Thank-You Cards

So one of our brides that rented our 5ft Manzanita tree for the purpose of a seating chart, who also had us do her ceremony programs as well as monogram stickers for her very cute favour cookies/place cards, contacted us to have us do her Thank-You Cards! Gotta love a happy customer, right? So we designed these cute little thank-yous to match her ceremony programs. (Sorry guys, the photos aren't the best, but at least it'll give you an idea!)

We used some pretty pink ribbon with the monogram stickers on the cover, as well as some great metallic champagne paper on the inside. We love them :)

Our friends over at weddzilla.com loved them so much, they've invited us to post a guest blog on how we made them! Stay tuned for that one :)

A Purple & Silver Wedding

One of our first clients, Ashleigh & Adrian, ended up being one of our biggest. We didn't mind, either, because they were so great to work with! We started off with their day-of-coordination 2 weeks after they got engaged, and then we had the privilege (i've used that word a few times today) to do their wedding invitations, favour boxes, centrepieces, wishing tree... We may not have been their full-on wedding planners, but it almost felt like it!

So we haven't seen the professional shots just yet, but we're sure that Bard over at Living Face photography will do a great job re-finishing everything expediently! We did, however, take some shots on my iPhone,and have some shots of the centrepieces, so here goes!

An aerial shot of the reception dinner setup — Atlantis Pavillion on the Lakeshore — probably somewhere between speeches.

A medium shot of the crystal tree centrepieces, our debut! Fancy crystal drop ends, coloured glass filler... we loved it, and so did the Bride & Groom!

An wider shot of the table setup... see the fun crystal charger plates? They went perfectly with the crystal strands on the centrepieces!

Rooftop photo shoot. Correction, unplanned, impromptu rooftop photo shoot. Yup, yup, pulled some strings, got them on the roof @ Atlantis at the last minute. Pretend i'm buffing my nails on my shoulder (as a gesture that you should be impressed. because really, you should).

So, there you go folks. A successful DOC gig, a happy couple, and a brand new life for Ashleigh & Adrian. Congrats guys!

We've been featured!

So yes, we've been uber-busy. It's a given, it's wedding season, but we were fortunate enough to be featured on a great blog! Elizabeth over at thefirstdance.com interviewed us at DBYT about wedding invitations, and it was so much fun answering the questions — not your typical questions, like when to send out invitations, how much postage, etc. I actually had to think about these! (even got Peter, the hubby, involved)

AAAnyhow, check it out! http://thefirstdance.com/weddinginvitationquestions.php

(i promise, i'll be posting new stuff soon. Baptism invites, save-the-dates, and pics from Ashleigh & Adrian's purple & crystal wedding!)

Our Crystal Seating-chart-tree

So a couple of weeks ago, we met with an exasperated bride: getting married in 2 weeks, and still needs her seating chart figured out as well as ceremony programs and money box. She had initially called us with her idea for her seating chart, which was a manzanita tree she wanted to hang table cards from. We added orchids, esperanza roses, candle holders, and sparkly crystal strands and came up with a gorgeous arrangement and new twist on your typical seating chart! We took pictures on Jenn's camera, but i'm impatient and i'm posting pics from my iPhone:

The tree featured 16 seating cards, 5 teardrop candle holders with votives, phalaenopsis orchids & esperanza roses, crystal strands with teardrop ends... love! :)

Here's a closeup shot (sort of) of the seating cards...

We also did her ceremony programs (which i don't have a picture of, yet) as well as her money box... a new product which we'll be adding to our site very very soon!! They'll be available in 2-tier, 3-tier, and even 4-tier arrangements, made to match your theme & colours. Check out Christy's!

Ribbons matched her colour scheme, plummy-purple and champagne, with some cute crystal accents to dress up the box a little.

Alleen & Jack's invitations! EEK! :)

So i've been racking my brain for blogging topics, and it hit me: duh, blog about what you're doing!! My latest project: Alleen & Jack's wedding invites.

My new favourites!! The turquoise and brown look really striking together, and the best part, it's got the kaleidoscope patterned paper from Envelopments!!! Jeepers, look at all those exclamation points; can you tell i'm excited about these ones? :D

k so check it out:

French roast pocketfold wrapped with platinum vellum belly band, accented with 2 swarovski crystals...


Open it up to a turquoise Kaleidoscope-patterned backing, and white linen cardstock on top; 3 inserts in the pocket, all incorporating bold colours and oversized elements of the pattern... LOVE!


Detail shot of the inserts. See, even without a metallic paper, it still looks great! Heavy ink on paper gives it a nice sheen, so you don't have to opt for the expensive thermograph printing, necessarily.

There we go. My next project is Ashley & Blake's purple invitation... those ones are using kaleidoscope patterned paper, but this time in PURPLE (which seems to be the colour of the season).

Something old, new, borrowed... leopard printed?

Shoes! I love shoes. Granted my shoe closet is just one of those organizers you get from ikea, and isn't nearly as full as i'd like it to be, but one day i will have an entire room dedicated to my wonderful footwear. Brides, you can fall into one of three categories when it comes to your bridal shoes: traditional, middle-ground, or completely out there.

(L to R): Coloriffics/Maya @ $87.95, Stuart Weitzman/Applause @ $200.00, Kate Spade/Hera @ $321.95
(All images from zappos.com)

These are my three favourite traditional shoes, in a range of prices from lowest to hights. Of course, i LOVE the kate spade ones, the not-quite-bow is a great alternative if you're not one for bows and such, and would look gorgeous with a raw silk white wedding gown. The Stuart Weitzmans are cute with the double bow and the cutout by the ankle, and the Coloriffics are at the perfect pricepoint for shoes you'll only wear once. Plus the rhinestone buckle adds a nice sparkle while maintaining its elegant feel. If you can't see the images with enough detail, check them out on zappos.com. So for the brides who don't really want to stray from the line, who like the idea of the classical white wedding, these are for you! (L to R): Nine West/Samiam @ $78.95, Betsey Johnson/Generosa @ $200.00, Elie Tahari/Blance @ $321.95
(All images from zappos.com)

So for those who know they don't necessarily want white, but don't really want to rock the boat too much, or maybe you're concerned about what your FMIL will say, these are three choices you can definitely wear again. I love Nine West, so when i as picking my bridal shoes, it was a natural first place to look. The soft slate blue is a nice touch of colour, and crossover pattern on the bridge of the foot adds a nice touch. The Betsey Johnsons in the middle would look great with an ivory or champagne coloured gown, and the touch of pink edging is a great compliment (plus it'll look fab with your tan!). My favourites, once again, are the most expensive ones. The metallic flower on the Elie Taharis are so pretty, the pictures here don't do it justice.

(L to R): Naughty Monkey/The Hype @ $85.45, Via Spiga/Fay @ $174.95, Giuseppe Zanotti/90023 @ $653.95
(All images from zappos.com)

The bridal gloves are off with these ones! No holds barred, these choices are purely for shock value (and the occasional nod from the fashionista guests), and would look awesome with your favourite jeans or perhaps a honeymoon outfit. The Naughty Monkeys are a runner up favourite for me, for one HUGE reason — all the Naughty Monkeys i've tried on are really comfortable. Like, you-could-dance-all-night-comfortable. The red Via Spiga slingbacks would look great with a pedicure, but the Zanottis... oh, the Zanottis... These are for the brides who love their shoes, and will treat themselves to a designer pair to truly feel like a princess. Just don't look at the price tag after you've bought them.

As for me... What did i wear on my wedding date?

What about you? What are YOU wearing on your big day?

Creative Weddings

So I did a google search on wedding, just to see what would come up. One of the results was a News article on Salma Hayek's wedding this weekend in Venice, Italy. Wedding? Yes, she's still married to hubby François-Henri Pinault, but they decided to make it official, again, witha second wedding ceremony! The shin-dig took place in the Venetial Opera House, and the female guests all wore Venetian masks.

Salma & her family all wearing masks... love it!

Guest Charlize Theron & bf Stuart Townsend on their way...

What are you doing to make your wedding unique? Are you incorporating any fun themes into the decor? Your day comes once, for most people anyway, what are you doing to make it memorable? Leave us a comment! We love hearing from creative brides :)

A new addition to the DBYT family ... CRYSTAL TREES!!

We're so excited to be able to announce the addition of a new product to our lineup of services! Designed By Yours Truly now offers Crystal Tree rentals! These versatile centerpieces come with 24-30" manzanita branches, loaded with glass crystals, and the option to upgrade with crystal drop ends and flowers. We'll even find the right colour filler to match your theme. So many options with these gorgeous arrangements, here are a couple of shots we took of our sample tree:



Attention all you brides anywhere in the Toronto area (as far east as Oshawa, and as far west as Waterloo), these trees are available for rent for your special day. Contact Designed By Yours Truly to reserve for your event — dates are booking up fast! Want to make your own trees? We've also become an official distributor of these wonderful manzanita branches, call us today for pricing!

So you've done all of your planning for your big day, and all you have left to choose are your wedding invitations

. You're excited, but the only problem is... you've spent most of your budget, you don't have much left, and all the invitation designer you've visited are quoting you $8-10 per set! If you're finding yourself stuck in this position, read on for a few tips you can use to bring your cost down:

1. Paper Choices - There are lots of beautiful papers out there, and if you've got a paper fetish like we do, it's difficult to choose just one or two! But if you inform your invitation

designer of your budget, she'll steer you in the right direction of papers that are in your price range. Stick to the non-metallics. If you want something that has a little something extra, a matte (non-metallic) paper with a bit of texture to it often does the trick.

2. Size - if you just can't find a matte paper that suits your style, the other option is to put together a set that's a little smaller than the standard 5" x 7" size! Some brides like how concise and neat a 4 x 5 invitation looks, and you can get more pieces out of a sheet which requires less paper cost!

3. Printing Method - Letterpress invitations are absolutely stunning, and everyone would love to be able to use this printing method for their invitations, but ... you guessed it... it's out of your budget. Letterpress invitations are individually hand-printed, and each piece is unique, so your invitation is basically a work of art. But a good invitation designer can come up with something equally unique and beautiful by incorporating unique and beautiful design elements into the physical pieces. Maybe a pattern printed on your cards? Maybe adding a few rhinestones would give it a little sparkle? For budget-conscious brides, digital printing is the way to go.

4. Amount of Paper - Eco-friendly doesn't necessarily always have to be expensive. Ditch your response card in favour of an online RSVP, and you've also ditched the expense of the extra 2 pieces (card & envelope to match). Or, if you must have a response card of some sort, what about a postcard? No extra cost of an extra envelope, and you've just saved yourself around $0.50 per set!

Ladies, shop around! You don't need to sign with the first invitation designer you meet, especially if they don't fall within your budget. You do realize that you get what you pay for in some regard, but that doesn't mean you're stuck with the DIY kits from your local craft store (which often amount to more stress that it's worth)! A good invitation designer will be able to understand your budget and be able to offer an attractive and unique solution to fit in your ideal price range.

Want to add a little bit of sparkle to your wedding?

Well, maybe not a little... Actually, a LOT. What are we talking about? Crystal Trees, of course! One of the biggest craze of the year amongst brides who want their wedding day to be a magical fairytale, these trees are absolutely gorgeous.

They're made from a tree called manzanita, and you can get them in the natural red or sandblasted white, or you can spray paint them gold or silver to match your decor. You can even get them in 5' or 6' arrangements for decorations around your head table. Other customizations could involve adding flowers (like orchids) on your stems, or attaching special shapes to the ends of your crystal strands... We love all the options you can choose from to make these beautiful trees fit your decor perfectly!



This is one of the next projects Yours Truly is working on, soon we'll have crystal trees for rent! Or, if you want to make your own crystal trees, you can buy the manzanita from Yours Truly too! How much do you love these trees? Leave us some feedback and let us know :)

For the Men: Boutonnieres...

So, the ladies get to accessorize with gorgeous jewellery, beautiful bouquets made with fragrant blossoms, luxurious gowns made of raw silk and crystals... guys get a tux. How do they get to stand out amongst the bride and her bridesmaids? Well, we've stumbled upon an idea that we at Yours Truly absolutely love: FEATHER BOUTONNIERES! Of course, we love-love-love how well they coordinate with the feathers in our fabulous fascinators, but whether or not you've got feathers in your ensemble the men can have a great looking boutonniere that's different from what everyone else is doing!

InStyle Weddings did a spot on Boutonnieres by Jo Gartin, and we saw this one that we really like:


This one was really neat, too... Especially for the beach-themed weddings and the brides with the seashell fascinators. So chic!




We found this one on shellysheek.com — we could totally visuallize a fascinator to match this one!

So, keep an eye out on designedbyyourstruly.com, this could definitely be one of the new products that we'll be introducing in the near future!

How about you? Would you consider a non-floral boutonniere? What about a hybrid (real flower & feather) arrangement? We'd love to hear your feedback!!

Sweet Talkin' Sugar Coated... Candy Buffets!!

So you've done some research and you've caught the candy bug. Or you've always been a candy freak and it's just fitting that you have an abundance of candy at your wedding... Heck, if it was up to you the main course would be jelly bellies, and dessert would be a serving of hot tamales complemented with big feet! Whatever the case may be, candy buffets are the latest alternative to the traditional dessert table. You could even decide to use them as your wedding favour, and personalize little chinese takeout boxes with a tag or label with your wedding day vitals on it! The trick is pulling it off successfully: What king of candies do you pick? How much candy do you buy? What do you put your candies in? Who's going to set it all up? Yikes!

Obviously, pulling off a successful candy buffet is more than just buying candy and glass jars. Some would say it requires a "touch of magic." You can either hire someone to do it, (designedbyyourstruly.com offers Candy Buffet setup as one of their services) or you can opt to do it yourself. If you feel up for the challenge, here are some tips from the pros to help you with your candy buffet.

1. Don't measure by your guest count, measure by eye. One of the biggest downfalls of a candy buffet is not buying enough candy. Many brides will think, "I need 4 oz of candy per guest, i have 150 guests coming, so i need about 25 pounds of candy..." If you measure out 25 pounds of candy, you'll have a bare, sparse candy buffet. Start off by deciding how big of a feature your buffet will be in the grand scheme of things. Is it the wedding favour your guests will take away with them? Is it replacing your dessert table? Is it in addition to the dessert table? This will help you decide how many varieties of candy you should buy, which is probably a better starting point.

2. When setting up your buffet, try adding different levels by placing boxes underneath the tablecloth to create a platform. This way you don't have a completely flat looking table with everything sitting at the same height. Give your buffet some dimension!

3. Who says all of your jars have to contain candy? Bring down your cost by using high-volume/low-cost items in some of your containers. Coloured popcorn is a great alternative, and can fill a large jar at a significantly lower price-point than, say, jelly bellies. What about flowers? You could even use your bridesmaids bouquets on your buffet table, and incorporate your flowers into your setup. Be creative!

4. Decorate your jars with matching ribbons, with tags identifying flavours and types of candy... You may think that the sour raspberry gummies are pretty obvious, but Aunt Mildred just might not like sour candies!

Check out these pictures of candy buffets for inspiration.

Bridal Brunch Dessert Table as seen on Amy Atlas Events

That's it for this week, folks. Don't forget to check out our site at designedbyyourstruly.com, and as always, feel free to leave us some feeback!! Are you planning on having a candy buffet at your wedding? How are you designing your buffet to reflect YOUR personality?

UNIQUE & CHIC: The Birdcage Veil

"Vintage" is popping up everywhere, even in the bridal world... One unique and chic alternative to the tried-tested-and-true, is the birdcage veil. As opposed to the traditional tulle netting you see most brides donning on their big day, the birdcage veil is a whisper of russian netting, accented by a fabulous flower, feathers, pearls, crystals, or whatever else a bride can envision.

We saw them first on Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, and fell in love with them! then Jessica Alba wore it in Fantastic 4... Katherine Heigl wore one to her real-life wedding to Josh Kelley, and we've even seen it styled in various ways in music videos! Katy Perry in Hot 'n' Cold, and Pink in Sober. So no, ladies, you don't need to hide behind a traditional tulle veil, you can opt for this fascinating alternative! Go to www.designedbyyourstruly.com today to get your very own birdcage veil or fascinator!

REESE WITHERSPOON IN SWEET HOME ALABAMA &
JESSICA ALBA IN THE FANTASTIC FOUR

KATHERINE HEIGL AND JOSH KELLEY &
KATY PERRY IN HOT 'N' COLD

AND SEEN IN .....

Today's Bride Magazine, 30th Anniversary, both on the cover and a gorgeous couture editorial spread.

This is one of our favourites...if you love the netting look but don't want to do a full veil, this is a stylish option!
Click here to see more of this issue

Wedding Bell's Spring/Summer 2009 with a fun and cute twist.

Have some fun and don't be afraid of colour! It can add just what your look might be missing.
Check out the latest issue here

We are always getting brides hesitant to use colour in their veils, tell us what YOUR thoughts are!?

TheWeddingRing.ca's BRIDAL NEWS Magazine, Jan-Jul, 2009 in a featured wedding story.

What a gorgeous and stylish wedding party. Don't forget about the ladies that will be sharing in your special day.
Tell us some of YOUR ideas to glam up the bridal party!?

Click here for lots more details and ideas for your big day!

Happy 2009 Everyone!

Thanks for visiting our blog at Yours Truly. You can check us out here weekly for upcoming trends, exciting ideas, unique finds, showstopper designs, inspirations and anything else that wow’s us! We are looking forward to reading your comments and feedback, so don’t hesitate to share.

Yours Truly,

Jennifer & Laurie Hannoush