good wifey // a wedding blog

real simple weddings feature

2010-01-12T21:37:00.001-08:00

A year and change later we are still basking in the awesomeness of our wedding day. Hot off press- Real Simple Weddings 2010. We are honored to have been selected for the annual wedding publication and even more amazed that Real Simple is on the masthead. A million thank you's to Belathée for their beautiful work and the once in a lifetime opportunity.

brooklyn bride feature

2008-11-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

Very exciting news yesterday! Vane at Brooklyn Bride featured our Save the Dates in one of her posts. So glad I snapped a few pics and submitted when I did! A year later...I am still in love w/ them.

2008-11-18T16:46:00.001-08:00

I can finally post a photo of my awesome wedding shoes! I was so tempted to before the wedding but didn't want to ruin the surprise. I think I lasted until dinner before I had my shoe change.

our friend

2008-10-14T22:44:00.000-07:00

Peeking over the jet-way...he says it's time to come home.

sneak peek 3

2008-10-14T18:43:00.001-07:00

sneak peek 2

2008-10-14T18:40:00.000-07:00

honeymoons are nice

2008-10-11T21:53:00.001-07:00

sneak peek

2008-10-10T11:34:00.000-07:00

it was perfect

2008-09-25T09:52:00.001-07:00

I have no words quite yet besides that it was absolutely perfect and more wonderful than we ever imagined it could be. Thanks to the Kleep-Winstons for this lovely, first wave photo set. God bless an SLR.

mrs.

2008-09-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

seriously

2008-09-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

This is the closest visualization I can come up with to describe the planning process for seating arrangements at a wedding.

where credit is due

2008-08-11T12:23:00.001-07:00

The cats requested that I make sure to credit them for the wedding color palette inspiration.

it's a tasting, not a gorging

2008-08-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

We finally were able to move forward with our food selections for the reception. It was seriously the most fun part of this wedding planning business.

All my wannabe foodie dreams came true that day- course upon course served by a personal wait staff, multiple wine parings, six kinds of desserts and a running consult from the executive chef throughout the meal. Way to bring it to the table Patina!

At one point I remember levitating over the table and simultaneously hallucinating that Julia Child was there cutting my food for me with a large golden knife. If you ever have the pleasure of attending one of these go slow. Keyword is tasting.

My first dress fitting is Friday. Signs point to "not good."

the (second) happiest day of my life

2008-08-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Invites are in the mail. Enjoy!

PS. Some of you have inquired- yes, that is actual hand rendered calligraphy. Anne Robin out of NYC penned each invite lovingly for us. She is my letter-spacing and line-spacing hero. Check out her work. It is amazing.

we practically own alaska airlines

2008-08-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

We have been doing a ton of flying this year for wedding planning trips as well as general business travel for our respective employers. Nicholas and I have been at the airport every week or every two weeks since February. In fact, I am typing this from 36,000 feet right now. (The planets were aligned for a cross country, first class upgrade this time. The hot towel just came. Boo ya.)

Here is a photo I shot a few weeks ago while flying back from LA LA for our final vendor walk-throughs. Look for Rainier at the wedding- just in its alternate form...the beer.

who knew federal way was so beautiful

2008-06-25T10:58:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago we completed our final marriage preparatory requirement- a weekend retreat with Catholic Engaged Encounter. Here is a photo recap of our "engaging" weekend at the Palisades Retreat Center in WA.

fleurs de mariage

2008-06-06T14:37:00.001-07:00

Stacy Martin, our amazing florist, has been featured in The Knot Best of Weddings 2008! Congrats to her and her design team. We have been working with Stacy for the past nine months and it has been a wonderful experience. Her client-centric meets industry expert approach has allowed us to flex our creative muscles with our florals.

I had pulled an initial concept from a publication and Stacy ran with it. Not only did she run with it, she knocked it out of the ballpark. When we arrived for our first meeting she had mocked up all three different arrangements. Being able to see the concept pieces early on in the process was huge in helping to set the look and feel of the day. She even let us take them home to photograph! I wish I could share them now, but I want to keep it a surprise for guests.

I am very much looking forward to seeing how all the arrangements turn out on the big day. I am SO sneaking a peek when we are taking photographs at the WDCH before the ceremony. I won’t be able to resist!

That's a pretty hot cake above ya?!

flower girl dresses anyone?

2008-05-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about most brides, but I sure had trouble finding a good flower girl dress that wasn’t blah or that was actually age appropriate. On top of all that, most bridal salons want to charge you an exorbitant amount of money for a one-time dress that your flower girl is sure to grow out of. To make matters worse I dare you to find a dress in silver-gray and black. There must be some rule that says you can’t put a kid in my favorite non-color, color combos because it was almost impossible.

Then by the grace of the wedding gods, I found Pegeen. They are a brilliant little company that allows you to mix and match a huge amount of colors, styles, and add-ons such as bows and special details. Every dress is custom so it is easy to get exactly what you want and need. BUT, I can truly say they have one of the most challenging websites I have ever been on. It is so bad that I, Halli, I who works with the web for a living, couldn’t even figure it out. A phone order it was!

Although I must say I do love the “button realistic, panic button, button” that they have on their website. I am going to just go ahead and start recommending that to all my clients. Fantastic usability my friends! In all seriousness, we are super excited about seeing Logan in the dress. It’s going to be amazing.

straight up blog

2008-04-29T02:21:00.000-07:00

A few items regarding tonight's late post:

First off, today was spent billing the majority of my time to 'computer downtime' at work. Our MS Office 12 upgrade rendered me helpless on the computer for hours. I lamented not having trusty Apple products at my side all day long. I am now on a computer that works thank goodness.

Second, I received a 't-minus five month' email from The Knot last week while traveling. Did they say five? Yep, five months. [Insert usual, unpleasant nail biting here]

Despite the impending 'tick tock' message, it was a simple reminder to again take a moment to reflect on the joy that has come [and will continue to come] with this whole wedding preparation and design endeavor. It's easy for some to chalk this whole process up to mere party planning, Halli gone Martha, bride detail overkill. It's so much more than that though. It's a discovery of each other, a compromise challenge and a killer joint effort that has resulted in some impressive, tactical teamwork [hopefully not driving a few key individuals nutty over the past year].

One of the most special and deepest parts of what makes Nick and Halli tick has stemmed from our gift of creativity and love for creating special things, which we are working overtime to do right now. It is what binds us.

We spend all day working to create something from nothing-- for others/clients. How blessed are we to finally have the ultimate project on our hands-- we are our own clients. Our love and limitless imagination is our 'brand promise' to each other and those we love.

Ps. Sorry for the unexpectedly deep post. I think I actually have a look and feel sketch that I may like. Positivity and progress is a'flowing!

Ps2. We were in LA this weekend for wedding stuff as well as Keith and Kerri's wedding. It was super productive, a wonderful time, and 96 out. Lots to report on later. Stay tuned.

eames + shoe

2008-04-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

Mono-Eamz by United Nude shoes…yeah baby! I just am in love with these heels that are an homage to our favorite design duo—Charles and Ray Eames’s lounge chair. How perfect would these be for our design obsessed wedding?! Too bad I can’t wear them with my complex shoe wearing requirements. Besides, I would probably buy the black pair so I could sport them every day.

aloha means goodbye too

2008-03-31T22:32:00.000-07:00

We just had our very first airline bankruptcy! Aloha, Aloha Airlines! Our inter-island honeymoon carrier has left the building and left us at the mercy of kind partner carriers running in the red probably just less than they were.

Apparently Aloha's demise was further aggravated by competition with go!Airlines. Who's this? I googled this "go!Air" but through the miracle of SEO instead found this must-share video. Hopefully we will be having that much fun too once we get there!

funny

2008-03-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Nothing delights me more than the name and visual identity of the formal wear company we are using for the groomsmen's attire. It's probably one of their older locations in LA, hence the truly awesome sign and lettering style.

haberdashing

2008-03-10T10:49:00.000-07:00

We are moving right down the wedding to-do list + finally reached the oh so vital “groom’s attire” action item. Instead of wearing pants that a hundred other men have worn, we bit the bullet and got Nick his very own threads. Dashing!

Really, beyond the communal pants sharing item, fit and style were a huge gray area in our mind, esp since Nick is so tall. Two button, three button, peak, notch, vents, ties, bow ties…its all so confusing at times. I ran across My Haberdasher on one of my favorite Seattle wedding blogs, What Junebug Loves. Jeff Collins offers a personal styling and fitting service. He came to us and gave an extraordinarily thorough consultation and fitting session. It was hugely informative and helpful when narrowing down all the options out there. I am so excited to see the results and fortunately I can see Nick’s attire before the wedding. Bring on the award shows + formal soirées!

less is more

2008-03-03T16:53:00.000-08:00

And that's all I have to say about the winner of the great cake knife and spade search!

Both cut and serve functions required, but no need for two devices. Designed by Erik Magnussen.

launched

2008-02-01T16:58:00.001-08:00

Some big milestones this week! Save the dates are out and we also launched the website v1.0! Simple was the theme here. We do too many complicated projects all day long. It was nice to just bust out some basic CSS and html. We look forward to updating it throughout the year with more information for our guests.

In case you are questioning the layout...the homepage is not off center. It was designed to use the implied lines of the side of the browser to create the rest of the type. Type trickery!

operation save the date: complete

2008-01-26T15:11:00.001-08:00

I love today. We finished the save the dates finally. I am so pleased with the way they came out and can't wait for our guests to receive them. Our kitchen has looked like a Martha Stewart sweatshop for weeks. Now we can have our lives and counters back for a few months until the next maelstrom of design and crafting begins. As much time as these things took, I think we can say we really are happy with the design. Our goal was to create something that was "SoCal cool"...it's sorta Hollister meets Tragic Kingdom album artwork meets letterpress meets Nick + Halli. I was worried the black and orange would be a bit too Halloweeny, but I have not had that gut reaction throughout all the black and orange experience. I love the way the packet works. They scream "us." Now for the commentary this project's learnings...

1. If you use ribbons on invitations of any type you must really enjoy punishment. Never again peeps. I have made ribbon design choices before but for some reason I failed to remember all the drama that ensues. We solved for it, but lordy it took time and serious attention to detail. We were saved by Zots Clear Adhesive glue dots. They pack some serious adhesive punch. Learn about them.

2. Women- Treat yourself to a pair of amazing scissors. I bought some killer all-steel, seamstress grade Fiskars. I was using some pathetic three-buck Ikea scissors that wouldn't even cut ribbon. These things cut like a hot knife through butter.

3. Photostamps.com custom photo/artwork stamps...like, but not so much in love. Being able to control our the design and tie it into our theme was great, but the stamps themselves are HUGE. They are eating up the front of the envelope. If they were smart they would start offering a smaller size, esp for people who use these on reply cards. I am surprised someone in their product dev department hasn't figured this out. We will save using them again for the commemorative Bizmark von Whiskers stamps.

4. The number one thing that you read about wedding mailings is to hand cancel your envelopes. This is a total scandal with the USPS. They don't do this anymore if you live outside of Mayberry. Even if you do find a post office to hand cancel, they still get routed through the evil post-o-matic sorting machines. Research also shows that the USPS will try to charge brides for this (which is illegal) and sometimes invites get lost. Sorry if your save the date looks kinda chewed up on the outside...at least it is pretty on the inside!

Ps. Paula loves this story about the California State Flag, our design inspiration. The jury is still out on the validity of the story, but regardless, pretty darn funny.

linens and things

2008-01-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

Newsflash: My wonderful finance now knows the difference between crinkle taffeta, pintuck silk, and organza! That is true love people. Last week we completed, what I though was going to be one of the more challenging parts of planning: linens. In reality, it was super easy. So easy, we were done in under an hour and I am in love. I was mostly nervous about the lack of selection in our color range…blacks, grays, and slivers. In the world of linens, there isn’t a huge range available in these colors if you aren’t going custom, but Tabella had just what we needed.

We settled on a warm charcoal hue that is doing more than extending our color palette—it’s providing a nice tie into the warmth of the birch walls in the BP auditorium. We have often worried about not plunking a cold color palette into a warm interior space like the WDCH. There is just a subtle warm copper sheen that comes out of the fabric when it hits the light. Gorgeous darling, gorgeous. Thanks to Kristin, our coordinator, for steering us away from using a two-color setup—base tablecloth and an overlay. Its too prom circa 1992. One strong linen with a rich texture is all you need.

Beyond the excitement of linens, we had some b-party team action! Cynthia, bridesmaid and wedding aficionado, was able to join us while on break from the toils of her Master’s degree completion. It’s been so nice to have my maids, at one point or another, help with planning or be at special wedding-related events, despite being spread all over the country.

I will cover what we are now referring to as "the great goblet debate” in a future post.

good [wifey] things: file folder tote

2007-12-31T17:26:00.000-08:00

Remember the Seinfeld episode with George and his exploding wallet? I was about five seconds away from recreating that scene with my wedding binder. I maxed out its loose paper capacity with t-minus nine months to go.

My folks-in-law-to-be thoughtfully picked me up the tre-cool Audrey File Folder Tote from russel+hazel. It's a nice solution for brides with a ream of contracts in tow. I just love all their products and who can't resist the desire to get organized when it looks this good? I will let you take a guess as to which color I have.

style me pretty mention

2007-12-28T13:27:00.001-08:00

We heart Style Me Pretty! Abby Larson posted our engagement invite today on her hugely popular and addictive wedding blog. Its a true resource "for the style obsessed bride." A very special thanks to Kathleen for the heads up on the DIY Contest call for submissions. Kathleen and Joe's coat check tags made it too. Aren't they great? Designers just love an excuse to use a perforator!

i had to post it...

2007-12-28T13:24:00.000-08:00

h+n: four years in four minutes

new post

2007-12-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a small post to tide you over. I have bride's blogger block. Lots of news to share. So much news, I dont' know how to organize it in my pretty little head. Goodwifey loves you (two) though!

save the date yo

2007-11-20T16:30:00.000-08:00

Warning: Lame designer content ahead...

We are getting closer every weekend with save the date ‘identity and campaign.’ The content is finally done and we look forward to a fun exercise in information hierarchy very soon! Our hotel, airline, and car special discounts all seem to have a unique set of information and directions. We are trying to streamline as much as possible from a typographic perspective. Hopefully, in the end, people will access the website too.

The design is going swimmingly! I have it about 85% in place and Nick is going in as the finisher. He pushed my design a bit more (as he does so well when we collaborate) and it is getting pretty tight. I pushed back too of course. We have one more panel to figure out then off to the printers. I am hoping to keep the last panel down to one color so we are more cost efficient.

I have been planning for letterpress as our final form factor this whole time. It’s a two color deal, so regardless of how we end up printing, it will look great. If it ends up being letterpress, some of the elements could be tricky to calibrate. Offset would save us some money, but this design is so destined to be pressed into some Crane’s Lettra in bright white, yummy.

We also bought Envelopments pocket folds to make a mini packet for the whole mailing. I love you dainty, mini packet mailers! I am currently investigating interesting ways to bind it closed. I keep leaning towards a two sided satin 5/8” ribbon despite swearing never to include tying of bows/knots again for a design project. Its just way too hard. Seattle isn’t my favorite place to find ribbon and floral supplies either. In fact, it is a wasteland. Thankfully my mom and I can go on a mission this weekend in LA.

flutes, cake knives, unity candles, oh my!

2007-11-16T16:49:00.000-08:00

Search any of these keywords combined with “wedding” and you will shutter with the ugliness that ensues before your eyes. It’s really horrid. You best set aside some time to do research and get creative if you want something different. I can see our stuff going down something like my "reception/ceremony must buy” mood board pictured here. Alessi cake knife, Crate & Barrel flutes, and some random candle sticks I found. I bet we get forced into using some unity candle holder at the church. I am really sold on these flutes I think. All accomplished without hearts, 3d flourishes, and doves.

it’s my wedding but it’s your dress

2007-11-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

I just kicked off the hunt for bridesmaid dresses with my b-maids. Yes, it is early, but the color black is rampant in fashion since we are in the fall/winter season. Would Halli chose any other color for her most special day? Of course not! In fact, I may freak out because I am not in black that day. Beyond it being the only color that I wear and love, it is the only color in the scheme of weddings that can be reused for other events IMHO. The goal: Pick a dress they like; pick a dress they will wear again (hopefully). Normally design by committee is not a good policy, but this time it makes sense.

moons over my honey

2007-11-13T16:01:00.000-08:00

Alas! The wedding show paid off. I picked up a brochure from a travel agent who specializes in honeymoons and lo and behold—she turned around some amazing rates. I began my own research a few weeks ago and started to sweat amidst the massive wedding expenses going on. Don’t get me wrong, we are probably shelling out way more than your average newlywed couple on this honeymoon (I come from a long line of hotel snobbery) but man, rates get overly ‘spense in Hawaii fast. Before I go any further…

About Hawaii—Okay yes, call us sellouts, whatev. I still wince a little when asked where we are going. But the deal is: September wedding + Caribbean = hurricane risk. I put my eggs in the Caribbean’s basket any day, except for the month we are getting married. We will leave the USVIs for our first anniversary and dive trips for years to come.

We also considered Fiji, but those jerks decided to have a political coup. BoraBora...2k a night. Fugetaboudit. Halli annoying Nick throughout Europe is not a romantic time either. Okay, back to aloha. Here are the winners:

Week 1: Grand Hyatt Kauai
This is our prime recovery and relaxation phase. We originally were shooting for Four Seasons Maui Wailea or Ritz Carlton Kapalua, all wonderfully luxurious, but they suffered from dull pools and not ideal beach access. Call us dorks but, how about a water slide and a lazy river with that mai tai? We saw the Grand Wailea featured as a top pool on the Travel Channel over the weekend, but it had fair reviews on Trip Advisor due to poor service complaints. This was also confirmed by our travel agent. Kauai kept creeping back as a leader. They have so many pools we will be lucky if we get to a beach. I stopped in at the Grand Hyatt Kauai once too, and I remember wishing I had stayed there.

Week 2: JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa at Ko Olina
Here is the part of the trip where we do very Nick + Halli things: run around on battleships, go to war memorials, dive WWII wrecks, visit Dog the Bounty Hunter, eat, drink and be married. Jim and Paula, beyond funding impending wedding, have also treated us to a week on Oahu at a swanky JW property. Thanks! I will make Nick wear a Hawaiian shirt the whole time as we shove fists full of macadamia nuts in our face. Expect lots of crap from from Hilo Hattie’s.

a saturday

2007-11-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

Move over water boarding… wedding shows are the new preferred form of torture. We went to the Seattle Bridal Show last Saturday. Nicholas was an excellent sport and it wasn’t too painful thankfully. We also dragged Gabby and Jym, so may as well bring down the whole crew with us right? I have been to these shows in the past and they haven’t been that great for style inspiration, but still fun nonetheless. Good to see some real world floral and get my hands on some bouquets, but really most of the stuff was pretty tacky. The swag and cake samples were light too. Booo. We will keep on keeping on with our favorite blogs and magazines.

our life with cats

2007-11-05T16:56:00.000-08:00

our event guru

2007-10-31T13:57:00.000-07:00

We hired an event planning firm, Kristin Banta Weddings & Special Events, to help manage and consult with us this next year. Really, the investment was about keeping us all sane in the months ahead as we plan from 1000 miles away. We interviewed a few planners and clicked with Kristin’s philosophy and felt great about her level of experience. Considering we don’t need someone to recommend cream cardstock for invites but need someone to make sure our Visio table diagrams and napkin folds are executed properly, this team should do great. I just love her portfolio.

LA: the venue short list

2007-10-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

Finding a modern design/architecture-inspired venue in LA for a wedding reception shouldn’t be that hard right? Wrong! For bride-elects who dream of a wedding at the beach, amongst California-Spanish style architecture, or at a hotel/country club, LA provides many wonderful options. However, to obtain a modern-ish venue you have to do some serious research. Here is our shortlist. The baseline requirements included: modern, stylish, indoors, and minimum capacity of 150 guests.

Seven Degrees
If Laguna Beach was less of a drive, hands down we would be celebrating here. Initial thoughts were to make it an “at-home destination wedding,” but after considering the drive for in-state guests, it was seeming less feasible. Moving on to the true beauty of Seven Degrees, these guys offer a full service experience- event curation, design, floral, food, lighting—you name it, they do it. Working with them would have been a dream, esp since we are planning from 1k miles away. There would have been no gawking staff at our mood boards and table layout diagrams there.

The Social Hollywood
How rad to say that your wedding was at a Chodorow establishment? We loved everything about this place, except the large event space. The styling is exquisite except for that one room! We were also bugged by the fact that they Photoshop’ed elements into their brochure that didn’t exist in the space (fabric panels, staircase). It was a huge let down, but at least the staff was very friendly and accommodating. It’s a good option for a rehearsal dinner or a professional event.

The Luxe Sunset
This would get the mom and senior vote. The Luxe is a quaint boutique hotel nestled in the hills off Sunset. We like it, but the modern feel was a bit soft for our tastes + the color palette blah. The hotel as a whole is beautiful, however we have been hell bent against plunking our wedding into a hotel ballroom. The outdoor/cocktail reception area was perfect, but the indoor space would need a lot of dressing up. Also for a boutique hotel, there were some sloppy details- dirty outdoor furniture, chipped paint, etc. The true positive for this place in the end would have been the ability for guests to crash there and stay the night.

Republic
We heart Republic in all aspects, except that it was a total buyout for a Saturday event. Also, there wasn’t an elevator for accessibility needs. We lament the fact that we will not be dining on their signature lobster corn dog hors‘devours.

oh and did we mention...

2007-10-23T15:16:00.001-07:00

We set a date.
9.20.08

not too shabby

2007-10-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

engagement spectacular

2007-10-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

On September 15th we celebrated the n+h engagement spectacular with our families and 80 of our closest friends, co-workers, and industry colleagues. People came from near and far for the party and we still, to this day, are blown away with having had so many of our loved ones present for this momentous event. A truly unforgettable night it was for us both!

We are infinitely thankful to Jim and Paula for making this experience possible and throwing us an amazing party. Yet again, we thank Mr. Jym Snedeker for going above and beyond the call of duty as alpha friend—party planning guru—crazy woman whisperer—bearer of cupcakes for the masses—right hand man. A fine time it was.

One million thank you’s to all who were able to join us. Check out the full photo collection on Flickr.

bad bride blogger

2007-10-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

now hear this: good wifey is not missing in action! time to put a stop to this radio silence, especially since there are so many updates to share. posting(s) coming soon, very soon. promise, k?

government glue

2007-08-22T16:08:00.001-07:00

thank you Martha for popularizing the use of vintage postage stamps on wedding envelope systems. beyond adding a special level of detail and thematic tie-in, it is also a small gesture towards sustainable usage. stamps are currency never to be discarded! do remember to run a postage test mailing first. with vintage stamps, comes the appreciation for their modern successor self-adhesive stamps…

its probably been 10 years since I have had the pleasure of getting sloppy with a sheet of postage. now i understand why they switched. first off, the glue is the most brutal sticky stuff ever. it gets all over your hands, so washing often will keep your envelopes goop-free. also lovely, our engagement party stamps were from the 1950s and 60s so they tasted like licking an antique store floor. minty flavor is a modern convenience here people. worse, my research shows that the average stamp has 5 calories per lick. 5 cal x 250 stamps = shit! needless to say i didn’t list that in my personal training food journal that day. using a wet sponge for the job was no good, offering little control and glue goop on black envelopes was a threat.

a taste of things to come

2007-08-20T15:50:00.001-07:00

good [wifey] things: the organizer

2007-08-20T00:31:00.000-07:00

i am confident i could have met my wedding organizational needs with just a binder and Excel speadsheets, however i am a huge sucker for planners and other design items stemming from the "fill in the blank" craze. when i found Target's Club Wed Organizer, i couldn't resist. it is straight up brilliant-- a breath of fresh air among the vast array of mediocre planners on the market.

the worksheet-esque format allows users to record global details and manage information within beautifully designed modern, cheery pages. it is void of unnecessary content and truly focuses on user-personalization, making it a very effective tool in a bride-elect's planning arsenal. when content does appear, it is smart, to the point and well illustrated (do check out the registry section).

yet another fine example of Target's pro-design values making the world a better place.

mail merges are for sissies

2007-08-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

one million thank you’s to Jym for his beautiful penmanship + help with addressing engagement party invitations. 80 addresses = pure friend devotion. if I didn’t have the handwriting of a 7 year old boy, I could have been of more help. we owe you one and don’t worry… we are hiring a calligrapher for the wedding invites.

we heart gutenberg

2007-08-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

with impending wedding now a year away, we have started to further ramp up our letterpress skills. no more playing with the proofing press; time to make some real things here. thankfully we now have access to the press at HADW.

yesterday we sent off our first crack at designing for a custom plate. the design and setup process was freakishly simple and similar to what one would do for an offset press--think vector, set the bleeds, set the crop marks. the only special consideration was making sure nothing was under .25 pt lineweight. thankfully our BFAs cover the above skill requirements.

we did wuss out on printing this one ourselves. my ink and small type skills aren't quite there yet. we do however love and trust starparticle press (as featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, 2004).

we are shooting to print our 'save the dates' on the HADW press. don't hold your breath for chirstmas cards.

logical wedding investments

2007-08-08T09:32:00.001-07:00

1. wedding dress
2. personal trainer

today was day 2/first real workout with personal trainer (aka wedding drill sergeant). when i am putting on my dress on the big day...someone please remind me that the almost puke + faint embarrassment today on the gym floor was all worth it.

06.18.07 / never forget

2007-08-04T00:36:00.001-07:00

in case you didn't hear the story or better, get a hysterical call at 10:15pm. it went down something like this...

"After long last, Halli and I have upgraded our status to "engaged" this past Monday evening. Following an impromptu dinner of Italian food, laughter, and a random Russian accordionist, we returned home to what Halli thought would be just another evening of to-do list items and emails. But there was another game afoot...

In short, Halli was led to believe that I was going to show her some new video game (Halo3 beta, of course) footage, but the footage I actually showed her was a photo/video montage I made of our past four years together. The shock set in when, after the extraordinary display of motion graphics, I took a knee and asked her to marry me. Halli said "yes," (phew) but everything else seems like a blur because of her general hysteria (of happiness and joy).

A few days later, we're a little calmer but still really excited about what's to come. Halli is quite satisfied with the new piece of hardware for her hand. Doobie McScratches and Bizmark von Whiskers (our cats) seem only mildly interested by this latest development, but we're sure they're just internalizing the good news.

We want to thank all you, our family and friends, for your love and support throughout our lives. Stay tuned for more info — rest assured there will be plenty of celebrating over the next several months. Love, laugh, use good type, and do good work."

Our best, Halli + Nick

a blog is born

2007-08-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

instead of boring family and friends with constant wedding chatter and planning conundrums over the next year, we have decided to document our experience via the magical interweb. we can now bore the entire world with our details. simultaneously, it serves to validate our inner design snob and masochistic 'event planning-as-hobby' skills.

in all honesty, we are looking to plan a smart, amazing, memorable weekend for our friends and family. its the least we can do for those we love the most. see you in fall of 08.