Blog Love: Oh So Beautiful Paper

Thank you to Nole for featuring me yesterday on Oh So Beautiful Paper! One of my FAVORITE paper blogs.

http://beautifulpaper.typepad.com/oh_so_beautiful_paper/2009/12/wedding-invitations-belamour-design.html

Masking Taplecloths and more

It seems like a simple solution, but it works. Here are a couple simple ways to use masking tape as a detail at your reception. Some might be a littler harder to execute then others, but that is why you hire professionals!

I must admit this wouldn't work for all weddings, but if you are creating a modern decor wedding, then this could be a very cool way to create your own "tapleclothes". All you would do is take a circle, round, or long table and drape it with a white tablecloth. Then use one color of masking tape for each table. Create the cross hatch pattern as pictured below on the top of the table. You would need to allow space when affixing the tape to the ground for guests to pull chairs up to the table.
(Image courtesy of rebecca ward)

If my first idea was a little too much for your wedding, my second suggestion would be to weave a different colored masking tape into the back of the chair. An example of this done with ribbon is pictured below. You can use the same technique with masking tape. Instead of using one color on all the chairs. Infuse colors randomly on different chairs. Could be a really cool effect to get a nice pop of color into the reception. Try to minimize the the rest of the decor to white if you are going to try to do this.
(Image courtesy of michelle rago)

My last idea would be to use different neon colored to create a ceiling to a plain tent. Most people normally drape fabric in the ceiling of a tent to give it more of a sophisticated look. Instead of using fabric, use masking tape. Weave it and create depth along with a visually stunning design. For example, the images below come from an installation that was done for the Kate Spade store in Tokyo. The ceiling of the tent will become an amazing work of art for your guests every time they look up.
(Image courtesy of rebecca ward)

Object 2: Masking Tape

I think these pictures say it all...AMAZING. I have always been fascinated by using materials in different mediums then you would not typically first think of. Tricking the mind to see something that isn't associated with the actual material used in the art. This week the object is masking tape. A very simple object that is typically found in a taupe color used for sealing boxes.

(images courtesy of rebecca ward)

The Bottled Candle

Tone: vintage, rustic feel, exposed wood, chipped paint
Location: Georgia, springtime, night
Numbers: 150-200 people
Venue: Outdoors, clear tented wedding, cocktail hour outside overlooking farm lands/hills

The greatest freedom for creativity at a wedding, to me, is that escort card element. Many think that it is simply a piece of paper card that tells someone where to sit. If that is the case, you are very wrong.

My vision:
Before you enter the main tent for the wedding reception, there is smaller entrance tent that is connected to the main tent. The guest file into the small tent first. The sides and ceiling are draped in black fabric. Projected the ceiling of the tent is small white lights moving around made to look like fireflies. In the center of the tent is a large willow tree, the tent has been built around it; wrapping around the mighty willow. The branches are falling inside the tent. Hanging from the branches are old glass apothecary bottles.

(example of what hanging candles might look like)

Different sizes, different colors, different shapes. Each one filled with two components sand and a candle. On each bottle is a glow in the dark label with the guests name and table number. When the guest find their name then will take the bottle off the tree branch and carry it to their table.


The procession of the glass bottles, with sand and the candles moving through the dark room and into the reception tent will be a beautiful procession for the guests. The candles can then rest of the table as added lighting decor.

After the reception is over. All the sand from the candles will be taken out and put into a large container for the bride and groom to keep; it is a part of every guest that they can have for the rest of their lives.

The hourglass was broken down into it's basic elements; glass and sand. I used these elements paired with the meaning of the hourglass; the measurement of time. The bottled candles represent time passing through the lives of the bride and groom, the people they have met, the people they know and the time to come; the past, present and future.

Object 1: Hourglass

Most commonly known as a tool to measure time. One of the bulbs is usually filled with fine sand which flows through the narrow tube into the bottom bulb at a given rate, typically for one hour. Once all the sand has run to the bottom bulb, the device can be inverted in order to measure time again. The sand is a measure of the past, present and future.

Tune back over the next few days to see how I incorporate the hourglass as an element into a wedding.

FINALLY!

I have been thinking a lot lately about Belamour in general and how to grow my business into the business that I want. Someone asked me the other day "What sets you apart from everyone else?" I couldn't answer it right away, I got frustrated after thinking of it for 2 weeks and gave up, telling myself I was just like the rest. Another couple weeks went by and I started bouncing some ideas off of friends and people in the industry and I kept thinking. I kept saying to myself "I do it all". I combined all different elements of weddings into one company. I plan, I create, I execute all on a professional level. I don't outsource to other vendors, I don't have assistants. I work with the bride, I come up with the concepts and I am the one that gets to see my creative vision play out.

It hit me in a cab ride with my sister a few weeks back in Chicago when she said the words "Elements of Style". Beautifully said from the girl that gave me inspiration to start this thing in the first place. "My thing" is my "Elements of Style" creatively twisted in an unique, elegant, stylish way for each bride no matter the medium I am working with; planning, paper, lighting, floral or decor. They are all my own Elements of Style. That is Belamour.

That all being said. I have (FINALLY) figured out how to use this blog space as a creative outlet for myself and also for the people that follow me. For now, each week I will start with one object. With that object I will create ideas for save-the-dates, invitations, ceremony programs, guest bags, lighting, flowers, centerpieces, linens, decor, dessert bars, cakes, send offs, transportation, specialty cocktails, food and on and on.

I hope this serves as a place for creativity to flourish. Enjoy!

Black and White

It has been way too long. Summer is finally over and fall is kicking in. I am finally getting a grip on things and have some images to share.

A couple weeks ago my good friend and photographer Michelle Joyce (www.michellejoycephotography.com) took some beautiful pictures of some of my more recent work. A had the chance to photograph invitations and details from a couple different weddings throughout the last year.

The first one I will share was a wedding I worked on back in August. I worked with a bride from New York. She was married in downtown Philadelphia where she grew up and her family still lives.