New York Magazine's Top 20 Reception Ideas

1. Avoid playing boring piano music during the cocktail hour.
2. Supplement the often-ignored wedding cake with passed desserts.
3. Transport your guests in style.
4. Even if you don’t normally, think like a foodie for one night.
5. Rent a photo booth.
6. Get creative with your tabletop décor—if not to flaunt originality, then to be a little more eco-friendly.
7. Serve quirky late-night snacks as guests exit your reception.
8. Plan a good coat-check strategy to avoid long queues blocking the entrance and
dampening first impressions.
9. Take a design risk and seat your guests at a few really long tables.
10. Make your guests the center of attention.
11. Get married at an unusual location.
12. If you’re giving favors, select gifts that won’t be immediately discarded.
13. Make boozing an elegant activity.
14. Showcase what you’re passionate about as part of the entertainment.
15. Get your favorite takeout place to cater your wedding.
16. If you can afford extravagances, do something that will elicit an emotional response.
17. Display seating assignments in a unique way.
18. Take your cue from Truman Capote and host a themed reception.
19. Make a cool video of the party.
20. Plan for after-hours action.

They go further into detail for each point, check out the rest of the article and other great wedding articles here.

{images by Jeni Holder}

Studio On Fire

Via Design*Sponge, I saw the wonderful calendar Studio on Fire created for 2008. Patrick used to work with Ben and we have come to know him over the years and have been huge fans of his studio. Seeing so much great work come from them, we are excited for them to letterpress our wedding invitations, they were actually the first and only letterpress studio we considered. They produce exceptionally high quality, well designed, and best of all fun, playful work!

{images from Studio on Fire}

Megan Bogonovich

I love these ceramic figurines from Megan Bogonovich, they are so intricately detailed and would be lovely as cake toppers. Perfect for the art loving couple.

Check out her Etsy shop!

Back from China

I just got back from China last night from a long work trip. It was a really great experience, my first time there. Still recovering from jet lag, but will be posting in full mode all next week. I have to admit, I was going through major blog withdrawal as I was unable to get onto any sort of blog there for the past 13 days!!!

Thumbprint Kids

I came across these great cake toppers by Thumbprint Kids. They make me smile! If you go to their website you can see real photos of the couples they are modeled after.

Wiley Valentine

I am in the beginning stages of designing our wedding invitations and throughout the process I will share my inspirational images. These fabulous designs are by Wiley Valentine.

Accordion File Organizers

With the abundance of miscellaneous wedding related papers, binders aren't enough. Storage boxes are great, but living in a small apartment, I don't have much real estate to dedicate to them, so I have been buying accordion file folders. They are great for all of the receipts, gift cards, stationery and invoices I have been accumulating. But most important, they fit in my purse and are easily stored on my book shelf.

(left - right)
Russell and Hazel - Moleskin
See Jane Work
Paper Source - Traveler's Companion
Real Simple - Martha Stewart Crafts

Bridal Shower

Last weekend was my bridal shower and I want to share the beautiful and thoughtful floral arrangements Patrick's aunt created. Not only did she incorporate our color scheme and theme but also added cranberries which gave a perfect and fitting punch of red for the holiday season.

{images by Thoughtful Day}

Bridal Shower: Newlywed Game

I have to admit, I am not one for games and definitely do not like being the center of attention, but being a bride you have to get over the latter pretty quickly. At my bridal shower Patrick's family put together a list of questions, just like the Newlywed Game and it was so much fun! Here are the questions I was asked, I ended up scoring 12/20 - I think the score was pretty tough on me, (we have been together 7 years, I know him pretty well by now) considering a couple of Patrick's answers ended with question marks! Regardless, it was so much fun to answer the questions and hear what his answers were.

1) What is my favorite color?

2) What is his favorite color?

3) My best non-physical feature?

4) His best non-physical feature?

5) She finds my ____ very attractive.

6) She looks really sexy in ____.

7) She finds me irresistible when I wear ____.

8) Our favorite restaurant is ____.

9) It really annoys me when she ____.

10) She really gets annoyed when I ____.

11) Our first date was ____.

12) Where was your first kiss?

13) Who initiated it?

14) The first gift I ever gave her was?

15) The first gift she ever gave me was?

16) Where is the most unusual place you shared a romantic moment? - (this made me squirm in my seat!)

17) Most special/romantic memory so far is ____.

18) I knew I loved her when ____.

19) We want to have ____ kid (number and gender) and soon or not quite so soon?

20) The reason I can't wait to marry her is?

Flea Market Style : Emily Chalmers

I was recently gifted Flea Market Style by Emily Chalmers and this book is a treasure trove of beautiful homes decorated with mostly flea market, garage sale, and dumpster finds. No matter your preference of vintage style, whether it be retro, bohemian or mid-century; page after page this book will inspire you, I promise.

Emily Chalmers also happens to be the proprietor of the London shop Caravan, located in Old Spitalfields Market, one of my favorite markets in the world!

I just love how the tabletop items in those last few photos are displayed!

Elum Designs

I am in constant search of gift ideas for our wedding, and if the gift happens to fall within our color story, even better. This particular Desk Set and Journal would be perfect gifts for my bridesmaids.

Martha Stewart Crafts

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to a Michaels craft store. Living in NYC, opportunities like this are few and far between. Of course as soon as I got there, I rushed over to the Martha Stewart Crafts area and found some great little embellishments for our wedding ideas.


I bought enough of these Daisy stickers to (maybe) put one on each place card at the reception. If the lettering on each card is grey, the yellow and white daisies will work perfect!

I also came across these little Yellow Daisy Cake stickers, I think I will put them in the children's welcome bags...

I couldn't resist these small Silver Wood Grain cards, they are the perfect size for short and sweet thank you notes.

The Dinner Party

For those of you that live in Brooklyn, or will be visiting, I am excited to see that Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" is on (long term) view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Throughout countless art history classes, I was always fascinated by this piece and I look forward to finally seeing it in person.

'Tis the Season

Last week I was uptown and got the chance to view some amazing holiday window displays. I love this time of year!







Barneys eco-themed holiday window displays were my favorite, and as always, they were the most fun. All of the displays were made of recycled materials and each window had a different green theme, my favorite was Rudolf the Recycling Reindeer, entirely made from bottle caps! It's great to see they not only are committed to style but also to the environment, Barneys is dedicated to planting 25,000 trees . Every little bit helps!







Bergdorf Goodman's holiday window concept, The Four Elements, is extremely sophisticated and beautiful. The glitzy jewel adorned window displays were remarkably over the top and luxurious. I especially love all of the animals, the giraffe in the Earth display and the elephant in the Air display were some of my favorites.

{Images by Thoughtful Day}

Kaj Franck

I am in love with Kaj Franck's hand blown glass, his shapes and color combinations are brilliant. My favorite pieces are his hand blown Bells of Kremlin Caraffes (top images); I love how the actual body is clear glass and the stoppers are where the pops of color come in.

(top l-r)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

For the husband to be

I am dedicating a post to Patrick's suit choices, all from John Varvatos. I saved on my dress, I bought the first and only one I tried on (and probably cheapest). From the beginning, I was more into the invitations than the dress. I actually dreaded the dress part, but it turned out to be easy. So money was saved on "the dress" and I am encouraging Patrick to go all out on a suit, not only one he loves, but (I hope) will continue to wear...and it has to be grey.

Vane from Brooklyn Bride had a great post about suits/tuxedos last week, check it out, there are some great and reasonable options that Vane as well as reader's posted. Our link is just about John Varvatos suits, they are expensive, but if this is what he wants, he can have it.

If I were a guy, I would want one of these suits, I love the European cut, not too Thome Browne (although I do love the cut of his suits) and not too bulky, traditional American (long arm and pant leg) suits. All of the above images are from John Varvato's Spring/Summer 2008 collection.