Renewal in PA Part III – The Favors, Cake and Stationery

For the next installment of our Renewal in PA posts, I am sharing more today about our candy favors, Sylvia Weinstock Cake and the stationery by yours truly!  Have a look at previous posts here and here to catch up on all the detail!

A big part of our vow renewal planning process involved collecting. Some of my fondest memories in planning grew from the many trips we took as a family hunting down depression style glassware, old  sour cream glasses and linens to use throughout the celebration.  My Nana had a good sized collection of vintage sour cream glasses from years past that she would actually use day to day.  I remember fondly drinking from the brightly colored glasses adorned with bold blooms and intricate patterns.  I found the prices to be reasonable, most often at about $1.00 per glass and thought they would make the perfect favor for our guests.  We chose classic root beer barrels, caramel creams and white  nougat candies as the sweet filling for each glass.   Strips of graphic wallpaper (the same used on our photobooth backdrop) secured the candy in each glass.  A small tag printed on our signature watercolor effect paper was fastened with the cutest yellow and white baker’s twine from Bake It Pretty!  Betsy Dunlap created a digital version of our names and as you will see, we took full advantage of her artistry throughout the event.

Perhaps the single most exciting part of the vow renewal planning was designing my cake with the fabulous Sylvia Weinstock!  Based on my watercolor sketches from trips to Utah and a watercolor painting inspired by Sylvia’s iconic sugar peonies, this masterpiece came together just as I had envisioned.  Curious to see the original sketch , read about our first meeting or perhaps the story behind the design?  My beloved Clara French cake pedestal was the perfect home for Sylvia’s creation.  Each of these stands is hand glazed to lovely imperfection.  What I mean specifically is that each creation is one of a kind with the glaze dripping differently on each piece.  A huge thank you to the team at Clara French for taking my very last minute request!

The stationery for the event was admittedly simple.  Without too much fuss, each piece was mindfully crafted to capture the color, texture and mood of the celebration.  Gold shimmer stocks, Betsy’s lovely text, black velvet detailing and punchy dahlia blooms all combined to create a pretty palette of hand painted paper goods.  Our menu was served in stations with some passed goodies.  Each guest menu was painted using various shades of orange watercolor flooded together.  Touches of gold shimmer ink were placed into each petal when wet creating an explosion of color when dry.

Each table featured this fun card wrapped with a vintage hanky and black velvet ribbon.  Fun facts about The Cottage, information about the evening’s events and an open invitationt to explore the 3 floors of the old structure were all included.

Remember our Zane Gray altered book invitations?

Thanks again to Daniel for all the gorgeous photos.  The next and final post is all about our photobooth!

A Peek into the Studio: Renewal in Zion, Party in PA

So to give you an update on the renewal plans I though I would share a sneak peek at the ceremony invitations that just went out to guests!  If you remember our plans include a ceremony and small celebration in Zion National Park in May with a big party to follow two weeks later in PA.  Needless to say I have my planning work cut out for me as we are only 2 months away!!!  Thank goodness for my Mom as she has been making phone calls, scheduling appointments and basically keeping me sane.  Thanks Mom!

The save the dates went out before the holidays and were a big hit with our friends and family.   I wanted to follow up with a more colorful, typically “Kristy” style watercolor from one of our many trips to Zion.  Being inspired by my own clients like Brittany and Rebecca, I decided to created a similar style painted landscape invitation.

Of course, Betsy Dunlap’s  edgy script originally penned for our sae the date envelope back flaps needed to be included.  Betsy created a printable file of our return address and names so I was able to get creative with a bit of Photoshop love to use throughout this invitation set.

Over the years, after working with so many destination wedding clients I knew just what to include on our response card.  Destination celebrations are just as much about your guests as they are about you…like it or not   The response card is the perfect place to take a bit of extra time to find out what your guests may need.  For a small celebration dinner, special dietary requirements requests are a very personal touch I think.  Tentative arrival and departure dates will help us arrange for welcome gifts and transportation too!

So what else am I up to?

Just made a cake tasting appointment for next week (while in NYC for this) with Ms. Sylvia Weinstock.  All I can say is holy cow!  My first wedding cake was a struggle to say the least so I knew the renewal cake had to be amazing.  I will definitely be blogging about my experiences so stay tuned!  Being that the appointment is in the middle of the week, neither the hubby or Mom can go so I am on my own!

Gearing up to create the party in PA invitations using a vintage collection of Zane Gray novels found at a local antique dealer.  I purchased 65 books for about $50.00…this is going to be a blast!

Getting really excited for some amazing client projects coming up…just take a look at our Muddy Brushes gallery, it is brimming with handmade wedding invitation goodness!