraved on Italian paper - making it more meaningful to the couple.

The bride asked me to have the invitations engraved in an ink that coordinated with the swatch of her bridesmaid's dresses and to paint the sweet peas the color of this small piece of ribbon she sent to me. I don't think I could have gotten any closer!

She also wanted the watercolor to shimmer, reflecting the envelope liner, so I hand-painted the sweet peas on each invitation and reply card.

More on this beautiful wedding in my featured wedding this weekend.

~~~

Sneak Peek: Emily & John

Emily is truly one of the sweetest brides I have ever meet. Working with her and her mother was the most wonderful experience.  Clients like this make me love what I do even more!

Here is a "sneak peek" at this adorable couple in their engagement photo shoot. 

Check back this weekend for the wedding of this cute pair...

 ...and more of their invitation suite.

 

photography ~ Abigail Seymour



Martha Stewart Weddings Spring 2011 ~ Written By Hand

I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of this featured story,

Written by Hand, in the Spring 2011 issue of

Martha Stewart Weddings.

My work was featured, along with some of my favorite calligraphers - both friends and teachers, in an article on the many ways to incorporate hand-lettering into everything from your stationery and vows to the favors and food at your reception.

I was also asked to pen the title of the opening page (above) to the main stories in the magazine.

The 8-page article is a must see/read for anyone planning a wedding or an event.

It is a really beautiful article and I am so honored to be among such spectacular company!

photos Martha Stewart Weddings



For now ~ D is for Daffodil

Because sometimes real life gets in the way ~

the D in my Alphabet Project will be Delinquent until

later next week.

I had several rush orders to get out,

thus the D in Delay.

For now, I leave you with D is for Daffodil ~

which are two illustrations I did, as a gift, for a wonderful client

when their little dog Daffodil died, unexpectedly, last year.

(yes, I did my typical 'two takes' on it,

using two different papers)

...and actually my daffodils are starting to bloom.

It is beginning to look a lot like Spring!

~~~