• WHITE PAPERS by BLEU STOCKINGS

  
  A Booklist for Bleu Stockings
  by Branding Salon
  
  What is a Brand?
  by Rachel Cost
  

Two Creatives Get Hitched

Posted on | March 12, 2009 | 1 Comment

Following my Holiday Proposal in December of 2008 I figured it was time for the sequel!  I have to say marrying another creative has been so much fun! We share a love for vintage and modern style so we had a lot of fun with planning the wedding – from the invitations to all the little details. Michael co-owns ALPHA Multimedia Solutions with his brother. ALPHAspecializes in Web site development and video production.

We started the wedding planning with our invitations. The idea was hatched when I was downtown with friends and wanted to show them the ACE Hotel. I love their urban mix of vintage and modern. I went hunting for ideas for vintage office paraphernalia and my first stop was Office PDX with its great selection of mid-century office items and contemporary office stuff. From there we tossed around ideas and came up with a play on an “Inter-Office Memo” as our wedding theme. We had a lot of laughs putting it all together and included “Personnel Records” with hand- stamped important dates of our first meeting, our first date, engagement and wedding. We also included an executive summary of how we met and a ‘Personal Experience’ section which listed our likes: technology, good food, tennis, vintage office paraphernalia, fireplaces and sleeping late.”

We made the most of the theme by stamping all items to give it a real “old school office feel.” We then put the whole thing in an oversized “Inter-Department Delivery” envelope. You can check this out at our wedding Web site. We were not sure if anyone else would appreciate our unusual wedding invitations but it was quiet well received. A few of our favorite responses are below:

“When Glenn saw the interdepartmental delivery folder, he thought it was your 1099 and so he didn’t open it until he was about to do some tax work. Then voila! it was your very original wedding announcement in multiple pieces, which took him a little longer to figure out. He finally recognized it for what it was and passed on to me several days late without the envelope which I made him go dig out of the trash can. Where did you get that mailer? The whole thing is fabulous and fun!

—Jude Lutge”

“Subject: The best Wedding invite EVER!

Seriously dude, this thing is rad! Who did this and who came up with the
concept?

I was like …HEY, DID I JUST GET SERVED?!

LMAO soo good!

Congrats dude.

—Kris Kanaly”

We were married on February 26, 2009, in Portland, Oregon. We are so grateful to our friends and family who made this day so incredibly memorable and beyond our expectations. 
And special thanks to those of you who did airport runs, hung lights, fixed hair, attached flowers, hosted family and brought presents of food and laughter.

We had a simple courthouse wedding ceremony with only our immediate family and a few of our closest friends. I liked the idea of arriving at the courthouse in a cab and thought it was a great contrast to my formal wedding gown. After the courthouse ceremony we walked through downtown to a great local place called Mother’s Bistro & Bar where we shared a Champagne toast  and headed off to Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast to have a night to ourselves before our wedding reception at home the following evening. The next day what started as a small family and friends get-together turned into a reception with around 60 guests.

In July we are having a big “Company Picnic” for all of our out-of-town friends. We picked a date in July for the big celebration because we want them to see Portland when it is most beautiful.

Once the invitations went out I started look for a wedding dress. I’m from Mendocino, a small, very liberal town in Northern California. It’s a beautiful place right on the coast. My parent were liberal hippies so growing up I didn’t have strong visions of my wedding day or bridal gown. Luckily, I heard about the OR Brides Against Breast Cancer Charity Wedding Gown Sale and found an Atelier diagonal wedding dress at a great price while also helping to support a great organization. 

I decided to take a week off so I could finally focus on the wedding planning. This turned out to be the perfect amount of time to pull all the wedding details together. I was lucky to find the perfect wedding accessories at some of my favorite local North Portland independent boutiques.

I found a beautiful sundial necklace at Flutter on N. Mississippi. I also discovered vintage hair pins that were the perfect compliment to my classic wedding gown. I received so many compliments on the necklace from people who thought it was a family heirloom piece that I emailed the wedding pics to Flutter and thanked them. I then received the loveliest email from the jewelry designer Brehan Todd.

“My Name is Brehan Todd. I am the designer of the sundial necklace you purchased at Flutter and wore for your wedding day. I’m so happy that you chose this piece. It was inspired by an old stone sundial I used to visit in a rose garden park as a child. On spring days there were always wedding parties dancing around the roses. I was hoping a bride would select this piece and I’m so glad it was you. You look beautiful and full of joy! Thanks so much for sharing the lovely photos with me and Cindy at Flutter. I’m a new designer, recently graduated and started my own line of sustainable jewelry and accessories.” Check out her work at www.brehantodd.com and www.brehanclaire.etsy.com”

For the wedding bouquet and boutonniere we went to Ink and Peat. I loved the bouquet with its lovely mix of white roses, andromeda, berzellia, hyacinth and ranuncula. I also sent the wedding photos to Pam at Ink and Peat to thank her and asked if she could feature us on her fabulous housemartin blog. Check out the post “courthouse wedding.”

For dessert we picked out some lovely items from Pix patisserie where they have absolutely amazing decadent desserts. We also setup a smores station by out outdoor stone fire place which turned out to be a big hit with guests.

Because we where hosting the reception ourselves we kept the menu simple – an antipasti platter with an assortment of salamis and artisan cheeses, smoked salmon, baked brie and a Cru’de’ta vegetable platter. Luckily I have some very close friends who helped with all the food prep and setup. (My friends and I affectionately call ourselves the “endearingly neurotic” club.) For libations we had a pony keg of beer from Widmer Brothers Brewery  and Malbec red wine. We also set out a set of vintage alphabet stamps by the beer for guest to make custom drink labels.

For the reception guest book we had decided to use a mid-century Royal typewriter to let guests leave comments. It was so much fun to use and such a change from a laptop keyboard. There is something really satisfying about tapping out words on a typewriter. We found it at Blue Moon Camera and Machine in St. Johns. It’s a great store filled with camera equipment and a great collection of restored typewriters. And Blue Moon offers great small town customer service.  We also found a hidden stash of Polaroid film at Blue Moon, so it was fun to have instant photos which we hung next to the typewritten notes.

We held the wedding reception at our home in North Portland. Our home has a double lot back yard so we rented a tent due to typical rainy weather conditions. We also had a blazing fire in our old stone fireplace and setup a bar under the grape arbor. For the main “office party” in July the weather will be nicer and we are planning on keeping the festivities to a simple rustic wedding with a streamlined menu of roasted pig, a barrel of wine and a keg of beer.

The event was captured by our friend and amazing photographer, Trask Bedortha.

Please visit our wedding gallery on flickr if you want to see more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36085435@N07/sets/72157614885744724/

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