A San Diego Wedding

A few weeks ago I shared this picture on Instagram (@katiecarranza) with the caption: "I'm heading to San Diego for my mom's wedding! Packing everything up is getting me excited to see it all come together."  I love planning parties and this is my 3rd wedding I've been able to be such a big part of the planning and it is always so much fun! So I though I'd share just a few details from the wedding.

I worked with the amazing Wendy of Stem & Leaf to create these beautiful custom invitations and both my mom & I were thrilled and impressed with how well they turned out. And guess what, they're not printed on kraft paper...Wendy just worked her magic to make it appear that way to keep the printing cost down for us!

Here's a quick picture I snapped of the addressed envelopes before I sent them out. (Addresses blurred to obviously protect the innocent.)

My super awesome talented sister-in-law helped me put together this incredible "naked" cake and I am in love with how it turned out. I hand cut the cake topper out of gold glitter paper and attached it to wooden skewers and pressed into the cake.

For the send-off, I last minute saw the idea of using glow sticks, kind of like a safer sparkler alternative. And they turned out to be a big hit! People even snuck them before it was time for the send-off and had fun with them, I just wish I had ordered more big ones!

The guest book was a big piece of navy card stock  that I hand-lettered 

Elaine & Stephen 

est. March 21, 2015

Then had everyone sign so that it can later be framed and hung up.

The favors were another favorite of mine. I wish I could take credit, but my mom had the idea to have my OTHER talented sister in law watercolor a painting and put it in frames. And through the power of technology she painted one and then we scanned and printed out multiple copies of the San Diego skyline looking across the bay. I printed out a page of the flowers that coordinated with the invitation and hand-lettered e & s 3-21-2015 on them and tied it around the frames with twine.

And for your viewing enjoyment, here are some pictures of the beautiful bride! I was asked to be the maid of honor and I stood up with my mother's husbands daughter during the ceremony.

Card Books

Have you seen this super cute idea for cards?

pinned here

I loved the idea because I have saved cards from our wedding, my shower, my baby shower, and even Christmases.  But have never known what to do with them and hate to just toss them.

So I started out, with the plan to make it more like a book- using two binder rings.  I quickly realized- anyone who had more than 25 people at their wedding would NEVER be able to do this with a binder ring! absurd.  I would've needed 4 books!

So- I took a note from my favorite "book" designer, Elise Blaha Cripe & decided to just use some nice white satin ribbon I had on hand to bind them together.

& in case you're wondering- here's how I centered all my cards with 2 hole punches with a single hold puncher:

-Find your smallest card (usually a 4x6), and put one hold punch about 1/2" from the top.

-Take one of you many now-empty envelopes & center your card on it.

-Punch the envelope where the card is...then fold the card in half & punch through that same hole again.

(see where I'm going?)

You can use the envelope as your reference, or go back and hole punch the other hole in the card & use that.

I also did my bridal shower cards, as well as my baby shower cards!

A tip for "threading" your cards with your ribbon- take a bit of tape & wrap it around the end (like you're making the end of a shoelace).  Makes life much easier!

And double knot your bow, but be sure not to make your bows TOO tight- or else you won't be able to open the up!