A Bride, a Groom, and Two Llamas, oh My!

Add a lot of color, a bit of vintage flair and two furry llamas and you get one amazing wedding day! Jenny and Tommy celebrated their wedding day at the gorgeous Chapel Hill Carriage House. The carriage house sits on acres and acres of farmland, ponds and trails. It's an actual working farm and depending on the season, one can buy flowers, seeds, vegetables and herbs. It's such a lovely and inspiring setting!

Jenny and Tommy hired me to design their colorful Art Nouveau-inspired wedding stationery and I could not be more pleased with the results! The imagery in their design echos back to those lovely William Morris tapestries and wallpapers from the 1800', as well as the Art Nouveau floral motifs at the turn-of-the-century. I love those in-between periods... where one style is merging into the next. To me, those are the most beautiful aesthetics! It has not yet reached it's epoch and nearing almost cliche, rather, the mix of designs represents something unique in the design journey.

The moody and dramatic photography was done by Something Blue Photography. Owners Matt and Crystal offer a wonderful blend of traditional and photojournalistic styles when they shoot.

A colorful vintage-inspired wedding shot by Crystal and Matt marsh at Something Blue Photo & Portraits

Photography: @somethingbluenc Venue: @chapelhillcarriagehouse

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Vintage Botanical Wedding Invitations

Vintage botanical wedding invitations are sure to add a colorful, organic and timeless feel to your special day with lush greenery and abundant blooms! Nature-based weddings are always captivating for the inderent beauty they convey. Various themes exist within the botanical category and can be a lovely theme to execute: mountain, lake, garden, forest, tropical, cultural and vintage to name a few.

Because of the natural abundance of all things botanical in nature, the botanical theme can permeate all aspects of your wedding from your Save the Date to the reception decor, tabletops, bouquets, flower crown, dresses, boutonnieres, signage, drinks and food. It can sometimes be much less expensive given the profusion of natural flora that surrounds us. Getting married in a garden, beach or arboretum can sometimes cost much less than a hall, mansion or hotel. And of course we can go crazy with the colorful paper goods in any theme!

Adding a vintage twist on any botanical theme is always a favorite of mine. My husband and I had a vintage tropical theme at our wedding at the beach in Malibu complete with orchids, banana leaf plate chargers and lots of tropical fruit and cocktails. My husband painted vintage hula dancers and I created the invitation by varnishing the illustration onto cut 5x7 pieces of wood. A faded memory of a limbo contest keeps momentarily surfacing, but I can't confirm.

One of my latest invitation suites is based on the horticultural illustrations of seed packing of the turn of the century. Years ago, gardeners would mail-order all of their seeds for the upcoming year based on these beautiful illustrations. Over time, the packages turned from lovely hand-painted artwork to realistic photographs. Botanical illustrations from scientific journals is another one of my favorite vintage botanical themes. The colors are vibrant, swirling, organic and dramatic! Many of my wedding invitation designs are inspired by vintage illustrations like these. I then use that theme to permeate the "day of" wedding stationery paper goods such as menus, signage, programs, guest books, and thank you notes.

There is not a person alive that does not experience joy looking at nature. No matter where you are getting married-- in the north, south, east or west or what season, there will be a natural organic theme just waiting for you.

Colorful Vintage Botanical Designs

Photos 1, 3, 5, 6 and 13 by @peterson.design.photo

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Wedding Vow Books - A Perfect Heirloom

I am excited to announce custom printed wedding vow books in my shop! And of course they are all vintage-inspired. Writing your own wedding vows is a lovely way to tell your partner how you feel about them. It seals the deal forever and wedding vow books make great little heirloom gifts to cherish for years to come. I so wish I had known about vow booklets when I got married. I have a crumpled piece of notebook paper with my notes scratched all over and they are barely legible. When you purchase vow books from Gilded Swan Paperie, you receive two customizable booklets with velvety soft covers than can be printed with your choice of gold foil, silver foil or rose gold foil. Or no foil at all. I do not have a color chart because the sky is the limit with your choice of background colors too.

Order Vow Booklets from my Etsy Shop here

Writing your wedding vows does not have to be an arduous task. Honestly, how do you write your love, hope, dreams etc. about your loved one in a few short words? It's your time to be creative-- to write your own narrative and show your guests what's really behind your relationship. I found a template on Brides.com that starts with these basic points:

* Make sure to say "I love you."

* Tell your partner you will always be there for them.

* Share a personal story or two.

* Make promises.

* Acknowledge the support from others.

That's just a place to start. At the end of the day, the vows are yours and yours alone. They don't have to follow any rules or reasoning. They can be poems, song lyrics, lists, or phrases. It's all up to you.

When you do write your great work, jot them down neatly in a vow book. You'll be able to pull them out to remind yourselves and your offspring why you got hitched in the first place. Make sure to have your photographer shoot your vow books on your wedding day too-- they make great still life photos for your album-- much better than a napkin or a crumpled piece of paper.

Gilded Swan Paperie's Great Gatsby Inspired Wedding Vow Books

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