Alesia Zorn Calligraphy

Wish Upon A Wedding/Portland's Launch Party is tonight!

The board members' name tags are ready - and so am I!  Tonight is the launch party for the Portland Chapter of Wish Upon A Wedding!

From the home page of Wish Upon A Wedding's website:

"As the World’s first nonprofit wedding wish granting organization, Wish Upon a Wedding provides weddings at destinations across the United States for individuals facing life-threatening illness.  It is a chance for couples to enjoy a very special day, without any thoughts of existing health issues, while surrounded by their closest family and friends."

The national organization launched in January of 2010.  In the past 6 months, Wish Upon A Wedding has granted 4 wedding wishes around the country.  The beautiful and moving videos can be found here.  Go look at them and bring tissues.  While you're there, look at how you can help - if you're a wedding industry professional, become a wish granter.  If there's no chapter near you, start one!  If you're a bride, you can make a donation as your wedding guests' "favors" or request guests make donations in lieu of wedding gifts. 

And why should you become involved?  The Wish Upon A Wedding website says it best:  "By celebrating the courage & spirit of these couples, we help create lasting memories that will be cherished for years to come. It is our hope that others facing similar situations will find hope, strength, and the promise of eternal love."

Soiree Special Event Planning - Countryside Villa - Bravo! Wedding Affair Nov. '09

I don't even know where to begin to talk about the lovely ladies of Soiree.  They've been so supportive of me, ever since I first went into business.  More than anyone else, they'll call and say "Can you write on...?" and come up with some cool new thing.  Molli is the fairy godmother of the chalk board menus, an idea that came about when she did a TV shoot on Eco-Friendly Weddings.  The chalk boards are a wonderful idea on so many levels!

This summer was no exception - a client of theirs had a magazine photo, she wanted these quilled hearts replicated.  They were so cute!  When I talked to Molli about her Countryside Villa, I asked her if she'd like more hearts.  (When I got the paper for the first job I bought a ream of paper and had the whole thing cut - I just did the math, that means there were 7000 strips, I've probably used about 200.  You like these hearts?  Let's talk!

These make darling (IMHO) place cards.  (Mary is my new sister-in-law, hi Mary!)

Here's how they look on the table...

I enabled the pop up on this photo so you can see the all the gorgeous detail on this tablescape, put together by Soiree and Crystal Lilies.

One other thing that I did earlier this summer made an appearance in the Countryside Villa room - tags!!

The tags attached to the little pear say "Eat Drink Dance" - wiser words were never spoken!  I used these tags for the Rustic client from earlier this summer (a million thanks to Crystal Lilies for sending the bride my way, there's more to come on that wedding in the next few weeks) - and that has started a new obsession for me - TAGS!!  All sorts of tags.  I want to put tags on everything (the cats are not amused.)  Keep an eye out for more tags in the future!

Fun Times with Blush Bridal & Zenith Vineyard!

Part of this week is about an event at Zenith Vineyard.  They're having a tasting this weekend, and they're showcasing tablescapes done by planners for the event.  I'm honored to have been asked to contributed a few things.

This table I'm writing about today was designed by Amy Nuttman, owner of Blush Bridal Consultation Group.  She sent myself and the florist an e-mail with a sample of these gorgeous linens and told us the theme was "Asian Autumn."  Amy knows me soooo well, because later in that e-mail she wrote:  Alesia -- I just KNOW the wheels are already spinning in your head!!! I would LOVE for you to do whatever you wish with this theme in mind! :-)  My only instructions were to do place cards (maybe something with chopsticks), a table marker and a participants sign.  Viola!

I LOVE this table! This linen, chocolate brown with golden chrysanthemums gives me the shivers (in a good way.)  I want clothing made of of this!

A closer look takes us to this stunning floral centerpiece done by Francoise Weeks.  Click on that photo, I made sure to enable the pop up so you can get a closer look - really, "stunning" keeps coming back to me time & time again.  Francoise's work frequently has woodland elements, it's very Northwest!  Please check out her website and blog - she teaches classes and has note cards featuring her gorgeous arrangements. 

I love my #8, I wish I could take all the credit for it but I think the credit belongs to my Muse.  The number is very auspicious in several Asian cultures so I knew that had to be the table marker.  "8" is a very sensuous number, it's all curvy and lovely, this one with one strong stroke, the next brushy and airy.  My friend Sue from the UK just this week asked about working "in the Zone" on her fb page.  That "8" came from that zone - I had a stack of paper standing by to do several versions but I only needed the one.  More serendipity... I walked into my favorite cheap-frames-fast boutique, Chez Dollar Store, saw those 2 and knew that was it.

When Amy said Asian theme and place cards the image of these little sleeves popped into my head.  Off I trotted to Anzen, the Asian market in my neighborhood to find pretty chopsticks - then I had an idea to find chopstick holders and that mystical Zone thing - maybe The Force - was with me.  See the 2 little yellow triangles at the top & bottom of the place card?  They're the tips of the wings of little ceramic "origami" cranes.  1000 origami cranes are symbols of long life and good luck, who doesn't need a little more of that going for them?! 

UPDATE: I get so carried away by "the pretties," I need to do a better job editing!  If this re-publishes it's because I had to make a few tweeks.

Such a fun idea!

I'm so excited to get these pictures and share them, they're of a very fun and cool multi-tasking project for a wedding.

It all started when Christie Wilson of Blush Bridal Consultantation Group asked me "Can you write on take out boxes?"  "You bet!" I replied.  I relish doing the unusual and Christie's lovely and enthusiastic personality are so infectious it brings even more joy to her projects.

I love this picture of all the happy little boxes, all lined up and ready to go out and have a good time!

The boxes are coordinated with the colors of the wedding, of course - and yet they mean so much more!  If a guest's entree selection was chicken, their box was yellow.  If the guest's choice was vegetarian, it was green (I'm sure you saw that coming.)  The extra-fun boxes with the green dots... can you guess?  Children's meals.  Brilliant!

Here are the bride & groom's boxes.  You can see on the left of the groom's box a little tag attached to the handle.  Those tags were the table assignments. 

This may be a good place to talk briefly about escort cards and/or place cards for your wedding.  I really don't recommend doing them much before the week of the wedding.  Sometimes unfortunate circumstances for a guest mean you may have to rearrange your seating plan in a big way and in a hurry so it's good to wait until as close to your big day as possible.

That being said, I was going to be out of town the week before the wedding.  Here's where the little tags came in.  With the rsvps in (and phone calls made to the stragglers), the guest list was complete. I wrote out the boxes (in pointed Italic) and then I wrote out the table numbers on all the tags.  Christie and her crew assembled everything just before the wedding.

But we're not done with the multi-tasking of these hardworking boxes!  So far they've served as escort cards and entree indicators but the best is yet to come!  Inside the box were thank you notes from the bride and groom...

...and here's the best part - then the guests took their boxes to the candy buffet!  What a fantastic favor!

Adding it up, that's three important functions these little cheerful little boxes accomplished all by themselves with a minimum of fuss and such attitudes!

Big thanks to AJ's Studio for the wonderful photos!