featured: Victoria + Shaan's day-of details

Victoria and Shaan were married in March 2020, just prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, at El Chorro in Arizona.

It was an absolute pleasure and honor to work with them for their day-of details for so many reasons (starting with how kind, caring, and thoughtful they are, how fun their details were, and as a personal bonus - part of my own wedding vendor dream team was theirs).

Photo by Daniel Kim Photography of Victoria + Shaan’s El Chorro Wedding

Something that stood out to me when dreaming up their details was Victoria telling me that they wanted their whole day to feel like love, that they wanted their guests to feel as loved and appreciated as they would feel having their favorite people surrounding them.

Victoria and Shaan didn’t shy away from a bold color palette, and kept it grounded with black and gold paper - and the most gorgeous black velvet chairs. Their wedding was elegant, modern, and fun- with a hint of drama.

Photo by Daniel Kim Photography of Victoria + Shaan’s El Chorro Wedding by Shannon Smith Events with florals by Sarah’s Garden Style, seating cards and menu by hello, bird.

One of the first details I designed was their custom wax seal with a monogram. This monogram featured the first initial of their last name, with a little extra “magic” around the letter. The extra “magic” or sparkle was a nod to their love of Disney and favorite passage from Peter Pan that mentions, “second star to the right, and straight on ‘til morning.”

This monogram was turned into a wax seal to be used on their place cards. Place cards were slightly oversized, with guest names written in gold calligraphy. The beauty was really in the details of the place cards: hand-torn, raw edges, and a layer of vellum held in place by the gold wax seal.

collection of wedding details including clear textured votive candle holder, champagne glass, long and narrow black dinner menu with gold foil writing on top of black napkin and charger with gold rim; gold forks crossed on top of seating card

photo by Daniel Kim Photography of Victoria and Shaan’s El Chorro Wedding with paper by hello, bird - including raw-edge vellum and wax-seal layered place cards with gold ink calligraphy, and gold foil dinner menus

Victoria and Shaan’s dinner menus were gold-foil printed on black paper. The contrast is beautiful, and tied in perfectly with all of the hints of gold sprinkled throughout their wedding details.

Photo by Daniel Kim Photography of black and gold wedding stationery by hello, bird at Victoria and Shaan’s El Chorro Wedding

The monogram used on the wax seals can be seen on the top of each guest’s place card, and menu - and was also brought into the top of the bar menus. The couple added their own frames to their bar menus, and they’re such a perfect fit for their wedding day.

Photo by Daniel Kim Photography of the cocktail menu by hello, bird and florals by Sarah’s Garden at Victoria + Shaan’s El Chorro Wedding

Thank you, Victoria + Shaan, for letting me be a part of your wedding day!

Victoria + Shaan’s wedding vendor dream team: 

venue and catering: El Chorro  // cake: Růže Cake House // calligraphy + signage, and wax seal: hello, bird. // planning: Shannon Smith Events // florals: Sarah's Garden // photographer:  Daniel Kim Photography // videography: Conway Captions // invitations: Minted // rentals: Prim Rentals; Glamour + Woods; Event Rents // ceremony music: Sweetwater Strings // gelato cart: Frost

hair: Mohawks and Messy Buns // makeup:  Court Espinoza // wedding dress: Maggie Sottero // bride’s shoes: Bella Belle // Groom’s Tux: Ted Baker // Groom’s Shoes: Christian Louboutin

All photos in this post courtesy of Daniel Kim Photography.
Victoria and Shaan’s wedding was featured on
Martha Stewart Weddings.

2020 recap

As repeated everywhere, 2020 was filled with lots of unprecedented times.

COVID-19 brought the phrase social distancing and the word quarantine into regular use, made masks and hand sanitizers the new normal, and - for engaged couples planning a 2020 wedding - brought pivots or rescheduled weddings as we all tried to navigate these new waters together.

One of the silver linings? More intimate weddings make for even more personal details.

Hannah + Tom’s Microwedding Details by hello, bird. // photo by Love Me Do Photography

Hannah + Tom’s Microwedding Details by hello, bird. // photo by Love Me Do Photography

Hannah and Tom were married in the fall of 2020 at Fairmount Park Horticulture Center in Philadelphia. After rescheduling their May wedding, Hannah and Tom pivoted to trim their guest list of 160 down to 14 guests to both stay within local regulations and have a safe wedding. Some of their day-of details (pictured above) were a beautiful result of their pivot- and deserve their own blog post.

COMMON THREADS

All of the weddings I worked with in 2020 (including pre-COVID weddings) had a few common threads: incredibly thoughtful couples, bold colors, and some really cool details and paper shapes.

Here’s a few more of the highlights- with more to follow later.

black and gold floral and geometric acrylic table numbers by hello, bird. // florals by petal + paper // photo by MLE Pictures

black and gold floral and geometric acrylic table numbers by hello, bird. // florals by petal + paper // photo by MLE Pictures

I created black and gold acrylic table numbers for April and Bryan’s Congress Hall wedding in Cape May, New Jersey.

green and gold watercolor table numbers by hello, bird.

green and gold watercolor table numbers by hello, bird.

Lindsey and Bill were just ahead of the curve as they married in March with an intimate wedding at Barbuzzo Upstairs in Philadelphia. Some of their details included black tag place cards with their guests’ names in white ink, and some green and gold signage.

black and gold foil wedding menus and vellum and gold wax seal layered place cards by hello, bird.  // florals by Sarah’s Garden // photo by Daniel Kim Photography

black and gold foil wedding menus and vellum and gold wax seal layered place cards by hello, bird. // florals by Sarah’s Garden // photo by Daniel Kim Photography

Victoria and Shaan’s Arizona wedding at El Chorro was filled with colorful florals, and black, gold, and vellum paper details.

It was a pleasure and honor to work with such thoughtful couples in a year filled with so many unprecedented twists and turns. Here’s looking ahead to a future of more thoughtful couples and celebrations!

COVID-19 check-in

August 1, 2020 update

Hi friends,

Hope you’re staying healthy and safe!
I know that many couples are still facing the difficult and heart-wrenching decisions about their weddings and celebrations. If this is you, I’m here for you!

If you’re rescheduling:

  • I still have three clean change-the-date layouts available for free digital use. I was unable to find a totally free and user-friendly platform, so if you are needing assistance with my free digital change-the-date, please email me.

  • There’s no minimum, so if you’re looking for those little details, I’m happy to help!

If you’re looking for other fun things - please check out our online pop-up shop, or say hello!

I’m still at my in-home studio, monitoring everything, washing my hands like crazy, and wearing a mask when making a post office run.

———

ORIGINAL CHECK-IN: MARCH 18, 2020

Hi friends,

I know we’ve all been getting a ton of emails about COVID-19 (this strain of the Coronavirus), and with that- some couples have had to make incredibly difficult and heart-wrenching decisions about their weddings and celebrations.

In this unprecedented atmosphere, please know that I’m here for you if you want or need to talk through this. If your celebration is being affected, please know that I’m here to help in any way possible. This is incredibly heartbreaking, difficult, and totally new territory. I’m a huge fan of your love stories, and I’m feeling all the feels right along with you.

Any current clients needing to reschedule will take precedence over new bookings, but part of the beauty of my work is that I am usually able to accommodate multiple events on the same date.

In the meantime, I’ll be over here continuing to stay at home and in my home studio, monitoring everything, and washing my hands like crazy. Thank you for being so wonderful, and I’m here if you need an ear.

Sending lots of love + virtual hugs your way-

Warmly,

Ashley

Edit: March 21, 2020 -
FREE DIGITAL CHANGE-THE-DATES AVAILABLE

I have three clean and simple change-the-date layouts available for free digital use if your wedding was rescheduled. I am currently working towards finding a platform that allows them to be both a free and editable download. In the meantime, please email me for assistance.

Pennsylvania’s Governor Wolf has ordered all non-essential businesses to close, and that’s us- although I can still help via email.