day-of details: new york baby shower

Making pieces to help celebrate life moments is one of my favorite things (and a huge honor!).. and when that life moment is a baby shower, it's all the more special!  

The love and anticipation for Baby Jaidi's arrival that got poured into her baby shower details make me want to happy dance all over the place.  

There's that saying that it takes a village to raise a child, which is why I LOVE(D) making these advice cards.  Watercolor washes in shades of pale peach and pink run behind each title, making it a little easier to separate the cards.  

I especially love that after the guests fill the cards, it's kind of like a second wave of gifts for each member of the family.  Mom gets to read her advice; Dad reads his advice, and when she gets here- sweet baby Jaidi will have welcome notes people that already love her.  More importantly, the new Mom and Dad get to be reminded that they're a team when they cozy up together to read their marriage tips.  

baby shower advice cards by hello, bird. 

I loved updating my watercolor 'Guess the Birth Date" calendar for Baby J!  The calendar was hand-painted with a watercolor wash and loose line work.  Throughout the shower, friends + family could fill in their best guess for Baby Jaidi's birth date.  (For a little more fun, we left the due date off.)

baby shower watercolor calendar by hello, bird. 

Thanks again, Chelsey, for letting me be a part of Baby Jaidi's shower! I'm so excited to hear what day she arrives! 

custom invitations: sarah + bryan

Happy second anniversary to Sarah + Bryan!

My favorite part of working on any project are the tiny details that make it uniquely YOURS.  The little add-ons that are significant just to you + your person, both as individuals and as a couple, always make your pieces more YOU, and being able to weave those parts of your story into your day.. Your favorite soda, a nickname, first date spot, shared vacation places, or any other part of your story.. THOSE details always make me the most excited.. 

Sarah + Bryan's invitation suite is a great example of those tiny details - a collection started when they were dating and an idea that she wasn't sure was possible?  YES, PLEASE!  Let's do it!

The starting point for Sarah + Bryan's invitation suite was pretty unique - modern art stamps that Sarah had collected while she and Bryan were dating.  The slightly oversized stamps were both horizontal and vertical, and had mini masterpieces printed on them.  Those bold spots of color and print were the perfect punch of color to pair with an otherwise monochromatic invitation suite.

They wanted something clean, chic and timeless to tuck inside the envelopes.  We went with an oversized invitation - so, so pretty! 

Because Sarah loves raised texture, we ended up going with embossing rather than foil or letterpress.  The raised calligraphy on the oversized invitations was SUCH a cool touch to add! 

Sarah also had a very specific original idea for their response cards that she hadn't seen.  She knew she wanted something tall and narrow- not a typical rectangle, and Sarah wanted an ombre effect in the background.   Because the reception + after party required separate head counts, we reversed the ombre to make it a little more obvious that they were two cards.

I also wrote each guests' name on their reply cards.  I used gold ink for the reception reply card and black ink for the after-party reply.  (This was another amazing detail that also made it easier for the guests and the couple - it was easy to see who had really responded!)

I completely love the mix of a very chic, classic + minimal invitation with something a little more fun on the reply cards.  It's all cohesive, but it's not boring at all.  

day-of details: Susan + Tom

Happy first anniversary to Susan + Tom!

Susan + Tom combined elements of Chinese tradition with a bohemian feel for their summer wedding.  Pops of red for good luck were seen throughout their day - Susan's nail polish, small pom-poms and tassels crafted by the couple, and some of their signage.  

I love that they also chose to keep things very cool and boho with a really unique color palette.  The pops of red were perfectly contrasted with lots of cool blues, and a shock of chartreuse.  

(The chartreuse was a great nod to their invitations.  When I did their outer envelope calligraphy, I hand-painted each envelope with a wash of chartreuse before addressing each envelope with gray ink..  So cool to see a detail like this come full circle for escort cards on their wedding day!)

venue: POMME // photos: Emily Wren Photography // florals: Sullivan Owen // catering: Peachtree & Ward // rentals: Maggpie Rentals // signage + calligraphy: hello, bird. // invitations + menus: Minted //  officiant: Alisa Tongg // planning: confetti & co. // cake: The Cake Studio of Ocean City

 All photos in this post courtesy of Emily Wren Photography. 

 Susan and Tom's wedding was featured on Martha Stewart Weddings.