Vintage Children's Picnic

Recently, I had a chance to stage a photo shoot with two natural light photographers, Amber Carl Photography and Jill Collier Photography. They both have beautiful children and even recruited another adorable little boy with the cutest curly hair to have a little vintage picnic! Our first shot was with all the kids on a vintage quilt with a picnic setting, complete with an old red picnic basket and matching thermos as they ate apples. It took a bit for them to warm up to the camera!

Little Abby was caught daydreaming, maybe about marrying Prince Charming or becoming a famous lawyer or astronaut one day. Imagine all the dreams you had once upon a time!

There's always one little monkey!

The children spent a lot of time playing "Taxi" in a vintage red Radio Flyer wagon, pulling one another around and trying their hand at some really antique skates! They were a bit too big and awful wobbly!

Some of the children enjoyed just playing "pretend." Little Mikai took right to the vintage suitcases while Abby hopped up on our butter yellow Victorian sofa. Abby's playing hard to get, pretending she doesn't care Mikai is leaving. Too cute!

Now she's sad because she's all alone...

She tries to play with her dolly and distract herself with her other toys, but her tricycle and blocks don't seem to do the trick!

Even her favorite old pink-nosed metal sheep can't console her.

But then he comes back! He tells her how he was such a fool to leave and how much he missed her.  Then all is well again!

Then all the children decide to play "School" where they circle around sitting on vintage school chairs, crates, stools, and boxes.

Some practice their Reading with vintage Raggedy Ann and Andy books while others work on their handwriting and arithmetic on ruler-framed chalkboards.

And you can't forget about "Dress Up!" What little girl didn't play with her mother's make up and pearls? To add to the fun, we gave them some vintage talcum powder bottles in mint green and pale pink (which they were surprised worked!), and a powder blue vintage make up case filled with vintage hankies, lace gloves, and a pink Avon powder container.

All in all, the children had a wonderful time at their picnic and thoroughly enjoyed their play time together!

Credits: Pictures as marked courtesy of Jill Collier Photography. Non-watermarked photographs courtesy of Amber Carl Photography. 

Vintage Tea Party

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine, Angela, from Angela Saban Design approached me explaining that she was working on a vintage tea party with a storybook feel, perfect for every little girl's fantasy. I definitely wanted in on this one! 

First, Angela had a friend who just happens to own a home that looks like something straight out of Disneyland, complete with an incredible gate entrance and a gorgeous garden patio.

If you don't happen to have a home like this (who does, really??) then you can always settle for your own garden with some extra florals brought in or host an event at a restaurant with a lush private patio.

Modern Revival provided doilies to cover the table and colorful vintage hankies for napkins.  Pretty paper adhered to paper doilies are great for making custom invitations, signs, labels, and place cards!

My favorite part of this tea party are these adorable cookies that The Baked Equation provided. They're little pieces of art! Definitely check out The Baked Equation's website for all that they have. And they even given away some of their secrets on their blog for you DIY bakers!

But no tea party is complete without a tea cart . You can rent this one from Modern Revival for only $20. It's covered with more of our linens: vintage lace, colorful doilies, and antique mismatching hankies. The little old wooden box helps give visual interest and height to the vintage cake platter and is adorned with blush pink and mint green tins as well as an old pale blue striped Candy tin lid on the second shelf, complimented by a pale blue shutter in the background.

While we only focused on a few parts of this adorable Storybook Tea Party, please feel free to visit Diana Elizabeth's blog to see the entire set up.

Vendors and fellow creative gurus for the entire shoot are as follows: Venue: Private Residence at Creek Side Estates / Photographer: Diana Elizabeth / Event designer: Angela Saban Design / Paper goods: Paper Candee / Tea Party Table and vintage China: Tea Crockery / Gluten Free Cake: Angel Cakes Bakery / Cookies: The Baked Equation / Florals: The Garage by Ivy / Hair styling: Mariana Marie / Tutus: Juju’s Tutus / Hair Accessories: Princess Pie Boutique

Industrial Wedding at Phoenix IceHouse

I am excited to announce that our products were featured in a recent shoot at the ultra cool IceHouse venue in Phoenix with the help of Jill Lauren Photography and BTS Event Management and published on Savvy Deets Bridal here. 

These girls have been great to work with and I love how the shoot was inspired by bacon! (It is one of my absolute favorite foods, so why not have it on such a special day as your wedding?!) Most of the containers, wire baskets, boxes, and silver platters were from us!

Besides our own props, one of my favorite things was the floral arrangements by AZ Flower Bar. What a clever idea to put a flower inside an upside down wine glass! But the floral collage on the brick wall is just absolutely gorgeous!  That is just such a cool way to play off the modern and industrial-ness of the venue, while still softening it a touch for an elegant wedding.

Because this shoot was taking place at the Icehouse, which is very industrial, BTS Event Management loved the idea of using our wire crates to hold all sorts of things, including desserts and fun giveaways for the guests.

To see the rest of the photo shoot, including the bride and adorable flower girl, please visit here.

Small Vineyard Wedding in California

One of our brides recently got married at a small vineyard in California. It was very special for her and her husband as they shared a great love of wine and had special memories visiting vineyards while dating. Because of this, they wanted wine to be a part of their wedding, not only by location, but with personalized bottles for all the guests. When she came to me, she wanted a really creative way to present the bottles as gifts instead of just setting them on the table. When I recommended a large old wooden tool box, she fell in love! See below for some other rustic props she rented to decorate the already gorgeous venue!

To keep the wine and liquor theme going, she rented some adorable old vintage ginger beer and rum bottles to decorate the bar area.

To see the entire wedding, feel free to check it out on Nordstrom's Wedding Suite blog as featured here.

Vintage Modern Wedding Jewelry

So, when I was getting married, one of the things I struggled with was what kind of jewelry to wear. Shoes? That was the easy part! But I love to accessorize my outfits every day with unique pieces of jewelry and so felt a little naked almost when it came to my dress and no jewelry. I found it very difficult to find the right jewelry that would match the occasion, was elegant and classy, but would also match my style and personality. So, I thought it would be fun to come up with a few unique pieces of jewelry (along with where you can get them--I'm not trying to tease you! :) that may help you in accessorizing for your special day.  

For the romantic and feminine dress:

For the lacey dress:

For the vintage dress:

For the high-necked or busy neckline dress:

Alternatively, some dresses just don't lend to a necklace or maybe you would prefer something else altogether. Here are some great finds:

And for those who aren't afraid of color I absolutely adore this necklace!