Get ready ... here comes summer!

Well, whether or not I was ready - my kids were all dismissed from school today and summer is upon us. Looking forward to lots of great get-togethers with family and friends. So, I am going to stock up on some of these great fontaine maury items - love the tray, party tub, cooler and especially the great soy candles - which by the way would make a great hostess gift - and we stock the single letters in the store.

Stop in and order some summer plates for eating outside ... then enjoy this time with your family and friends. See you this summer.

Party Tub - $45
Candle - $45
Drink Cooler - $25

Soup to Nuts

Often we are asked, "Do you (fill in the blank)?" And most of the time, the answer is yes. If you are planning a wedding, you can count on Bennett Schneider from everything from save-the-dates to the programs, menus and placecards (even the "Just Married" sign for the car).

This invitation is a sugar paper letterpressed invitation on a creamy deckled-edge paper. The program is tied with hand-dyed silk ribbon in the lavendar color to complement the flowers and other wedding colors. Not pictured - the adorable save-the-date, the tablecards and placecards, and "Just Married" sign for the car. Congrats to Lauren and Andy - whose lovely wedding I can't wait to see photos of!

Where has the time gone!

Okay - I took a very long break from posting (didn't even realize how long it had been until I went and looked)! We have just been very busy with weddings and I was feeling somewhat uninspired - but now the weather is starting to look good, Memorial Day and summer vacation are right around the corner and I just returned from the National Stationery Show - full of new ideas and inspiring new products. So keep following and I will have lots of new product photos as things begin to roll in. I am also going to post some great photos of some of the invitations we have been working on since I last posted. Stay tuned...

In the meantime, enjoy this photo - we are going to be carrying this great line of new but very vintage alarm clocks - they will make awesome graduation gifts, father's day gifts and will truly liven up any bedside table. Truly a great gift for the guy in your life.

Old Tom Foolery

New Cards! How simple...new cards! They can really perk up a sunless stretch of winter - just a few of the new headline series from Old Tom Foolery. View the whole collection here and stop in and pick up a few!

Wedding Advice

So..we are often asked, "what is the best advice you can give an engaged bride?" And, not out of character for a custom invitation/stationery business, we often stress the importance of the printed materials. We usually tell people to scour the many bridal blogs out there and what they will see is that the truly memorable weddings use small things, like placecards, menus, info cards, favors, etc. to really personalize a wedding. Well, today I was reading one of those blogs (Snippet & Ink) and came across the above image from a lovely wedding. The images are lovely - the little touches of red and those shoes. But the best part, directly below the last photo is the bride's advice..."Pick the right groom!"

Love it - that is going to be my new advice to any bride-to-be! So simple - so true! By the way, Dave, if you are reading this - I think I picked the right one!

OMG!

I LOVE In-N-Out Burger - in fact I have been known to plan entire vacations around a trip to one...or two...or three. I was recently online perusing some great event planning sites and came across this and now, if possible, I LOVE In-n-Out Burger even more!

This is a super fun idea... at the end of your evening whether it be wedding, cocktail party, rehearsal dinner or birthday dinner find a fun catering company, I am thinking doughnuts, ice cream sandwiches, taco truck (if you are in Houston where my sister is they are everywhere) and have them stop by just as your guests are leaving - the perfect tasty treat sendoff!

Now, if I can just get that In-n-Out Burger truck to come here!

Sneaking Out Early...

Today my kids are all off enjoying a cozy day at home with their dad for the Martin Luther King holiday. So, I have decided, since I own this shop, we are going to sneak off at 3:00 p.m. today to get home early! Fun for us - see you Tuesday.

Reply Card Fun

Saw these adorable (Mr. Boddington's Studio) letterpress reply cards posted on Once Wed the other day. How fun! These are definitely my favorite style of reply cards - the kind you just write a message on. Anyway - they had the reply cards printed with a table number on it and then used them as the table cards for the wedding! Now that takes some serious planning ahead!

Photo courtesy of Inspired Goodness and event planning studio in New York City!

Thank You

So...if you are anything like me, you sometimes struggle with what exactly to write on your thank you note. I was reading over Crane's Wedding Blue Book today and rediscovered their very simple formula:

Greet the giver.
Express your thanks.
Say something nice about the gift (or the party, or dinner, etc.)
Mention the past, allude to the future.
Repeat your thanks.

Perfect! And what a great way to make it easy for all of us to help our kids with writing thank you notes, also. So, don't delay a minute longer. Start writing those holiday thank you notes. Or you could wait until we get these cute new thank you notes in the shop - just ordered them today!

Sugar Paper in 15th Anniversary Martha Stewart Weddings

Our new favorite line, Sugar Paper, was recently featured in the 15th Anniversary Martha Stewart Weddings. And as you can see from above - it was an amazing choice. The feature was all about sparkle with a star theme. These are the perfect complement - with the clean, classic style we love Sugar Paper for - but with that amazing star lining and outer folder. If you need stationery, invitations or announcement, please stop in and let us help you. You won't be disappointed.

(And I think the bride in this feature is wearing those shoes I love.)

Vogue Wedding

The bride was inspired by a May 2008 issue of Vogue in which all the bridesmaids chose their own outfits. Love it - especially when they are all so cute and stylish. I think this is a super fun way to do a wedding - especially a chic, evening event.

And yes - the bride is wearing the same shoes I posted about on Monday.

To see more photos of this wedding, visit Once Wed

Twenty-ten vs. Two thousand ten

What is a bride to do? There has been much discussion regarding how to pronounce the New Year we are in - is it Twenty-ten or Two thousand ten? I thought this was all much ado about nothing until I had a 30 minute conversation with a bride regarding which version to spell out on her wedding invitation. We erred on the side of tradition (Two thousand ten) - but it does make you wonder.

Anyway - Happy New Year to all. We have been crazy busy. We had the best November and December ever - thanks to all our great customers and are looking forward to a great Twenty-ten (already very busy with weddings/spring showers, etc.) Stop in to the shop - we will be getting lots of new things over the next few weeks!

(Okay, I know the shoes have nothing to do with this post or paper - but they are very sparkly, remind me of New Year's Eve and who wouldn't want to look at them.)

Vanity Fair Hot Gifts

If you are flipping through the December 2009 Vanity Fair Hot Gifts guide and a few things catch your eye - I know of a great little shop in Kansas City where you can find them ...

Heather Moore Personal Charms - Create a treastured mememto with a personal message or design - prices range from $100 - $5,000

Graphic Image - luggage tags - starting at $23 - get these personalized!

Did you know...

...we design dessert/candy tables for weddings, showers, bar and bat mitzvahs, etc? If you are interested in booking us for your 2010 event please give us a call...soon. We can't wait to sit down and talk with you about your event.