Our Photos Have Arrived!

We were very excited to rip open the mailing envelope sent by Tullis Photo, our wedding photographers.  We'd seen the the photos online but there's nothing better than receiving your very own disk full of great images.  Here is one of my favorite shots!

Wood + Cake

I just spotted this cake over at In Style Weddings.  I might just have to try and recreate this on a smaller scale at home.

Sea Cider Farm

We didn't have a car or a bus schedule, but we still managed to make our way to the somewhat rural Sea Cider Farm on the Northwest side of Victoria Island, BC before the sun set on our vacation. I'm a huge cider fan and have brewed my own concoctions for the past three years. Guggenheim wedding cider was well received at our big event and I hope to make another excellent batch this Fall.


A beacon at the end of our long journey, the farm sit perched atop a hill overlooking the sea. A young orchard lined the road leading up to the tasting room and amazing outdoor deck.


We chose to sample the long flight of 9 organic ciders along with the cheese plate for two. The impressive array of colors, from dark amber to crisp straw, gave me plenty ideas for my fall batch. Brewing cider is an art, and there is no wrong way to reach your final product. Sea Cider Farm experiments with old Tennessee whiskey barrels, pear varieties, and yeast options.

I can imagine a beautiful reception in this tasting room...

...maybe for a future anniversary

Wedding Photo Fix

We've been patiently waiting for our online photo gallery to arrive in our inbox...knowing it's nearly ready sets huge amount of anticipation in our minds. My friend Anne said I Do two weeks before we set off on our own wedding adventure and she just sent me the link to her images captured by Lauren Brooks Photography. These gorgeous photos have given me that little fix I was looking for... I think I can hold out just a little longer now!

Anne's Dad sang to the couple during the ceremony

The Gorge offered a spectacular sunset to the couple and their guests

Jeff and I relaxing with the Bride at evening's end. View Point Inn had a great little hidden lounge and offered the perfect spot to grab a drink and rest tired feet.

Custom Goosegrease

It was love at first sight. We wanted to stray from the typical floral topper and find something unique, affordable, and reusable. Goosegrease to the rescue! These cute custom toppers will be reused as ornaments on our first (married) Christmas tree together.

Consistency in Graphics: The Invitation

The invitation can take many forms, and can undoubtedly be overwhelming for those going through the process of choosing for the first time. If you're tired of seeing the same old card stock with vellum topper, you're in luck. Over the past few years, accessibility to well designed, modern invitations has exploded. Thanks to Wedding Paper Divas and Paper Source, thousands of affordable options are at your fingertips.

On the other side of the coin, you are likely to have may local options available (esspecially if you are in PDX). Consider this a gift to your community. Supporting local artisits and shops benefits everyone, so pound the pavement a bit, meet with some people, and make an informed decision.

We chose to go the custom route, designing our own and having them printed locally. Again, our friends over at B&B Print Source gave us a beautiful finished product. We knew we wanted to avoid the cost of extra postage, so taking that into account, we limited ourselves to two pieces of heavywight paper. To add extra interest to an otherwise plain envelope, we designed a wrap-around return address label with plenty of room for the invitees' calligraphy address.


The invitation contains all the usual suspects...who, what, when, and where. The second piece includes the RSVP card and our website URL reminder. A simple perforated line separates the two, allowing the guest to keep the website information and send the card back to us.




We are thrilled with the final product and glad we carried our chosen graphic language throughout the entire suite of printed materials and the website. We've had such great response from our guests and can't wait to show them a good time on the big day!

Happy Weekend!

Consistency in Graphics: The Website

Our save-the-dates directed our invitees to check out our event website to get a better idea of what to expect and hopefully answer some of the questions that probably popped into their heads. Where is this, exactly? I wonder if I should think about making flight plans now?

The site's graphics carried the bird + branch theme seamlessly and helped set the tone for the rest of our printed materials.

Our homepage featured one of the shots Jeff's dad took during our impromptu engagement session in Bend, OR (actually, most visits paid to The Guggenheims also include some sort of photo session!) This was all done in-house within about 16 hours time. It helps to have a clear vision and pre-selected colors and graphics...again, consistency really saves you a lot of time in the end!

We created these great little rollover birds as a navigation tool throughout the site. Peeps! is our link to showoff our wedding party and families.

We've had great response to our custom site, but don't be discouraged if you're not web savvy. There are plenty of great wedding templates for brides and grooms! The idea is to communicate clearly, whether your site is custom tailored to you or you choose a free pre-made page. The Knot, eWedding, and Wedding Channel have great affordabe options! If you have a few extra dollars and a few extra days, shoot us an e-mail and we can talk about some of the options available to customize your site and domain name!

Consistency in Graphics

Creating a unified suite of printed goods for your event truly adds rich dimension and communicates a clear theme. For a wedding, save-the-dates are often more casual or funky, but consider carrying your overall theme into these short notes. It can set the tone for the event and get your guests excited right out of the gate. Likewise, use your invitations as a tool to communicate what your wedding will be like. Is it formal and traditional or creative and cutting edge? For our wedding, we chose to carry the bird + branch theme throughout all of our printed and online goods. I know it's challenging to commit to a theme or look, but you'll love the results when you see it through to the end! Trust me, guests will be impressed with your thoughtfulness and even consistent DIY projects can pass as professional.

This week is all about graphics, using our Guggenheim/Conway wedding suite as an example. We'll start with the first element sent to our guests, the hand-carved save-the-date:


Our save-the-date postcards were printed as a gift by our friends at B&B Print Source in Tigard, OR. If you don't have a good local option, try Zazzle or Moo for a great deal on two-sided postcards with graphics and text of your choice.

Ceremony Preview

I spent Saturday afternoon testing out our ceremony decor idea in Jeff's parents backyard in Sisters. We purchased these extremely affordable hanging vases from cb2 and used simple wooden dowels in place of traditional shepherds hooks. I love the delicate definition these vases give the aisle. Our plan is to reuse the vases in our home either as wall decor or integrated into a custom chandelier above our kitchen table. Success!

Coco Donuts!

Can you really love a donut? That is the question I asked after biting into the new Coco glazed conveniently available across the street from my condo. Portland's VooDoo Donuts get's a lot of press for it's off the wall style and it's I don't care that you don't care attitude, but I have to say that their taste is severely lacking. With Coco Donuts, you get straightforward varieties, a dash of style, and uber delicious melt-in-your-mouth flavor. No attitude or greasy-haired counterworkers in sight.

Could the Coco donut be the new wedding cupcake?

Cake Topper Preview

sneak peek: custom Conway/Guggenheim cake toppers by Goosegrease!

Jeff & Jenny on Brooklyn Bride!

Hi Everyone! Brooklyn Bride is having a save-the-date extravaganza and Vane was kind enough to post our little project. Thanks, Vane!

Our Save The Date

Did they or didn't they? That was the question we were asked after sending out our save-the-dates last winter. Yes, we really carved this tree. Yes, we utilized P*shop to enhance it's natural beauty. Wow, I can't believe 7-25-09 is almost here!

City Dwellers BBQ

Registry best bet and cute summer porch accessory over at Crate and Barrel

This is a Test

My confectionery test was a success, considering I've never baked a multi-layer cake on my own, nor iced anything but cupcakes. The idea was to test the use of rockcandy strings as a replacement to ribbon on a wedding cake. The effect is a sparkling collar of color, and an unexpected trim piece on a traditional shape.

Real Portland Wedding

I've been wanting to feature an event held at Holoscene and I finally found one! This real Portland Wedding comes from BMAC Weddings, a Portland-based photography company. Holoscene is simple, modern, and elegant. Very little decor is needed for the modern bride and groom. Check out their art gallery inspired altar, so easy and beauiful! Enjoy!

Getting ready at the Jupiter Hotel

The reveal at Doug Fir

WPD Save the Date

So Cute! So Affordable! Wedding Paper Divas does it again.

The Up Side of the Price Increase

You get to use these great new stamps! We've selected these beauties as our official invitation postage. Next stop: Bridal Veil, Oregon. (thanks for the tip, Anne)

Functional Wrapping

This has been circulating around the WedBlogs for a couple of days, but I couldn't resist posting. I would love getting a gift wrapped in this organic piece of art by Chewing the Cud! Just think of the long life this wrapping will have and how fun it would be to pass between a group of friends!

My First Etsy Purchase

I love cruising around Etsy shops and looking at the smorgasbord of wonderful vintage and crafted items. I've saved so many gems in my wishlist but have not taken the plunge...until today. I purchased this sunny yellow suitcase from jessjamesjake to use as a styling prop at my upcoming nuptials. The case will house the ceremony programs, then double as a my honeymoon getaway bag! Next in the cue? Goosegrease cake toppers!