Inspiration Board #3: A Modern, Vintage Mexico Wedding

I am working on an RSVP card for my client and before I start the design, I wanted to do a mood board for her wedding in Guadalajara, Mexico. By doing one, it helps me visualize a design direction for her RSVP, and it also helps the client view a bigger, cohesive picture that I am hoping to go for in my designs. Some basic mandatories in my chats with the Maria, the client, is that she wanted elements of an old-world Mexican feel. For her wedding favors, she already planned and wanted to do little Tequila bottles tied with a green ribbon. And one last thing, she wanted hints of purple, but not as a dominant color.

And here is what I came with:
The color palette is sort of complex. I originally had like 3 colors, but I felt I had to expand it to 5 in order to balance the bright, modern colors of the deep plum and the greens with the hues of an old-world map – a buttery, creamy beige and brown.

I call this inspiration board a Modern, Vintage Mexico, because I have elements of old traditions such as the lace on her veil, the church, the vintage map, gold jewelry, silver table decor and the use of old-world typography. The modern aspect comes from the use of nontraditional things for the wedding decor. I am embracing local plants to Mexico like succulents that can be used in the bridal bouquet, boutonniere, table centerpieces and on the wedding cake too. And throughout the board, you can see that "modern pop of color", the deep plum, as an accent color – in her bouquet with the orchids, her oh-so-chic pumps, and hints of it in individual succulent plants.


I had so much fun working on these boards, and now I need to get started on the RSVP card and make it come to life! Stay tuned for the design. :)

Carol Hannah from Project Runway

If any of you watched the latest season of Project Runway now on Lifetime Network, you all would know Carol Hannah. She wasn't the season winner, but she was one of the top 3 designers. Anyway, I loved her work on the show, and I love her work now still. Well, she has opened her own Wedding Collection line on Etsy.com that features bridal gowns and bridesmaid dresses.

One thing about her designs is that she knows how to design for the woman's curves that is very flattering and her draping skills are phenomenal. I especially love the bridal gown featured here.

She does have a main site, carol-hannah.com, featuring all her collections, and she has a shop for everyday wear here.

Awesome dresses for Bridemaids, or just to Wear!

Okay – just how hot are these dresses to wear for a special evening out, or for your future bridesmaids! I was browsing on one of my standard blogs that I follow, Junebug Weddings Blog, and I just them, and I had to blog about it myself since I think they are wonderful designs that are timeless. And any bridesmaid would probably want to wear this even after the wedding day. These are not the wear-once-only-dress. The designer is SarahSeven on Etsy.com. She does custom orders to fit your needs.

{Images from sarahseven on Etsy.com}

Anthropologie Glitz for the Holidays

I am always impressed by Anthropologie's clothes & accessories, but their attention to other unique details in the home are impressive too. It's a bad, bad thing if I go into their stores. I come out with way more than I ever need. :)

Check out some of the cool finds below that could be perfect for a stocking stuffer, or a special someone for the holidays.

{Images from Anthropologie.com}

A month behind...

A month behind posting... and as promised an update on my home office. The desk did arrive, and I have been sitting in it practically 3 weeks straight. Horribly busy with clients and projects which is a real good thing. Not sure if many of you know but I sit on one of those exercise balls. This was also my former office chair at my old agency. I took it home with me. I can't sit on anything else. It's perfect for my posture, and I can do some ab exercises in between projects. :)

My Office and My Home

These days my office is my breakfast table. I am no longer employed with my previous ad agency since the doors are officially shutting down. I have been working like this for the past week since I don't have a formal work desk. I have my 24" monitor along with my 17" MacBook Pro and yellow sticky post-its everywhere reminding me of things to do and deadlines to meet. :)

This set up isn't going to last that long–thank god. A new fancier desk is on its way. It's from West Elm and it's called the Sawhorse Table due to the style of the legs. This desk is going into our living room area as a casual work desk for me to put my monitor and laptop on. I wanted a clear top desk so it doesn't visually crowd our living area. It will help keep the room visually open and airy. Stay tuned for pics of my new office when I get it all settled in.

{Images from WestElm.com}

Retouching Photos – My Thai Grandparents

For some reason, I like to retouch old photos. It's one of my many random skills that I have under my belt. It seems like a pretty mundane task and probably not that interesting, but I like the challenge of bringing old photos back to life after years of wear and tear.

These portrait shots below are images of my Thai grandparents on my mom's side. Based on when my mom was born, I believe these images were taken back in the late 1940's, or early 50's. As you can see, both pics have a lot of damage from water stains, tears, yellowing of the paper, and loss of image in some areas.

~Before~

~After~

After several hours in one of my favorite programs, Adobe Photoshop, the images are back to their original state. My sister and I are going to get these images professionally re-framed for my mom as a present to her for Christmas this year.

If anyone out there needs a hand in bringing old photos back to life for a loved one, I am a very good resource to get it done. :)

Business Cards are on the way!

Slowly, I am trying to get all my stuff together to get my business in full gear. And one huge step in helping making that happen are my very own business cards! I just finished designing them, and they will be going to print sometime in the next week. I can't wait to see the final product.

(Business card designed by Chon}

I worked with Bryn, a calligrapher, from Paperfinger to create a custom logo signature for my name. I worked with her once before for a custom addressed stamp. Before I was using a free handwritten-l00king font for my name to give it that personal touch. However, this new look is a huge step up from where I was before. It adds a level of more sophistication, and it's an original design that will branded across all my business materials. That reminds me, I need to update this graphic header in my blog. :) Bryn was great to work with once again, and I just love my new signature.

For my print vendor, I am working with Gary over at AccuColor Plus. I worked with him once before for the printing of my wedding invites. His printing skills are impeccable and his knowledge of paper, inks, offset and the artistry of letterpress printing is what sets him apart from other printers.

Flowers always brighten my day.

One of my favorite flowers are tulips. They always remind me of my husband, because back in the day, he always sent me these flowers as a surprise. I didn't want the standard looking rose. Tulips look great together when they are jam packed in a huge cluster as you see here on my breakfast table. I love simple arrangements like this one.

Our Coffee Table Wedding Book - It has arrived!

Our wedding book has arrived, and it looks pretty darn cool! It's a nice 12"x12" oversized, hardbound cover book with the image wrapped all the way around. For the price point, I can't complain.

If anyone needs help designing a sophisticated wedding book or any kind of book for that matter, you can always use me as a resource. I already know a decent vendor to print it! :)

Design w/Chon: Baby Shower III

This last shower theme is a little bit nontraditional for a baby shower since it was meant more for the mother-to-be, Mira. She wanted it to be very spa and zen-like, because we were starting our morning at the spa with massages, and then the baby shower was being held in the afternoon. Plus, this was her second baby shower with a more intimate group of friends.

For this zen-like invite design, I went with a more simplistic and clean color palette with shades of green representing life and a stone grey symbolic of earth. On the cover is an illustration of Buddha in a relaxed, meditative pose sitting in a Japanese rock garden surrounded by succulent plants. The typography treatment is very clean and graphic pulling in strong key words that sound calming, "relax. nourish. and celebrate."

(Invitation designed by Chon}

To continue the harmony of the invite into the shower, I thought it would be nice to combine the table decor and favors into one. The location of the shower party really didn't need much decoration so we invested a little more money into the favors which I think had more visual impact, and the guests were more likely to keep and enjoy them in the long run. :)

For the table decor/party favors, I created little succulent terrariums. I was able to find these 5" glass bubble vases in bulk and worked with a local nursery to get individual succulents planted in each vase. And for the finishing touch, I printed the words "nourish me" along with the plant's species name on the back with care instructions for the new and soon-to-be owner.

Also, I was able to make a welcome sign to greet the guests as they entered the room. Overall, the shower was visually balanced and a success. Everyone seemed relaxed as they enjoyed the green theme with the refreshing "Cucumber-Lime Water", fruits and cheeses.

Congrats Mira and Kapil, and we are certainly looking forward to the "new life" that you guys are bringing into this world! And thank you to all the hosts who participated to pull this event off with ease.

Design w/Chon: Baby Shower II

For this next baby shower, my other pregnant girlfriend, Mira, had several ideas on what she wanted for her invite. Something naturesque, possibly include her favorite color – celery green, and she wanted to do something with sunflowers. In addition, she was having a baby boy, but didn't want it to scream "baby blue" everywhere. And this is where I ended up for the invite and colors. There are three dominant colors: baby blue, sunny yellow and celery green.

As always, I had to add my own personal twist to the invite by adding some fun, cute verbiage to tie all the elements together. And this is how it goes, "Once upon a time, we were told a story about the Birds and the Bees, but this October eighteenth, we get to celebrate one of nature's acts come to life for Mira and Kapil."

(Invitation designed by Chon}

One thing that I love to do in my designs is create custom patterns that are unique and fitting for each event. And with this particular design, the birds and the bees are great graphic elements that allow me to carry the shower theme into the table centerpieces. As you can see, I took the birds and the bees and made a whimsical pattern that wraps around each glass cylinder vase. I also added celery green ribbon to help break up the mass of blue.

For the cardholder vs. using a wrapped box, it only seemed fitting to use my birdcage holder since we had a nature theme going. I hand wrapped the top of the birdcage with two different kinds of celery green ribbons.

And the final, but grand touch to the table centerpieces were the sunny and bright sunflowers. I just love the contrast of the bold, yellow sunflower against the pattern on the vase. We specially ordered the glass cylinder vases in bulk and the sunflowers from wholesale vendors online to make the most of the budget.

Design w/Chon: Baby Shower I

These past months have been jammed with several baby showers. Two of my close girlfriends are pregnant, and they are both due one day apart from each other. So these past weeks have been quite eventful for me since I was one of several hosts to help organize their showers. I had lots of fun designing their baby shower invites since I tried not to do the typical gender, specific baby shower invite with baby powder blues for a boy and light pinks for a girl. Plus, all these showers were co-ed, and I wanted it to appeal to everyone.

In this first shower, I went with a colorful palette that leaned to be more feminine with the hot magenta hue since my friend was having a baby girl. And for her custom invite, I used this fun baby rhyme that we once heard as children – (insert a girl's name) and (insert a boy's name) sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, First comes love , Then comes marriage, Then comes (insert a girl's name) with a baby carriage. Obviously, I modified the rhyme to be more fitting for the invite.

(Invitation designed by Chon}

Then for the actual party, I took the color and graphics from the invite to continue the theme for the decor of the shower. Of course, I had to make a custom baby shower sign for the parents-to-be that matched. :)

For table centerpieces, we got hot magenta pink tulips, and I arranged them in my white vases leftover from my wedding reception. For a touch of orange, I tied polk-a-dot ribbon bows. Also, we had two larger white vases filled with magenta pink and yellow-orange roses.

For the shower favors for all the guests, we had a candy bar filled with orange gummies, chocolate swizzle sticks, white & pink mint candies and pink lemonade gumballs that fit perfectly with the decor. I purchased four apothecary jars and hand decorated them all with a variety of polka-a-dot ribbons and made a custom sign saying "sweet favors for sweet people."

And I can't forget the delectable and beautiful 3-tiered shower cake designed and made by my friend's co-worker, Precious. She did an awesome job pulling in the colors from the invite and the custom baby carriage cake topper made it extra sweet!

And here are a few snapshots of myself with my prego friend, Manisha, and the rest of the party hosts. Everyone did a great job pulling it all together, and the parents-to-be were loving it all.

VOTE for my coffee table wedding book!

Does anybody want to help me win a book design contest? If so, it will only take a few seconds, click here and sign in and vote for my coffee table wedding book that I designed on Blurb.com. The great photos, however, I have to give credit to my wedding photographer, Marcin Harla, and our hotel wedding venue, Hotel Baker.

It's a contest of course, and it would be so awesome if I could win. The prize can help me pursue my business further. You do have until Nov. 9th to vote, but just do it today before you forget. If this at all convinces you, I will be out of a job by the end of the year thanks to the economy. But no worries, I will land on my two feet just fine, but do vote. :) Thank you everyone who supports me.

Our Wedding Thank You Cards

For our wedding "thank you" cards, I had custom cards printed from Moo.com. I uploaded one of our professional wedding pics from our wedding. Of course before I did that, I retouched the photo so we looked flawless. I had to get rid of the bags developing under my eyes from the week of late nights and early mornings preparing for our wedding. :)

We got so many compliments from the card due to the photography and since I hand wrote over 80 personalized thank you notes. We don't get enough personal letters or handwritten cards these days. By taking that extra step to personalize it, I think it makes it so much more special for people. I know I enjoy it when I receive a personal note.

My Wedding Design & Decor: Part V

In all the previous blog posts for the design and decor of my wedding, these gorgeous images were beautifully captured by our wedding photographer, Marcin Harla. My husband and I couldn't have been any happier with the way our wedding photography turned out. Marcin did an excellent job, and he was a pleasure to work with.

Before I even went with Marcin Harla, I looked at and researched every photographer possible in the Midwest region. Thanks to the Wedding Photojournalist Association, I was able to find him. My requirements for the photographer was definitely the photojournalistic style, but I also knew I wanted something much more. With Marcin, it was his editorial eye which appealed to me, and his use of natural and artificial light in his work was truly outstanding. And of course, he caught those candid moments between my husband and I that make you smile inside.

(©2009 Marcin Harla Photography}