Martha to the Rescue!

Have you seen the new online wedding tools from Martha Stewart?



Just thinking about tackling our seating chart is enough to make me break into a cold sweat. Martha's seating chart tool has a drag-and-drop capability, allowing you to quickly organize (and reorganize) the seating arrangements for your reception. This will save me a lot of Post-Its!

S'Mores!

Wedding blogs tempt me daily with photos of beautiful candy and cookie bars at weddings. Here are just a few that you will have you craving sugary sweets in pretty canisters.

And while I'm known for my love of all things sweet, I just wasn't into creating a candy/cookie bar for my own wedding.

Until a few days ago.

Mr. Bliss and I were talking about camping (we sadly have no time to go this summer). Camping, of course, led me to think about s'mores. S'mores! A favorite childhood treat. So fun and simple. And a perfect complement to our Adirondack wedding venue. So we are planning on treating our guests to a s'mores bar at the wedding, similar to the one below featured on the Knot.

Accoutrements - Check!

After another late night phone call with Christa, we both decided it was time to start really checking things off our lists. No more browsing, thinking about it, shopping around - we have weddings to plan and a summer to enjoy! To that end, I had a very successful online shopping spree last night.



dancing shoes from http://www.myglassslipper.com/


satin clutch from http://www.jcrew.com/



pretty dangly earrings from http://www.perfectdetails.com/

The only other thing left on my accessory list is a flower for my hair. I'm planning on hanging up my veil after the ceremony and have always, always loved photos of brides with a beautiful flower tucked into their hair.



I can't decide if I should work with my florist to get a real flower or buy a beautiful flower from etsy seller Mikiye Creations.



Miss Tiramisu from WeddingBee recently posted about buying a Mikiye peony for her wedding. No worries about wilting edges, a forgotten flower or delicate petals falling to the dance floor. But is the same if the flower doesn't smell? I'll give myself until the end of the week to decide on this one!

June Showers

Now that I'm back from the Stationery Show, I'm in a sea of to-do lists (of the wedding variety). But tasks aside, the fun is really beginning to start! This month we'll be taking a trip to Cape Cod with Mr. Bliss' family, I'll be attending my very own bridal shower and then I'm off to the shower of one of my bestest friends. Christa is getting married a few weeks before me in August and let me tell you, there is nothing better than sharing this crazy/wonderful time with a great friend. Our weekly phone calls minimally last an hour now as we dish about all of our details and to-dos. I am so grateful to be sharing this experience with a wonderful friend!

While we're keeping the details of Christa's shower under wraps, all of the guests have received their invitations so I can give you a peek. Since the bride loves to cook (she'd be a terrific fill-in for Giada on the Food Network should she ever choose to retire), we decided to ask each woman to bring a special recipe to share with Christa at the shower.

I found the cutest recipe cards from Etsy seller WinifredStudios.




Then I bought pretty imprintable invitations. I was on a short time frame so imprintables were perfect because I was able to print them at home and have them ready in a few days.



The two pieces paired together perfectly.



I wrapped it all up with a coordinating double-faced satin ribbon and they were ready to go.



Before I left for the stationery show, I made a quick trip to the post office and off the invites went. Now I just hope that guests remember to bring their recipe cards to the shower!

Day 2 from the Stationery Show

Yesterday was a blur of activity.

First, I started out the day bright and early with 2 essential things for stationery show survival: caffeine and flat shoes.

From retailers to the media, the booth was crowded throughout the day. One of the highlights was the visit from the Martha Stewart Weddings team. These stylemakers know their stationery!

Here's a shot of Martha Stewart Weddings Editorial Director Darcy Miller catching up with Crane Brand Director Megan Kuntze.

Wedding magic is definitely in the air at the stationery show, but there's another brand of magic that is also making a big impression at the Crane booth...

(the man behind the magic)

Crane and Disney have partnered to create the Walt Disney Signature line of stationery - paper celebrating Walt's own vision and creative spirit.

From my first movie theatre experience (Snow White) to my first spin on Alice's wild teacups at Disney World at age 4, Disney has provided me with the fondest of childhood memories. Needless to say, it has been a thrill to be involved in the partnership between Crane & Walt Disney.

After the show the Crane Insider and I headed over to the Mandarin Oriental for the official launch party of the Walt Disney Signature stationery collection.

Luisa Huang, Senior Manager of New Business Development for Disney Consumer Products next to the Sleeping Beauty display at the Mandarin

The collection includes stationery, as well as beautiful journals by Eccolo and pens by Monteverde.

It was great fun to meet all partners involved in the project at the launch party. And after a full day inside the Javits Center, we enjoyed quite a view...

Crane's historian Peter Hopkins and me

Stationery Show - Day 1

We had a busy first day at the show with of the biggest names in wedding blogging stopping by the booth to see what was new.

First we had the stylish Vane of Brooklyn Bride, fresh from her inspiring wedding and European honeymoon. We had fun designing correspondence cards featuring her new initials. Here she is with me in front of our kate spade display window. She'll be guest blogging about weddings at design*sponge this week, so be sure to pop over there and check it out.




Next was Anne Chertoff of From From "I Will" to "I Do" , the oh-so-helpful wedding blog on iVillage. Here she is with the Crane Insider choosing colors for her correspondence cards.



Stay tuned for much more later!

Greetings from the National Stationery Show!

I have so much updating to do to the blog! From honeymoon planning to creating invitations for one my best friend's bridal showers - it's been a busy few weeks! But now my focus is on the National Stationery Show, and I'm blogging live from the Javits Center in NYC.

As the National Stationery Show Girls reported on Thursday, the Crane booth was just beginning to be built.



Peter Hopkins captured the walk-through at the booth yesterday.

And today we are ready to go!

Save-the-Date Part II

Once we had the wonderful map from Laura in hand, we had to figure out what to do with it. I considered creating a postcard with the map, but I was afraid the pretty little thing would arrive scarred with stickers and postal bar codes. After consulting the designers at Crane, we decided on a classic z-fold design.

We worked with Laura on the save-the-date text (I love her whimsical calligraphy) and she created an icon for the front of the save-the-date. We then sent all the files to Crane to be printed on 100 percent cotton Museo paper.

A week later, the save-the-dates arrived and we loved the final result.

I wanted to wrap something around the z-fold for presentation, so it was the perfect opportunity to bring in our primary wedding color: butter yellow. Armed with Offray satin ribbon and glue dots, I created simple ribbon wraps for the save-the-date cards.

Ta-da!

I addressed the envelopes (more on that in another post), affixed the pretty boat stamp and they were ready for the Post Office!

*Squee!*

While I was trying to organize the gillions of photos that I took for the "Save the Date Part II" post (sorry for the delay on that!), I was interrupted by a phone call...from my bridal salon...telling me...that MY WEDDING DRESS IS IN!

How am I supposed to get through the rest of the day with visions of silk taffeta dancing in my head?

Save-the-Date Part I

It took us quite a while to decide what to do for save-the-date cards. There are so many cute options out there, from fun to formal. Vintage post cards were considered, as were photos. But when I stumbled upon Laura Hooper's whimsical maps, I knew I had found the perfect thing.

Throughout the wedding planning process, I've learned that if you wait and research long enough, the right idea will come. I showed map examples to Mr. Bliss and he was sold. In addition to using the map as part of the save-the-date we are looking forward to having one matted and framed to hang at home.

I called Laura, who is such a gracious and talented gal, and we started immediately planning the map together. Mr. Bliss and I wanted the map to show our guests just what we loved about our Lake Placid wedding location. For Mr. Bliss this meant showcasing the river that he has spent many summers fly-fishing with his brother in, as well as the local Pub & Brewery which makes award-winning microbrews. I love walking down Main Street Lake Placid with its boutiques and quaint candy shops, and Mr. Bliss and I spent a day on Whiteface Mountain early in our relationship so both of those were my choice to be highlighted. We shared the important wedding locations with Laura and a week later, this delightful file was in my inbox:

We couldn't be happier with the map. Stay tuned for Part II: how we incorporated the map into the save-the-date.