deanna's hat garden party

Teenie and I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon in an exotic North Vancouver backyard for Deanna's bridal shower extraordinaire.

The invitation said "...I though it would be fun to make this a ‘hat party’. So feel free to borrow, buy or even make your hat for the party…all styles welcome!"

Oh we brought a hat alright!!

Teenie and Deanna right after tea and dessert.

Gift opening in the exotic backyard garden.

Our hats. I think I should have won a prize for best hat. Just saying.

friday lunch

Wes Anderson returns

Teenie sent me the latest Wes Anderson movie trailer for The Darjeeling Limited last night. You should watch it. It's beautiful. We're all going to have to wait until the end of September to see it, but I bet it's worth the wait. Enjoy!

apple.com - the darjeeling limited

rain, rain, go away, come again some other day

Last Saturday morning, it looked almost like the clouds were going to part for Cindy and Vince's wedding...dare we say the sidewalks were actually dry?

The clouds did part Saturday morning and all the way up until an hour before Cindy was going to walk down that isle at the Vancouver Museum. Shnykies. Fear not, not only was the couple so mellow, beautiful and radiant, but so were us guests...

Rain didn't scare us nor did it turn us away from an evening of love and celebration. Heck, I even "randomly" got selected to participate in the wedding games that were organized...and actually participated! (I have a track record of consistently being in the washroom during said events.) RANDOM my tookus.

The venue was beautiful, nestled in the back of the museum, and while we ate and drank we had the pleasure of staring out the full length windows overlooking Kits beach. Rain in July? Pssh, cakewalk for the westcoasters.

Cindy was seriously glowing the whole night and to stand just a few steps beside her you felt the happiness and love oozing from her pores. And Vince, although I've heard a lot about him, Saturday was our first official meeting...uh, standing at the front of the reception hall two seconds before we got intimate and passed an orange with our necks-NO HANDS! But for reals, from just the few moments we were able to chat, I can already tell that not only is he a good man but makes Cindy so happy.

Cindy and Vince, thank you so much for sharing your day with all your friends and family...wishing you all the best across the continent!!

xoxo

bare walls no more

We moved into our new/first office in April of this year, and just now, 4 months later, we finally got our frames on the wall. After it's all done you wonder why it took so long to complete...especially when you realize how hanging pictures on your wall can really transform your space. We bought the gold flashy frames a while back at local flea markets and art stores, with the idea of displaying our invitations like pieces of art in a gallery. I believe we achieved exactly that. Here's a question, at what point does a piece/project transform from a design into art? Think about it. I think it's when you put it in a gold frame.Our business cards over the past 4 years. We get bored of our cards quickly.
Invitations displayed in our meeting room. We have 2 rooms 1. the meeting room, aka the blue room and 2. the work room, aka the orange room.
Our portfolio that really needs to be updated. One thing at a time!!
We need to find a home for this frame. There is only so much real estate in our 2 room office. For now it shall block the window.

Maybe one day you will have YOUR invitation on our wall.

If you're lucky!!

recycled paper and digital invites

The world is buzzing with the words "green", "environment" and "global warming"...you may have heard about this. Whatever your stance may be on the subject, because everyone has a right to their own opinion, we enjoy giving options. It's what we all deserve.

It wasn't until a couple years in business, when we met a wonderful couple from Haida Gwai, Sheena and Vanita, that we actually discovered the possibility of printing on recycled paper. It hadn't been a thought in our minds. We were immediately impressed by the quality of the paper compared to our standard 10% post consumer white stock. I'm not one for glossy printing, and we found out the recycled paper printed vibrantly and with a matte finish. For a while we tried to include the recycle paper option into all our initial meetings. We found most people weren't interested, mostly because of the cost difference, but also because the glossy digital printing, on standard paper, was what they wanted.

Over the past year or so, during the build up of the said buzzing, couples looking for recycled paper were becoming more and more frequent. Another growing popular idea is electronic save the dates and invitations. A few years ago this would be almost laughed at...or maybe wouldn't be formal enough for some. It's getting more and more accepted and we love it. We fully encourage it, because 1. it eliminates any use of paper and 2. the costs are much much lower. Two very good reasons...but that's only our opinion. ha!

I'd also have to mention that electronic invites work perfectly and simultaneously with wedding websites. This is also becoming more and more popular because it's a one stop shop for the guest's wedding day needs. You can RSVP online, sign a guestbook, look at pictures, check out the wedding day schedule, book accommodations or find directions to both the ceremony and reception.

When we started blue skies & daisies we provided only wedding websites. Realizing that we hit the market too soon with this idea, this idea from the future, we included printed invitations and other wedding stationery. Maybe one day we'll be the wedding website business we had started out as.

...At this moment that's not really our goal. But it was supposed to be my shocking punch of a last sentence and now I ruined that. Well whatever. We're taking it one day at a time.

Sheena and Vanita's wedding website. RSVP page.

we like to party. we like, we like to party.

So a while back we worked on this project for a 50th birthday celebration. It was one of the most creative birthday invitation packages we've probably worked on so far. We love projects that are different and unique and playful. I mean WHY NOT!? Exactly. Why not.

It was a surprise party on a boat with Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville theme to the nines. Here are a few pieces to give you an idea of how fun this party was. Plus, we like to show off a little.

The following pieces are (in order): 1. a tequila recipe card, which was part of the invitation package. you know, to get everyone excited! 2. the e-save-the-date 3. A "This book belongs to" sticker label placed inside the requested book gift. The guest would write their name and a little note to the birthday boy.

it's never to late to blog, am I right?!?!

On Saturday, June 30th, 2007, the clouds hovering over Vancouver finally parted almost as if the universe knew and smiled down on Melissa & Brian, as they wed in front of the beautiful north shore mountains.


Sigh. It was beautiful.





We held our breath and watched as they agreed to never part ways, clapped and cheered when they kissed to seal the deal, tossed petals in their face as they made their way down the make shift isle on the lawn of the Brock House and sighed the way our grandparents did when you knew you did something to warm their hearts.

And then we partied. Oh yes, we partied like it was 1999.

Melissa looked radiant, Brian so handsome and together, so in love and perfect.

Thank you for letting us share in your day. Best friends for life!

Love you guys :)

apparently vancouver has a race track

Our good buddy Andre is in town for his sister's wedding and Andre's presence always seems to brings the people together. Plans at first were to go to an Island and hang out at a cottage but that takes money and planning, 2 things no one in our group really understands. This is even more obvious when you hear we pretty much all gambled our money from noon to evening at the race track and planet bingo. First of all, I didn't know there was even a horse race track in Vancouver until a week ago. It's so strange and large and hard to miss. Second of all, it's a different world beyond those entry gates. Strangely, I was drawn in to the excitement of betting and cheering and drinking beer out of a plastic cup. Half of the entertainment was reading the horse's names...Call Me Tomorrow or Real Candy or Looking After Biz or Lady Raj or Dancing O...my betting method always ended up being completely 100% based on name. So if you're up for doing something different, something you thought only happened in the movies, you could head over to the hastings race track. I can now check that off my list of things to do.