In January, we participated in Weddings in Woodinville, a new bridal show that showcased 6 of Woodinville’s finest venues and over 60 bridal vendors. Guests were transported between venues via luxury transportation and were able to enjoy wine tasting and delicious small bites at each location.

We were delighted to be invited to show at DeLille Cellars along with a stellar group of vendors including Event Success, Rented Elegance and Design, Joann Arruda, Creme de la Creme Cakes, City Catering, La Votre Bridal Couture, and others!

Jacky Grotle of Event Success invited us to collaborate with her and others on a banquet table – we created custom cut menus, place cards, favor tags, and a table number (a custom cut wine label) for the event table set up at DeLille. Jacky put together beautiful favors (wine keys and delicious salted caramels) accented by delicate orchid blooms.

More information about Weddings in Woodinville (and the dates for the 2011 event) can be found at weddingsinwoodinville.com. All photos provided by Joann Arruda (thanks Joann!)

Seeing as today is the shortest day of the year, and many of us are vaguely irritated with the dreary winter weather, I thought it would be an appropriate day to share this real wedding which took place at the Inn at Spanish Bay, in Pebble Beach (don’t you wish you were there right now?)

Katie was such a sweetheart to work with – her infectious smile lit up our entire studio every time she came in for an appointment. We had such a great time working with her on a classic, tailored wedding invitation suite including invitation, rsvp card, and website card letterpressed in chocolate ink on thick, luxurious cotton paper.Her chocolate envelopes with offset return address printing complemented the suite perfectly!

Additionally, we worked with Katie on a reception package including programs, menus, place cards, and a large seating chart, each item featuring Katie and Dave’s monogram. Everything came together beautifully!

Katie and Dave’s wedding photographer was so gracious to provide us with these stunning images from the wedding itself – they are too beautiful not to share! Many thanks to Scott Campbell Photography in Monterey – visit his website here.

It’s been a busy month – and the next few months will continue to be busy! We’ve been working furiously on “day-of” items for our September and October  weddings – here’s a sneak peek of one of those projects that I will be delivering later today.

It has been a busy couple of weeks here at Brown Sugar Design! Deep in the throes of wedding season, we’ve been working nonstop on “day-of” items for our summer weddings – programs, escort cards, menus, and the like. We’ve also had visitors for the past two weeks – friends eager to enjoy Seattle during its most beautiful season!

With all of the excitement, we haven’t had the opportunity to share with you some very exciting news! The Fall/Winter issue of Seattle Bride Magazine hit newsstands in July, and we were delighted to discover that we were voted Best Invitations – as voted by other wedding vendors – in their Best of 2009 poll!

We are so honored to have been voted the best by our colleagues. There are so many very talented and creative wedding professionals in Seattle and we are humbled to have been honored by them in this way. When you work in a creative industry, it’s a true honor to know that others you respect enjoy your work.

We’d like to say “thank you!” with a special promotion to help you say “thank you” in style! From now through October 1, any wedding invitation order over $1000.00 will include 100 complimentary letterpress thank you flats*! Just mention “best of bride” when ordering.

*the fine print: offer applies to new customers only. free offer includes 100 one-color letterpress flat cards with blank envelopes in your choice of color. flats can be personalized to match invitation order. card size: 5×3.5″

Our new issue of Martha Stewart Weddings just arrived, and the style and details from this featured Brooklyn wedding immediately caught my eye. The bride’s dress is showstopping, the butterfly details are too cute, and the groom’s attire – swoon! I especially love his cuff links!

all images from marthastewartweddings.com

In thinking about our upcoming Chicago trip, I figured I should really check to see what the current exhibitions are at some of the art museums. While I always love to go spend a day at the Art Institute of Chicago, when I saw that there is currently an exhibition about industrial designer and inventor Buckminster Fuller at the Museum of Contemporary Art, I realized that if we are able to spend any time in a museum it would be fascinating to see this exhibit.

Buckminster Fuller has always intrigued me – I think because my Dad, as industrial design graduate himself, used to talk about ‘Bucky,’ his geodesic domes, and his forward-thinking designs. Many of Fuller’s designs and ideas were not only ahead for his time but are ahead even by today’s standards. Just look at his design for a high speed, fuel efficient car (30MPG) that could carry 11 – and this was in 1933!

I love the geometric details and futuristic aspects of his many of his designs. I think the retro-future look (which seems to be a favorite of mine) would be really fun to pull into a couples’ wedding stationery – all those fun geometric shapes and patterns would look amazing.

The USPS stamp that was created in his honor is great too.

We here at Brown Sugar Design love cake, and in the words of Jim Gaffigan, “Pie can’t compete with cake…Put candles in a pie, and somebody’s drunk in the kitchen.”

This subject brings us to our new blog love: 100 Layer Cake. Fairly new on the scene, they have drawn some great attention – and rightly so. Their blog is beautiful and full of creative wedding inspiration and ideas. All this – and they haven’t even launched their ‘full’ resource site yet. We can’t wait to see what they come out with. If you haven’t yet, go and check it out. You won’t be disappointed and will quickly see the truth in the statement “pie can’t compete with cake…” especially if happens to be 100 Layer.

In case you haven’t seen this yet, Junebug Weddings, one of our favorite online wedding resources, is having a guest blogging series by Mindy Weiss.

Check out the first installment of “Ask Mindy” where Mindy answers questions on how to keep your wedding budget under control.

She offers some great advice on ways to keep your wedding budget in control without losing your personal style or the quality that your wedding day deserves. We can’t wait to read Mindy’s next installment!

Okay – so, maybe these aren’t wedding worthy, but these new ‘The Simpsons’ stamps definitely need a mention, and look – they’re even the new 44 cent rate. What more can be said than this is a well deserved honor for one of the best written television shows in history. Now we just need to wait for the USPS to recognize Arrested Development.

Here is another sneak peek for another custom wedding invitation order we’ve been working on, this time in shades of purple, grass green, and bright white. The invitation is foil-embossed on metallic purple paper and is absolutely stunning in person (the photos don’t do it justice!) The additional pieces are offset printed in deep purple ink on thick white cardstock and the entire set is packaged nicely in a grassy green inner envelope.

More photos to follow later, but for now, here’s a taste!