Jo and Corey's Nautical Invitations

Jo and Corey must be one of my most favorite couples that I've worked with so far. I haven't met them yet because they live overseas but I'm really looking forward to doing so. Jo is South African and Corey Australian. They met working on a cruise yacht a few years ago and in March next year they are getting married.

You should have seen the pictures of how Corey proposed. When they came to South Africa to meet Jo's family, they went on a safari in hot air balloons. Corey printed a huge sign saying "Marry me Jo"... I wish I could have seen Jo's face when she spotted the sign on the ground. The game ranger then organized champagne and snacks for them to celebrate.... Isn't that such an original way of proposing? Love it..

For their wedding invites they wanted something that represented who they are: sailors, surfers and sea lovers :) Jo's favorite color is yellow so the invites included this color besides navy blue and aqua green... They also asked me to include their emblem, which both have tattooed on their bodies, and which I'm sure we'll use throughout their wedding stationery. The emblem of Camargue, a very special place in France for the bridal couple. compromises a cross, heart and anchor and stands for faith, love and hope. 
The 3 card suit was tight with a rustic, marine ribbon and packed in an envelope with their guest details printed and the emblem stamped on the front.

I hope you like them too! I can't wait to start working on the stationery for their wedding day :)

Asking my bridesmaids...

Dime con quien te juntas y te dire quien eres... | Tell me who is your friend and I'll tell you who you are..

When Arri and I  decided  to  have  the  wedding  in  South  Africa  I  knew  I  wanted  to  have   bridesmaids  (a  tradition  we  don’t  have  were  I  come  from  and  that  I  only  knew   from  movies  but  that  I  completely  love).    

I’m  so  thankful  to  my  best  friends  because  without  them  I  wouldn’t  be  who  I  am.   My  bestest  friends  from  childhood  with  whom  I  shared  wonderful  stories  and  I   know  I  can  count  with  no  matter  where  we  are...  and  my  bestest  friends  from   South  Africa;  without  them  I  would  have  never  been  able  to  cope  with  moving  to   a  new  country  with  such  different  language,  ways  and  culture.  

I  always  told  myself  whenever  dating  “Friends  always  first”  So  it’s  still  today  that   my  friends  come  first  –of  course  the  day  I  say  “yes”  he  will  become  family  and   that  will  be  different...  but  for  now,  my  girls  have  priority!  

So  I  wanted  the  “proposal”  to  be  something  more  special  than  just  a  phone  call,   sms  or  email.  I  saw  long  time  ago  in  a  wedding  blog  a  great  idea  a  girl  did  to  ask   her  bridesmaids.  She  made  a  box  and  inside  a  card  and  some  goodies...  I  knew   my  girls  didn’t  deserve  anything  less  than  that...  

So  I  made  these  6  wooden  suitcases    that  I  named  “Friendship  road  trip  through   life” with the cover inspired by an original illustration that  tallented Amelia from The Sometimes Zoo did for Sarah and Warren.  

I made  3  bigger  boxes for the  girls  that  live  in  SA and smaller  ones  for  the  girls   in  Argentina  so  I  could  post  them  with  no  problem.  For  the  girls  in  South  Africa  I  organized  a  picnic...  We  were  meant  to  hike  my   favorite  route  of  Table  Mountain  but  the  day  couldn’t  have  been  worst...  So  we   ended  up  having  the  picnic  inside  the  dog’s  house...  it’s  more  like  a  tree  house   and  I  was  surprised  we  all  fitted  in  comfortably.  For  the  girls  in  Argentina  I  had   some  help  from  my  mom  who  couldn’t  be  more  cute.  She  invited  them  all  to  her   place  for  tea  and  gave  them  the  boxes.  

Thankfully  all  of  them  said  yes  straight  away!  Would  have  been  quite   disappointing  otherwise.  

Inside  the  boxes  I  included:  

.  A  set  of  cards  with  info  about  the  wedding  and  the  bridesmaids  duties  (feel   beautiful,  hold  some  gorgeous  flowers  and  wipe  away  my  happy  tears).
.  A  handkerchief  with  inspiring  friendship  phrases  that  I  hand­‐made  myself   (sewing  and  printing).  

.  A  calendar  with  pictures  that  I  took  through  last  year  that  represent  love  in   some  way.  

.  A  hand-­‐written  card  telling  each  of  them  why  they  are  so  special  to  me.
.  A  letter­‐block  from  an  old  letter  press  with  their  first  initial.  
.  Color  swatches  that  I  like  for  the  wedding.  

Preparing  each  of  the  boxes  took  me  some  time  (of  course  there  was  an  English   version  and  a  Spanish  version)  but  I  must  admit  I  enjoyed  every  little  bit  of  the   making...  Besides  my  friends  deserve  that  and  a  lot  more.

Little Pink Book Workshop

I know it's been a while since I last wrote so here I am trying to catch up...  the bridal expo was a success... it was 4 long hard-working days but it was great to meet many beautiful brides to be and some new friends!  I'll put some pictures ip and a little video of the event very soon.

But today I want to share with you some images of the Little Pink Book Workshop where I participated as one of the wedding suppliers last Friday. The time was really tight as we only had 2 weeks to prepare. But with Jade (JC events) and Tanya (Studio Bloem) we were able to make it happen!

I designed all the stationery for the day: from the e-vite, that was sent out to all the guests, to the boutonnieres with everyone's names, and signs for the yummy dessert table that the guys from Cakes by Wade prepared. By the way, it was such a pleasure meeting Wade. I've been seeing his stunning work in so many wedding blogs, so I was expecting to meet this super-ego chef-de-patisserie, but to my surprise he is such a nice down to earth and friendly man that puts a lot of love into each of his masterpieces even though he has lots of weddings (If I'm not wrong, he has to deliver 9 cakes for next weekend... wow)...

Here are some pictures showcasing mainly my work of the stationery on the tables and my little stand display. The theme for the evening was french inspired so basically I had to design menus and cards for 6 different styled tables all with the french flair. I'm sure the pictures that Natelee (Glee) and Stefan (ZaraZoo) took are going to be much better but this is just a little preview from my side.

I think the event was great fun.... not only for the brides but for all the people that worked on it as well. I got to meet so many nice people, especially the girls from Bella Chiara. If you haven't seen Claire's work, you must visit her site; she does the most amazing handmade head pieces, veils and garters. She only started her business 6 months ago and I'm sure she'll do amazingly well. I wish she was around when I needed the garters for my friends weddings. I had to make them myself and at the time was very proud of them, but now that I've seen Bella Chiara's designs, I'm not too sure about them, hehe.

Uhh, the worst part of the night was when I had to talk. I'm really, really bad at public speaking, especially in English and with a microphone... so yes, I hope everyone erases that part of the night from their memory...hehe... 

As suppliers we were allowed to invite one guest or bride to be.  I invited Celeste, another Argentinean girl living in Cape Town, that just got engaged to a South African... I'm sure the LPB Workshop was of great help to her... she asked many questions and at one stage I was almost hiding under the table with embarrassment when she asked if it was normal to have cash bar in weddings and all the rest of the brides look at her saying "eehhh?". I know in South Africa it's a really common thing to have cash bars. If the bride and groom had to pay for all the alcohol, by the end of the party, they would be totally bankrupt (even more than usual). In Argentina, on the other hand, maybe because we don't drink as much, the bar tab is always covered by the bridal couple. 

We finished the event only at 11pm but that wasn't the end of the night... Cele was really nice in staying and helping me packing all my stuff. We drove back in convoy, thankfully, because her phone was out of airtime, so when she got a puncture in the middle of the dark, dirt road, I'm not sure what she would have done... We were literally in the middle of nowhere in skirts and high heels trying to change the tire: I couldn't stop laughing... Then, as if they were angels sent from heaven, this 4x4 with bright headlights and 4 guys willing to help and get down to work, appeared from nowhere and changed the tire... As the girls from the Little Pink Book would say : "Only to argentineans"...

Here is a picture of Cele with her saviors... big smiles...

Happy day everyone!