What a fabulous coincidence that The Bridal Loft's 5th Annual Open House coincides with Mardi Gras!
We'll be celebrating the upcoming wedding season with the brides we've met at bridal shows during the past few months, favorite vendors and anyone else who wants to stop by! We'll have cool Mardi Gras rentals from Peter Corvallis Productions; tasty, tasty treats from Elephant's Deli and a punchbowl full of Hurricanes! Directions are here - can't wait to see you!
What a fun time this Sunday! Portland Bride & Groom and Bridgeport Village are throwing a big bridal show and you need to be there! I'll be in Oblation Papers & Press, writing out names and handing out a calligraphy sample. I'll be there with the fabulous Amy Nuttman of Blush Bridal . Amy is the brains behind the the latest spread in Portland Bride & Groom, along with the wildly talented Francoise Weeks , who will be in Miss Meers Shoe Boutique at Bridgeport on Sunday. Here's a page from our spread.
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!
I'm really looking forward to hitting the road this Saturday with fellow Bridal Lofties August Veils, Paul Rich Studio and Event Cosmetics for The Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club Bridal Show. I'm suddenly thinking there's a script for a buddy comedy in this little adventure.
We'll be there from noon to three. I'll be demo'ing calligraphy on these sweet die cuts from Paper Zone on SE Grand Ave in Portland. Coming from a die cutter, they can be on almost any paper! We were using them for nametags and food signs at last weekend's event, they'd make sweet seating or place cards. They were a big hit. My wheels are spinning with all sorts of things for these cuties. As always, much love to the PZ crew for sharing!
Come visit us and the gorgeous Pumpkin Ridge!
Big thanks to Continuum Photography for the photo from last weekend's event!
My year is starting out so full of good stuff I feel like a cliche - and I'll take it! I've got some wonderful, fun clients on my work calendar already. The coming months bring The Bravo Wedding Affair, The Paper Zone Wedding Invitation Extravaganza, the opening of The Foundry at Oswego Pointe, a tasting at Abernethy Center - I feel like a social butterfly! Everything for me kicks off with a wicked cool bridal event at Peter Corvallis Productions:
I LOVE wandering the warehouse at Peter Corvallis Productions - it's a design & decorating wonderland and the folks at PCP totally know how to make the most of it! Good people, good food, good music and I'll be writing your name on an object to be determined at a later date! Please e-mail me at alesia@alesiazorn.com if you'd like the official invite!
I was very fortunate this year to work with a great bride who is a fellow Massachusettsite. We've had a great time talking about things Back East, such as her fiance & his "married into it - Red Sox fan for life" tee. And we had a wonderful time putting together things for her reception.
Amy's getting married in Vegas and my thoughts turn once again to becoming a wedding crasher. Her colors are rich jewel tones, focusing primarily on red & purple. How lush!
Her blank escort cards were provided by the hotel - the writing space was a bit teeny but totally doable. These are the unfolded fronts, the table assignment is on the other side. I alternated names by the tables between red & purple, when they're all set up the color pattern will be random.
Here are the wicked* fun table numbers - I had so much fun doing them, first the number spelled out in red watercolor, then the numeral on top also in watercolor. The watercolor paper was then mounted onto a fabulous metallic purple cardstock. I want to use this cardstock for wallpaper - and I'm not even a big fan of purple.
Amy also asked me to make a sign for their guest book. Of course I had to use metallic purple ink - it's Las Vegas, baby! The phrase is in quotes because they're providing their guests with a photo guide book to Las Vegas (see! more fun! I want to go.) She provided the really lovely frame & mat, it'll be great for a wedding photo later. (I took this photo at The Bridal Loft before Amy came to pick up. If you look in the reflection you can see some of Bead Alex's gorgeous jewelry.)
Last but not least, Amy wanted me to write out quotes that she would post around the room at the reception. They ranged from the sweet A.A. Milne quote "If you live to be one hundred, I want to live to be one hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you" to the more pragmatic Groucho Marx - "I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury." Ah, the sentimentality of my homeland. The writing is in red metallic ink, mounted to purple cardstock with little gold corners.
I had a wonderful time with Amy and I think she did with me, one of her last e-mails to me said:
"Can you do calligraphy for just random things in my life, grocery lists etc, I don't want this to be over!"
Have I ever calligraphed a grocery list? No. Will I? Of course!!
*It was also fun to speak my native tongue - like using "wicked" instead of "very." I'm sure I also dropped an "r" here and there and words cannot tell you how lovely it was not to be picked on for saying "AWrange" instead of "ORange."
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!
Working with Cindy from Encore Events is always so much fun! Each time the Bravo! Wedding Affair comes around I can't wait to hear what she's thinking about doing with her theme for that show. This past November is was an idea she's been mulling over for awhile - Moonlit Beach. I love what she, along with Kay of Flowers for You, came up with!
This is the ceremony site - it's not just the freezing cold Portland temps that are making me dream of the beach! (photo courtesy of Paul Rich Studio)
This is the reception area, isn't it lush? When I win Powerball, I want to dine at lush tablescapes like this for every meal. Every single one. (photo courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography)
My contributions to the room was writing* on sand dollars...
... as place cards...
(photo courtesy of Jessica Hill Photography)
... and then the bride & grooms initials on the teeniest sand dollars - so cute!
(photo courtesy of Paul Rich Studio)
I can hardly wait to find out what Cindy has up her sleeve for the February Bravo! Wedding Affair!!
*I'd like to think when I win Powerball I would do my own calligraphy for my lush tablescapes... we'll just have to wait and see ;-)
Oooh! I've got a disc FULL of gorgeous pictures of the Bravo! Wedding Affair from last month. The disc generously comes from Paul Rich Studio.
A little while ago, I cross posted to a blog entry from Champagne Wedding & Event Coordination. They, along with Helene of East West Floral Arts came up with the design for their Garden Vineyard room. How beautiful is this?!
I'll always remember walking around looking at all the eye candy - and wondering "why do I smell grapes?" This would be why - and that's up on the ceiling, my friend! So pretty! This was early in the day, there's a suspended candle in there, really lovely when they're all lit up.
My contribution to the room was a chalk board listing the vendors. This is such a great eco-friendly way to get information out. I rent out the chalk board and write whatever you'd like - a list of vendors, or a menu, program, meeting agenda - then the board comes back home and all the lettering comes off and the board waits to head out to its next party!
Thanks again to Paul for the pictures and Mandy & Rachelle of Champagne Weddings & Events for asking me to contribute to their room!
I'm very excited to be part of Bay 13's Bridal Expo this Sunday. Please come by and say hello!
Last night my e-mail box was blessed with photos from the February Bravo show. I wanted to immediately get them on the blog but knew I was too tired and too excited (think a 5-year old past bedtime) to make any sense.
After a good night's sleep I'm not tired but still excited so I'll try to make sense of it all. The Bravo Wedding Affair is held in a hotel, each ballroom and pre-function room is assigned to a wedding planner who works with the vendors assigned to their room to decorate it according to their theme. This is when the planners get to cut loose and bring their vision to reality. It's always so much fun to help out, they're so creative and come up with the greatest things.
For the February show, Cindy Rosen of Encore Events hit me with some fantastic and fun ideas for her Oregon Vineyard theme (for those not from around here and not familiar, Oregon puts out some fantastic wines. Oregon Pinot Noir has often kicked even French Pinot patootie in taste tests. Oregon represent!) OK, I'm admittedly not a devoted vinophile, I'm obviously a tad proud of my state ;-) so it was even more fun to work with Cindy & her great theme.
First up, the place cards...
These little wine glasses held tea lights to act as the place cards AND a light source. The lettering on these glasses is removable, so they're eco-friendly (hello! we're in Oregon). For a real wedding it would by easy-peasy to make the lettering permanent and this would also act as a favor. Multi-tasking at it's finest - place card, light and favor
Next up, the signature cocktail from Premiere Catering...
I'm never happy when scheduling conflicts mean I miss the Bravo shows, and this time I was even more unhappy when I found out Premiere would be one of the vendors in Cindy's room. They always do a spectacular job! I did an eco-friendly chalkboard to compliment the room's colors of eggplant, sage, copper and all things vineyardy.
And now - cake signage. I think the toughest thing about being a calligrapher is doing menus - me want CAKE!
Of course the purpose of the photo is for me to wow you with my calligraphy and don't get me wrong, I'm proud of my work but ... c'mon...read about that cake - how awesome (it is 9am and I haven't had breakfast, can you tell?)
I've saved the best for last - the "guest book."
This was Cindy's idea and I'm thrilled she asked me to bring it to life... signing a giant wine bottle. It would be fun to say Cindy & I drank the whole thing because artists must suffer for their art, but it's not true. She received it from a rental company who grabbed it at an event. Again with an eco-friendly chalkboard, completely reusable.
Many thanks to Nataliya Sostin Photography www.sostinweddings.com for the lovely photos. A big shout-out to Kevan Inouye who provided the gorgeous and luscious floral of which you've only seen teasing hints.
