Holiday Craziness

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

I am a huge fan of Christmas, but here in Texas it feels more like May lately... so that really puts a damper on my holiday spirit some days. I miss the snowy weather of Maryland! I remember the first Christmas I spent there, we had a freak Snowpocalypse and it snowed about four feet. It. Was. Awesome. 

Weather aside, the holidays are one of the most popular times for proposals and that gets me excited any time of the year! I love the idea of a Merry Christmas Proposal... my favorite one was documented in a YouTube video last year: 

He built Mainstreet USA for her!! Awesome!! We'd love to hear some of your proposal stories! I know mine was completely "us".

I had just returned from a trip to Germany and was sort of expecting it already. He surprised me at the airport with a huge bouquet of my favorite flowers. He had it broken into three clues that he gave me throughout the drive home: a wooden heart, a small horseshoe, and a mug with a bee painted on it. I was so tired and cranky about flying, time changes, losing a contact, having a headache, etc., that I could not figure these clues out for the life of me! I was even getting mad at the clues because I couldn't figure it out haha. I just wanted to SLEEP! 

So, he takes me to this pond where we had Valentine's Day just a year before and has me close my eyes and he puts a bunch of candles around me. Of course, they don't light because it's a little windy and OF COURSE rude people would set up their fishing camp five feet away. So, we had to pack up our candles and move up. Steven eventually had to give me the clues because I couldn't figure them out - the wooden heart was "would", the horseshoe was "you", the mug with the bee was "be" and when he pulled out the ring, he said, "my wife!" Haha and to top our whole proposal off, he pulled out the ring upside down since he was all nervous. It was totally us, since we always have plans go slightly awry when we make them! That's why our proposal is so special to us...it fit our personalities perfectly! 

Anyway, congratulations to all of you newly engaged or continuously married couples out there. Tell us your proposal stories, we'd love to hear them!!

From Wildflowers and Lace Invitations, we wish you all a very special, merry holiday season! 

Our Cards and Pockets Entry

Well, even though we didn't win, we were awfully proud of our entry! We though it was a unique twist on the Cards and Pockets' signature pocket folder. The elegant eggplant combined with the lavender accents provided the perfect backdrop for this French-inspired invitation suite. We borrowed a custom stamp used in one of our current clients' invitation suites to top it all off with a personalized touch.

The first thing we like to point out is the binding on the right hand side of the suite - the solid eggplant baker's twine was carried into the belly band as well, pulling it together. 

Once you open it up, you can see that the hand binding tied in a beautiful, unique center fold featuring a music score printed on a white vellum showcased in an eggplant frame. 

The French theme is also carried with the classic fleur de lis, which is a symbol of royalty.... not just the Saints people!

The French theme is also continued with the full spelling of the RSVP.

The suite expanded - as you can see, that fleur de lis continues through!

This was the photo we actually submitted - they said you could only submit one photo. If we had known we could have made a collage to submit as one photo, we would have definitely done that! Next year, my friends, next year.

Well until next year, Cardsandpockets.com. We will be back! 

Busy Week

This has been quite a busy week following our Thanksgiving break! Nnicholas is a nut-case, our house was a disaster zone after Thanksgiving, and a few deadlines are looming for us!

We are closing in on the due dates for the Mosmeyer and Macias weddings, and I still have quite a bit of work to do! In the midst of all of that, we got our very first "organic" order! I call it organic, because it's someone who has absolutely no connections to us. She found us on Etsy, loved our invitations, and ordered! We are so excited and feel so blessed that we are trusted by a complete stranger for one of the most important elements of her special day!! We are so excited to see what's in store for us in the future.

Until then, it's back to the drawing board for the digital designs of the inserts! Here are a few examples of the digital designs we've worked on this week so far.

Of course, they look nicer without the important info blocked out, but at least you can see the designs!

Hopefully, we can get some work knocked out over the weekend! Including cleaning up my studio ;)

My Garden Dream Wedding Vs. Reality

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-southerland/wedding-fantasy-vs-reality_b_2090229.html

This article on fantasy vs. reality weddings by the Huffington Post gives a number of examples of what can happen to your perfectly envisioned weddings and provides a few solutions to help make that fantasy more of a reality.

In my own experience just this past May, I too was trying to pull off a fantasy wedding weekend set in the great outdoors and followed up with a beautiful, yet fun reception! I started the plans from Maryland, which was a reality check in and of itself. I had to scrape up money to travel a single time to San Antonio to scope out, in one weekend, all of the possibilities for venues. In SA, heat is the main issue we were trying to avoid and with a mid-May weekend, it really was a toss up. Plus there is always a small chance of rain and it just so happened this year we actually had a lot of it! Such was the beginning of fantasy vs. reality and learning how to cope.

Fantasy: Gorgeous, brightly lit, comfortable outdoor ceremony with cool weather and set in a lush garden with lots of flowers.

Reality: San Antonio, Texas had been in a drought, greenery was scarce, and it's hot as hell sometimes! Plus, there are fire ants, mosquitoes, and bugs tend to grow to massive proportions due to the year round warmer temperatures.

Solution: 
We scoped out many venues, from a southern mansion to even my parent's house. We found the San Antonio Botanical Gardens as an afterthought and it ended up being "the one".

This is Steven's Aunt Patsy who, along with his mom, helped me scope out the places in San Antonio - the gardens even had ducks to feed if you wanted to tour the gardens after the ceremony!

They water their gardens regardless of rainfall, so we were pretty guaranteed to have lush greenery. We just lucked into a rainy year this year somehow. For the heat, we contracted out Aztec Rentals for a few cooling fans placed strategically around the audience just in case the temperatures went crazy and hit 105 like they did the year before. Boy what a disaster that would have been! Plus, for my programs, I crafted them with a fan shape so that my guests could fan themselves off if they were too warm. By the way, if you're having an outdoor wedding, think about that electricity you might need - if you're in the middle of the field, there are more than likely no outlets for microphones or cooling fans if you need them.

Our ceremony setting was the amphitheater.

Our programs set up on a table before you walk to your seat.

Fantasy: A stunning string quartet playing unique selections as we float down the aisle, glowing!

Reality: String quartets are expensive. Most have set menus of selections you can have for your trip down the aisle, most of them trite and overplayed. Plus, there was the issue of sound - will they be able to be heard over the other noise of cooling the audience down? Oh! Where will they sit... and did you contract enough chairs to accommodate them? And did you think about your bridal party walking in time with the music?

Solution: 

DuAnn Hamby with the San Antonio Symphony is part of a group found at StringMusic.net and they were honestly the most reasonably priced string music available for weddings. I opted for a string trio instead of a quartet because it saved money, and really, there is no need for a second violin! If you need to save money, a trio is the way to go vs. a quartet. They were fantastic about playing whichever music I wanted. For my trip down the aisle, I desperately wanted to walk to the introduction from Polovtsian Dances, and they went out and found the music, learned it, and played it perfectly in time with my father and my pace. They were fabulous and even timed the music with the bridal party instead of us having to worry about timing ourselves to them. Aztec rentals was great about accommodating our chair needs as well, and we were able to change numbers up until about 2-3 days before.

Fantasy: A beautiful old-timey limo to whisk us away after the ceremony.

Reality: Those are expensive and very hard to find with all of the competition for them!

Solution:

We had connections with the classic car club in our local town and one of them generously offered to chauffeur us in their cherry red classic convertible for free. Awesome savings there - they were very friendly and accommodating because they knew Steven's family. We rewarded them with a gift card to thank them for their kindness. Sometimes you can look to the classic car club for alternatives to the vintage Rolls Royce limo you've had your heart set on.

Fantasy: A beautifully decorated reception where all of the family members could drive to easily and have a great time without worrying about driving too far home.

Reality: If the ceremony was in San Antonio, the family was based out of Floresville, and other guests flew in and were staying in San Antonio, it made more sense to have the reception in San Antonio. We looked at Texas Dance Halls closer to Floresville, but it was just too difficult to get to for our out of town guests. Floresville guests were already a good 35 minutes from San Antonio's southern city limits, so I didn't want them to have to drive through town in the middle of the night when the reception ended just to get home!

Solution: The Emporium by Yarlen is literally the ONLY really nice reception venue on the south side of San Antonio - I would describe it as a diamond in the rough. Looks sketchy as you drive up, but really it was gorgeous. The guests were completely floored by the venue - double staircases, glamorous dance floor, vaulted ceilings, chandeliers, the whole nine yards.

Plus, they do all of the decorating, cooking, serving, bar-tending, etc. They really do it all for you and will work with you to make sure it looks just how you like it. It is a fantastic place and very affordable compared to other comparable venues.

At the end of the day, having friends and family willing to help pull everything off really was what made the day flawless. They all jumped in when needed and made the impossible possible. Without all of them, it would have turned out to be a disaster! If you have a big support network, your fantasy really can come true if you are just willing to be a little bit flexible on some things!

And really, if you just accomplish your main goal of leaving as husband and wife, the day was a huge success. 

Fast Flying Weekends

Weekends Pass Too Fast!

Each weekend we've had something planned here lately it seems. Weekends go by way faster when you have things planned. You want to plan something that's fun, but then on Monday, you feel like you've just been going, going, going! This past weekend was CRAZY full of things to do. Friday we prepared for Saturday, a big flight barbecue that Steven wanted to hold for his flight in the Air Force. We barbecued two briskets, four racks of ribs, and I had the pleasure of cutting up sweet potatoes for about 25 people!!!! Can you just imagine cutting up 25 people's worth of sweet potato fries? Wrist hurting yet?

Anyway, Saturday morning 7 a.m. comes and we are up and starting the pits. I'm cleaning house in between fry cutting and trying to get ready to host 25 people I have never met before. The day passes, sweet potato fries are turning out fantastically, and 2 pm comes and goes - the time when guests were supposed to arrive. Steven is having a near barbecue emergency as his two briskets were TOO juicy and started to boil themselves from the inside out.... hmmm. Interesting predicament - I helped save the barbecue and cut up the brisket to cook it in the juices and give it some more breathing room. So people show up, and we end up having a great barbecue well into the night! We even got to hang out with our neighbors, who ended up being  pretty awesome. There was a campfire, s'mores, this guy and his band sang around the fire, and everyone had a great time. I even got to meet some prospective clients! ;)

The next day was definitely a clean up day. On top of that, I spent the entire day designing and assembling our entry to the CardsandPockets.com invitation design contest. By the end of the night, I was so proud of my creation I decided to make two photography light boxes by hand to try to fake good lighting and capture the best picture. I don't know how long I sat there and took pictures - two hours maybe? I just took the same angle so many different times... with varying backgrounds... and finally captured the perfect picture group. Then I go to submit my favorites and find out they only want ONE PICTURE. How can you possibly capture the details of a wedding invitation suite in one picture?? The close up details are important, the color combination is important, the wording is important, the little elements you add throughout the suite are all important. I needed at least 10 pictures. Seriously.

The design is a spin off of one of my current client's suite design - I changed the last names and locations of course to protect their special day info, but they have a very unique design going and I'm very proud of my spin off design! It's actually my favorite one that I've made so far! Anyway, that took all day, but I still got to clean up the yard and dig out a bunch of painful stickers in the yard so that we could mow the grass!  One day we will have nice grass... instead of a desert. Until that day, though, we'll keep mowing our weeds.

Onto the next weekend full of activities!

Closing the Week

Well I just want to close this week saying how thankful I am to have the opportunity to basically get paid to start my own business! While at my day job, my boss generously allows me to work on my invitations! It makes progress move so much faster.  Just this week, I was able to cut out all of the components needed for one of the brides, take multiple SEO classes and sign up for webinars online, and even begin the process of assembling. Within a week! That's insane! And awesome. 

Here is a peek into some of the work I did this week.

With my new Big Shot machine, I cut 150 frames out for a component of an invitation suite I'm working on.

My business cards came in! 

After cutting the frames, I printed and cut the main invitations, the backings, and started the assembly process! How exciting... I am super thrilled about seeing how the finished, polished product will look. I am soooo positive they will be breathtaking!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! See ya'll Monday! ;)

Monday Marketing Madness

Happy Monday everyone! Most people dread Mondays, but since starting this business, I actually look forward to it! Each Monday brings a new week to improve our marketing standing, visibility, and browse for ideas and inspiration for our future samples! Now, I still want to do mostly completely custom, individualized wedding products, but until we have customers to do that with, we'll just keep making samples!! This week brings some exciting updates and changes for our little start up company.




Big Shot Die Cut Machine

Very exciting for me as the designer of the team! Tori Tedder is my demonstrator with Stampin' Up and she has been super helpful when it comes to improving my design and production process! Even though she lives in Washington and I am based out of San Antonio, she helped fill me in on all the perks of this wonderful machine! I'm excited to use it on one of my very first couple's wedding invitations - Cecilia and Steven. They are a very musically inclined couple, so within their unique booklet design is a framed piece of vellum with a music score printed in eggplant ink!! The best part will be the fact that the music score was written by Steven himself. The frame would have been tricky for me to cut by hand, so I knew that we had to upgrade. Thanks Tori, for all of your help and support!! If you are interested in crafty things, I assure you she will take care of you - check her out: http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/torisstampinsite/

WeddingWire Rated 2012

We just teamed up with WeddingWire.com, one of the largest online sources of wedding vendors in the country right now! Over 20 million brides visit the WeddingWire network every MONTH! So, I'm hoping we get noticed a little bit more often. Not only that, but we are now partnered with all of the WeddingWire network to include: Project Wedding, Martha Stewart Weddings, BRIDES, Weddingbee, Best City Weddings, Wedding Aces, GayWeddings.com, EventWire, BirthdayWire, MitzvahWire, BabyShowerWire, and PromWire. Basically, a ton of exposure! We're excited to be featured by this wonderful company and we are so hopeful that we can get a few more chances to prove that we will cater to the customer!!






Cardsandpockets.com Invitation Design Contest

We have been in the process of designing a unique invitation suite to enter into the Invitation Design Contest by Cardsandpockets.com - we are really excited about the designs and would love to hear your unique ideas as well! November 5th is the deadline, so I better get to crafting that sample soon!

If there is voting involved, we'd love your support - we'll be sure to let you know! ;)




We are looking forward to what this week brings! I hope everyone else has a great Monday as well and we'll talk to you soon!

A New Journey

September 2012 marked a new journey into the professional world of handmade wedding invitations for Steven and I. Since our wedding in May, I had been going crazy thinking of all of the different designs I could have designed and how many other brides would want to have a hand in the design of their big day invitations. So, when I struggled to find a job right out of college, I just created my own job - by starting this company up! The future might be uncertain, but I absolutely L-O-V-E designing beautiful wedding invitations on beautiful paper. Plus, I'm a sucker for a love story - so each bride I've worked with tells me their own special love story and all of their cute details for their special day. Each stationery design incorporates what is special for that individual person and I just love that... it's such a rewarding job. Anyway, I'll let you all have some sneak peeks into my work a little bit later, but for now, I just wanted to introduce us here at the shop! I know it's corny, but I really do love to meet as clients and leave as friends!

Michelle Felux

Obviously, I'm the one in the dress - I thought uploading a few wedding pictures would be appropriate since I'm in the wedding business. This is a shot of my dad and I hiding behind a wall, crouching down... nearly crawling... before we went out for our grand entrance down the aisle! It was a pretty entertaining moment, really, we felt so sneaky!

Anyway, I'm a recent graduate from the Smith School of Business at UMD College Park, where I finished up my last few years of college... the first few were at Baylor University up in Waco. Hopefully, I can use my business experience to keep my little business up and running for as long as I can - I'm having too much fun with it as it is! Steven and I were married in May, 2012 - newlyweds! So yes! Vent to me, brides to be... I totally get you. :) I am the designer part of our little team.



Steven Felux

Steven is in front of the Paulaner Microbrewery in Munich when we were visiting my parents. He fell in love with German beer - but then again, who wouldn't!? We had a great time for his birthday here and he came away with a great love of traveling - to Germany at least!

He is my husband and the logistics part of the team - he helps make sure the materials are top notch and delivered on time! He is in the military and has lived in some cool places - Japan, Florida, Maryland (with me too in Maryland!) - he is a very good NCO and I'm lucky to have found such a level headed partner to go into business with!



Lou

Ok - she doesn't do much for our business, but she knows a lot of tricks and she's my dog! Who I love :) She serves as the "watch dog" around the house... the only downside is she only watches for lizards.

Oh, we do not drink coffee from the floor either - we had just moved in our house, so a few things didn't have a home just yet!














Kainen

Kainen is the little guy in the family - but with a big personality! He is Steven's dog, a Sheltie, and he chases all the stray animals off of our property.

So, I suppose his job is to protect us from strays!









Well that's our little family! We look forward to meeting you and hope we can write something worth reading... at least every now and then!