Weaving a Floral Theme Into Your Wedding

Your wedding theme does not have to be limited to just a color... How about incorporating flowers or other botanicals throughout your wedding? Every part of your wedding, from the invitations to the programs to the cake, can be inspired by a floral choice. For example, if you love red roses, an arrangement of real dried roses on a handmade invitation can be something that your guests have never seen. Not only is this a beautiful invitation, but it conveys that you are elegant as well as unique, and your event will be nothing less. Your rose theme begins in the invitation and is carried to your ceremony in your wedding flowers. You can also present red roses to your and your fiancé’s mothers during the ceremony. At the reception, you can echo your theme in menus on the tables and your wedding cake. The invitations are just the beginning!

Petalos di Pauli Signature Invitation

 Tiffany and Chocolate Brown Cake

 Petalos di Pauli Signature Invitation

 Black, White and Red Cake

Ceremony Magazine Event at Rancho Valencia Resort and Spa

On October 20, 2009 Paula Dulan Estes, owner and designer for Petalos di Pauli, set out "to be dazzled" as an invited guest to Ceremony Magazine's annual party for advertisers and friends of the magazine. Paula was honored to have been included. She has had a wonderful working relationship with Ceremony Magazine for some time now, and her work will be featured again in their next issue.

As promised the event was "dazzling." It was held at Rancho Valencia Resort and Spa.  The venue has been voted a Top U.S. resort by both Readers' Choice Awards and by Conde Nast Traveler, and is popular for both parties and weddings. Why are they such a popular venue for weddings? The resort's website reads, "The spirit of romance in Rancho Santa Fe began when Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford rode horseback across the valley at the beginning of their great romance in the 1920's. This romance continues today at Rancho Valencia Resort. Forty acres of lush landscaping, bubbling fountains, dramatic views, impeccable service and award winning cuisine are the hallmarks of Rancho Valencia. This intimate and unique setting is the perfect backdrop for your wedding day celebrations."

What a perfect place for Ceremony to hold its annual party! The grounds were transformed by some of Southern California's finest wedding professionals such as Raj Tents and Wildflower Linen. The "Cuisine in Casablanca" theme was captured visually in beautiful teals, reds and oranges and deliciously expressed with foods prepared by exclusive local caterers.

For a lovely pictorial account of the event, visit our friends at Skybox Event Productions. Thank you, Amy and Jim Harrick for holding such a spectacular event! Look for our new South Asian Line of Invitations to be debuted in the February Issue!

Calligraphy

Ginny Moore owner of Calligraphy, Ink, calligraphyinkstudio.com , was intergral in the design of our popular LOVE invitation which is currently featured in Your Wedding Day magazine.  We recently asked Ginny about her work and this is what she shared with us:

Q: Paula has received great response to her LOVE invitation, which you helped design. What was your experience like working on the LOVE invitation?

A: For one thing, I loved working with Paula. She is so sweet, fun and artistic. She gave me an idea of what she wanted for the invitation, but she also really let me be creative with it. I have lots of different styles and even pen types I love to use in my calligraphy, but I rarely get to use more than one style per job. This is such a fun opportunity to get imaginative and really use lots of different looks together to play up the whimsical design.

Q: You mentioned your different styles of calligraphy.  We have had customers ask us why they should pay for a calligrapher if they have a computer.  Why should someone use a calligrapher instead of printing addresses out with their computers at home?

A:  For one, etiquette and tradition require hand-addressed envelopes for wedding invitations. Even if you can’t afford a calligrapher, the envelopes should be hand-addressed, even if it’s by the bride or a friend with nice handwriting. It stands out as such a personal touch in a world of emails and texting. Another reason is calligraphy really makes a statement. When your envelopes are beautifully calligraphed, it says to the guests that you take great pride in this event and it is something to be greatly anticipated! After all, the envelope will be the very first thing the guests see as a glimpse of the wedding! A gorgeous, hand-calligraphed envelope is striking and memorable. Finally, using a calligrapher greatly reduces time and stress over one of the most worrisome aspects of planning a wedding: the guest list. Calligraphers have been saving busy brides hours upon hours for years and years!

Thanks so much Ginny!

Working with Organized Light

Andreas Castaňeda is a talented photographer and a very nice person. His company is called Organized Light. I had the opportunity to work with him recently, and his photos were beautiful. Here is what Andreas wrote on his blog about our shoot:

Sep 17
Unique. Botanical. Beautiful. Artistic.
A few weeks ago, I had the great pleasure to photograph the creative work of Paula Estes, owner of Petalos di Pauli http://www.petalosdipauli.com/. Paula Estes, is a Botanical Artist who combines paper with natural elements to create unique stationery, invitations and gift wrap. Paula specializes in incorporating real flower petals, leaves and grasses into her designs. Her custom designed event stationery consists of coordinated ceremony and reception pieces, such as programs, menu and table cards, as well as complete invitation suites. Her work has been featured in magazines including Ceremony, Your Wedding Day and Special Events Magazine as well as being featured on Lifetime Network's Get Married with Colin Cowie in a segment called "The growing trend in bridal of going green."

Paula's hair and make up were done by Tara Dowburd-Luftman, a well sought after Make-up Artist and founder of Make Up Therapy www.makeuptherapy.com, a stylist studio that caters to red carpet events, film shoots and luxury weddings. On my drive back to the office, I was thinking about how I am always surprised at the amazing talent that is out there, and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to work with such talented folks that love what they do and do what they love. The images below are of her amazing work. Take a look and visit her site to see more of her custom work.