As you all know, we designers are always doing announcements on the side. Last month my little brother and his sweetheart got married. So guess what I’ve been up to? Hayden (my new sister in-law) asked if I would do the announcements and give advice with the planning. Little did I know what I was in for…on the side…for six months. So, here I give you a handful of what’s been going on:

The bride is into romance, sparkles, glitter, and swirls. So that’s where we started. Her venue had gorgeous fabric draped all along the ceiling with chandeliers at the apex of each drape. I mimicked that shape on the cards and placed a hydrangea blossom (the flower of choice) in the center to symbolize the chandelier. Then, using lens flares I put some sparkles on there too. Maybe it’s a stretch, but the tie in works visually (and made it easy to talk the bride into liking it. Tricky, tricky.)

The announcements were held together with a blue band printed on silver paper and went inside a silver envelope printed with a return address. The bride is the kind of girl that walks around with a color swatch in her pocket. I was so nervous about sending these to press it took me three days to hit the “send” button! (I used an online printer.) Hayden told me the minute she opened the package, she grabbed her color chip and the color was “spot on.” I had a mini celebration.

Here’s the guest book I bound with a coptic stitch and covered in pearlescent swirl paper. I like this binding for a guest book because it stays flat when it’s open—makes for easy writing. I surprised the couple by customizing the inside cover page.

Below Left: Handmade strings of jewels hang from silver sprayed manzanita trees. The trees were place at either side of the wedding isle and lit from below so there were sparkles everywhere. Right: We planned on using extra bands from the announcements as napkin rings. Some had the names and others had swirls printed on them.

These centerpiece vases were taped off and then hand dipped in a blue paint and covered in glitter.

Yes…I also make wedding hair pieces on the side. Who doesn’t?

And lastly, I give you the panels behind the cake. Using a projector, I enlarged the swirl motif and traced it onto panels (old doors). The bride and groom then painted the swirls and added some jewels. It added a point of interest in the room and made a nice backdrop for photographs. Can you imagine if there was nothing behind the cake? The panels now make their living as a headboard at the new couple’s apartment.

Don’t you just love cohesive, branded weddings?