Wedding Shots by Ben Vigil and Stationery Shots by Dan Schultz

Last words from Jen…

We hung the escort cards from ribbons on a wood beam in the space. Behind it, a backlit panel of lime green fabric I bought (also on sale at Ikea). I used the same bolt of fabric to make elegant runners for our tables. And by elegant, I mean I ironed the hems with Witchery Stitchery. Simple, and done in an evening in front of the TV.

To fill our art gallery’s bare white walls, we created our own art pieces for the main space where our guests would eat and boogey. My best friend and I put our husbands’ handy charms to good use and they created five large, 3 x 8 ft panels from Styrofoam and wooden slats that we covered in (once again) the lime green fabric. We then spray mounted different sized paper doilies in a pretty little pattern and hung them in the main gallery. This ambitious project that our husbands joked was completely gratuitous and the epitome of why women shouldn’t be allowed to plan their own weddings was completely and eternally validated when one of my dearest and most artistic friends screamed into my ear over the horns of Love and Happiness, “Did you make those panels? I knew you did! They’ve got your name all over them!”

Stationery Shots by Dan Schultz

Looking back, it’s amazing to realize that my wedding would also guide my career. I was intent on making my own stationery, so my buddy and brilliant designer Chad Phillips helped me with the initial designs for my invitations and save the dates. We combined my new obsession, sparrows, with my color palette, slate gray and lime green. From there, my entire suite of escort cards, programs, rehearsal dinner invitations, and thank you cards were born. Not to mention my new business venture, Farewell Paperie, which I started with my business partner, Lisa Geubtner, just weeks after the wedding.

I was looking for what any bride wants, something different and something that felt like us and our event. Our designs not only set the tone for our modern wedding, but also left our friends and family saying, that’s perfect for you guys. We letterpressed our invitations and customized our envelopments with our unique pattern. My husband’s comedic touch? The reply cards offered guests the options: accept with pleasure, decline with regret, accept with regret, and decline with pleasure. The other pieces included new interpretations of our colors, custom designed patterns, and material likened to our venue for a cohesive suite that made each piece a new surprise for our guests.

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LOVE!! The fun doesn’t end here though, we have a pretty awesome giveaway coming up next!

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Post tags: Atlanta, Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Ben Vigil, Dan Schwartz, Farewell Paperie, Georgia
Post categories: Contemporary, Traditional Elegance

Wedding Shots by Ben Vigil and Stationery Shots by Dan Schultz

From Jen…

My good friend and baker extraordinaire, Jenny DeMartini of Sweet Cakes Atlanta, had yet to do cupcakes for a wedding. So when we told her we wanted them, and we wanted her to design them however she wanted, she came through with mini chocolate, buttercream and carrot cake masterpieces that perfectly captured the fresh, eclectic look of our décor. And, to my delight, sparrow cake toppers for our mini-cake. Our guests are still raving about the delish little suckers.

We brought in Geri Sims Productions to create a light, airy, fresh setting. The metal structure where we’d have the ceremony was rusty and weathered, so she softened it up with lots of billowing sheers and strings of crystal that hung from the trees above. We hung crisp white paper lanterns above white garden chairs.

Wedding Shots by Ben Vigil and Stationery Shots by Dan Schultz

Inside, the space was large and open, so we created little vignettes to make it feel comfortable and inviting. Since it was our gallery for the day, we lined the front walls with metal zip lines from Ikea and hung our tribute to our family members. So as guests enjoyed cocktail hour, they could mill around and look at pictures old and recent of the grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins who helped make us who we are today.

Another cute touch…the save-the-dates were flipbooks, with little animated versions of jet-packing Andy and cartwheeling me pulling down a sign that read our date to be saved.

So much more to come!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Atlanta, Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Ben Vigil, Dan Schultz, Georgia, Geri Sims Production, Sweet Cakes
Post categories: Contemporary, Traditional Elegance

photography by Ben Vigil

From Jen…

We found it very important to us that our ceremony be a lovely, thoughtful thing without any sense of manufactured wedding protocol. We asked a former teacher of ours to officiate, since he had known us both before we became a couple and we’d always been struck by his profoundly positive and truly appreciative outlook on his wife and family, who’d he also found while in portfolio school years before. He’d never done anything like it before, and took cues from his rabbi, which brought such a wonderful spirituality to the ceremony that we didn’t even know we’d want. Instead of readings or prayers, he had asked our closest loved ones for insights on what they thought made Andy and I special for each other, or what they thought made marriage so sacred, and read them to the crowd. It was a personal and truly inspirational collection of thoughts that we heard for the first time at the altar. Andy and I wrote our vows together, a list of promises we found most important and true to our marriage. As the sun set behind us, the trains barreled past, thoughts shared and honored, our guests laughed and teared up with us, and we became husband and wife.

Our flowers were simple green and white from our color palette. Kristin Hinkle Designs created beautiful personals for the bridal party and family. My bouquet was a gorgeous blend of green cymbidium orchids, hydrangeas and white jade roses (I think?). My bridesmaids had all-green bouquets of spider mums, jade roses and berries. Andy wore a white flower on his lapel, and his groomsmen wore green button mums.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Atlanta, Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Ben Vigil, Georgia, Jen and Andy, Kristin Hinkle
Post categories: Contemporary, Traditional Elegance

photography by Ben Vigil

From Jen…

The moment I put on my Amy Kuschel dress, I loved it. But for three months after I bought it right off the rack, I was certain it was the wrong dress for me. Finally, one day at a red light, I blurted out, “I don’t think I like my dress!” Andy asked if I could return it, I told him that’s not how wedding dresses worked, he asked if I could figure out a way to learn to like it. It took me a few months, but the second I saw my husband trying on his classic tux, and I imagined that moment-after shot of us walking back down the aisle, the dress seemed perfect. Looking back, I love its simple glamour, and it let me have more fun with my jewelry and hair. I finished off the look with sassy magenta silk Nine West peep-toes I’d bought off the clearance rack. They didn’t go with anything, but I just liked them. My bridesmaids looked lovely in Melissa Sweet gowns, in different styles of gray chiffon, silk and satin. Two have already worn them again!

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Post tags: Amy Kuschel, Atlanta, Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Ben Vigil, Georgia, Melissa Sweet
Post categories: Contemporary, Traditional Elegance

Wedding Shots by Ben Vigil and Stationery Shots by Dan Schultz

Jen is a graphic designer and owns the paper studio, Farewell Paperie (which was actually launched from the fun she had in designing her own invitations above) with her best friend Lisa, so you know this affair was ALL about the pretty. Here is a little background info from Jen…

I wish I could say that what my husband called my “Creative Superbowl” was the wedding I’d always dreamed of, but since I’d never given it much thought before, we pretty much had to make it up as we went along. We knew these things going into the planning process: I didn’t want a banquet hall, he wanted to wear a classic tux, and if I had to throw another party a week later, my bridesmaids would wear their dresses again. Oh, and I wanted it to be modern and fresh and completely different than any other wedding I’d been to.

My husband and I are both creatives in the advertising industry, so the pressure was on to come up with something that was unique and something “artsy” just like us. Luckily, my best friend and Matron of Honor, Meleah Brown, happened to be a professional wedding coordinator in Atlanta (her studio is called c’est la vie), so combining her resources with the creativity of us and our multi-talented friends, we were able to make our modest budget go a long way.

More on the way!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Atlanta, Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Ben Vigil, Dan Schultz, Farewell Paperie, Georgia, Jen and Andy
Post categories: Contemporary, Traditional Elegance