Julie & Hayden's Beautifully Simple Wine Country Wedding

Late last year, I got an email from Sarah Pease of Brilliant Event Planning in New York City. She had a bride and groom who were getting married out here in Calistoga, CA and were looking for welcome gifts for their intimate affair at Solage Calistoga Resort. 

Let's just stop right here and say that when I got that email, I was BEYOND excited to work on this project.

For one, I was working with Brilliant Events. Have you seen their work?? If you haven't, RUN to their website and check it out. Sarah creates not only beautiful weddings and events, but helps nervous, love struck, hopeful grooms-to-be pop the question to their partner in amazing style. Sarah has incredible taste so I was incredibly flattered to be considered for this job [to see some of the amazing work Sarah has done, go to her website: www.brillianteventplanning.com] 

Secondly, when I learned more about the bride and groom and their tastes and wedding style, I knew that this was going to be an opportunity to create something really beautiful. They were to have an intimate affair in gorgeous wine country at the equally stunning Solage resort, a place who's elegance comes from its simplicity and understated beauty. From what I had learned of the couple, it fit them to a tee. And the welcome gifts were to fit right in. I was excited to create a sophisticated welcome for their guests.

Through the craziness of the holiday season, I worked with Brilliant Events to source just the right "ingedients" for these gifts. Julie and Hayden wanted a simple neutral palette of whites, and local products. They were also looking to include products that were of the best quality and would be an amazing treat for their travel weary guests. Again, I was thrilled at this, as I was able to employ some of my tastiest local vendors to create this gourmet box of loveliness!

Set in an off white canvas "tote box", the welcome gifts included Julie and Hayden's favorite wine, a box of locally baked olive oil and sel gris flatbreads, San Francisco dry cured salame, and a delicious local olive tapanade. What a delicious snack the guests discovered upon their arrival! To finish out the deliciousness, guests found local chocolates and gourmet sparkling water. Add some local guides (don't want their guests getting lost!) in a white paper sleeve tied with ribbon, a beautifully hand calligraphed note (done by the AMAZING Abigail Hancock of Abigail Hancock Calligraphy, check her out) to each guest and a wide satin ribbon around the whole thing, and Julie and Hayden had a stunning way to show their love for their guests.

Thank you to Sarah and Jen of Brilliant Event Planning for including me in this gorgeous wedding. Thank you also to Shanni, of What Shanni Saw Photography for taking these amazing pictures of the final product. To see more of Julie and Hayden's wedding, check out Shanni's blog post here.

Congratulations, Julie and Hayden! A stunning wedding for a stunning couple!

Products Featured In These Gifts:

Wine: Cakebread Cellars, Rutherford, CA

Flatbreads: Rustic Bakery, Larkspur, CA

Olive Tapanade: We Olive [Chestnut Street], San Francisco, CA

Salame: Molinari Salame, San Francisco, CA

Chocolates: Woodhouse Chocolates, St. Helena, CA

Sparkling Water: Voss Sparkling Waterwww.brillianteventplanning.com

Re-vamp...

As you may have noticed from the blog header, I have been working on re-vamping my branding. It's only a start, but so far, I think I like the way this is going!

The biggest change for Woods&Company recently is a brand new website! It's easier to navigate, has great images of projects, and links to all your favorite social media outlets!

Take a look and let me know what you think!! 

www.woodsandco.com

And, as usual, contact me if you have a project that could use that special something!

Enjoy the weekend!

Sarah

A Personalized Thank You...

Recently, Kelly Dolata and the gals from A Savvy Event in Sonoma came to me to help them thank some very people. They recently spent a weekend up at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe for a Wedding FAM weekend.

They had such a wonderful time and wanted to thank the team up at the Ritz in a special way.

Kelly had a great idea of making the gift personalized for the team. She wanted to highlight where each woman was from, but also have a group gift and keep the whole thing cohesive. 

We decided an small individual gift for each gal along with a small gift from Sonoma county that they could enjoy together would work well. To pull it all together, I created an icon that would represent both the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe and A Savvy Event in Sonoma. And, since we are smack dab in the middle of the fall season, the color palette, font and basket all evoke a lovely autumnal coziness. 

Here are some images of the final product and some more details of the gift!

Cranberry, Orange, and Gold ribbons around a wooden bushel basket give this gift just the right touch of that fall and harvest feeling. It features a Thank You note for the whole team secured to the front of the basket. A script font with a wine glass and pine cone icon melds  the feeling of Lake Tahoe outdoors and Sonoma Wine Country with sophistication.

The basket contains a small gift personalized for each gal. This one is for Placerville, CA native Andrea, and is a small bottle of wine regional to her home town. Each individual gift has a personalized note featuring the wine glass and pinecone icon mounted on wine colored paper and secured with the cranberry, orange, and gold ribbons.

Clodagh, from Ireland got some traditional Irish soda bread handmade from John Campbell's Irish bakery in San Francisco.

Some 100% Kona coffee (Peet's) should keep Blanche's Hawaiian roots very happy!

Two bottles of Sonoma Syrup Company drink mixes along with a nice bottle of spirits was a little something representative of A Savvy Event's locale that the whole team can enjoy!

The inside of the Thank You note from A Savvy Event that adorns the front of the basket.

The basket has a personalized Thank You note to each of the gals.  The Ghiradelli solid milk chocolates in the shape of the Golden Gate Bridge are a special little extra provided by Woods&Company.

Another view of the whole basket before departing to its recipients!

Appel & Frank Holiday Shopping Event!

Holiday Cards? Already?

I know you are probably thinking, "but summer just officially ended last week!"

If you are the kind of person who thinks about these kinds of things in advance, then you'll want to save this date. If you are the kind of person who waits until the last minute, you'll ALSO want to save this date!

So, if you are in the San Francisco Bay Area please put Wednesday, December 7, 2011 on your calendar!

Woods&Company will be participating in Appel & Frank's Holiday Shopping Event this year. Items available at the event will include handmade holiday cards, gift tags, gift cards, and more. You'll also be able to order custom made cards, invitations, and of course, gift baskets.

It's never to early to think about how you are going to tackle all the things on your holiday "To Do" list!

For more information about Appel & Frank, take a look at their website:

www.appelandfrank.com

Hope to see you all there!

Caring For Baby and Making Baby Shower Invitations!

The past year, I have had the most amazing addition to my life: my daughter Katherine. Life has certainly changed since Katy arrived, but the change has been most definitely for the better.

I have been busy all year not only taking care of Katy, but continuing to work on creating fun and unique gifts and paper goods for my clients. Every project has a great story and I absolutely LOVE designing for people's special events.

The fact that the project I'm featuring today is a for a friend of mine makes it even more special. My good friend Jessica and her husband Dave were expecting twins this past summer, so I, along with a few other good friends, threw Jessica a baby shower. The theme was "Twice As Nice With Two". We knew they were having a boy and a girl, so we kept the theme gender neutral and went with zoo animals in bright, fresh colors.

I designed the invitations, as well as the party favor bags, tags and the champagne glass tags. The paper is from Paper Source and the fonts used are Island of Misfit Toys and Caviar Dreams.

Inside of Invitation

Invitation Text Detail

Envelope with Coordinating Label

Open Invitation and Envelope

The petal enclosure card was banded with the animal theme paper and secured with a coordinating sticker .

Detail of the coordinating sticker

Detail of Animal Paper Band

I also designed the favors and champagne glass tags for the baby shower.

Fabric Drawstring Candy Bags with Handmade Labels. 

Detail of the Tag

Printed Glassine Bags Filled with Cookies

Animal Crackers filled the bags, fitting the theme of the party as well as the mother-to-be's favorite snack!

Personalized Champagne Glasses

Ready For Toasts!

I am happy to report that Abby and Ryan were born on June 22nd 2011! They came a little early but are both doing great!

Welcome to the world, little ones!

...I Always Knew I Had SOME Style!

... Thank you Creative Designs By Toni for giving me a Stylish Blogger Award! I too, am just really getting started with blogging, so it's nice to be recognized for my work! I am truly appreciative!

To accept this award the recipients are asked to do a few things:



1.Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 10-15 blogs you feel deserve the award

4. Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award.

Seven Interesting Things About Myself:
1. I have a baby daughter who is truly the light of my life.
2. I am a certified interior designer on top of the work I do for Woods&Company.
3. I have run 4 marathons and am hopeful to run another one soon!
4. My husband and I are addicted to playing Words With Friends with each other on our iPhones.
5. I'm originally from Massachusetts, but when I moved to San Francisco 8 years ago, I met my husband and I've been here ever since!
6. I love summer, particularly on the East Coast. I miss warm summer nights.
7. I have a few guilty pleasures: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Pepperidge Farm Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, and cheesy 70's music.
8. (I added an extra!) I make a MEAN whoopie pie!

I am presenting the Stylish Blogger Award to these bloggers as well:

Lulu Lang
Sweet Craft Cakes
Love and Smiles
Cake, Cupcakes, and Cookies, Oh My!
Stockberry Studio
Simply Heaven Baby

Relive Your Childhood With These Save The Dates...

... The thing I love about Save the Dates is that they are really a chance to do something really cool. It can fit right in with your wedding theme or it can be something completely different. It can show your guests your personality, your sense of humor. It's a chance to "let your hair down" and get creative!

... My best friend is getting married in September and when she asked me to do her Save the Dates I was more than honored. She sent me an idea she had in mind and together we developed it! I have to say, when she sent me the images for me to use, I nearly fell off my chair laughing!

... Jamie and her fiance Russ* decided use the Save the Dates to laugh at themselves a bit. They wanted to incorporate pictures of themselves from junior high. We used these photos on the outside, with a nice photo of the two of them from their engagement session on the inside. A fun theme of "then and now" made these Save the Dates such a great project to do.

... Since Jamie's wedding colors are navy blue and green, I used a pocket enclosure in color Night from Paper Source as the base for this project. I layered their paisley decorative paper on top of that and then added on the images and text. Jamie wanted to include hotel information for her guests, so I created a card insert for the pocket enclosure. The fonts used in this project are Honey Script paired with American Typewriter.

... What a fun project to complete! Here are some images of the final product!

* And no, Jamie is NOT marrying Fred Savage circa Wonder Years, but he could've been a stunt double!