time is FLYING

Take a deep breath and pause. Enjoy the moment. It's so hard to do that these days with so much going on and retail stores rushing through the seasons. Independence Day JUST passed and now everyone is back-to-school shopping and gathering crafts for their fall projects. Yikes!

Wedding planning is a process that starts and ends before you know it! I have brides that contact me within a week of the marriage proposal, and while that might seem a bit hasty, it is so necessary sometimes! Invitations are typically sent out 6 weeks to 2 months before the wedding date, and Save the Dates should really not be sent and closer to the date than 6 months. So when you think about it, a year-long engagement is really not a long time at all!

I guess what I'm trying to say is the wedding is one day. The planning for that wedding is 1 year. The marriage is for a lifetime. Forever. Till death. While you're in your most stressful moments, when you feel that nothing is going your way, take a moment to remind yourself of the most incredible adventure you're about to embark on with (hopefully) your best friend. And breathe.

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Lots of projects are in store for Embellished by Emily. I am in preparation for those beautiful late-summer/early fall weddings right now. My favorite part of this upcoming season is the use of bright, vibrant colors. Think sunflowers, squash, watermelon and pumpkins. So beautiful. I don't know what it is about autumn weddings, but they always seem so magical. My parents were married in late September and they're still together 30 years later, so I consider it good luck!

I am also working on a few personal projects, trying to spruce up my house and prepare some birthday gifts for my friend's sweet Samantha's first birthday. My house is in desperate need of curtains (and space, for that matter). I believe a massive "spring" clean is in order :)

Congratulations to my friends who had a beautiful baby boy, Max, on July 12. I hope he LOVES coming home to his outer space nursery! And it looks like I'll be taking a trip back over to their house to replace "Anderson" with "Max" on his rocket ship. Big letters are WAY easier to work with :)

Warmly,

Emily

Fun in the Nursery

Happy Sunday night! Just poking in to post something I've been working on (and finally completed). My friend, Ally, is having a baby boy any day now, and they wanted an outerspace-themed nursery for him. I jumped at the chance to help out. Last summer I did a wall stencil for my friend Laura's baby nursery, and this summer I got to expand that even more and paint an ENTIRE nursery. The parents had a lot of fun ideas in mind, and I hope I did them justice! Enjoy :)

glorious summer!

Hello!
Back from Rome (bye bye gelato and vespas!!) and two weekends of weddings. Finishing up some more weddings and showers before I head to Mexico on July 2 for a week. Jen and Fritz got married at a beautiful lakeside ceremony on June 5. The day was a total reflection of the both of them -- fun and relaxed. I was the "unofficial, official wedding coordinator," and loved every second of it! We ordered the flowers wholesale and had them set to arrive on Friday. They were in perfect condition Saturday for me to put them into beautiful bouquets for the bride/bridesmaids/mothers. Also, we used coordinating hydrangeas for the chairs making up the aisle. I hung paper lanterns with fishing wire and made sure all the people were set to make their entrance at the right time to the right music. Then, when I went to bed that night, I sighed a huge sigh of relief. Fun Fun!


Now, what have I been working on, invitation wise? For starters, we have Alison and Nick's super fun booklet invitation. Seriously. Check out how cool this is:


...and the coolest part? The perforated RSVP postcard:


Moving along, we have Liz and her fiance, Jason. I fell in love with her colors of champagne and rose, so I just went with it! She received them today and loves them! Whew!



In between these, I've constructed a few shower invites:

Put together some save-the-dates:

and helped some people plan some parties:
This weekend I am headed over to a friend's house to help paint her baby's nursery. It's a rocket/alien/outer space theme, and I simply cannot wait! It's going to be awesome. And I promise pictures :)

That's it for now -- gotta stop somewhere. More to come, as usual :)

Warmly,
Emily

...to sum up...

What a CRAZY winter/spring it has been! I have been swamped and am LOVING every second of it!

What makes things even crazier, however, is that I am headed to Rome next week for work to teach Final Cut Pro to our Rome bureau. I am beyond ecstatic, but nervous about the flight. ALSO, this means I am working triple-time to make sure I have all invites to my brides before I'm gone, as I am flying straight to Colorado from Rome for a wedding and won't be back in time to have them shipped for the suggested 2-months-before-the-wedding mail out date.

I am working with the most fun brides right now! They are very open to ideas and suggestions, which allows me to experiment with new ideas. I am doing a BEAUTIFUL pink and champagne pocketfold for one bride and a FABULOUS "booklet" invitation with navy (yay!) and green swirls for another.

Also, I am having my first go around with scalloped program fans, and I love how they're turning out!

The groom requested that I include The Lord's Prayer for those guests who don't know it:

And how cool is this? The invite was printed on plantable seed paper. You plant it, and it grows flowers! How novel! :)

Oh, and can I please take a moment to say how excited I was to find out a friend of a past bridal client FRAMED her invite and gave it to the bride for a gift? I couldn't help but feel honored :)

OK! Thanks for the break! I'm off to address some envelopes for rehearsal dinner invites. It's at a pub in Ireland!

Slan leat anois mo stor!

Emily

new web site!

www.embellishedbyemily.com has seen a drastic change!

The pink and grey site was really starting to get to me. It didn't convey the elegance that I thought demonstrated my capabilities. So, after much research, I revamped it and am very happy with the results.

Many more images still need to be added. I typically prefer to wait until after the event has occurred to post the invitation, and I also change the details around when the client requests.

Please let me know what you think of this recent revamp! I am excited for the many things Embellished by Emily has in store :)

Warmly,

Emily

p.s. - This photo warms my heart. It is of my lovely boyfriend of 5 years and myself last year at one of my best gal's wedding. Julie is now in Bolivia with her husband, and I miss her so much. This picture takes me back to what a fun day that was. I miss you, Jules! Please come back soon!!!! OH, the photo was taken by Michael Connor of www.connorstudios.com. Check him out for your wedding photography needs!

Loving what I do

Embellished by Emily has been the name of my business since 2006, and I went back and forth at the beginning when I first thought it up. Now I couldn't be happier with it. Every time I take on a project outside of my normal paper invitations/announcements, the broad business name of "Embellished by Emily" makes more sense. The name says I can take any of your ideas and embellish them to your liking. Anything you desire can be embellished by Emily!

The days are getting longer and sunnier and warmer, and I am so incredibly excited about this! Cookouts and weddings are just around the corner.

I would love to post some things I've been working on in the realm of weddings and babies, but prefer to wait until after the event takes place to post it to my public site. So in the meantime, I will leave you with my paper flowers I made last weekend. I have no idea where I got the idea, but a couple sheets of scrapbook paper, some leftover fabric, and an awesome vase from Marshalls later, I have myself a never-dying table display!

Happy Spring!!

Warmly,

Emily

Jack's Wall Art

Jack's wall hangings...

Baby Jack's nursery has a transportation theme. So fun!

I took the design of the bedding ...

... and made it into these matching button-and-canvas wall hangings.

Aiden's wall art coming soon!