Stationery

A spicy chocolate fondant on my husband pillow…

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Hi lovely brides-to-be,

Happy Valentine’s day from Italy!

We’ve had some snow over the week end, and since we spent the week-end at home because I was not very well myself nor my Troussepinette, then I dedicated some time to cook something special and em>hot for Mr G for our Valentine’s day ( he’s not very well today either…)

Something hot, yummy and spicy! Well, you know, food that mix perfectly hot chocolate and spices is the perfect combination for a passionable moment!

Here I am with the result of my spicy chocolate fondant Mr G. has found on his pillow today!

Got inspired when finding in my Troussepinette‘s bag last week at the nursery Gaelle’s beautiful valentine’s day cards representing lovely pillows linked together in a fancy “Love you…..”

What you need for 2 fondants:
> 80g butter
> 100g dark chocolate
> 50g sugar
> a few pieces of spicy dark chocolate ( i used the lindt peperoncino chocolate)
> 2 eggs
> 25g plain flour

And you, how did you treat your love today?!

Photographer: Sylvie, Wedding Planner.
Valentine’s Cards Designer: GB Illustrations  & Graphics.

Italian coffe and red buttons on your Valentine’s day…

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

Hi girls,

Happy Saturday sleepy morning!

Have spent this week two lovely moments chatting with Gaelle about our lovely daughters, our personal life and professional projects, in front of a good cup of Italian caffè macchiato!

Valentine’s day is getting closer, and she designed some fab Valentines cards I’m happy to share with you girls!

Gaelle said she got inspiration on the Italian coffee hearted card while sitting in a bar having a good Illy coffee! Do you recognize the shape of the cups! Great inspiration!

Love the tiny owls and the Valentine’s twins card that is now sticked on my fridge! Each time my troussepinette stares at it, she simply says “waouwwww”


If you just think to order some special and unique valentine’s cards for your love, simply contact Gaelle! She would love to design something bespoke for you!

Valentine’s Cards Designer: GB Illustrations  & Graphics.

Ladybird, Ladybird…have a nice cake with me!

Monday, May 30th, 2011

Happy sunny monday everyone!

While baking something nice for my little Troussepinette Maya who turned 6 months yesterday, I found in my stuff a pretty funny picture or message holder ladybird shape that would be an excellent idea as a creative table place card holder for your wedding!

yoghourt muffin red polka dot dessert wedding

This is one of Lara Marchetti’s creations made of felt and boiled wool material.

Lara works in Rimini, and creates place card holders as well as table seating plan and tens of other favors creative items!

ladybird place card holder

They do exist in different shape and set a funny tone to your wedding dinner. And then, being initially a picture holder, your guests will love finding a favor waiting for them!

polka_dot_red_muffin_wedding_cake

Lovely, isn’t it?

Photos: Sylvie – Wedding planner Venice

Tell me what you like for my wedding!

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Hi girls,

I’ve got something really creative for you today which I hope could give nice diy ideas for all of you who are planning their wedding in Italy.

A few days ago I came back from work and I found a nice hand-written letter just for me in the doorway! I have always loved receiving letters and I wish I could have more of them!
So here below the content of the envelope…

Purple invitation and tags for wedding in italy
Alex and Tom’s wedding invitations! What a surprise!
They are a lovely English couple who got in touch with us a while ago in order to have some help in arranging their wedding in Tuscany next September. 

Alex is a really creative girl and she has made her own invitations, designing a series of little tags which will help them and their guests having a great day in Italy. So each tag corresponds to a piece of information the couple would like to have from them: together to the more obvious “attendance” one, I really loved the “dietary” one – please let us know if there is something you can’t eat!) and the “music” tag which allows each single guest to choose one or more songs to be played during the danging time! While the “arrival & departure” one is more like practical in order to arrange transportation for everyone.

Wedding Invitations and tags

I love the decorations too and also the little stickers with their address which were in the envelope, so that their guests can send the tags back to let them know what they’d like for their wedding.

I also like the little grapes drawing (Italian grapes by the way!)

DIY Italian save the date

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

Hellooo!

We are officially up and running after a very long Christmas holiday in Italy – food, lovely friends and relaxing chatting.
So I’m ready to start with a lot of energy and today I would like to talk about wedding stationary!

I always love receiving letters and cards by post…I love the idea someone has thought of me and more than that I like discovering what there is inside: thoughts, drawings and all the other feelings and emotions you can find nested in between the hand writing lines.

I would like to show you Valentina‘s diy save the date cards which might have already reached her guests! Valentina lives in London but she is Italian and she will get married to an American guy  next June in her hometown of Pescara.
She chose an elegant gray with baroque frames and rhinestones to give some luxe. I really like them and more than that I love the story of her engagement day which you can read after the pictures!

DIY-European-Ornate-Save-the-Dates-Italy
DIY European Ornate Save the Date

DIY European Ornate Save the Dates

About a month ago, something beautiful happened…and I am now ready to tell you all about it!
It was Tuesday, September the 14th and I spent the whole day at a conference.
Rob had booked a table at one of our favourite restaurants down the Tower Bridge area. It’s the restaurant we chose to have dinner in when Rob finally found a job in London, now more than four years ago.

While walking, it started pouring down and it rained so hard I almost wanted to cry! We put our hoods up and started running but when we were very close to the Tower Bridge Rob stopped; I turned over to look at him and he was holding a ring. There, in our favourite spot in London, under a torrential rain, he asked me to marry him. It was so bad and so perfect at the same time!

And the marvellous thing was that the ring was fake! So I looked at him and laughed and cried at the same time. It seemed to be in the set of a movie, the rain for a moment didn’t seem to bother us, it was just the two of us, embracing each other, with the lights of the majestic Tower Bridge behind us. Of course I said yes! Rob and I have been talking about wedding, marriage, honeymoon, kids, growing old together, retirement…since the very first night we met.

It was an easy question! I said yes without a ring, and I said yes with a plastic ring! The day after, we met for lunch, he told me he was going to be around my office, so we thought it would be nice to have lunch together. Instead, we *had lunch* at De Beers in the so elegant Bond Street and I confirmed my yes. Rob picked Aura, a very beautiful ring. I think it’s delicious!

Whimsical invitations for an Italian Wedding

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Hello hello!

A bright blue background, a whimsical font and a very light graphic! Plus a bit of creativity. You do not need more than that to get modern designer invitations for your wedding!
That’s why I really like these ones made by graphic designer Andrea Beretta. He created them for Marta and Enrico, a couple of friends who got married a few days ago in Novi Ligure (North of Italy)…
I hope you enjoy this late post today!

Illustrated Hand Lettering Wedding Invitation

Illustrated Hand Lettering Wedding Invitation Back

Have a laugh with a comics table plan

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Are you in love with comics?
Do you want your guests to have some laugh in front of seat table with a design like this?

Then you should see Donatella’s Funny Art website. She is an illustrator and graphic designer who lives close to Milan. I met her a few weeks ago while surfing the net and her drawings immediately catched my eyes.
She told me she started up her own business a few years ago and she is now quite busy creating bespoke brides and groom seating plan!
Since I’m in Venice I could not prevent from asking Donatella to publish her Venice theme tableau mariage! Take a look below! The left side picture is the final result with all the little hearts ready to be written with the name of the couple’s guests! On the right I wanted to draw your attention on the details! How nice is Ponte di Rialto?!

Bride and groom asked Donatella for their dog to be part of the drawing as well! How cool is it?!

King and queen of hearts!

Friday, June 4th, 2010

Happy Friday to everyone!

Today we would like to share with you this nice e-mail from Gaelle, a bride-to-be who will get married to a Scottish guy in Grado (an ancient fisherman village in the Adriatic coast) next August. We asked her to tell us something about her planning and since she is a graphic designer we wanted to know some details about her stationery. Here we are with her wedding invitations,  which are probably on their way to reach her guests now! Thank you Gaelle!

“I have always loved making cards for different occasions such as Christmas, New Year, friends or parents birthdays and births… The one I’m probably the most proud of is the card I made when my daughter was born in 2008…
Now the second most important event of my life is about to happen, I am getting married to my Scottish boyfriend in August ! So a few months ago, when the time to think about our wedding invitation came, I was pretty excited. Here we come with the result!
designer diy invitations
We wanted something simple but elegant that could easily fit the wedding style and be used for other purposes such as menu or tag names. I worked on few different ideas and in the end, we decided to go for a red and pure-white sleek invitation with very little text in both languages, French and English. At the bottom of the card the flow lines give space for different interpretations: they could be representing some waves, the wind or even some electric cables on which two little heart-shaped birds would be perched.
I like the idea of the 2 hearts used as a stamp, a signature element representing both of us on this special day.

red and pink designer diy invitation
I used a similar graphical style to make the information pages with accommodations, directions, info about the venue. We sent these directions along with the invitations.
We are happy about the result which hopefully gives the tone to our wedding celebration!”

Wedding maps: key to have and nice to keep

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

What if your brother-in-law loses the flight and your bridesmaid has to pick him up just a couple of minutes before the wedding, while driving to the town hall? It’s not fiction, but what happened at my Italian wedding! I can have a laugh now, but that day I was furious.
That’s why I thought to write something about creative wedding maps…no excuses to get lost or be late! 

The artist behind this gorgeous map is Laura Hooper, a calligraphy designer based in California, specialized in hand-made stationery. These maps give your guests directions to reach the reception or the town hall locations, but they can also become original and chic gifts to bring back home, definitely much better than a simple holiday postcard! (more…)

Why did I choose funny invitations?

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

Wedding invitations are just as important as your venue, your photographer or your flowers. What your invitations are like give your guests’ first idea about the style of the wedding they will take part in: fun, formal or sophisticated.

When choosing my invitations, I tried to have in mind the following basic elements: colour, design and last but not least cost. And most important: I wanted them to reflect myself! Gianluca and I wanted to announce our wedding in a funny way, just like we are! Since I’m pretty well known for being a creative person as well, I just made the decision to make my own invitations! (more…)