Designing these bags and having them printed up with my wedding monogram was a very clever idea, and I would thank the person that suggested it to me, if only I knew who it was. I used them for bridal party gifts, children's favor bags, and for gifts to my family, and still have some left over to use through the year.. a great timesaver!
PS... those darling girls are my cousin Jourdan and my niece Rae Dox Kim, whose name inspired the character RAE (duh) in The Spellman Files Books Series. Read them all. They are brilliant.

a present for Hayley.

I love printing personal stationary and cards. These notecards were a gift to my sister.

Sometimes clients bring me their own designs and I execute them. I think the Hebrew, block and script typefaces work really well together on this invitation. (you can click on the image to see it close up)

There are so many gorgeous choices that you are bombarded with planning a wedding or any sort of party, and I wanted to stay streamlined and disciplined with my design motif and not get carried off in every direction. My mother went wacko with wedding magazines and books when I started my wedding plans,and obsessed over a cake topper she saw in in a magazine. A Swarovski Crystal monogram, what's not to like?She ran off and ordered it as a surprise for me, but the monogram on the top of my cake is in the script she chose, and the monograms everywhere else are the block letters I chose. And you know, much like in fashion, it turned out nice to mix it up a little and not be all matchy - matchy. Here's a picture of my delicious cake from extraordinary cake designer Nancy Kay, and a link to www.TopperswithGlitz.com who made this beautiful monogram.You can order your own in script or block letters. http://www.topperswithglitz.com

engagement photos

I didn't really see the need for any sort of engagement portraits, but after a bit of parental prodding, we had some casual photos taken by the fabulously talented Stephanie Kleinman of SDK photo in Los Angeles. I ended up incorporating them into invitations to our wedding brunch,framed as gifts to family members, and on the host table at our reception and at my shower. You could also use them in a guestbook and as thank you cards. In addition, Stephanie put the whole series up on her website so family could order their own prints. Check out her website at www.sdkphoto.com. (We are so honored that she features on her splash page portraits of our boys Frankie and Oscar!)

click on the photo for a better view.

the poppyflower press

our vintage vandercook press.

time saving tip

Instead of place cards, write the names of your guests on these (or any type) of small envelopes and put their table names or numbers inside. This way, you can accommodate last minute changes, additions and cancellations without rewriting entire place cards. It’s a big time and money saver, especially if you have your cards lettered by a calligrapher, or printed by a designer like me. The night before my wedding, my darling bridesmaids rearranged the tables to make room for some extra guests and changed out the name cards of some flu victims who canceled at the last minute, and no one was the wiser. Lisa Holtzman did this gorgeous calligraphy. To see more of her work, check out www.lisaholtzmancalligraphy.blogspot.com.
And here's the link to the tiny envelopes you can order at Paper Source:"http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/color/baby-envelopes/2506.001

I just got married last month, and its been an interesting to say the least, experience for a wedding invitation designer to work with a client as difficult and picky as I am, so I thought I should start this blog by sharing things I learned, the mistakes I made, and those I didn't. I'm going to start with...tada.... what I did right.... I trusted the experts. Much as I would like clients to trust me, when I was out of my element, I trusted the people I hired to do their jobs. Eddie, my amazing florist at TIC TOCK Couture Flowers picked up the ball and ran with it, and it was pretty much a surprise beyond.. "I want it to be mostly white, and I want it to be pretty, and yes I really love feathers". I tried to remind myself not to micromanage him, and the results were spectacular. I think I had the most beautiful Chuppah I have ever seen. Judge for yourself.