the winner is & a secret...

morning ladies! yay, for Lisa Martin for winning the Monya Handbag clutch from Couture Wedding Week: Gown Friday!!! also, i announced a couple weeks ago that Shoelover won our first giveaway from Couture Wedding Week but i have not received any info from her. so if you know her, tell her to e-mail me by thursday or i will have to announce another winner friday morning!

wasn't that wedding so chic yesterday? ah, Melissa from Soul Mates Photography does such a wonderful work! so if you are interested in have a little "secret photo session" of the boudoir kind, Melissa is offering a special from October 2nd, 3rd and 4th only here in Portland! Here are some details:

The special boudoir sessions will be taking place at a luxury hotel downtown. It's brand new and oh, so fabulous inside! The session will be about an hour long in one of the suites. You are welcome to bring a change of "outfits" and heals and props if you would like. My boudoir sessions are very tasteful and classy and I would love if you were a part of it! The session is scheduled in October to leave enough time to make Christmas/ Holiday albums for the love of your life.
I will be shooting one weekend only, October 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The session fee is $175. If you are interested I would love to give you more information!

email: soulmatesphoto@gmail.com
web: www.soulmatesphoto.com

real wedding: soul mates photography

good morning! i want to share with you one of the most fabulously chic Portland weddings i have seen in a while! shot by my good friend and wonderful photographer, Melissa of Soul Mates Photography, this wedding has all the elements of what modern Portland style demands. and i am so glad the bride, jody has given us a little insight to how this all came together:

We had three words that we kept coming back to in this whole process:
Simple - Fun - Us

We wanted people to feel relaxed the entire evening and just have a good time. To create an atmosphere for our friends and family to mingle with people they knew or by chance make new friends (which they did!).

Gil and I share similar styles. We love using contrasts to create a balance and always need to have some kind of whimsy so things aren’t too serious. We love vintage & modern, smooth & texture, somber & humorous, soft/fuzzy & cold/hard. The renovated warehouse provided us with a raw neutral backdrop so that our guests could become the focus of the evening. The art gallery within the warehouse helped us save costs on decorations and provided a variety of visual interests. We chose grape wood in our centerpieces because it creates such a beautiful sculptural element in a very simple organic way. The feathers add softness to the wood and concrete found in the warehouse. The glass candlesticks provide a modern interpretation of a vintage element. Since they were made out of clear glass it didn’t take away from the simplicity of the wood and just added a neutral glow. We found the napkins (The modern silhouette of a deer head with the traditional cherub background.) complimented our modern/vintage theme and were just plain fun. We did not use flowers and Gil didn’t have a boutonniere, so when we saw the deer head pin in a store, we felt it would add a perfect compliment to our scheme. The splashes of color came from the art and people while the backdrop stayed classic and neutral. With all of our finds we tried to use either independent or local vendors-we think it’s so important to support small businesses.

Vendors:

Make up: Fez Vartan, Fez studio
Hair: Michelle Lagos, Atlantis studio

Jody's accessories:
hair piece: Ohmydeer, etsy
earrings: Seaplane, Portland, OR
wrap: Poketto, Etsy
Gil’s accessories:
Boutonniere: Tilde, Portland, OR

Venue: Olympic Mills Commerce Center
Catering: Culinary Artistry
Music: Swing Papillon
Rings: Gilt; modified bolt from a Vietnam Huey handed down by Jody’s dad
Dessert: Albertha Bradley (friend)
Officiant: Katie Talley-Crinklaw (friend)
Dress: San Patrick

After the Rain: Photo shoot

I'm so excited to share with you some images from our latest photo shoot for San Diego Style Weddings Magazine. I thought we would give a behind the scenes look at some of our inspiration, concepting and some of the fun details that went into this tablescape.

Inspiration can come from all different places. Sometimes it comes from the simplest of places. For this photoshoot...it all began with the plate. I loved the whimsy and woodsy feel of it and the sweet small French title of "Apres la pluie", which translated means "After the Rain". It immediately conjured up images of walking through the woods on a spring day with galoshes and an umbrella in hand. Dew left damp on the mossy green forest floor scattered with toadstools, mushrooms and delicate creatures.

With each Amorology wedding we look to find the symbolisms in what we create and the deeper meaning behind the design. I love that moment after a rainfall when you step outside and the sun has begun to shine and the grass is still wet and sparkly and everything looks a little cleaner and brighter than usual. Even the flowers seem more alive!

I too see marriage being the beginning of something new, as beautiful as the earth after rain, living and breathing with life, hope, and possibility. There is growth and beauty that follows the rain or trials in our life. I set out to recreate that feeling and knew I needed just the right people to help bring the idea to life.

I of course started with Twigg Botanicals.

I knew that I had wanted to use a vintage umbrella from Bella Umbrella somehow in the design but was having a difficult time coming up with a way to really showcase it on the table. This is where 2 minds are definitely better than one! My mom, Robin Mathis, and the owner and artist of Twigg, created a base to secure the umbrella. This also allowed us to hang glass crystals from it that made it look like it was dripping with raindrops of different sizes. We then wrapped the base in a large skin of tree trunk that we hunted down to give it that woodsy feel.

We went for something simple and charming with the flowers in keeping with concept, using maiden hair fern in abundance along with phaleonopsis orchids, billy balls and red anemones. How perfect were the shower head pods that Twigg used too? Just too hard to resist with the concept. :)

I also enlisted Jenn Clark of Pin Cushion Princess....my all time favorite seamstress! One thing I love about Jenn is that when I tell her one of my crazy ideas, like how I would love to add snails to the table...and everyone else thinks I'm crazy, she actually gets me and goes with it. The result was one of my favorite details of the table! I adored the charming fabric snails, made of vintage fabrics that found their place among the moss and ferns.

The custom faux bois woodsy napkins that we had made also brought in another tree trunk element.

Red and white polka dot galoshes mirrored the toadstools and served as an added element filled with maiden hair fern.

We created mini garden cloches that sat at each place setting and they were so cute! They were made up of roses, billy balls, feverfew daisies and a mini toadstool, to be taken home and nurtured with some tender loving care.

The fabric snails also found their way on to the chair backs tied with bark, moss and feverfew daisies. I love love loved how the little snail couple faced each other and seemed to be in love themselves.

The menus were darling made by Karisa of Pretty Handsome Paper. I knew I had wanted to play with a fun menu that matched our forest concept...portabello mushrooms, escargot..ya know? ...the result was nothing short of Karisa magic! It was beautiful and organic! I really loved the way it came together with Karisa's special touch that she always puts on anything she ever does! Take a look at the lovely invitations by her as well below!! So cute. Many Thanks Karisa!!

I had the pleasure of working with my long time friend John Schnack of Schnack Studios on this project. It was such a treat to learn that he was going to be our photographer that day! Still impressed as I have always been by his talent! Thanks John for capturing all the little details!