My Wedding on Snippet and Ink

I am so excited to announce that my wedding is featured over on Snippet & Ink today. I first fell in love with Snippet & Ink not only because of the beautiful (and not in a manufactured and cookie cutter way) weddings but also because of Kathryn's unparalleled inspiration boards (peach glass and seafoam?! I think so!) She did such a wonderful job of putting together the photos, I feel so honored that my wedding was even considered to be on her blog!

a word to the wise

PB and I have finally almost finished doing all our thank yous. It definitely takes some time, but is infinitely faster if you don't have to write your return address on every envelope. This stamp I got from Paperwink makes it infinitely faster, really cute, and only costs $22.




ps. if you need a customized stamp for your wedding, go ahead and contact them, they did a really cute one for our favors.

We're Going To Start This Nice. And Easy.

I am so excited to announce that my my multi-talented friend, call sign "GreenBalloon", is going to contribute some DIY projects to Subtlety of Taste. In addition to being a skilled artist, print maker, and just generally great craftsperson, she also has wonderful taste. You can see some of her awesome printmaking work here (she actually letterpressed save the dates for my own wedding). Her wedding was filled with so many touching little details, I knew others would definitely want to see some of these projects and maybe incorporate them into their own weddings. So without further ado:

So, the Matrioshka and I go way back. On the topic of taste, we've spent many an LA traffic jam and I5 cruise control stretch discussing such fundamental questions as, "IS taste something that can be objectively GOOD and BAD?" These nuggets were of course mere toppings on a conversational salad of Reality Bites quoting, but I digress...


I also recently had my wedding, after only a couple of months of planning and preparation. You may have, like myself, enjoyed M's little "tasteful adventures" on S.o.T. But in this planning process, I benefited from her headstart on wedding planning, not to mention her subtle curation of the overwhelming number of wedding blogs. For that I am grateful, and feel somewhat compelled to give back. As such, M has agreed to let me contribute the occasional post, focused initially on some of the wedding projects I took on and where such inspiration came from. Without further ado...

I needed to start with an easy one because a) I have a cold, b) it seems appropriate?

So, bunting. Who doesn't love bunting? It's vaguely nostalgic, bright & cheery, and pretty much means "there's a party going on. here."

I give you... bunting.

Credits: top left here, top right here, center here, center right here, lower right here, and lower left here

In terms of making bunting, it's pretty straight forward: fabric or paper triangles (or squares or half-crescents if you like to break with tradition) and some kind of cord or rope. It really depends on how you are going to use it: indoor or outdoor, flying free or against a backing, etc. You can make it much more complicated (and beautiful) by sewing two pieces of fabric together (with lining for structure) and using satin ribbon to string it all together. That would be great for accenting a table at a refined indoor reception. But that satin ribbon is going to untie on a breezy day at an outdoor wedding. In an indoor environment, people are more likely to inspect the details (but not necessarily) and at an outdoor event you just need big color that won't get lost in the landscape.

Our wedding was outdoors, so we went for big color and sturdy materials. I picked up some brightly patterned oilcloth remnant pieces at various fabric stores (oil cloth isn't cheap and since you're cutting it up anyway, go for those discounted remnants) and some gardening ribbon from the hardware store. Oh, and a stapler.

It doesn't look like much, but you could see that bunting from across the park. "Party. Here." Mission accomplished.

Are you excited about bunting yet?? If you are, but don't want to have to make your own, 100LayerCake just happens to be giving this one away this week:

Doesn't this make you want bunting of flags of the world?

The hills of Santa Teresa

When PB and I were booking our hotels in Rio we ran up against a little problem...the problem being we waited too long and all the hotels we wanted to stay at along Ipanema were booked. And while we were initially a little sad about it, we realized that it presented the perfect opportunity to stay in the Santa Teresa areas in the hills of Rio. We stayed in a villa converted to hotel called Relais Solar that presented amazing views of the entire city and quiet mornings reading out by the pool. We ate delicious kale and fried pork and feijoada along with these crispy cheese ravioli (I have no idea what they are called) at Bar do Mineiro. We also had a wonderful lunch at Espirito Santa of crab filled plantains, delicious vodka caipirinhas (you have to mix it up sometimes) and a coconut stew with shrimp. And we wondered along amazingly beautiful winding streets watching the way too cute street car pass by.

If you get a chance to go to Rio, I definitely recommend at least spending a meal and a few hours in the neighborhood. Oh, but don't try and take pictures of the tiled store shown above...you'll get in trouble :)

Ciao Argentina y Brazil

PB and I debated a lot about where to spend our honeymoon and whether we wanted to take it immediately after the wedding or to wait a bit. We were really heavily considering Thailand and Vietnam--places we are both dying to visit (hello? bahn mi!)--but in the end felt that the trip might be a bit too exhausting after the craziness of the wedding. We also played around with the idea of a quick trip to Mexico because what is more relaxing than tequila filled drinks, some wonderful latin music, and perhaps a stay at the awesome boutique hotels in Mexico D.F. But, we felt we had an opportunity for more distant travel....so we ultimately decided on Argentina and Brazil (specifically Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, and Rio de Janeiro). And we are so happy we did. I have returned so inspired by the unique hotels we stayed in, delicious food, and gorgeous natural settings. I can't wait to share a bit more about the trip in the weeks to come!

Also, my ultimate tour guide (the NY Times) just featured a huge guide on South American travel. In case you missed it, here is a guide to Buenos Aires and another to Rio.