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This little collection kind of sums up my summer obsessions… and while summer may be ending, my love for these lovelies lives on…
{1} Bonnie Tsang's food blog is to die for as is this shoot she did at the new and fabulous Sweet and Saucy Shop {2} How amazing are these ruffle curtains from Anthropologie…I want to wear them! {3} how adorable are these pie pops!! too cute. I spotted them over on Bash Eco Events, via Bakerella {4} Pimp My Cupcake station at the most adorable shower ever for Jessica Claire, shot by Chenin Boutwell {5} Amy Butler amazing rugs! {6} gorgeous dress as seen in the latest issue of Utterly Engaged shot by Charley Star {7} You-color-it print by Stephanie Corfee, this reminds me of when I was little!! I so need one… or ten!
It is time for another Inspired Ink! Read more here and here to catch up with my previous creations!
While making my morning blog rounds (as I like to call it) earlier this week, I checked in with one of my absolute favorites, What Juneug Loves, to discover a post on the very talented Kathy Wright and Company. I often get lost in the luscious photos included in each of Christy’s posts (this time was no different), but after reading a bit I discovered that the hydrangeas in these magical bouquets are hand-painted!
I've got more great aspects of Shira and Loren's wedding to share with you today, and I'm really excited to finally bring this element to everyone. It was one of my favorite projects for this wedding and has so much meaning behind it.
When I first met Shira, she told me the story how she and Loren met, on a Birthright trip to Israel. For those of you that may not know, Birthright Israel is an organization that provides the gift of trips to Israel for Jewish young adults ages 18 to 26. Started in 2000, it was created to diminish the growing division between Israel and Jewish communities around the world, to strengthen the sense of solidarity among world Jewry, and to strengthen participants' personal Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish people.
Most of the time we get the chance to get to know all of our awesome couples well before their wedding day. Sometimes though, time and geography just don't allow that to happen and we end up meeting the couple very close to their wedding day. It is especially challenging trying to portray the love and uniqueness of two people after just meeting them, and I think that is where instinct really kicks in. Jodi + Mark live in California but had their wedding in Toronto. We travel to California so many times every year; it was great that a couple from California traveled here this time. 
Jodi had a rather early start to her day, as in 5:30 am for hair and make-up. We decided to stay at the same hotel as her, so we could be ready to go in the morning. As we checked in the night before, I hoped I might somehow run across Jodi - which would be our first time meeting in person. I asked at the front counter if they had seen the bride around, thinking to myself how silly it was for the receptionist to have any idea who I was talking about and that she would be around the lobby at 11 pm. As I asked, Jodi walked up to the front desk. Turns out she was looking for some equipment to steam her dress after her travels. Steaming the dress at about midnight the night before your wedding sounded too good to pass up so I headed up to her room to check it out. The rest I will leave to the sde, but not only was that a great part of their story, it gave me a great chance to get to know her before the wedding, even if it was only hours before.
A little aside related to their SDE. During the wedding day we were shooting the dress hanging and one of the bridesmaids asked if we wanted to move it somewhere prettier than the washroom. Had it been a couple years ago we probably would have taken it out and done something crazy with it, but as we add more depth to our films we try to resist great visuals just for the visuals sake. By shooting the dress where and how it was, the shot may have been simpler in a sense, but it also had so much more story as to why it was there. It makes me wonder about all of the other stories related to every other detail of a wedding and how much of that is lost when we become too contrived. The challenge, for us, is to match the visual quality of the best of settings, while also keeping these details in their real setting, or at least in a way that related to their story.
jodi + mark // california comes to toronto from stillmotion on Vimeo.
Megan contacted me about a year ago to make her bridal bouquet for her October wedding. Working with her was a special honor because she mailed me pounds and pounds of her grandma's vintage buttons to use in her bouquet.
Ever since I've started using my ice cream maker it seems as though I can't stop! What also doesn't help is to have cookbooks from David Lebovitz and Emily Luchetti sitting around with millions of tasty recipes just calling out to you. So instead of brushing aside this desire I decided to indulge and tried two recipes in one day. I tried David Lebovitz's Lemon-Buttermilk Sherbet and Emily Luttetti's Rhubarb Ice Cream with Strawberry Compote. Both were extremely delicious, and I would highly recommend trying them out.
Alison is an interior designer. Sasha is an astronomer. At one point in the afternoon, I exclaimed out loud: I am in love with your wedding!! Read Alison's description of her wedding from her initial inquiry form and you'll know exactly why:
I grew up spending half of every year in Maine with my dad, and my fiance Sasha and I have spent lots of time there over our eight years together. Simply put, Maine is our favorite spot on earth. We especially love the less-developed rural parts of the midcoast region where the landscape is embedded with so much history. The area around the St. George Peninsula where we'll be married was originally settled by English, Scottish and Scandinavian immigrants and that just happens to reflect my fiance's & my ethnic heritage. As an interior designer based in New York, I've loved seeing the revival of Scandinavian-inspired fabrics that have swept through the design community in the last few years. The look of our wedding is going to be inspired by the design traditions of our ancestors–Scandinavian folk embroideries meets Liberty of London meets Marimekko. The ceremony will be held in a tiny shingled cottage in the woods, the reception will be in a field overlooking the ocean, followed by a wedding dance at the wonderful Ocean View Grange. For our food, we're hoping to emphasize seasonal, locally grown ingredients, with masses of farmer's market and farm grown flowers. If we're fortunate enough to have good weather, we may cap off the evening with stargazing with a telescope set up outside, courtesy of my fiance, who is an astronomer and astrophysicist.
So the foggy day didn't allow for any stargazing, but everything else came to beautiful fruition on their wedding day as Alison had hoped. I adored her attention to detail and the variety of locations provided an amazing experience for their guests and a visual Candy Land (as I gushed via Twitter at the wedding) for me!
How they met, in Alison's words:
Sash and I met through mutual friends in New York in 2001. Sasha was sitting on my couch (he was an old college friend of my roommate) watching “Moonstruck” the first time I saw him, which seems pretty appropriate for an astrophysicist. I fell head over heels for him pretty quickly. We've had 8 blissfully happy years every since!
Together with their families, they spent the week at Saltwater Farm, appropriately situated on Mosquito Head Road.
Studio Choo completely inspires me. Every time a new photo of a gorgeous arrangement is posted on their flickr I get so excited. Their bouquets are sweetly composed and have a perfect homemade, I-just-picked-these-in-a-field feeling, which I love. They often use vintage vessels for their arrangements such as mason jars and milk bottles. Flowers that are often seen in their arrangements and bouquets include ranunculus, poppies, peonies, cosmos, zinnias, dahlias, and Queen Anne's lace. Swoon!
As soon as September comes around, I start looking towards the trees, waiting for them to explode with color, and become bright and red and orange and yellow. Fall is my favorite season – I love the slight chill in the air, the wonderful smells, pumpkins, apples, and that slightly soft and smoky scent you can catch in the air.
Now, take a wedding, and put it in the fall? Totally my favorite!
So this week's Esty Friday is inspired by my favorite season – August can't end soon enough! Autumn, I'm waiting for you!
[White Pumpkin Basket via April Hiler Designs]
I LOVE these little white pumpkin baskets, perfect for the flower girl to scatter petals out of, or even to have your bridesmaids carry with a small floral arrangement inside. Beautiful!
Here are a couple more pictures from the Modern Bride Trendsetters Dinner that the pr agency sent over. It’s the only pictures I have of myself accepting the award! 
Christian Siriano looking fierce as always.
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