IT'S FRIDAY, I'M IN LOVE [WITH GOLD]

Since coming back from our honeymoon (which was absolutely wonderful in case you were wondering!) I been getting right back into the swing of things — tying up some loose ends on a few projects that had to be put on hold the week before the wedding. One of the big ones: assembling and shipping out invitation samples to my Costa Rica couple! The color palette is so lovely — white, creams and touches of gold — perfect for their traditional wedding this coming June in a gorgeous ruin in Guatemala! While I anxiously await the delivery of their samples, I can't get the whole "neutral with a touch of gold" thing out of my head. I am instantly drawn to anything metallic—well, more so than usual ("ooh! Shiny!") so I rounded up a few of my favorite golden things that have caught my eye over the past week or so.

Oh, and let's just say that if I were to be having Thanksgiving for the family (or my new family! GAH!), gold would definitely be the way I would go! But I guess it will just have to wait until next year, as I refuse to host a holiday until I can do it properly in our new home. Hopefully gold is still in. Though, I'm not too worried. Shiny never seems to go out of style.

(thank goodness)

OH HAPPY DAY // INVITATIONS

Alright guys — this is it — what you have all been waiting for (and so patiently I might add.) Brace yourself because you finally get to see my wedding invitations! (Weeeweeeweeeweeeweee!)

Now before you look, let me tell you a bit about the wedding: Adam and I are getting married at his family farm where we first met over ten years ago, and where we still spend most of our time together. Our wedding is going to be laid back and filled with the things and the people we love most. Keeping this in mind, I wanted to design a invitation suite that felt casual and comfortable — but did not lack interest or lose my "designers flair." It had to be a blend of rustic and artful. It needed texture and pattern, illustration and hand-drawn type. It had to include everything I love — and I think I did just that.

I started with our wedding logo — an illustration with a natural and organic feel — that plays off the natural beauty of the barn and surrounding acres. I had it made into a custom stamp, which I used to stamp these muslin bags — adding texture and a casual feel.

The rest of the suite sort of just evolved from there.

I knew right off the bat that there was no need for an accommodations or directions card, as most of our guests are local and have visited the farm before. So I substituted it for a second RSVP card — adding an excuse for another pattern (you can never have to many), a playful way to respond and a bit of horsey humor! The pattern on the "yay" card was inspired by the leaves in our wedding logo and the dots on the "neigh" card were chosen to complement it. From there, various takes on dot patterns and floral elements were added to tie the whole thing together. Add a few vintage stamps (can't forget about the horse one!), some envelope calligraphy and boom! A beautiful suite! 

Needless to say, I am obsessed with this design. And it went over very well with our guests too! It is a perfect peek to the wedding soon to follow — an artful farm celebration filled with what we love.

 (a look at everything packaged together)

 

 So there you have it. I am so happy to finally show you, and I hope it was worth the wait! 

There is so much more to come — but not until after the wedding. I don't want to give too much away! I promise all of my creativity and DIY-ing will not disappoint. 

HAPPY FRIDAY

Talk about a busy week! From meetings with rental companies to tastings with caterers, it seems like every minute of this week was full of wedding-planning fun. I guess that is what's to be expected when you're planning a wedding in 4 months. Well now, 3 months. That's right guys: we are officially at the 3 MONTHS UNTIL I GET MARRIED mark, and I am so so excited! And I still have so so much to do.... I can't decided if planning your own wedding as a graphic designer is a fantastic idea, or just asking for trouble. Probably a bit of both! One one hand you can do some serious cost cutting — no need to hire someone else to design your invitations, programs and all those fun little paper pieces. On the other, you don't want to stop there when it comes to DIY's. If you're like me, you want to do EVERYTHING. And so far, I have every intention of following my controlling-everythinghastolookjustlikeIwantitto-self. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but it's all the little detail that make a wedding special. And it's putting your own time and talents into those special details that make a wedding super special and super you! That's really what matters most. 

So as I continue down the do-it-myself path to my wedding day (October 19th! shfkjshgjhakGAH!) I wanted to share a few sneak peaks with you! Really sneaky peaks. After all, I don't want to give too much away! To start, here's one (of several) patterns that I am including in my invitation suite!

Two words: dots & florals. I'll let your mind wander from there.

This weekend should be full of more planning (it will never stop!) which I am 90% looking forward to. But I am 100% looking forward to a little trip up to Philly for a friends birthday! I hope everyone out there has something to 100% look forward to as well!

 

DOODLE DAY: W

Look at you, aren't you guys lucky — two blog posts in one day! What is this madness? Actually, I can answer that: this madness is me trying to make up for my lack of organization and promise keeping last week. I know this should have been posted last tuesday, but it still counts if it's within a week right?

Anyway, last weeks (or this weeks) doodle days is brought to you by visions of my future. I can't stop thinking about my wedding, getting married and spending the rest of my life with my best friend, so I turn to endless pinterest-ing, list making and of course, doodling. This is a collection of W's, which happen to be my new favorite letter. AND MY SOON TO BE NEW LAST INITIAL! Audrey Catherine Watson — that has a nice ring to it!

Yep, I am officially wedding obsessed. But it's cool. Now I should have tons of stuff to share on the blog! My advanced apologies for any "bridezilla" behavior. Although I like to think that I am calm, cool and collected enough to avoid that. Or at least I hope so. 
 

OH HAPPY DAYS

Last I talked to you guys I was leaving for a wonderful weekend getaway, and I have some super, fantastic, superb, amazing, wonderful, ridiculous, its-about-time news to share! I'm sure you already guessed it (or saw it on facebook) so here goes: ADAM AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED! GAH! Turns out this wasn't any old trip to New York, although I have to say I knew it was coming! I mean, when you have been together eight years you start to expect certain things. You create scenarios in your head for every possible moment that these "things" might happen. You pay extra attention to every little detail, hoping that an awkward smile or nervous twitch might mean that "things" are coming, and coming soon. And you also go pick out a ring three weeks prior to a vacation. If that doesn't say a proposal is coming soon I don't know what does. But no, it wasn't much of a surprise, and that just made it perfect. And completely us. 

Now I know you are dying to hear the story, and even if you're not just pretend that you are interested, cause everyone knows I love telling it! But just to make everyone happy, I will give you a condensed version: 

On our way up to Pinegrove Ranch for the weekend we stopped to do a little nature walking at Bushkill Falls. The park was absolutly amazing — beautiful trees, perfect paths and stunning waterfalls — a perfect place for Adam to make his move. He must have agreed, because he snuck back to the car (or as he said "bathroom"), put the ring in his pocket, came back and we continued the walk. He had this silly (and adorable!) smile on his face when he came back from the "bathroom" so I knew something was up. We continued our walk, which turned into a hike. No really, a serious hike! We climbed so many stairs that my calf hurt for the next three days. I really need to do some serious leg workouts... Anyway, fast-forward thirty or so minutes (and thirty million stairs) and we made it to the top of the trail. We stood there overlooking the Deleware River Valley, taking in the surrounding mountian scene. Then, I turned to the side, wanting to say something to Adam, and saw him down on one knee! Bring on the goosbumps (the really good kind.) Then there was a bunch of giggling, a hug, more giggling, and he asked me to marry him! I of course, said "of course" and have never been happier! Side note: I saw the ring box in his pocket half way through our hike, and I am only telling everyone because I think it's really funny and completely adorable at the same time. You can beg to differ, but I don't care :)

So in case my story wasn't enough — here's a few pictures so you can see just how wonderful this whole thing was! 

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See? I told you. Wonderful, right?

I am seriously obsessed — with this boy, this ring, this happiness and this life.

HAPPY FRIDAY(ish)

I know I'm a day early but I promise I have a good excuse for this weekday mix-up — Adam (my lovely boyfriend) and I are heading to New York for a weekend at a ranch! *insert obnoxious sounds and happy dance here* I have been looking forward to this trip since he got the tickets for my birthday...back in November. Clearly we are an "on the ball" couple. But, in his defense, we did agree to wait until the weather got warmer, which to me meant April... But hey, what's two more months, right? Needless to say I.AM.SO.READY. 

(Ponies, pool, food, dancing, mountians, nature, campfires, more food and more ponies — yep, totally pumped.)

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, even if you aren't going anywhere fancy! But if you are stuck at home doing absolutely nothing, you can always stalk my instagram (instagram.com/aucala), see all of the glorious things that I am up to, and live vicariously through me. Don't worry, I'll allow it. 

But no, really. Keep an eye out. Beautiful sights are to be seen.

DOODLE DAY: PRACTICE

Alright guys, so I have been trying to come up with some ways to make the blog — well, better — and with some help from friends (thanks for the Facebook input guys!) I have decided to feature a few weekly post series! This will 1. give me a chance to show you more of the things I have been working on and 2. keep me on a better blogging schedule. Can you say win, win? 

I'd like to start out this adventure with a quick calligraphy doodle I did this morning while messing around with some of my pens & nibs. I am rather new to the calligraphy thing, but determined to be as quick and artful and fluid and awesome as all those fancy calligraphers out there. You know, the ones with work so gorgeous you just sit there and drool over it for hours? Yeah, just like that. But like everything, it is going to take practice. Lots.of.practice. 

We all know practice makes perfect, but I think I'll just aim for awesome.

So keep an eye out for weekly inspiration in the form of doodles, patterns, colors and everything else wonderful! 

IT WILL GET BETTER

Okay guys, so clearly I am not very good at this whole blog thing. I mean, what has it been, two months since my last post?...Yeaaah sorry about that! But I promise it will get better! Even Professor Snape agrees (his version is a bit...well...more depressing, but I can't pass up a good tie to Harry Potter. Even if it the connection only makes a bit of sense. Sorry, but I'm not sorry.)  Anyway, the point is that this is the first and hopefully last time that I will leave you guys hanging for that long.

But don't worry, you haven't missed a whole lot since my last post. Sure, I have been busy building the brand and bringing in clients, but it's been mostly all of the back end, nitty gritty stuff lately. It's hard work starting your own business (shocker, right?) and I think the toughest part is being patient. I am so excited for this adventure and I just want everything to happen immediately. But it's not going to. It will take time for everything to fall into place. I have no doubt that it will, eventually. The frustration is when? But when I really think about it, I am off to a great start. There is something to be said about creating your dream job, rather than applying for it. And at the mere age of 23 and only a few months in, I have to be thankful for the opportunities thus far. I have worked with adorable couples and met with wonderful wedding professionals. I have renewed old relationships and opened new ones. I have created some damn good designs. And best of all, I get to do what I love. Everyday. 

So as we move into summer, and the warm days begin to distract me (and believe me, they will) I promise not to get too caught up in what isn't happening. Instead, I am going to :

......................................................................................

No 1. Market. Improve my presence and get my name out. I need to think of new advertising strategies and take advantage of more networking opportunities.

No 2. Blog. A lot more than I'll probably want to. I want to feel more comfortable sharing my thoughts and feelings. Usually I turn to sketching when I don't know what else to do, but maybe I will try this as a new outlet.That said, I need to come up with some re-occurring blog ideas. Maybe a "weekend inspiration" feature? Or post a pattern on a particular day? If you have any ideas, I would love to listen!

No 3. Design. I have so many sketch book pages full of new invitation ideas waiting to be created. I keep saving them for the right client, but it's killing me to wait. I am going to do more design for designs sake. So keep an eye out for some "just for fun" aucala creations!

No 4. Create. Do things besides sitting in front of my computer staring at InDesign. I need to paint, make stamps, collage, take pictures, do all of the things on my "oh what a good idea, I should do that soon" list. Then take what I created and implement them in my designs!

No 5. Share. Share more about myself. Take the time to blog about my day and not just my work. Let you know what's going on in my life — what I am thinking and feeling, what I like and don't like. 

(If I don't stick to these, you have my permission for an intervention. Just no slapping please)

SHOW STOPPER

Well, maybe not all the time. But that's sure how I felt at my first bridal show this past weekend!

Being the only stationery vendor there, I knew I had to give brides a table worth looking at. I had to catch their attention, and hold it. I had to show them that picking an invitation to set the stage for an event is just as important as choosing a photographer to capture the memories of one. I like to think I did just that. 

This whole "starting your own business" thing is moving very fast, and when Mountain Branch Golf Club asked me to be a vendor at their annual bridal show, my stress level increased a thousand percent! As did my excitement. And my nerves. And pretty much every other possible emotion. I anxiously got to work putting together my display. I made things, changed things, added things and deleted things until I was satisfied. Then I set everything up and began the cycle again... Needless to say, it took several long days and a few sleepless nights to get everything perfect (thank you indecisiveness...) but I am so so happy with the way everything turned out! I would almost venture to say that I had the best booth at the show...almos—nope. I did. You can just take my word for it :)

As far as bridal shows go, I like to think that I picked the very best to start out with. It was an intimate set up—with only about fifteen vendors and a wonderful and welcoming event staff. The turnout though, was surprisingly large. But hey, you don't see me complaining. It was perfect. I got to network with other wedding professionals, chat with bride after bride about their wedding plans, and most importantly show off what I do best. And I got to leave with new friends, a bunch of new contacts, a few new clients and a ton of compliments. Quite the successful first show if I do say so myself!

So for all those who stopped by to say hello, I am so glad that you did! I cannot thank you enough for all of your support. But for those who did not get a chance to see my set up in person, here's your chance to take a look. I really hope you like what you see! Enjoy!

 

Absolutely in love with my little q-tip dandelions!

New business cards!

And what's a table by me if there isn't a llama? Answer: Not a good table.

HELLO THERE!

I am really glad you stopped by! I know the page is a bit, well...boring, but give me a few days to get everything in order and I promise you won't be disappointed. Keep checking back to see what I am thinking, what I am working on, and what is inspiring me along the way.