Happy Holidays from Pink Orchid Weddings!!

2009 was a busy and fun year for Pink Orchid Weddings, and Pink Orchid Designs. We have had absolutely amazing clients, coordinated weddings across Boston and New England, and even created paper products for weddings as far as France and the Netherlands. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us this year, and we are so excited for the weddings and projects lined up for 2010!

We made this cute holiday card and sent it out to all of our past and future clients, as well as our friends in the industry that inspire us every day.


~Emilie & Fiona

Nothing better than happy clients!

After sending out a package of invitations to a client, there's nothing better than to know that they received them, and LOVE them! I always love getting feedback, and I thought it would be nice to share with readers some of the things said about Pink Orchid Designs!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the invitations!! Can't thank you enough! It was so nice working with you...hope to do it again soon!!
Alicia - New Rochelle, NY

We received the invitations yesterday! They are absolutely stunning :) We LOVE them and are so happy with the end result. We can't thank you enough, Emilie. Happy holidays!
Ayami & Mark - Rensselaer, NY

I got them and wow, they are super cute! I love them!! They are exactly what I had thought - thank you so much! I am for sure going to get a lot of comments on these! Thanks again!
Melissa - Jacksonville, FL

I hope all is well. My invitations are getting RAVE reviews. Everyone wants to know where we got them.
Nicole - San Francisco, CA

I just got the save the dates - they look awesome! Thanks again.
Mae - Bethesda, MD

I have a bunch of invitation projects lined up for next year, and hope to continue to receive amazing feedback from happy clients. If you're interested in a custom design for your next event, please contact me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie

Love Bird Wedding Pocketfold Invitations

Wedding invitations come in all shapes and sizes, and sometimes they come with multiple pieces, like the main invitation, directions card, and rsvp card. A pocketfold invitation is the perfect way to hold everything together, and it's a great way to showcase an added belly band or ribbon around the invitation.

This modern invitation is one of my favorites. It has colors of silver, pink, and gray, and has a pair of love birds with the couple's initials right underneath along with a little heart. The main invitation is pearlescent white cardstock, mounted onto silver metallic cardstock, which is mounted onto a steel gray metallic pocketfold. The pocket on the right side contains the directions card, the rsvp card, and the silver metallic response envelope. The directions card contains a custom drawn map of the Laguna Niguel area of California. The rsvp card displays meal choice icons of a cow, a fish, and a carrot for beef, seafood, and vegetarian options. The belly band contains the love bird and initials design in pearlscent white cardstock, mounted onto silver metallic cardstock, with pink ribbon that wraps around the invitation. The entire pocketfold fits perfectly inside of a silver metallic envelope for mailing.

I really like how when you first open up the pocketfold, you see a very minimalist look with a lot of white space and the love bird and initials design. Then, once you take out the directions card and rsvp card, you see that there is a lot of information hidden underneath! If you are interested in this invitation design for your upcoming wedding or event, please contact me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie

Custom tags for delicious Godiva truffles!

photo from Godiva

In the holiday season, some people give socks, some give electronics, and some give out sinfully delicious Godiva chocolate truffles! Well, who are the lucky people getting these? Unfortunately, not me, but there are 50 people definitely getting these soon. I was recently asked to design customized tags for the RES Group. They are giving out six piece Godiva holiday truffle gift boxes to 50 of their international clients, and they wanted a personalized tag to tie around each box with their company name and a little message. Each tag was made of pearlescent white cardstock mounted on red cardstock, with 18 inches of 1/8" red satin ribbon attached.

Mmm.. customized tags and chocolate truffles. How can it get any better than that? If you have any design inquiries, email me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie

Featured in Southern Weddings Magazine Blog

photo from Southern Weddings
I got a fun surprise in my inbox today from Meredith Perdue of & Unlimited Photography letting me know that the wedding that Fiona and I coordinated in August was featured on the Southern Weddings Magazine blog!

photos from Southern Weddings
It has some gorgeous photos from Chelsey and David's wedding that you didn't see in our blog, so check out Parts I and II from their feature here and here!

~Emilie

Invitations for a Château Wedding

Do people really get married in Châteaus in France? Or, is it just one of those fairy tales that girls dream about? Well, I know of at least one couple who is doing just that, and when I saw their venue, it was like it was painted from a dream.

photo from Corbin Gurkin Photography

Claire and Adam contacted me recently to design the invitations for their 2010 wedding at the gorgeous Château de Challain in France. They decided to go with a classic hand-deckled monogram invitation, with ivory cardstock, a scarlet ribbon knot, and a metallic bronze backing. Their guests are just starting to receive the invitations this week, so below is just a little preview.

Since the couple is based out of Asia, the domestic invitations were stamped, addressed, and sent out by Pink Orchid Designs, and the international invitations were packaged with pink ribbon and shipped out together.

I just can't get over how beautiful the venue is. If only there were places like this in Boston!

~Emilie

Pink Carnival Birthday Invitations!

Last month, I blogged about the fun carnival theme birthday invitations that I created for Hudson here. Since then, I've gotten requests for similar invitations, and for one particular client, she loved everything about it, but just requested that I add a bit more pink for her daughter, who LOVES pink!

Even though I know you have seen this invitation before, I thought it would be a nice way to show how color can transform the look of an invitation. I changed the original blue and orange color combination to a hot pink and light pink color combination. The lights on the ferris wheel along with the cotton candy were hand-glittered, and the invitation was made of a pearlescent white metallic cardstock. Paired with a pink envelope, this invitation is ready for any little girl's birthday party!

Any invitation from Pink Orchid Designs can be completely customized to the colors that you like, or changed around to suit the needs for your particular event. Email me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com for more information!

~Emilie

Photos of Chelsey and David's Wedding from Erica Lyn Photography!

Earlier this year in August, Fiona and I were the day-of coordinators for Chelsey and David's spectacular wedding on Moosehead Lake in Maine. All of the incredible details were covered an earlier blog entry here. Now, this post is to finally show the professional photos, and I absolutely love them! Erica Lyn of Erica Lyn Photography is truly a hidden gem, and she's one of my favorite wedding photographers. The second shooter for this wedding was Meredith Perdue of & Unlimited Photography. All of the photos from this nautical themed wedding were stunning, and it was so hard to pick favorites!

photos from Erica Lyn Photography

As you can see, I squeezed in three times the number of photos through collages! I highly recommend clicking on each photo to get an enlarged view. If you can't get enough of this wedding, you can read Chelsey's wedding recap posts as a blogger on WeddingBee. There are so many more photos to see!

Just being part of weddings like these is such an honor, and so much fun! If you're interested in day-of coordination from Pink Orchid Weddings, just fill out our contact form here!

~Emilie

Personalized Bridesmaid Gifts

One of the best things about a wedding is that you get to share the special day with your friends and family. Not only that, but you get to pick the people who you want standing next to you as you make your vows to the love of your life. My bridesmaids included my two sisters, and three close friends, and I wanted to make their gifts as personalized as possible.

First, was some personalized stationery. Each bridesmaid got two sets of stationery with matching colored envelopes, and a white Sakura gelly roll pen for the darker envelopes. It was personalized with their name and address, and with a design just for them. The cards fit in A2 sized envelopes, and had rounded corners.

Second, was a handkerchief with their first name initial embroidered in pink. Just in case tears flowed during the ceremony (and they did!), I wanted to give them a nice way to dab their tears. I also got one for myself in blue (as my something blue), which I had my husband hold for me during the ceremony in his tux pocket. One thing that I didn't account for was how they were supposed to hold the handkerchiefs down the aisle. They ended up saving the gift for another day, and just stuffed kleenex tissues in their bouquets for the ceremony!

Third, was a photo album filled with printed photos of each bridesmaid with me throughout the years. It was a boxed frame, where the top could be pulled out to store at least 40 photos inside. These three things along with a card to each of my bridesmaids, were wrapped up in large pink and white tote bags, which were labeled with name tags attached with fuschia satin ribbon.

The last four photos were taken by BKB Photography

I gave them their gifts in our hotel room right after all of our makeup and hair were done, and dresses were on. I really wanted to go through and give a small speech about what they all mean to me, but I barely got two words out and had to stop, because my makeup would have been gone! I think my expression said it all, and they knew how I felt without me having to say anything. So, if I were to give advice to any brides, do the gift giving before your makeup is done if you're the type to get emotional. That way, you can say what you really want to say, and cry away on a clean face!

~Emilie

Noah's Red Egg and Ginger Party!

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by Grace to plan and coordinate a Red Egg and Ginger party for her new baby. Her son, Noah, turned one month old this past Saturday, and around 50 guests came over to her home to celebrate!

In Chinese culture, red egg and ginger parties are held on the baby's first month birthday. Parents introduce their baby to friends and family and also the baby's name is usually announced. Traditionally, red-dyed eggs are given out to guests, symbolizing happiness and the renewal of life. Also, a broth is usually offered to guests made of ginger, pig's feet, eggs, and vinegar. The "one month" mark has its origin in ancient Chinese culture. Infant mortality rates were quite high in China prior to the advances of medicine, so babies who reached their one month birthday were likely to survive, and the event was celebrated. (Source)

This party had all of the traditional elements, plus more! Lunch was catered by China Pearl, with all the food set up in buffet stations with warming trays so the food stayed hot for the entire party. The menu included the following: Dim Sum Sampler, Jumbo Shrimp Combination (Spicy Garlic Salt and Walnut Flavored), Silverback Fish with Chinese Mixed Vegetables, Stir Fried Noodles, Sticky Rice with Pork and Vegetables, and Red Bean Soup. In addition to the catered food, three whole chickens were served, along with red-dyed eggs and ginger soup.

Red linens covered all of the tables, and a huge fruit display from Edible Arrangements brightened up the room, with daisy cut pineapples, chocolate covered strawberries, canteloupe, honeydew, and grapes. Red and gold balloons adorned the front of the house as well as the guestbook table. Grace's friend created a painting of an ox, symbolizing the 2009 "year of the ox", which was placed on the fireplace mantle. I wrote Noah's Chinese name on both sides of large pieces of metallic gold and red paper, which were strung on fishing line in the doorway along with two red lanterns. Mini bottles of Rémy Martin V.S.O.P. were given out to guests as favors, and they also enjoyed a lion dance performance at the beginning of the party. Here are photos of some of the details!

The party was a lot of fun, and guests were stuffed from all of the food! Thank you, Grace, for allowing me to be part of this special celebration!

~Emilie