Happily Ever After

Amanda and Bill planned a winter wedding for December 29th of 2018. Yes, I am writing this blog post over a year later…life gets busy like that sometimes. ANYWAY. They chose Brick down in Liberty Station as their wedding venue and dreamed up the most beautiful celebration with the help of their wedding planner Ashley from Always Flawless Productions. Their florals were ON POINTTT thanks to Arturo over at AHR Florals and the whole night was magical. Amanda and Bill were one of, if not, THE first letterpress wedding clients that I had. Aside from myself but I don’t think my own wedding counts here. That’s actually crazy to think about it, I’m so grateful that they had faith in me!!

Spending a lot of quality time together in Liberty Station made Brick the perfect venue choice. It also made a custom map feel completely necessary so that they could highlight a few of their favorite places for guests to explore. This was my first letterpress map and I was really excited for the creative and technical challenge. Amanda and Bill were looking for a somewhat modern design in a deep navy palette. We played around with several fonts and layouts before we landed on what would become their final suite. We wanted it to feel classic - something they would love for years to come. Something that could (and would) become a handmade paper ornament and engraved keepsake on display. You feel me?

As fans of the deep, pillowy impressions that letterpress dreams are made of, we opted for a 236 lb. double-thick white cotton paper and DREAMY. it. was. The vertical blind impressions we did on their invitation and map ended up being my favorite part. The looked so beautiful in the ultra deep impression and were the perfect contrast to their respective navy counterparts. Aside from blue, Bill and Amanda were working burgundy into their big day so we jumped at the opportunity to use these Marsala envelopes and beautiful liners found on Etsy! They hand-addressed each envelope in white ink and finished it off with a custom return address stamp…which my dog later ate…...it’s cool, we’re all friends here.

For day-of wedding stationery (menus, signage, things like that..) they opted to flat print everything to save on costs and time. This makes sense for A LOT of couples for a lot of different reasons and is super common. I created the largest wedding sign that I had done to date which served a dual-purpose: welcome sign on one side for the ceremony and a seating chart for dinner on the other. It was honestly a great idea and I wish I could claim it as my own. They had cute little signs throughout the space, some adorned with the floral elements from their liner and others kept simple with nothing but clean black text. Ashley hung them each in their own little copper stand which made them look fantastic in the reception lighting. Menus were customized with individual guest names and slid into dinner napkins creating a truly welcoming seat for the evening to come.

That’s about it but while I have your attention, I know you must be wondering ‘what is this strange newspaper that keeps appearing in the photos below’ and if you’re not I’m going to tell you anyway because it’s cool. Amanda loves Harry Potter and she loves Disney. This is not a drill. This is not your average type of love for something. SHE. LOVES. THEM. and will school you in ANYTHING related to EITHER ONE. So, her bridal shower was wizard themed, Fantastic Beasts themed to be more specific, so I obviously took it as an opportunity to recreate the The New York Ghost as The San Diego Ghost. I’m getting really excited about it just typing this right now. I wrote little stories for each section with a little help from a fellow bridesmaid that were about Amanda and Bill’s big day, all with a wizard twist. That pup? That is their dog and his name is Ollie. Yes, that is short for Ollivander. And, last but certainly not least, her Disney bachelorette was one for the books. Custom coasters and itineraries.. all the works for the bride-to-be.