Jen dreamed up a purple and orange color scheme with a Spanish-inspired flair; ceramic tiles were used as table numbers and as favors that doubled as placecards.  They found Copperhill Catering, an amazing catering team, who created two kinds of paella for dinner, along with tapas and sangria for the cocktail hour and churros and chocolate for dessert.  The guests went wild for Sweet and Saucy Shop’s red velvet and pumpkin cake pops, too!

Check out some of the amazing shots below, provided by Stephanie Williams Photography, and click here to view more pictures in her blog post.

The happy couple - Jen and Chris

The gorgeous crystal bouquet charms were created by Bling Diva Designs.

The ceremony setup had handmade pinwheels lining both sides of the aisle. Whimsical and delightful!

A shot of the tablescape, with the aforementioned silkscreened tiles.

Gorgeous floral centerpieces by Myra at Celebrate Floral - I love the vibrant colors!

Adorable (and delicious!) cake pops by Sweet and Saucy Shop, and a lovely little cake to go with them. Jen bedazzled the cake stand herself; the cake topper is from Bling Diva Designs.

The dance/lounge area required some intense setup - Chris and his parents built this canopy frame and set it up the day before the wedding; I got to hang the lanterns the next morning. It looked positively magical, especially after the sun went down.

The lounge pillows were all custom made by a friend of the family, and each one of them was unique!

I laughed so hard when I saw this picture. Definitely my favorite shot of the day! The smilebooth was provided by Emmycube Photography.

All in all, it was a gorgeous day full of love and happiness.  Jen and Chris, I’m so glad I had the chance to get to know you and be a part of such a beautiful celebration!  And huge thanks are due to the amazing vendors I got to work with:

Venue:  Tesoro Adobe Historic Park in Valencia, CA

Photographer:  Stephanie Williams Photography

Videographer:  Roberto Fonseca

Catering:  Copperhill Catering

Florist:  Celebrate Floral

DJ:  C&J – Carol and Jeff

Dessert:  Sweet and Saucy Shop

Smilebooth:  Emmycube Photography

Cake Toppers & Bling:  Bling Diva Designs

Giant Balloons (not shown):  Me to You Balloons

I knew that Stacy wanted some sparkle in her invites, so we paired up three gorgeous metallic cardstocks and a handful of crystal embellishments for these lovely gatefolds.  Take a look at how it all came together!

I used the monogram I'd created previously on the oval seal for the tucked-ribbon belly band.

A closer look at the belly band and seal. I love the tucked-ribbon look; it's a ton of extra work, but it's worth it.

The invitation panel was mounted to a pink metallic cardstock mat inside the gold metallic gatefold.

There were five crystal accents on each invitation panel - a pink one in each corner and an amber one in the center.

The inserts all maintained the graphics and fonts from the invitation panel and were mounted to pink metallic cardstock.

The only insert that didn't get a cardstock mat was the RSVP card, because it's paired with a coordinating pink envelope (not pictured).

It was so much fun designing such an elegant set of wedding invitations for what was undoubtedly a gorgeous and detail-rich affair this past June.  Stacy and Shannon, I wish you all the best in your marriage – thank you for the opportunity to create these pieces for you!

I’m excited to finally share this with you all – the gorgeous wedding of Katie and Preston, my giveaway winners!  I knew after my first meeting with this couple that their wedding was going to be something special, and it did not disappoint!  Their lovely details earned them a two-part feature on OnceWed.com, which you should definitely go check out (click here for part 1 and here for part 2).  And enjoy these beautiful shots of the event, captured by Leigh Miller.

Katie's stunning ruffled wedding dress was custom-made by Kate Towers.

Katie and her mother sewed all of the fabric items for the wedding, including all of the dinner napkins, and collected heirloom mismatched china for each placesetting.

The florals were all done by Laura and Blake of Hoot and Heart. Such lovely bouquets!

Preston and his dad made all of the wooden benches for the ceremony seating.

The dessert table, which held an amazing array of bite-sized treats for the guests to choose from.

So in love with their stationery suite! Katie designed and created everything - she even perforated the tear-off reply card at home with a sewing machine! Genius!

The bridesmaids chose their own dresses, and Katie's mom made the ties for the groomsmen.

The beautiful cafe lights were also DIY - Preston, his father, and the groomsmen all pitched in the day before the wedding to set them up, and their hard work definitely paid off.

Head over to Leigh Miller’s blog post about K+P if you want to see some more amazing shots of their wedding and read Katie’s write-up of the big day.  It was a pleasure meeting and working with all of the wonderful vendors below:

Photographer: Leigh Miller

Videographer: Ben Bonnet Films

Florist: Hoot & Heart

DJ: The Flashdance

Venue: Condor’s Nest Ranch

Thank you so much, Katie and Preston, for giving me the opportunity to be a part of such a beautiful celebration!  I wish you a long, happy, love-and-laughter-filled life together.

Here’s a quick repost of the details:

To enter to win our free day-of coordination package, email me at katrina@thecheshirekat.com with “Contest Entry” in the subject line, and answer these questions:

• What is your name?
• What is your fiance’s name?
• What is your email address?
• What is your phone number?
• What is your wedding date?
• Where will your ceremony and reception take place?
• How many guests are invited?
• What do you love the most about your wedding plans so far, and why?
• What part of wedding planning is driving you crazy?

Entries will be accepted until January 31st, 2010, at 11:59 PM.  A winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries and will be notified via email.  No duplicate entries, please!

In order to be eligible to win:

• You must have a wedding date between March 1st and April 30th, 2010.
• You must be getting married somewhere within the following counties:  LA/Orange/Riverside/Ventura
• You must grant consent for TCK Design Studio to post pictures and/or descriptions of your wedding on the blog and/or use them for promotions and advertisements in the future.  All of your personal information will remain confidential and will not be posted.
• You must be willing to sign our standard day-of coordination contract.

For details on our day-of coordination package, click here to download the standard contract.

Good luck!

I’ve been focusing on invitation design and paper products since I started this little venture last year, but my intention has always been to branch out into event coordination as well.  I worked as a stage manager, set dresser,  and art department coordinator for years, and since I left the industry, I’ve found that I miss the creative and interpersonal nature of it.  The last-minute, we-need-this-yesterday disasters that I could magically fix with a roll of tape, fishing line, and a few yards of fabric that were in my trunk (just in case!).  I’ve rented semi-trucks and helicopters, found and purchased everything from antique St. Christopher’s medals to feathered roach clips, and pulled an all-nighter to print, cut, and sew canvas letters onto 18 enormous punching bags.  I’m good at both last-minute details and long-term planning, at tracking budgets and tying bows, and I still have a trunk full of tools and scrap fabric (just in case!).

We’re at the start of a new year and a new decade, and in the interest of expanding this area of the studio and helping out a bride who’s getting down to the wire on her planning, I’m kicking things off by giving away one day-of coordination package to a lucky couple getting married in March or April of 2010!

To enter, email me at katrina@thecheshirekat.com with “Contest Entry” in the subject line, and answer these questions:

• What is your name?
• What is your fiance’s name?
• What is your email address?
• What is your phone number?
• What is your wedding date?
• Where will your ceremony and reception take place?
• How many guests are invited?
• What do you love the most about your wedding plans so far, and why?
• What part of wedding planning is driving you crazy?

Entries will be accepted until January 31st, 2010, at 11:59pm.  A winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries and will be notified via email.  No duplicate entries, please!

In order to be eligible to win:

• You must have a wedding date between March 1st and April 30th, 2010.
• You must be getting married somewhere within the following counties:  LA/Orange/Riverside/Ventura
• You must grant consent for TCK Design Studio to post pictures and/or descriptions of your wedding on the blog and/or use them for promotions and advertisements in the future.  All of your personal information will remain confidential and will not be posted.
• You must be willing to sign our standard day-of coordination contract.

For details on our day-of coordination package, click here to download the standard contract.

Good luck!

This is the Spring/Summer 2010 issue. Look for it at your local newsstand!

This is the article, which appears on page 219. We're one of three couples who were willing to share our budgets and vendors. All photos in the article are taken by Zenia Photography.

Our portion of the article, with our total budget right up at the top.

A closer look at the picture of the two of us (and our total budget for a wedding with 130 guests).

The second page of our budget breakdown. I love that Brassworks got a picture in there, too!

This next one is almost as exciting as having our pictures in a magazine…

And there we are, listed as the stationery vendor! So awesome seeing it all in print!

A big thank-you to the editors of The Knot and to all of my awesome vendors!  Be back later this week with more big news!

Stacy and her friend had already designed and printed magnets for the save-the-dates, and she was looking for a card to attach them to that gave her guests some additional information.  This was an interesting challenge, as I had to find a way to coordinate with her existing design and introduce the monogram and color scheme.

We started with the monogram.  I presented her with three different options:

Monogram #1 - the colors look different on screen, but it prints out as a lovely rose pink/beige combination.

Monogram #2 - a little more sleek and modern

Monogram #3 - a slight variation on #2, more pink, less brown, and capital letters.

Stacy and Shannon chose Monogram #1.  I love the ornate swirls – they give you so many opportunities to embellish with rhinestones or hand-painted accents!

From there, I worked out a design for the A2-sized save-the-date card that incorporated the monogram and used the font from the existing magnet.  Since the monogram is fairly tiny on the card, I changed the text in it to a chocolate brown for more contrast.  The design was printed on my favorite natural white linen pearl cardstock and paired with a beautiful pink metallic euro-flap envelope.  Here’s the end result:

The card, with the attached magnet and coordinating envelope.

A closer look. So shimmery and pretty!

Stacy, I hope all of your guests love them!  I’m looking forward to working with you on the invitations in the coming months as well.

We kept it to one 8.5″x11″ sheet folded in half to keep the printing costs and assembly time down, but there was a lot of information to fit onto those pages!  I received a thorough education on creating a Catholic worship aid (there are dos and don’ts that I never really considered before, but now I’m prepared to do it again if required!) and spent plenty of time monkeying with the text sizing and spacing to get everything to line up just-so.  It was a challenge, but the end result is the perfect complement to their beautiful ceremony.

Pictures of the final product are below – please excuse the quality, as I’m still trying to find the places in the house with good lighting!

The front cover, with the apple graphic that also appeared on the invitation panel. I love the way these fonts look together!

This is the front and back of the program. We listed the names of all involved separately from the ceremony text as per the priest's instructions.

The inside of the program - repeating the apple motif as text dividers.

Thanks again, Kate and Chris!  Much love to the both of you, and best wishes for a happy marriage!

Amber and Chris decided to go with a full-service printed option, which included a completely custom front-and-back design, printed A2 flat cards, and color-coordinated envelopes with the return addresses pre-printed on the back flap.

As always, I came to her with two different designs – both of them incorporated Oz Farm as a central element, and I used a photo of the venue and added some mock-painting effects in Photoshop to make it fit the vintage design.

Design #1. Please ignore the error in the date (ooops!).

Design #2.

They chose Design #2!  From there, I was able to work with the design elements and fonts on the front to create a design on the back that coordinated with it.  Here’s how it ended up:

The back of the A2 card, with all of the necessary information for the guests.

We decided to do an envelope in a coordinating color, and I found this gorgeous sky blue envelope that matched the exterior light blue border perfectly!  It’s shown in the picture of the printed product below – minus the pre-printed return address, which has been omitted for privacy reasons.

The printed card, front and back, with the coordinating envelope.

Amber and Chris, it was so fun creating this for you!  I wish you all the best in the upcoming year as you plan your wedding!

Since Kate’s wedding colors are apple green and chocolate brown, I used a vintage fruit crate for the inspiration for her invitations.  I printed a barn wood pattern on metallic linen cardstock in a champagne color (gorgeous paper!) and created a gatefold to frame the invitation panel, which used a combination of chocolate brown text and a green apple graphic motif.

The closed gatefold with the fruit label belly band closure.

The back of the closed invitation, with the RSVP postcard and reception card tucked into the belly band.

The opened gatefold, showcasing the invitation panel with a chocolate brown cardstock mat. You can't really see the champagne linen metallic cardstock on the sides of the gatefold in the picture, but it is absolutely stunning in person!

Kate wanted the invitation to ride the line between traditional and modern, and to help with that, I created a postcard RSVP that could easily be personalized with each invited guest’s name.  For meal choices, I used icons in order to conserve space on the card and add a whimsical touch.  The front of the postcard repeated the vintage fruit crate label design that appeared on the belly band closure.

The RSVP postcard with space for personalization and meal icons. The white space left on this card is required by the postal service so they can add their labels and marks to it.

A closer look at the back of the RSVP postcard.

I included a simple Reception card using the same green apple motif and tucked it behind the chocolate cardstock belly band with the RSVP card.

The full suite, with the open gatefold, belly band, RSVP postcard, and reception card.

The whole invitation package was outfitted with an apple green envelope – I printed the return address on the back flap in brown and created a set of wrap-around graphic labels for the mailing addresses.  These labels were printed and sent to Kate and Chris with a template to add the addresses, and they printed and cut them to size themselves (and they did a great job!)

The mailing address label and apple green envelope. These labels were sent to Kate and Chris as full sheets of wood-grained stickers with blank areas for the addresses, and I sent them a template so they could print and cut them themselves. The barn wood pattern is the same one that appears on the outside of the gatefold.

The back of the mailing envelope, with the address printed in brown on the back flap.

Congratulations, Kate and Chris!  Can’t wait for the wedding – it is going to be absolutely gorgeous!