Inviting Inspiration

Woo hoo!! We are finally out of the crazy planning portion (for a few months, at least) and have entered, what we’ve been told is, the “enjoyable phase”. Now we're on to the fun things like what to wear for engagement photos, what kinds of flowers will dress the tables…and Esme’s favorite – the invitations!

We had the most delightful meeting with some very talented invitation designers. We’ll show more from this design duo in due time, but we wanted to share a bit of what’s been inspiring us lately. 

Some pretty soaps we found in Berkeley

via Elizabeth Messina

by Elizabeth Grace, via the sweetest occasion

via Snippet and Ink

 via sfgirlbybay

via maemae paperie

This book is just about the best inspiration I've seen yet!

via printable press (who designed our Save the Dates!)

Engagement Photos by Erin & Ben Chrisman

Our friends Erin & Ben Chrisman - two of the top wedding photographers in the world - were awesome enough to loop us in as models for an "engagement shoot" workshop they put on in March. Besides being a great excuse to hang out with two very busy friends, it was SUPER fun & produced some awesome results. 

While shooting, Erin explicitly told us "in a few years, you'll be glad to have some nice photos of you two in your first place together." As it turns out, it's only been a few MONTHS & she's absolutely right. We love our new apartment, but we'll always love our little place on O'Farrell.

Thanks, Erin & Ben! We had a great time!

FRIDAY!

Happy Friday, Y'all!

Just a quick post to wish you all a great weekend! We've got a lot of fun stuff on the agenda this weekend, including Wye Oak at the Bottom of the Hill & a super awesome engagement session with Erin & Ben Chrisman!! Erin and Pete went to college together and reunited after Erin moved west. The Chrismans needed some "models" for a workshop they're conducting on engagement photos, and we were lucky enough for Erin to think of us! YEE!

A few weeks ago, the lovely & talented Helena Price spent the afternoon with us at our wedding venue trying to make us look good for some wedding website photos. It was so much fun! + Here's a preview. Thank you, Helena! And God Bless Photoshop!

Ring-a-Ding-Ding!

We've been getting requests from our friends to "cough up the ring pics"! We considered putting a photo in the Thanksgiving weekend roundup, but we wanted to give our designer, the lovely & talented Blanca Monrós Gómez, the credit she deserves in her own post!

Esme first saw Blanca's jewelry on *A Cup Of Jo earlier this year & casually mentioned to Pete how much she loved it. Months later, we were sitting in Blanca's Brooklyn home admiring a jewelry box full of her designs & five loose sapphires. We thought on it & stared at all of them for a looong while before deciding on this pale blue beauty.

We couldn't be happier with how it turned out! Esme can't stop staring at it, watching it change shades from periwinkle to slate to sky throughout the day. We're looking forward to our second visit with Blanca to design our wedding bands!

A BIG Thank You, Blanca, for designing our perfect ring.


*& Thanks to Joanna Goddard for her excellent recommendation :)

Good Omen, I Hope?

Pete & I have started discussing THE WEDDING. We've sort of been putting it off because I feel so guilty planning a wedding while I'm unemployed. I'd like the stability of a regular paycheck before, ya know, I start planning the biggest event of my life. But with 2011 right around the corner, some decisions must be made.

For the most part, we share the same vision: great food, great music and Eray taking our photos. The rest is all up in the air. If I had my way, my big day would involve Pete, a pretty dress and 30 people gathered in front of an old oak tree. Pete, on the other hand, would like to invite everyone he's ever met. And their dog. And their grandma. As wonderful as his friends are, there's a lot that goes along with said open invitation. I'd love a big "throwdown" (as he's so charmingly come to call it) as much as my Fiancé, but at this point in our life, I think it's more realistic to think small. Lovely and grand in its own way, but small. Oops, I digress...Anyway

After visiting a "throwdown-worthy" venue this past weekend, discussing the logistics of having to provide just about everything for the venue and wondering about how we can pull this off, back and forth, *heavy sigh* back and forth, I turned into a puddle on the couch. Not out of sadness, but more out of hunger. We've both learned it's not a good idea to have serious conversations when I'm hangry. We decided to put our brains on hold and order Chinese.

When it was time for our fortune cookie (yep, just one. Apparently they thought I could put down two orders of chicken and a large rice all by myself), this is what our fortune said:

We looked at each other and just started laughing. We couldn't have asked for a better fortune for that moment!  And I realized no matter what kind of wedding we decide to have, it's going to be one amazing time.  

xo

It's Official!

Hi, friends! Esme here with a belated update. Hello, radio silence! Who knew unemployment would be so time-consuming!!

Most of you know by now that we're back from New York with some exciting news:

We're engaged!

It finally happened, & we couldn't be happier! Now that we have the Who and Why, we can't wait to start planning the When, Where and What kind of celebration we're going to have...But don't worry, there are already too many amazing wedding blogs out there, this will not turn into one. 

Here are a few photos from our time in New York for Pete's 32nd birthday + a peek at my lovely, perfect little placeholder ring, designed by the talented and oh-so-sweet Blanca Monros Gomez (more to come about the engagement ring & design process when it's completed in a few weeks). 

Thank you, friends, for all the kind words and congratulations! 

We're so happy, & we're so happy you're happy!

Happy Friday

Esme here, on my last day of vacation. Humbug...

Sorry we've been quiet this week - Pete's been MIA & my week as a "housewife" was not all it was cracked up to be. I'm not doing laundry again for a long time. In hindsight, I should have gone to visit the girls in Seattle. I'm not going to make the mistake of not spontaneously buying plane tickets ever again (Bumbershoot, here I come!)!

In an effort to get life situated before I start the new job, I've been organizing my website faves & files all week (along with everything else in our apartment), happening upon sites I haven't visited in a while...& here are some things that have made me smile. I hope they do the same for you!

My friend Dan Pasquini ("Squeenie") sent me the link to his wedding photos:

Aren't they great? What a lovely couple! And I love this dessert table.
Their wedding took place in New Orleans, which reminded me of little miss Eray's website. She's been a busy gal lately!

Both of these photographers' sites make me want to....visit New Orleans! You though I was gonna say something else, huh...

And this website makes me want to kick Pete in the behind to take more engagement photos:

I've been seeing this chalkboard trend for a while now, and want to hang them all over the house!

Well, back to my chores. Have a Happy Friday!

All Play...

Hello!

These Tigers are looking forward to a much-needed week of hibernation!

We're recovering from a very busy weekend...

(the Girl was in Sonoma for this lovely bride-to-be~

& the Boy had a very full dance card in SF)...

(He also edited some awesome engagement shots~ more soon)

...but we hope to have lots of fun posts,

including more about the above pictures,

for you throughout the week!

In the meantime, here's a peak at our Sunday funday!

Weekend Stuffs

Weekend, in a nutshell --

Crazy Heart (so so good), strolling along Divisadero, coffee and doggies at Mojo, BEAUTIFUL clouds all weekend in San Francisco, brunch with Ilana (<3<3), engagement photos for Staci + Jonah (& editing said photos), drinks with friends in their pretty new home, Emma & Tanner -- two of our fave doggies, & lots and lots of food.

We wish every day could be Saturday :)