my sister's wedding // california wine country

On Monday I shared some details about our trip to California wine country. Today, I am sharing the last bit of that trip (the event that was the reason for the trip) - my sister's wedding!

To say the wedding was gorgeous was an understatement. The vineyards of Arista Winery offered a beautiful backdrop and the landscape of Healdsburg's hills only heightened that beauty. The weather was just perfect - sunny and warm, but not too hot or cold. The warm California sun that we enjoyed is evident in these photos.

The ceremony was simple and authentic. Raffa, unfortunately, wouldn't have it so he and I wanted from afar, but luckily I could still hear the vows that were exchanged. After the ceremony, we had a toast and some small bites on the lawn while bride and groom took photos.

For dinner, we were privileged to enjoy a five course meal with wine pairings, crafted and cooked by Arista's amazing chef. The meal's meats were locally sourced, as was the seafood. The vegetables were largely from Arista's own gardens or sourced locally. The wines were a selection of Californians, including some of Arista's own. It was undoubtedly a one-of-a-kind meal experience.

Raffa and Asher were, not surprisingly, uninterested in the fabulous food and wine. So although Raffa gobbled up the first course's potato soup, for the rest of the meal John and I took turns eating and watching Raffa.

The entire evening was set to a violin and guitar duet playing right next to the table. The musicians played a selection of music that was chosen by Jonna; it included many contemporary songs which took on a whole new beautiful sound when simply played on guitar and violin. To say the music was a highlight of the evening would be accurate, although each element of this wedding was a highlight. Raffa loved the music so much that towards the end of the evening, he fell asleep in my arms as we danced and sang to the music. Just one more precious memory from an extraordinary evening with my family on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation.

By the end of the night, we were all full, satisfied, happy, and tired. The boys (Raffa and Asher) were almost completely wiped out, in fact Raffa fell back asleep on my lap and Asher fell asleep sitting between John and I on the ride back home.

Such an amazing evening filled with true love, good wine, delicious food, beautiful views, and my favorite people ... countless memories made to keep in my heart.

sources
location/venue // Arista Winery, Healdsburg, CA
floral and cake // local vendors coordinated through Arista Winery
cake topper // Ann Wood Handmade
photography // Matthias Photography
Jonna's (bride) dress // Sarah Seven via Anna Be in Denver, CO
Erik's (groom) shirt and pants // JCrew
Asher's outfit // GAP shirt, Zara pants, Little Mr bowtie, and Freshly Picked moccs
my outfit // Liefsdotter dress from Anthropologie and Matt Bernson sandals
John's outfit // JCrew shirt and Paul Smith suit pants
Raffa's outfit // Quicksilver shirt, Zara shorts, Little Mr bowtie, and Freshly Picked moccs
father of the bride's outfit (our dad) // JCrew shirt, tie, and pants
mother of the bride's outfit (our mom) // DVF dress and Frye sandals
wedding invitations // designed by me, see them here

wedding invitation design // jonna + erik

I am so excited; we are heading to California for my sister's wedding. I already call him my brother-in-law, but technically he is not yet but will be as of June 12.

The wedding is a very intimate event. Immediate family only will be in attendance; so invitations were more of a tradition and keepsake than anything else.

My sister wanted a floral design with a watercolor style. The text was the other major element of the design, for which we combined several typefaces, a mix of a script/handwritten font and some modern block fonts.

The wedding will be part of a whole vacation that we are taking together. We will enjoy over a week in California wine country. We included a map with the invitation with the region we will enjoy; specifically San Francisco, Healdsburg, and Sonoma.

Since my sister got engaged years ago (yes, years), I had been waiting to design these wedding invitations for her. I finally got to and I am so thrilled with how pretty they turned out. And, as thrilled as I was to work on these invitations, I am even more excited to celebrate the marriage of my sister and brother-in-law all while enjoying a vacation with my favorite people.

press :: michael + blaine wedding paper goods

I was a small part of this gorgeous wedding, namely the invitations and other wedding paper goods, and it was featured in Wedding Style New England's latest issue.

wedding menus + programs + place cards :: michael + blaine

Back in August I shared the wedding invitations I did for Michael and Blaine's Boston wedding. I also did the accompanying wedding pieces including place cards, table numbers, menus, and cocktail menus. Today I get to share images of those pieces in action from their absolutely gorgeous wedding! The whole celebration, as you can see, came together just perfect; and I am so thrilled that my paper designs were a part of such a beautiful event.

All images were taken by Brian Phillips Photographers.

custom wedding invitations :: caroline + matthew hand lettered invitation for a tuscan wedding

I am just in love with these wedding invitations. I love the simplicity of color, type, and layout. All this simplicity for an intimate wedding in Tuscany (ITALY!) of all places. These may be my favorite that I have done in quite some time. And, I may have to offer them in my Etsy shop.

custom wedding invitations :: michael + blaine

For their Boston wedding, Michael and Blaine were inspired by the custom wedding invitations I did for Ara + Iris last year. Their color palette was a little different and we incorporated their monogram and different typefaces. We used some gorgeous dark gray paper. The invitations  and envelopes were screen printed and the RSVP cards and labels were digitally printed.

I also had the pleasure of working with Michael and Blaine on their other wedding paper goods - programs, menus, place cards, and table numbers, which I will share soon along with some photos from this gorgeous event!

dorian + stephen :: colorado aspen wedding invitations

Dorian and Stephen had me customize the aspen tree wedding design that I had worked on for Erin and Jeff last year (as featured on Oh So Beautiful Paper).

Dorian and Stephen's wedding invitation is a beautiful neutral color palette of "thyme", "chambray", and "dough." Dorian and Stephen wanted to keep things environmentally-friendly and economical so instead of doing separate RSVP cards, we included the RSVP information on the back of the invitation. They choose blue envelopes to match the "chambray" text, which look beautiful.

custom wedding invitations :: liz + jered

Last month I finished up these wedding invitations for Liz + Jered. Liz came to me with a sketched idea of general layout and from there we selected typefaces together and refined the layout. The invitations were digitally printed and paired with beautiful dark gray envelopes.

custom design :: burnett wedding announcements

I finished these wedding announcements for my dear friends Kristin and Chris just about a week ago. After getting married in a very private ceremony {we are talking just them} in December, they wanted to send out announcements to their family and friends. With a Colorado, cabin, mountain theme, Kristin and Chris are announcing their wedding to the world and sharing a few candid and romantic photos on the announcement, as well.

On the back of the announcement, Kristin and Chris had a letter to their family and friends to share more details about their special day.

Kristin came to me with a rough idea of wanting to incorporate photos from their wedding day and including elements that would evoke the place of their nuptials - the family cabin in the Colorado mountains. To accomplish this feel, I used some hand-lettered looking typefaces.  I also worked in a subtle woodgrain pattern for the background. The snowflakes and mountain-scape hint at  the snowy day in mountains as well. The color palette was dictated by Kristin's flowers, which we absolutely gorgeous winter whites, grays, and purples {flowers were by Verda Fleur in Durango, Colorado}.

In addition to the announcement, Kristin and Chris needed a small, accompanying invitation for the celebration they are having back east this spring. The announcement will arrive to family and friends back east with the invitation tucked inside ... for their Colorado friends and "family" just an announcement will go out for now, and an eventual invitation will be mailed when the Colorado celebration has been planned.

The announcement and invitation were both digitally printed

It was such a pleasure to work on this wedding announcement + invitation suite for Kristin and Chris. I was so excited to capture their special day for them in this small way for them to share their wedding day with the world!

custom wedding design :: iris + ara

Last week I shared some wedding invitations I had worked on this past summer ... well, today I have another wedding invitation suite I worked on just previously to those. Again, I cannot believe that I am only now getting around to sharing these!

I designed these invitations for my and John's good friends, Iris and Ara. The wedding invitation required a modern aesthetic fitting of a modern Miami wedding held at a posh private residence.

To achieve this modern look we went with black and white, but things were switched up a little - instead of white paper stock and black ink, we did black paper stock with white ink. The result is unexpected and modern in a way all its own.

These were screen printed by Mama's Sauce. The custom return address labels were digitally printed. And, the addresses were hand-lettered, which you can see better here and here.

And, as I mentioned, Iris and Ara are friends of ours, so we were lucky enough to be invited to the wedding ... here are a couple photos of us having a good time at the wedding:

We sure do love those wedding photo booths!

custom wedding design :: erin + jeff

I cannot believe I have not shared these invitations yet! I absolutely adore how they turned out and I have just been sitting on them since I finished them this summer. In all fairness, I wanted to wait until after the wedding to share them here on my blog; and I needed to get some good photos of them. But still! I cannot believe they are only now making their debut on my blog and in my portfolio.

I designed these invitations for Erin and Jeff for their Breckenridge, Colorado wedding. The wedding colors were purples and silver/gray and Erin really wanted to capture the physical place (Breckenridge) in the invitations. Aspen trees came up in our very first conversation and became our primary motif.

I love the look of bare aspen trees and created an illustration of some. I incorporated a little "tree carving" that says "E+J" which added a little extra sweetness. This heart with the "E+J" became the second motif used in the invitations which was carried over to the RSVP cards and envelopes.

A mixture of two whimsical and romantic typefaces in two purple hues are really set off against the white and pale gray background.

When it came to printing, Erin and I settled on screen printing. We wanted a slightly tactile quality to the invitations. Then, we decided on printing white on gray (white aspens on gray paper). First thought may have been to use white paper stock and print with gray; but reversing that gave a beautiful tactile quality to those aspens just like we wanted.

The invitations and RSVP envelopes were printed by the amazing guys at Mama's Sauce. I was so excited this summer when on our drive down from Colorado to our new home, we got to stop in Orlando so that I could meet the great guys behind the presses. I actually also got a sneak peek of these post-production, before they were cut.

The invitations turned out just gorgeous. I love them, and more importantly, the bride, Erin did, too! And, I am so excited that I finally am sharing them with you today!

ps - I also did Erin and Jeff's save the date cards which you can see in my Etsy shop here!

what to wear :: late fall miami wedding

We are going to a Miami wedding next month (the wedding I designed these invitations for) and I just got this gorgeous dress from Anthropologie for the occasion! Upon my sister's suggestion I am pairing it with nude pumps ... and these are my choices:

the dream choice :: Brian Atwood Maniac Platform Pump in Nude $650

the "maybe I can swing it" pair :: Pour La Victoire Aria Slingback Pump in Patent Nude $250

reality :: Jessica Simpson Waleo Pump in Patent Nude $89

I would wear :: wedding skirt

{Kate Spade Marybelle Skirt}

I would totally get married in this skirt ...  to clarify, I would get married to the same person (my John) again and wear this skirt with a simple tank as my wedding "dress".

It is so wild yet sophisticated and I just love it! What do you think?

custom design :: k + d save the dates

closer ups:

{return address printed & hand-lettered envelopes}