A valentine's day card w/ a fishbone...

This past valentine's day, I had a fun opportunity to create a personalized card for my friend, Sam. She asked to see if I could create a card similar to the "love turtles" that I blogged about back in December, but instead of turtles, a cute pair of kittens! (Sam and her fiancé own an adorable persian kitty) So, I designed some cute rounded belly kittens, along with a fishbone at Sam's request.

I finished off the card with some hand glittered elements, and also lettered her fiancé's name onto the envelope in white ink. It was simply packaged with some tissue paper in a textured box, wrapped with some twine.

Hope everyone had a great valentine's day! If you have an idea for a personalized card, email me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com.

~Emilie

The story of a qipao - part 2

All of my life, I had always dreamed of a western style wedding. I pictured myself wearing one gorgeous white dress to wear throughout the night. After getting engaged though, I thought more and more about possibly wearing a qipao during my wedding reception. I just thought that it would be a really nice gesture for my parents and my in-laws. It was the least that I could do for everything that they have given me in my life.

So, the search was on for the perfect qipao, and I had no idea where to start. I asked a few friends around Boston to see where I should go, and ended up trying on a few at Kim's Fashion Design in chinatown. They really had some nice designs there, but for some reason, nothing screamed that it was "the one" to me. I then remembered that my oldest sister wore a qipao for her wedding reception back in 1997, and I thought that maybe she might still have it? and she did! She mailed the dress to me, and it fit... but I just still didn't get that feeling that it was "the one."

After going to a few more stores around Boston and still not finding the perfect qipao, I started to wonder if I would ever find one. Later that week, I was at my in-laws' house and somehow the qipao hunt conversation came up. They didn't know that I was looking for a dress, and my mother-in-law asked "do you want to try mine?" My eyes immediately widened and I said "yes!" I was so excited to try it on. She brought it out and it was made of white silk with detailed red embroidery all down the dress. I tried it on and quickly found out that my shoulders were too broad to even squeeze my arms through the top of the dress. *sigh* was I ever going to find a qipao?

Then... it happened. I was on the phone with my mom, updating her about some wedding details, and mentioned that I've been searching for a qipao, but couldn't find one in the stores, couldn't fit in my mother-in-law's dress, and didn't think that my sister's dress was the right one for me. My mom asks "why didn't you ask me?" It never even occurred to me to ask my own mother for a qipao, but when she said that, I thought back to when I was younger, and I remembered that my mom had a beautiful qipao tucked away in a box on the top of her closet.

My mom told me that in Taiwan, her mother (my grandmother) had this qipao custom made for my mom to wear on her wedding day back in 1969. I got this tingling feeling because I thought it would be so special to wear the qipao that my mom wore for her own wedding day almost 40 years ago, given to her by her mother, who I unfortunately never got the chance to meet before she passed. The only question was, "would it fit?"

On my wedding day, I changed from my white wedding dress into my mother's red silk qipao from 1969, with gorgeous silver beading and sequins in a phoenix and blossom branch design. I couldn't have been happier with how it all worked out, and I definitely found "the one."

All of these photos were taken by Brittany of BKB Photography, and the last one is a picture of me and my mother dancing together at my wedding reception =)

~Emilie

The story of a qipao - part 1

I grew up in Hong Kong, so I still follow many Chinese traditions. I really wanted my culture to be represented at my wedding. One of the most common things for a bride to do in HK is to change into many different outfits during the reception, some as many as 5, 6 times. I decided to follow the idea (but not to the extreme) and wear a qipao, a traditional garment, at some point during my reception. I immediately looked to my mother for help, and looked through pictures of what she wore at her wedding. My mom actually wore a qua, which is most commonly worn during the wedding tea ceremony and looks like this:

source

My mom also changed into an evening dress. In fact, she still had both of these items stored in the house. Despite the fact that they were both not qipaos, I tried them on to see if I could incorporate either into my wedding. The answer was no, because the height difference between my mom and me made both outfits look far too short on me!

I shopped around in Boston and NYC in search of a qipao but choices were limited. Most had very similar patterns, and if you want anything slightly more unique, it would cost you much, much more. Luckily, my parents went on that aforementioned HK trip six months before my wedding. I saw that as the perfect opportunity to have a high quality and affordable qipao custom-made for me. I scoured the internet looking for measurement instructions and came across this helpful guide. Then I had my mom take all my measurements. Lastly, I gave her pictures of styles I preferred, especially one that my husband’s god sister wore for her wedding.

A month later, my parents came back from a very fruitful trip and in one of the suitcases laid an exquisitely crafted qipao. It turned out to be pretty expensive (though still less than if I had it made here in the U.S.), but the amount of handiwork is incredible and truly made it worth the price. There was so much beading all over the gown:

I was amazed that it fit almost perfectly since I was not there in person to be fitted. Full disclosure – my mom did end up altering the dress just a little bit the month before the wedding because I had lost some weight (blame it on stress!) and she also took the opportunity to make the slits on the sides not as high. I really loved wearing it for a portion of my wedding reception. I wore it for the bouquet toss and the father and daughter dance!

The qipao in action:

Photos above courtesy of Sun Photographics

Stay tuned for part 2 - the story of Emilie's qipao.
~Fiona

A classic invitation with hand deckled edges

A while back, I had blogged about some gorgeous envelope liners, and I thought that I would share the invitations that went along with those liners. The invitation suite was a very classic style with some beautiful details. I used ivory cardstock and envelopes, and lined the main invitation, accommodations card, and directions card with a shimmery metallic brown cardstock. For the main invitation, an elegant double knot was added to the side in scarlet ribbon, and the edges of the invitation were hand deckled to give it an antique feel. The three intial monogram was used on both the response card and the accommodations card to tie everything together, and the envelope liners were created using luxurious paper from Paper Source called Lokta Baroque Flower Bordeaux.


With Pink Orchid Designs, any client has the option of letting us handle the addressing and mailing of invitations. So with these invitations, I also took care of printing individual guest addresses, picking out postage, and mailing them out. Since some invitations were international, I had some fun picking out colorful stamps. Don't you just love the fruit stamps?

If you are looking for your own custom wedding invitations, please contact me at info@pinkorchiddesigns.com!

~Emilie

The Flower in My Hair

I was pretty certain that I wanted an updo for my wedding because of the halter-style of my dress – I didn’t want to hide the neckline. Once I decided on that, I was pretty sure I wanted something to go along with my updo. Now, by the time I thought about my hair, I had already received gifts of earrings and a bracelet from my mom, which were both pearl-based. So, I wanted a hair accessory that would match it, meaning no crystal, diamonds (yeah, I wished), or any sparkly gems of that nature. Another thought that popped into my mind was a fresh flower in my hair. That would be so refreshing, plus I wouldn’t have to worry about whether it matched my other jewelry. Alas, my hair stylist shot down that idea quickly when I told her, saying that flowers wilt too quickly, and I had a relatively long wedding day compared to most brides.

I browsed through the internet and saw many ideas, flowers made of silk, crystal, plastic, and silver:

Top Row: Perfect Details and Bridal People
Middle Row: White Aisle and Tacori
Bottom Row: Late Bloomer Boutique and My Diva's Closet

The one I really liked (top left) was expensive, priced at well over $100. Luckily, before I decided on anything, my parents announced they were going to Hong Kong to buy Chinese traditional wedding items. I took the opportunity and asked them to be on the lookout for anything “flowery” and “pearly” for my hair, showed them a few pictures, and anxiously awaited their return.

One month later, I got a BEAUTIFUL surprise when my parents came back home. My mom handed me a wrapped box and inside it, laying on tissue paper, was a hair comb that was absolutely perfect. It embodied everything that I wanted AND it was a gift from my uncle, who had one of his students (who is apparently into arts and crafts) hand make it for me from glass.

I was so touched and elated that this stranger would do this for me! And here is the result:

Bottom pic courtesy of Sun Photographics

On my wedding day, I was so happy to finally take the comb out of the box! It not only went well with my wedding dress, but it also matched the qi pao (traditional chinese dress) I changed into during the reception. Oh the qi pao - that will be another post for another time!

-Fiona

Some of our favorite wedding dresses!

One of the best parts about being a bride is trying on wedding dresses! Bridal consultants, your mom, your bridesmaids, and anyone else you can imagine, can help you in your process of finding the perfect dress. Whether you want a ball gown, a trumpet skirt, a beaded bodice, lace, tulle, or satin, that special dress is out there waiting for you. Take a look at different magazines and websites to see what types of styles there are, and save the dresses that you like so you can refer to them later. Theknot.com is a great resource for all gown designers, and FashionBride is a fabulous resource for all high end and couture designer gowns.

To start you off with a variety of ideas, here are some dresses that we love.

Fiona's favorites:

Priscilla of Boston - Style 4307
Love the lace and the dramatic sparkles at the top!

Photo from brides.com

Melissa Sweet - Sidney

Beautiful, daring neckline and it seemingly floats as you walk.

Photo from theknot

Kenneth Pool - Splendor

A dramatic dress that really makes a statement with its unique bodice and beaded tulle overlay.

Photo from Kenneth Pool

Kenneth Pool - Brilliance

Lovely flow to the goddess-like dress... the jeweled halter is amazing!

Photo from Kenneth Pool

Jim Hjelm - Style jh8862

This gown shows off your body, and if you look closely, the detail on the train is really nice.

Photo from theknot

Emilie's Favorites:

Sarah Arnett - Audrey
Such a full skirt, with a classic shape that is simple and elegant
Photo from theknot

San Patrick - Pissa
This luxurious gown has multiple layers made up of tulle, satin, and beaded lace.
Photo from FashionBride

Pronovias - Hillary
The delicate details are absolutely stunning, especially with the straps of the dress.
Photo from FashionBride

Manuel Mota - Varsovia
Incredibly modern and romantic, this gown has a beautiful and soft structure.
Photo from FashionBride

Enzoani - Demi

A showstopper dress that is sexy, edgy, and elegant all at the same time.

Photo from theknot

We hope you've enjoyed some of our favorite picks for dresses!! As dresses change with different collections and seasons, we'll be sure to update the blog with more dresses later on!

A high impact wedding element: lighting!

When planning a wedding, you will come across lots of different variations of flowers, decor, invitations, dresses, and anything else you can think of. It's helpful to save all of your favorite photos into folders so you can reference a particular bouquet when meeting with your florist, or reference a particular invitation style when meeting with your stationery designer. One of my favorite wedding photo folders is the lighting folder. I absolutely love lighting for weddings, and really think that it can add drama and elegance to any room.

Below are some photos that I found that were all done by a fabulous event planning company based out of California, Details Details, with lighting in different colors to hopefully inspire you to use lighting in your own wedding!

photos by Ira Lippke Studios

photos by Victor Sizemore

photo by Triple Cord Photography

photo by Joe Photo