And thanks to Jeffra @ WeddingWire for being so super awesome and believing in the styling that I do.

xoxo,

A.

Aren’t those one of the most amazing things you’ve seen? I mean, really. Really?! How fun are these! I unearthed them a while back while trying to search around for clear silverware and couldn’t WAIT for a chance to use them. Luckily, we got to team up with the super fab Jasmine Star to design a French Inspired Bridal Shower [that you can see here on Style Me Pretty].

They TOTALLY add a modern edge to a traditional concept. And can you believe they’re plastic? They’re plastic!

Whelp, that concludes the first installment of Design Dollop. Hope these plastic silverware inspired you as much as they did me. See ya’ next week!

Annnd remember, if you need some totally rad chicks to rock the design socks off any event, this is the place to be!

Ahh. That’s better, right? Now since you’re nuzzled in, let’s get it going! The idea was presented to us by Amanda @ Ruffled Blog, to style a shoot for her that was anything we wanted, with a vintage twist. Since my personal aesthetic is to push the box and add a modern twist to everything I design… I knew it had to be special. Enter Retro Vintage Outdoor Cafe. Serving souls all night long. The concept easily flowed from my mind to my fingers in a frenzy-typed email out to photographer Adrienne Gunde and from there, the details just fell perfectly into place. I’ll splice our ridiculous amount of pictures with the write-up that I sent over to Ruffled, just so you kinda know what’s going on. I hope your heart feels full and warmed [via pictures and coffee/cocoa] when browsing the images below. I know mine does. Truly, there is nothing better than love.

Okay so everyone lately has been focusing on bringing the indoors to the outdoors, and I love that about photography right now. I knew that if I wanted to do something like this for a shoot, I really wanted to challenge myself and take it a step further.

I immediately concepted the idea of building a cafe out in the wilderness. We found the perfect clearing with trees flanking the area and my ideas were set into motion.

As for the shoot itself, I imagined a couple deeply in love, newly-weded, who got distracted with the idea of a cup of coffee and some dessert on the walk home from their wedding. After the grand send off, after the dancing and drinks, after the party…. THIS is where the end up. At a quaint cafe, open late, laughing and loving the night away until dawn strikes and they mosey on towards home.

I love the idea of these two lovebirds reveling in the memories of their wedding day. Their feet ache, her head hurts from being pinned up, they’re exhausted… but they’re elated. Full of joy. Full of newness, hope, and love. Full of lemon crumble cake!

[sun slowly rising on them.... DYING!!]

The idea is that these two order a slice of cake, a tea, and a coffee, and chat the night away until the cafe closes and as they walk down a quiet side road in the breaking dawn… they give a whole new meaning to the term “walk of shame”. I adore the idea of a wedding “walk of shame”- like you spent the WHOLE night out and you’re walking down the road now barefoot, shoes in hand, veil off and hair let loose, ready to head to sleep finally.

I created a “wedding style” for our models- magenta, purple tones, gold and browns accented by the groom’s grey suit. Then I created our “cafe style” to be complimentary, simple and stand out on it’s own in buttery yellows, blue hues and warm ivory/wood tones. The light posts we brought in set the perfect stage and feel for our “open late” cafe scene.

The whole idea was this humble cafe that sets up their services in the middle of a clearing- just because they can. It’s their “thing”, and they’ve been doing it for years. Quite feasible that a young, in love couple would see it walking by and stop in for a couple of warm drinks on their way home and then splurge on a piece of cake. Of course, the sitting time creeps longer and longer once you realize how bad your feet ache and how tired you are- the night of the wedding is a perfect excuse to just take your time.

Phew! Don’t you just love that last photo? I think that’s how all newly-weds feel on their way home from their wedding! Glad to see you stuck it out through this whole post! But, hey- imagine having to pick which images to share?? It was a tough job that I took on, all for the love of you my readers!

One last run-down again of the vendors in an easy-to-find paragraph for you:

Adrienne Gunde Photography for the genius photos
Carlie B Hair and Makeup for our “danced-all-night” bride look
Found Vintage Rentals for everything cool you see pictured, essentially ;)
Classic Party Rentals for the rest [lamp posts, chairs and such]
In The Now Weddings + Event Styling behind concept, flowers, design…
Ruffled Blog for the opportunity, the feature, and the prompt!
The Vintage Bride for the gorgeous wedding gown
Posh Paperie for the ever-important paper and branding details
Nick and Yanessa Bowser for making everything look GOOD with the use of their physical persons [God-given, don't let it go to your heads! ;)]

Have a newly-wed moment today… whether you’re a nearly, a newly, or a seasoned pro at marriage… soak in the moments that make you flutter and flit all at once!

xoxo,

A.

Life imitates art. Which imitates life. Doesn’t this just feel like a surprise party in the making? Or a birthday debacle? Whatever it is, I love it quite a bit! Thanks ffffound for the lovely Friday you’ve just given me!

Treat yourself to a balloon today, and let it fly in the sky after a few hours of fun! Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference.

xoxo,

A.

Hope you’re loving this Friday like I am! I cannot believe half of the year has flown by already. 2010 has set itself up for so many amazing things- I almost am more excited to just look back at the end and see what unfolds. Until then, I’m hanging on with high hopes! Do the same, my lovelies!!

xoxo,

A.

P.S.- random fact- on this day, June 11, 2002- my husband and I started [re]dating! It was merely a year later when I had a ring on my finger and was planning in full swing. I remember 6/11 vividly because he asked me if we could “count it from the 10th” so it’d be easier to remember. How romantic!! ;) Here’s to never forgetting the little things!! And by the way- he’s never forgotten, 11th or not!

Shell’s Petals, don’t give up the good work!!

Happy Friday- brimming with promise and all things super lovely. Embrace the wild textures in your life today! Help them meld together to become something uniquely you, overflowing and spilling forth into this lovely world. :)

xoxo,

A.

Happy Friday- summer is almost here, which means we have an excuse to eat ice cream all the time!

xoxo,

A.

That’s us, at the very beginning of the shoot. I’ll explain more later [like, um, why it's pitch black out] but here’s one of the whole gang of us, at the end [minus the team from FOUND Vintage Rentals, who snuck out before we could snap em!]:

Pardon our attire- it was quite chilly out still! And it’s a bummer because you can’t see the EPIC IN THE NOW shirts that we were rocking!

From left, to right:
Nowie Rachel
Models Nick and Yanessa Bowser
Me! Me! Me!
Nowie [+ hubberkins extraordinaire] Josh
Carlie B, Hair/Makeup guru
Sweet Photog Adrienne Gunde

I like to call this the “good sport” team! This was not a shoot for the faint of heart- and we all came together as a force to be reckoned with! Something so empowering about that feeling. Totally in love with it! We couldn’t have also done it without Karrie Pyke, our lovely dress provided by The Vintage Bride, the veil by Candi Merle @ Crowning Glory and Classic Party Rentals. Have I piqued your interest yet??

This shoot is under wraps until we debut the amazingness on Ruffled, so stay on your tip toes! More to come!!

xoxo,

A.

This delightful sweets table that I’m sure you remember has seemed to get my blog and twitter friends clamoring with excitement! And rightfully so! Thanks to Cyd at The Sweetest Occasion for the wonderful little write up and feature of our perfectly placed desserts!

It’s an honor to be featured anywhere, but when blogs come out of the woodworks to love on something you’ve had your hand it… it’s truly a new level of humbling! Thanks to all my readers, friends, family and fans from my deepest heart… in ways you’ll never know, you are the ones that have kept me in this industry, creative and brimming with excitement! Jump on over to The Sweetest Occasion to see more of us and so so SO much more weddings!

Happy sunny day, y’all!

xoxo,

A.

And the infamous TISSUE POM POMS that [if you follow me on twitter, you heard me moan about a couple of days last week] my team and I made in the wee hours of the morning!!

Visit Nicole’s post for more images and leave her pretty pretty comments about her pretty pretty pictures! I cannot wait for y’all to see the ridiculously perfect vintage furniture that Jeni from FOUND supplied. You will flip. Like for serious.

Until then, hang on and enjoy the ride!!

xoxo,

A.

I’ll be honest- although the industry right now seems to be flooded with designers who are inspired with the recent remake of Alice and Wonderland [this re-creating their versions of Alice's Tea Party], the table that Grey Likes Weddings featured last week stopped my heart. In fact, ONE in particular detail left me swooning, big time…

The cake!! The mini three-tiered hedge of a cake with half painted red roses. You guys… I love it. I love the fondant work. I love the creativity. I love the attention to detail. I cannot get enough. The cake was crafted by the genius behind I Believe It’s Cake and for the past week [since I saw it] I’ve been trying desperately to find an excuse just to hang out in Laurie’s presence so I can hug her in person. You can visit the photoshoot feature and see many more pictures of the inspired design… but really, here’s what you’ll be looking for [and at!!]:

And yes- that little crown is the topper. But really, it’s the roses that send me over. And the fondant leaves. I’m not sure how aware you are but I’m obsessed with ANYthing shaped like a hedge!

I’m off to work a fabulous wedding with a wonderful couple at a top notch venue. What a way to start my weekend! Hoping this Friday finds you well, lovelies!

xoxo,

A.

With all the inspiration of rustic and western vibes, my mind went straight to wood backing. How more rustic could you get? With the perfect feminine color palate [all shades of purple, navy and mint green accented with cream and fruitwood tones], the wood backing ads just enough rustic to make it work! Believe it or not, the first one I whipped up is what we went with! We then used the same design ideas for the RSVP postcard and information card on a nice ivory base.

We used a heavy-weight, deliciously textured ivory stock for the paper goods and ivory vellum for the main invite. The shape was custom cut for us [a must with this design and really what sent us over the edge in love with it]. We then tied it all together with a lace ribbon inside of a precious box! The lace was the perfect pop against the wood and paper products- and we went with a modern, more “geometric” lace to compliment the feminine colors. I would LOVE to get one of these in the mail!

What I loved most about this project were the quirky colors paired with the rustic country chic look Lesa was looking for.  It just worked, and turned out so great, if I do say so myself!

Hope you all enjoyed hearing about it as much as I did making it! And just in case you weren’t excited enough after these for Lesa and Eric’s wedding photos… the super cute background fabric is actually what we’re custom making their napkins from for the event! Yippee!

love,

Shannon

It’s going to be truly beyond epic and I can hardly wait until all the details come together! More on that as we sift through the goodies! Thanks SO much to all our adoring friends, family and fans- we couldn’t have done it without you!

xoxo,

A.

This dessert display is sooo channeling Amy Atlas! I’m in LOVE with the simple color combo and the Valentine feel to it. By the way, did you know that Krispy Kreme sells these little delicious heart-shaped donuts on Valentine’s Day only?? Brittany picked them up from the store on the way down to the wedding and they were definitely worth the extra trip [as the closest KK to Pala Mesa Resort is actually in Mission Viejo!!].

And one more precious detail:

Alicia came up with the idea to glue these little colored envelopes into the guest book, perfectly sized for each guest to sign their own Valentine to the bride and groom! So Martha of her!

You know, that’s how we roll here at In The Now! Details are a big deal. Details are the real deal. And we love them to pieces!

Thanks to Adrienne Gunde for making this look like a million bucks! We looove the pictures!! Can’t wait to share more with y’all!

xoxo,

A.

Now, I know my aesthetic is clean, modern, simple design with a purpose but heck if I couldn’t work some of these pieces into one lovely vignette addition to an event!! I want to cuddle them. To spoon with them, even. A big, conga-line of spooning furniture and me in betwixt the pieces. le sigh.

Find some time to inspire yourself today!

xoxo,

A.

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!

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**

Favorite. Favorite. Favorite.

The laborious detail:

I’ll level with y’all: I’m exhausted just looking at this beautiful piece of art. Knowing the time and skill it took to craft it… just GUESSING the precision involved… yikers. My heart is bursting full of thanks for true artists like this. Perhaps a large-scale project in this manner of craft isn’t for you, but just a touch of this yarn-y, craft-y, homespun lovin’ would make any wedding a dreamy delight!

Happy Friday to you, my lovelies!

xoxo,

A.

Things I love about this invitation:

1. 45 degree angle.

2. Text as the WHOLE invite.

3. Marriage as the center, larger focal point.

4. Hello, it screams to be letterpressed!!

I just adore everything about it. I’m so thrilled that I got to design it so perfectly. What are y’alls thoughts on the design??

Hope it makes your heart dance like it makes mine to the mambo!

xoxo,

A.

It completely, 100% FIGURES that I’d plan yet another trip to my favorite area [the downtown LA garment and flower district] on a day when torrential downpour is very likely to ensue. Yet, my motivation is strong, and my excitement is rumbling inside my brain louder than the thunder could roll!! Here’s a little sneak of the colors I’m putting together for our lovely March tabletop. Of course it’s got an Irish feel to it- it’s March! I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s going to be outrageously, utterly, ridiculously fabulous. And that’s not just because it’s me putting it together. Okay maybe it is. Jury’s still out… I’ll let you all decide!

What do you think of when you see this? When you think of March?? When you dream of Ireland??? Curious to hear the answers that you come up with! It may or may not make it’s way onto the March table!

xoxo,

A.