As per our commitment, here’s some shots from the entirely-too-fun St. Patrick’s Day table we put together!

The inspiration, you ask? Think classic greens with an upscale twist. I wanted the vibe to be traditional and elegant with a punch of modern [of course] and a taste of funk!

I used these killer ladderback chairs [my new favorite chiavari alternative] in gold to really give that “old world” vibe to the table! The hanging potato wreath was a labor of love, in all gold!

I know it sounds strange to say, but I absolutely adore how the mini taper candles exude the vibe of Roman Catholicism. It wasn’t the original plan for it to do so, but once the centerpiece was in place… it just felt so perfectly Irish Catholic! What a way to celebrate heritage and history!!

And so you can see the fun, from above:

Now, some of you who are newer to my blog may not know this as well, but let it be heard: I am ALL ABOUT centerpieces composed of a filler-flower-only! These centerpieces packed with different types of leafy greens really get my heart racing! We also created these darling boutonnieres for the “guests” to pin on- because as everyone knows, if you forget to wear green, you’re gonna get pinched!

This plating style may be my favorite composure in quite some time! I love that the two base plates [gold charger and green dinner] are larger and centered while the salad plate is small and set at the bottom, near the guest, with the boutonniere on it! It just screams LOVELY to me!

And what’s a St. Patrick’s Day feast without a large glass of beer?? NOTHING, I say! We loved using these [almost uncomfortably] tall beer glasses to set the tone for the glassware at the party!

And who could forget drink flags?? NOT me! The water just screamed for an extra pop! This ribbon was pretty wide, and looked quite adorable when knotted onto the top of our stick to create the flag.

Stellar calligraphy was provided by Victoria at Inkwell Calligraphy. I just knew when I was plotting this table that calligraphed items were a must! These name cards have been made into mini banners that sit behind each person’s plate!

And some gorgeous, hand-written menus [with classic Irish dishes, of course!]:

Our cuter-kins little pots of gold as favors:

I stuck a leaf in for good measure!

And lastly, a few shots of our darling boutonnieres that you didn’t yet see:

And of course, my favorite:

If you’re asking if they were just as cute in person… the answer is YES! And cuter!

The lineup includes:

Table Linens from BBJ and La Tavola
Ladderback Chairs from Party Rental King
Plateware + Basics from Signature Party Rentals
Photography by Two Auer Photo
Calligraphy by Victoria’s Inkwell
Event Styling + Floral work by In The Now!

We here at In The Now have a TON going on this week- lots of posts and pictures and pretties, but nothing more exciting than our styleboard being picked of one of the top 3 over at Wedding Chicks for their design competition!! You may remember our ridiculously perfect color palette that started it all from here. Well, now we’ve concepted the whole thing out, and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

The contest winner will be styling a huge workshop with Chenin Boutwell + The Wedding Chicks and frankly, the idea that we came up with is so FAB, it pains me to think of NOT styling it. The details- in my head- are just amazingly ooey gooey goodness! Here’s the board that the WC gals put together for us. I supplied them with 60+ pictures for it, because that’s how I roll. THAT- y’all- is how I roll!

PLEASE GO HERE AND VOTE FOR US!!. We’re styleboard #2!! You can vote as many times as you’d like. The voting ends Saturday, March 20th! Would truly adore the support- especially if what we’re showing you so far looks unique and piques your interest as much as it did ours, putting it together!

**All new posts will go under this one until Saturday, March 20**

Oodles and oodles of things like poodles!! Vote, vote, vote!!

xoxo,

A.

Hello!!! I can’t believe that I haven’t squealed with excitement to all of you, shouting from the rooftops about Candice and Geoff and their very quickly pending nuptials!

Candice is an In The Now-er. She’s one of us. She’s an integral part of my team and I absolutely adore that I can call her a friend. Read her awesome sauce bio here. I met Candice when she applied for an internship with In The Now. We were kinda like an instant click. Her husband is in a band. My husband was in a band. She’s an easy-going hard-worker, I consider myself a [struggling] easy-going [trying] hard-worker. She rocks. And I love it about her.

So when her and Geoff got engaged, we planned a meeting and set into motion the epic ideas that will come to fruition this weekend. Yes, this weekend. In keeping with the theme of awesome, Candice also had the heart-rushingly amazing idea to have a short engagement of only 2 and a half months. And we rocked it out. Talk about getting things DONE! It’s just how we roll!

Although Heather and Grayson ofJagger Photography aren’t the ones who will be photographing their wedding [as they're personal friends and C+G and we encourage friends to be friends on one's wedding day, to allow vendors to be vendors], they DID get a chance to take some amazing engagement photos from them! So, a big fat YAY to Jagger Photography for these! I’m totally dying over them, and you MUST visit their blog to see more!!

Oh P.S. there’s a gazillion pictures in this post! Forgot to mention. :)

And yes, she’s that gorgeous in person, too.

Adore everything about this, below:

Totally ‘dorable!

This is why people like photo-journalistic style of photography:

Such a great moment!!

My favorite of the session:

Stone cold foxes:

And one for the road, to give you those warm fuzzies:

If I have one thing to say about their wedding, it’s MODERN fun! Think white, turquoise, citron, sherbet colored flowers, woodland creatures, crafted details… it’s gonna be a great time!

xoxo,

A.

Hellloooo there! It’s me. Rachel. Newest member of the In The Now design team. Nice to meet you! I hope you have a dish nearby, because you’re gonna need it to catch your drool after you look at these fantastical images.

Hmmm…maybe that isn’t the best mental picture. Well, I’m new at this blogging thing so you can excuse it, right?…..(Please come back, because if you don’t Amanda might revoke my blogging privileges and then the world wouldn’t be the better place it is now because I talked about drool bowls). Anyhoo, I L.O.V.E. this table. I really do. Every time I look at it, it makes me smile. Maybe it’s because it’s the first design I really worked on (all the way down to the knitting of the silverware cozies)….

Maybe it’s this tasty pop of teal….

Maybe it’s the slammin’ brick placemats….

or maybe the square marshmallows (which we ALMOST ordered from Oregon. Because we are THAT committed to our design….or maybe just because we’re crazy…)

Any which way you slice it, this design was a zany caper from start to finish. Once we were given the rules for the Utterly Engaged Design Challenge (the centerpiece had to be mainly constructed of industrial materials) Amanda told me her idea of having a plexiglass fireplace. I thought, “It’s okay. Once her crazy pills wear off we’ll talk real design.” I just couldn’t envision the flames she was talking about. But once I saw the graphic from Cathy Olson at Love At First Invite, I knew we were on the right track. I don’t know how we got paired up with such perfect vendors, but we did! They just “got” the design without needing to be told exactly what to do. Plexiglass menu’s and placecards?? Yes please!!

And Lauryl Lane’s florals from Lauryl Lane Floral Artistry were spot on. The variety of berries and leafy goodness added just the right amount of warmth while still keeping it modern. And last but not least, all the additional details that completed our whole look.

Mmmmm. A whole bowl-full of delicious num nums, with our hot-teal-tastic accent color pumpin’ it up. ::sidenote:: Isn’t that chunk of brick missing on the right under the menu just fantastic? Love the semi-grunge feeling it gives.

I’m not much of a milk fan, but I want to guzzle it down JUST because it’s in those killer-cute mini carafes. I have a major weakness for anything mini or oversized.
And for the guests to take the modern warmth home, Amanda made up little boxes wrapped in faux bois wrapping paper that held tea bags (Yup. Sewed by the Mands herself with teal thread) and rock candy swizzle sticks to plunge them deeper into the depths of the sugar induced coma they’re already in due to the all dessert menu. Sounds like my kind-o party!

And finally, my crafty contribution, the silverware cozies.

Just a reminder for those of you who have already forgotten what the whole thing looked like together because of glorious image overload…

And there you have it! Until we meet again sweet readers.

List of Fantasticity
Photos: Two Auer Photo
Florals: Lauryl Lane Floral Artistry
“Paper” Products: Love at First Invite
Linen: La Tavola
**and a special thanks to my amazing husband who didn’t murder me while I took over his shop to put the plexiglass stuff together**

Steph and Tom are my friends. They are lovely. They are wonderful. You may remember them from the surprise engagement session that I posted a while ago. You’d remember them because their cute.

And now that their wedding planning is well on it’s way, I’m thrilled to say that this is going to be one of the most special events of the season for me! Not only because Tom and Steph are my friends, but because they’re actually tying the knot at the same place my husband and I did nearly SEVEN years ago [crazy, how time flies]!! Working a wedding at The Oak Knoll Club in Ladera Ranch will be so fun- but Steph’s vision for the big day [think Paris shrouded in black, cream and chocolate tones with a cocktail-style dessert affair] is even more highly anticipated!

Their engagement pictures are courtesy of Trever Hoehne, an ever-fave of anyone with an eye for artistic ability and heart! I’m pumped, y’all! Totally 100% AMPED on this event! So, to get you into the spirit of it all… here’s some of their actual engagement session by Trever:

This image was shot in one of my favorite locations of all time- Santiago/Trabuco Canyon. It’s where I grew up and went to Elementary School. The area, the lush surroundings, and the vibe of the canyon hold such a special place in my heart. This picture represents it so accurately!

Is Steph not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?? ADORE the dress. Adore the style. Adore the “darkness” of the shot!

Counting down the minutes until their July wedding!!

xoxo,

A.

Oh, Jose Villa, the world is a more beautiful place because of you.

It may be officially unholy, how much I love these images. Jose is well respected in this industry for his clean, artistic style and it’s no surprise that so many artists just gravitate to his work as inspiration. I’m so thankful for inspiring people like this who continually push me to be at my best.

Soak it in, my lovely readers- this one is easy on the eyes!

Happy Friday, y’all!

xoxo,

A.

Can you believe I’m posting something at 5pm? I can’t. It [a little bit] grosses me out. I’d wait to release it until the ‘morrow but I just can’t do that. I’m too excited. And plus, we’ve got lots of deliciousness ahead- whose to say this particular moment of delicious needs to wait?? I say thee nay!

I just stopped by in the midst of my afternoon to share with you a lovely image that I find particularly drool-worthy. You may have seen our color board for the March Tabletop a few posts back, and here, my lovelies.. is a snippit of the fruition of said color board:

More to come on that later! Hope you’re having a splendid week. I’ll try my best to keep our blog fresh, inspirational, and regularly scheduled as wedding season sets into motion.

Here’s to keeping your head on in the midst of chaos!

xoxo,

A.

Okay so tell me honestly… who doesn’t have a crush on the fabulousa wedding blog What Junebug Loves? I know that I have for years, so this is a particular honor!

I’m thrilled to announce that our Utterly Engaged Designer’s Challenge Table was featured last Thursday! I’ll be posting tons of photos here [shortly] as well, but for now, go gift your eyes with some gorgeousness over at Junebug’s Post!

Brick place mats and plexiglass menus and faux bois plates with pops of deep teal and hot cocoa. Like, seriously for real! I love it!! Hope y’all do too!

xoxo,

A.