Invitations and Favors

I haven’t posted anything new for awhile because I’m spending lots of time updating my other blogs and with the wedding coming down to four months, I’ve pretty much busy with that.

Check out my other blog: U Inspirare for some wedding inspiration blogs.

Also check out another blog I started for companies I found interesting:  Where Its Made

I attended the Invitation and Favors wedding workshop at The Wedding Cafe (i LOVE these people).  The Wedding Cafe only has two more workshops left, but this is the last one I’ll attend since it’s in town and gas in Hawaii has climbed to $4.00 (and that’s for unleaded!)…so I can’t drive into town every week, I already do it for my babysitting gig, but driving into town everyday without a jobby job doesn’t make sense to me.

There was pre-entertainment by Ben and Maila, who I wish I could afford for live music-but I have to stick to my budget.

Ben and Maila-pre workshop entertainment

 

Kinohi Designs were there representing and I didn’t know this company existed before but I did see one of the invitation designs they had exhibited on Wedding Paper Divas!  I almost ordered this very same invitation from Wedding Paper Divas and I didn’t know it was by Kinohi Designs.  Good for them!  I just check out their website and it’s lovely!

Invitation from Kinohi Designs, who designs also for Wedding Paper Divas!

 

Creations By You were fun speakers and they love their bling, Swarovski crystals anyone?  This is a great place where you can go to with your ideas and then they can print everything but you put it together.  It’s for the DIY brides.

Creations by You..lots of DIY ideas here and as they said, lots of bling! Fun!

Next up is Shop Toast, my new fave!  I love their favor ideas-check out Whereitsmade for my blurb about them:

Shop Toast-my new favorite!! I love their mini pop favors, adorable!

mini pop favors with customized stickers! LOVE.

Cakeworks Hawaii was there and they usually do lovely wedding cakes but have opened a new line called Candyworks.

Here are some favors from Cake Works-they have a new line called Candy Works

The next vendor..oh how to explain, as I say in the caption, if I had the budget, Miemiko Atelier does letterpress invitation which is an art.

Miemiko Atelier -- gorgeous letterpress...ooo, if I had the budget to this I would have.

So pretty

gorgeous

the process for letterpress

 

Emi Ink is my favorite-I say that about everything I know, but  am serious when I say Emi Ink is my fave.  Her invitations inspired me as I make my own invitations.  I would love for Emi Ink to do my invites but I made a choice to DIY for invitations, but I admire the paper they use, the simplicity but wow factor.  It’s gorgeous and they do fabulous work!  Check out their website and they have a blog as well.

Emi Ink- I LOVE Emi Ink!

I love the color swatches-hey look! That's my color palette! 😉

 

so cute!

 

Menehune Mac makes all kinds of goodies too-who knew?  I thought they only made chocolate covered macadamia nuts, not so!

Menehune Mac! I never knew made favors too!

There were other vendors there-I just had no chance to grab a picture because the table was crowded!  But I had fun as usual and I had goodies as usual 🙂  Enjoy!

The Wedding Cafe Workshop: Table Design

Last night, my MatronOH Judith and I attended one of the workshops held by The Wedding Cafe.  Read my blog Whereitsmade for my feature on The Wedding Cafe.

The workshop was very informative!  They had six florists there who each went up to the mic and talked about their companies and floral tips. There were also 3 wedding design/rental companies that talked about what their companies offered.

First up was Vignette and Les-Saisons owner Naomi Lee, their Vignette website isn’t constructed quite yet but the Les-Saison website is great.  Naomi talked about many different trends in the wedding industry.

 

Here is an example of using colorful linen for a table. The yellow linen brings out the green and yellow flowers much more.

 

Here we have a magenta table linen, with a pin up. They added green napkins to the table top. Talk about POP!

Sweetheart table sample. It seats just the bride and groom.

A new trend-a sweetheart lounge for the bride and groom to relax during the formal program.

Next company was Royal Party Rentals.  These are the people you would order chairs, tables, cutlery, lanterns and other items for an indoor or outdoor wedding.  Since my wedding it outdoors I’ll be renting many things!

 

Here's a lantern sample. Imagine you have an outdoor wedding, with a tent-this would be hanging from the ceiling of your tent.

A table designed by Royal Party Rentals-everything on the table you can rent from them.

See the black "plate" beneath the white plate, I've learned it's called a Charger. LOL...details, details.

This was RPR other table design-which is more my style. Muted colors with a pop of red!

It's all about detail!

Now let’s talk about flowers and florists!

First up was Fong Tagawa from Floral Inspirations.  First very important tip and reiterated all night by all the florsits: “Communicate with your florist!!”  Very important.  I loved Fong’s table at the workshop she’s very talented.  I also liked how she mentioned prioritizing when planning and budgeting for your flowers.  Another tip is to have one main focal point where you have a big piece that people will remember.

Table inspired by her 13 year old daughter who loves daffodils and romance 🙂

I love the lanterns...so romantic!

Next florist was Spinning Web Florist.  Their speaker, I forgot his name-Elmer?  He was there last minute apparently, but he was very funny! His tip, bring lots of photos for inspiration.  You can even use shows and movies as inspiration.  For the wedding expo they created a tabletop inspired by Avatar!  Wish I saw that.

 

High tower centerpiece.

Bling at the base of the centerpiece.

Next, was Passion Roots.  They are big on representing the bride and groom’s personalities for the big event.  The speaker told us how one bride and groom they have right now are very techy and they created a centerpiece involving usb cables.  Very interesting!

 

Now this is elaborate. See the feathers and moss? They used LED lights in the votive candles too!

The base of the centerpiece-I love the glass and the moss! Very different!

The florist I’m using is Su-V Expressions. Sue told us a story about a man who was more of a bride than the bride and that for their wedding, they built a 12 foot tree in the middle of the ballroom because he had proposed to his bride at Disneyland.  They had a disney themed wedding-I wish I could see pictures!  Sue talked about the trendy color of grays and silver, also she said honeysuckle is a trendy color as well (yellow).

 

One option for brides on a budget, use less flowers, like these branches. It's dramatic and less costly

 

Here a cluster of ferns or flowers which I love against a pewter gray linen (which I'll be using in my own wedding).

Floating candles

They also had Jae Yoo from My Florist which is a relatively new company-in business for 4 years now. Jae was fun-the guys who are in the flower industry have such a sense of humor.  Jae reminded brides not to go overboard with information because most brides may come to him with four ideas all different.  He said to stay focused on a concept.

Jae's table was gorgeous! Very pink!

These are called pomander bouquets-see how they open the petals?

Last we have Watanabe Floral who has been in business since 1945! Wow!  Because they are a large company they definitely have the man power to accommodate the needs of any bride.  I love going to them just to buy flowers.

Love this linen-very wintry.

Winter theme centerpieces. Love the colors for a winter theme.

There were lots of prizes given away all night and Judith and I really enjoyed ourselves.  We’re thinking of going to their Invitations and Stationary workshop just because it’s fun!

So what did I learn?

* Know your budget

* Communication is KEY

* It’s fun to incorporate your personalities in the design

* You can use other things besides flowers, examples: driftwood, feathers…

* If you are on a budget, prioritize what’s important to you: ceremony flowers or reception?  Don’t spread yourself too thin.  Also, reuse flowers from ceremony into your reception space!

If you need to find out anything else check out The Wedding Cafe website, I highly recommend them.