Featured Wedding: Maria & Gustavo

Congrats to Maria and Gustavo! This lovely couple got married last month in Guadalajara, Mexico. I am a little slow to share their special day. I met Maria and Gustavo practically a year ago when they first came to me for their save the date card design, and they loved the work so much that they returned to Design With Chon for a customized wedding invite and other fun design accessories.

To see the full breath of work by Design With Chon for Maria and Gustavo, click on any of these links:
Save the Date
Wedding Invitation, Bee Escort Card, and Tequila Favor Tags
Custom Monogram

Have a sneak peak at some highlights from their beautiful wedding in Mexico! You can see some of Design With Chon's work in some of the wedding photos by Raul Galaviz. They went all out with fine details and traditional entertainment from bull fighting, a Mariachi band, fully choreographed performances, fireworks, and they partied hard into the late night. Congrats to the newlyweds and a lifetime of happiness!

{Images via RaulGalaviz.com}

Featured Photography: Trash the Dress

For all you future brides-to-be and recently married brides, this is something you should all think about — "Trash the Dress" photo shoot. If you love photography and want some fun, editorial photographs that isn't the conventional portraiture, then this is for you! This is something I definitely would've done myself being a bride, but I couldn't since I knew I was going to sell my wedding dress.

I am sharing this with you today since a client of mine has asked me for photographer recommendations in the local Chicago area, and these are my selections that I shared with her and now with you all today. And for you brides who are having destination weddings near the ocean water, think about trashing the dress the day after your wedding in the water. I have seen some spectacular photos especially when the photographer knows what he is doing. ;)

Geraldine Rodriquez – Her work is edgy, fun, editorial style shoots, well-composed and art directed down to all the details.

{Images via BeautifullyTrashed.net)

Marc Edwards – His work is serene, romantic, his subjects are enjoying the picturesque setting and taking that moment of peace in life.

{Images via Marc-Edwards.com}

Melissa Diep – This shot reminds me of the damsel in distress. I love the rugged, dirty environment contrasted by the pristine white, delicate wedding dress.

 

{Images via MelissaDiep.com}

Nicole Wolf (SOTA) – Nicole is part of the Chicago area of Studio This Is. These images weren't intentionally a "Trash the Dress" shoot although it seems to fit the mold. It's a visually beautiful concept – snowy feathers.

"Trash the Dress" embraces not the typical, perfect wedding day photos. It allows the bride to get down and dirty a bit, get loose, to be stress free, and not worry about keeping the wedding dress all pristine!

{Image via StudioThisIs.com}

Samuel Barr – His work is very editorial, hard-edged and dramatic. I don't think you would want to mess with these brides; they are taking on the world and letting loose. It's all about trashing their dress!

{Images via SamuelBarr.com}

Artistic Paper Mobiles & Wall Art

After designing and personally selecting all the baby decor for my friend's baby room (click here to view baby room), I have had an increased obsession with mobiles. I see mobiles as a suspended piece of art, and I think it's a great focus for any child's room. I especially love these paper mobile designs by Gosh and Golly. There is so much character, whimsy and the colors are so much fun. It makes me want to design another baby's room with one of these mobiles as my inspiration for the theme and color!

Gosh and Golly can customize your order. The  raindrops and umbrella can be made with different colors if desired. Besides mobiles, they also feature paper wall art. See the adorable hot air balloons below.

{Images via Gosh and Golly on Etsy.com}

Inspiration Board #8: An Exotic Autumn Wedding

Inspired by Fall and before it is soon covered with the cold winter snow, I wanted to embrace the rich, warm colors of Autumn. This moodboard is also influenced by Indian textiles, details and color. The two subjects just visually meshed so well together that I wanted to entwine them.

The main dominant colors are the reds & violets, and they are nicely accented by hints of purple, green, turquoise & orange. For the table details, I love the hodgepodge feel of different sized vases and materials. It gives it a more casual, family-style table setting and not so perfect & rigid. There is an overall warmth that exudes from these boards even though there is so much visually going on. Have fun with all the little details from the table numbers to other little accessories to adorn. It's all in the details!

A Few Good Stripes

Stripes are known to visually widen or slim a figure depending on how it is worn – horizontally or vertically. What happens if you have a small room in your house that you visually want to lengthen. How about a set of bold lines on the main wall; I bet it can perceptually lengthen the room. See the room in green below. Of course, don't forget the size of the furniture and the amount of accessories can either help you maximize the space, or make it feel claustrophobic. ;)

Have a look at other fun ways on how stripes can be incorporated into your home from the wall to ceiling to the floor.

Design w/Chon: Latest Projects

It's Monday, and it's time to get the week and the month of November started off right and back on track with some posts. Officially organizing my latest completed print projects by documenting them and sharing them with you all today.

The first project is an announcement invitation for The Apareció Foundation with a charity event that was hosted last month called Diamonds in the Rough which showcased the Hasana luxury jewelry & accessory line. The overall design of the invite reflected the name of the event. Beautiful gems of jewelry were showcased and juxtaposed against roughage of dried branches and foliage. The one-folded invited was printed on a pearlescent off-white paper to match the sunburst orange A2 envelope. Coincidentally, the iridescent paper also gave the jewelry that extra little sparkle especially to the teardrop crystal necklace on the front.

And here, I have a logo and business card that I was lucky to design for a good client and friend for her new business, The Evaluation Collective. Her type of business is analytical, and it deals with lots of research, statistics and evaluation which is the opposite of my field that is creative and uses the right-side of the brain. As a result, the design of her logo reflects a graphic interpretation of the brain and highlights the scholastic, left-side of the brain. The cards was printed in 2 PMS colors on Strathmore 130 cb paper. On the back side, the left side of the icon and the word "evaluation" was debossed to give emphasis on the meaning of the business.

To learn more about The Evaluation Collective, and what it can do for the improvement and functionality of your business, visit evaluationcollective.org or email Brandy personally at brandy@evaluationcollective.org

{Announcement Invitation, Logo & Business Card designed by Chon}