Diary of a Maid Of Honor

by Jennifer Crone

Being a wedding planner and designer, I’d say I’m some what of a wedding aficionado, to say the least. And with my sister’s recent engagement I’m going to be a first time Maid of Honor! I’m thrilled. My sister, Hilary, is marrying her sweetie high school sweetheart, Jeremy, this winter, January 15th. The venue is Orfila Winery in my hometown of Escondido, in north eastern San Diego. “But you live in New York!”, you scream at your computer screen. It’s true, but both Hilary and I have every confidence that I’ll be able to fulfill my M.O.H. duties across the nation. And you’re coming with me on my ride. Each week I’ll countdown to the wedding and post the goings on of the wedding.

Hilary found her dress in a snap. With her gorgeous figure and elegant and understated taste it was easy peasy. I wasn’t along for the dress shopping, unfortunately, but it was the next best thing with picture texts of her final choices. Hil, my mom, and I were in agreement as to which dress was the one. What does it look like? Well you’ll just have to wait for the photos for that one 😉

With an email full of recommendations from me, Hilary and Jeremy chose beautiful invitations in their color scheme of navy, black, ivory, and a tiny touch of plum. Their invites are custom from By Invitation Only, an Etsy seller I’ve featured here on the blog. In January the vineyard will be beautiful thanks to that never-too-cold San Diego weather, and I can’t wait to celebrate with my loved ones and my new brother in law. But I’m already nervous about getting them the perfect gift and delivering the perfect speech!

Come back next Tuesday for the Diary of  a Maid of Honor.

How To – Little Known Paperies

How To by Jennifer Crone

There’s something to be said for some of the well known online invitation shops. You can get something easy, templated, and simple. But if you want something different that you can guarantee that no one has seen before, try these presses out:

  • Milkmaid Press

    Milkmaid Press With invites as sweet as their name, you can’t lose if you’re having a wedding on the casual side. Try their Dragonfly invitation for a spring garden wedding or Aquarelle for a beautiful fresh watercolored spring palette. The folks at Milkmaid can also do custom orders and are very affordable. That’s what we like to see.

  • Olive Hue For thick paper and custom letterpress in unique and organic shapes, Olive Hue is for you. Bonus: They make jewelry as well.
  • Paperfinger If you care more about calligraphy than embellishments, Paperfinger is your perfect source for all things hand drawn and texted. And I don’t mean with a cell phone. They are also happy to work with couples having an eco friendly wedding in several ways.
  • By Invitation Only This Etsy-an knows how to make invites, in sweet little packages complete with belly bands and all. Johnny and River Street are my favorites.
  • Lucky Luxe

    Artful Beginnings Fabric Invites? Um, yes please. Also try Lucky Luxe for beautiful invites on hankies. Because some people get teary during nuptials, and because hankies last longer than paper.