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Fashion Week Trends

Thank you to Meredith for posting about Fashion Week - where she attended fashion shows non-stop! She has brought us the new trends. And fashion mimics stationery. So with these ideas, we are designing new invitations. And check out Meredith at The Fashion List.

Fall ’09 Trends straight from New York Fashion Week

New York, NY - Season to season the runway dictates the trends to come & this year was no different.  There is no hiding that we are in economic cross roads, where American designers may have chosen to scale back on venues & the grandeur of shows, but it was NOT reflected in the quality of the collections.  

Running of the Bride

Today is the annual Running of the Bride. What does this mean, you ask. It is Filene's annual event in NYC where brides line up way too early to buy a wedding dress for seriously low amounts of money. My best friend did this in Boston and said she had a blast. It's a tradition and a huge event in this economy. Check out the dates for a city near you. You Tube even has videos of this event! So bring your bridal entourage and go crazy!

Furniture to go with your Invitations?

Cool furniture + Cool Invitations = Perfect Match! Hmm, I wonder if they'll do some sort of trade. :-)

Invites shown: Sonata Spring & Wired Together
Furniture is by Pure

Are You a Prepster?

I have been a preppy person, I think since birth. I am big into tailored shirts, scarves and just simply being preppy. I think when you reach your 30's, if you have been preppy most of your life, you automatically get to take on the catchphrase yuppy too, but that is another story.

So you want to be preppy? Here are my favorite preppy things:

Shamrockin'

If I told you the last names of all of my grandparents and great-grandparents, you would think I was listing all of the Irish pubs within a tri-state radius. We're 100% Irish, and on St. Patty's I feel 110%. My mom bakes my great-grandmother's Irish scones and my dad goes to the neighbors for corn beef and hash (that's one Irish tradition my mom just can't cook). I am 10% happier and more excited on St. Patty's and this year won't be any different.

I am going to borrow my mom's scone recipe, throw some green sprinkles on them, and maybe even adopt a faux Irish accent. That last part will take a lot of practice. In preparation for the luckiest day of the year, here's some Saint Patrick's day shindig inspiration- sláinte!

Fit for any Patty's Bash: Martha's Irish Soda Bread (not as good as the scones, but there's no way I'm sharing that recipe!), Shamrock Dance and Clover Strings, Bakerella's yummy Mint Oreo Truffles, and 1800 Flowers Beer of Blooms.  

Deal of the Week! 2/23-3/1

We've affectionately started calling the Deal of the Week the DOW, so feel free to call it by its new nickname! This week's DOW is 25% off four of our preppiest patterned invitations for spring! They're adorable, but stylish, and fit for so many events. Enjoy!

Fresh & New: Mindy Weiss Invitations

Celebrity brides love her. Wedding industry experts idolize her. And now, we have her!

Mindy Weiss has designed a new line of invitations for Inviting Company. The invitations are full of delightful and whimsical designs that truly express Mindy's vintage chicness. The designs are perfect for bridal showers, rehearsal dinners, save the dates, and weddings. Some feature adorable character drawings of gleeful brides preparing for their big day. My favorite thing about them is that they are so sweet and happy, just the way a bride wants to feel.

Wow, Over the Hill or Mountain?

Today was my grandfather's birthday. If he were alive he would have been 110. That's right he was born in 1899 and it is really cool to say that my grandpa was born two centuries ago. He lived till 92 years old and had great stories. If you have a family member that may not be 110 just yet, but is slightly up the hill or even over it, check out this favorite invite of mine designed by Tara, one of our designers.

Confectionery Celebration

Babies are like candy: so sweet, colorful, and sometimes sticky. I love the idea of a candy themed baby shower. The mommy-to-be should be surrounded by her friends and family and tons of sweet treats. The decor should be bright and whimsical with a bunch of polka dots and stripes. Here are a few fun ideas for a confectionery celebration:

Line your walkway with plastic candy canes left over from the holidays. You can cover them with bright streamer paper to disguise the holiday red, or just leave them as is. In the photo above, Jenn at HostessBlog, stuck humongous candy lollipops in the ground for celeb toddler Max Sutter (Trista and Ryan's one year old). They are so reminiscent of Willy Wonka!

Have a candy buffet and place baby photos of the mommy and daddy-to-be amongst different size jars and glass containers.

Shower the guest of honor with candy themed gifts like a Dylan's Candy Bar Gummy the Bear, or adorable polka dotted onesies from Little Miss Matched.

Featured above: Baby Letters by Whitney English, Baby Feet Lollipops by Candy Wearhouse, Onesies from Little Miss Matched, and decor by HostessBlog.

Movies that Inspire

I saw two movies recently about love that were actually very good. Usually chic flicks end on a very predictable note. But these two movies were more than chick flicks; they were more realistic the tales about love.

Bride Wars with Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway

A tale of two best friends - one with a sad past and the other with doting parents, plan to their weddings together only to find out that their weddings were misbooked at their dream location, the Plaza Hotel in NYC. Funny thing is we were in Boston when this was being filmed and the last scene is definitely and confirmed at the Fairmont Copley (a gorgeous hotel). I won't tell you the ending. But my point is here - that wedding planning can be ferocious. It is like brides are overcome with such emotion that sometimes reasoning goes out the window. I can write first hand, because I too was a bride some years ago. This was not a tragic story by anymeanns. It simply covered the complexity of planning a wedding, a deep friendship and when you truly know that love is right.

In speaking with many brides, they seem to be the most stressed over: wedding and bridesmaid dresses, location and cake. And the least stressed about honeymoon, invitations and party favors. In the middle are centerpieces and food. Afterall who needs food, when fashion matters most! Personally I stressed the most about the invitations (duh, that's the business I am in) and least about the dress, I bought mine in 4 hours! But that's just me!

He's Just Not That Into You with a wonderful ensemble cast

Hopefully if you are reading this post, he is that into you and you are in a relationship and getting married. I wish this book / movie would have come out when I was in high school because I could have saved myself a lot of suffering by knowing how guys thought. Anyways, you live and learn (wasn't that a song in the 90's). There was no real wedding planning in this movie, but there was a wedding! And of course references to ugly bridesmaid dresses (see my post about bridesmaid dresses). So I guess all chick flicks do need a wedding scene of some sorts. This movie had a very similar tone to Love Actually. I really loved this movie because it was brutally honest and you could sit there in the movie and see yourself at some point in time being one or more of those characters, and that I think makes a great movie!

Other chick flicks I recommend are (and most likely have a wedding scene and love triangle of course): The Wedding Date, Kissing a Fool, Definitely Maybe, Love Actually and My Best Friend's Wedding