MHW is on a holiday break!

I've informed my current brides and have made it a point to add it to the end of my estimates that have gone out in the last couple weeks that I will be taking time off from 12/24 to 12/31. During this time, I will not be generating proofs. I will, however, be checking my email to provide estimates and answer any questions. You'll probably see me on twitter, so keep in touch that way. :)

May you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 2010 has been very very kind for me (I'll elaborate more on that later) and I'm so excited to see what's in store for 2011.

Now, I have to pack to head back to snowy Ohio. It's going to be quite the change from the mild California "winter" we've been experiencing!

Etsy Finds

It's too easy to get lost on etsy with all the great finds. Seriously, there is some great stuff on there. And, of course--there's some stuff on there that leaves me saying, "people buy this?" Today, I was checking out all the different sashes. I'm still trying to decide if I want to add one to my dress for a little something extra.

Here are three that I was drawn to:

I love the pop of color that this blue flower adds. This sash is simple yet fun, and it's one of our wedding colors...score! It runs $95, not bad.



This sash is all kinds of elegant. While I do not consider myself a flashy crystal kind of girl, I love this. And, you can customize the ribbon color to fun it up some. Perhaps a nice aqua or red? This sash is a little more, but the added detail is worth it at $149



The last sash that caught my eye looks like the first two sashes I picked had a love affair. It mixes the fun of the flower with the elegance of stones and is $148 (right in the middle of the other two!). I'm going to be wearing pearls, so I like the idea of having them in my sash and fascinator (which I will be looking for next). This one is great because I can possibly throw it on something in the future. The etsy page shows it on the strap of a dress, which could be cute on a simple black dress later on.



What do you think?

Featured Testimonial: Teal!

Teal and I worked together at an ad agency in Columbus. She was one of my last brides before we made the trek across the country to San Francisco. She had such a great vision of her wedding, which was held at the oh-so-amazing Venue at Smith Brothers. It was a lot of fun working with her on her wedding stationery and I couldn't be more pleased with how they came out. The "Tea for Two" invitations have quickly become my new favorite design!



Here's what Teal had to say:

I had the pleasure of being introduced to Marit through work. A colleague mentioned that Marit designed her wedding invitations and suggested I speak with her about my upcoming event. It was a blessing. Marit listened to what I envisioned and made smart suggestions to help polish the design of our Save the Date cards, invitations, RSVP cards and more. She also helped with reception details and designed beautiful place cards, table numbers and bar/station menus that matched our invitation design. It pulled everything together beautifully. Our guests loved the details. Marit worked quickly when I made some last minute requests and was able to execute beautifully almost overnight! My new husband and I would recommend her to any couple looking for beautiful and detailed work for their special event.
- Teal and Todd


Go check out Teal's wedding photos on her photographers blog--they're beautiful!

New invitation design!

I am so excited to share this new invitation with you. I had the opportunity to work with Teal to create a custom invitation design for her vintage yet modern wedding in Columbus, Ohio. We met over lunch and talked about all the details of her wedding, from the venue and the flowers to her beautiful lace dress and wedding colors of gray/orange. And how cute is it that both their names and her new last name all begin with "t?" These were all elements that I wanted to play up, while still keeping it sophisticated.

After a few rounds of designs, this is what the couple chose to represent their big day. I am calling this design "Tea for Two," a double reference hinting at the lace/doily pattern and the amazing couple I was able to work with to create it!


Click here to view large



Click here to view large.

This invite will be on my website soon, but you can purchase a sample now on etsy.

December is ready to download!

Oh my goodness, I can't believe Christmas is only FOUR weeks away. Being in California is playing tricks on me, as it does not feel anything like the holiday (other than seeing all the trees strapped to roofs of cars we passed over the weekend). Looks like I should probably start my shopping!

Speaking of which, my calendars are on an extended Cyber Monday sale through the end of this week. They are regularly $12, but are selling for $8 on my etsy site.



December's calendar is based off of my Blooms and Stripes invitation. What you're seeing here is obviously the stripes. :)



Click on the link below to download your desktop (a new window will open, either drag it to your desktop or right click and "save image as"):

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Reception goodies

We have had a lull in our wedding planning, and have been using our free time exploring the Bay Area before the rain comes. Well, it's almost December and rainy season is upon us. So, you know what that means? I will be busy planning things for our wedding and sharing them with you here. Keep checking back, and I'll make sure to notify you via twitter and facebook as I post. We are quite excited to have all my big things crossed off our list: ceremony site, reception location, photographer, caterer, cake, music (fingers crossed on that one!), shoes and dress. That gives us 10 months to plan out all the fun details. Here are some that we've already begun.

First off: linens. Exciting right? I make you wait three weeks for a blog post only to show you photos of napkins. But these aren't just ANY napkins, folks. These are being sewn with love by my Mom (THANK YOU Mom!). We are sticking with classic white linens for our tables, but I wanted to "fun it up." I picked out red and white checked fabric, that you'll find scattered across picnic tables at lobster shacks.

I plan on folding them to house a menu, which happens to be what we are working on now. Get your bibs ready, people. ;)



Next up, place cards! I plan on starting these ASAP, since they will be hand cut. It's a good thing my fiance went to art school as well, because it will be a much faster job when there's two of us with XACTO knives in hand. Ignore the big crease, as this was a piece of scrap card stock that I wanted to test with. Oh, and I will also be perfecting my calligraphy technique...so no judging umkay? You can download a template here. I adjusted the size of my claws to be larger and used Illustrator to smooth out some of the lines for easier cutting.





Next up, centerpieces, I have lots of ideas and I can't wait to share them with you!

Check back later this week for the December desktop calendar download. And, in case you missed it on facebook today---my calendars are only $8 in honor of Cyber Monday. Get em' while they last. :)

November is ready for download!

November's calendar is based off of my Calla Lily invitation.



Click on the link below to download your desktop (a new window will open, either drag it to your desktop or right click and "save image as"):

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Don't forget to order your 2011 desktop calendar! They are on sale right now for $10 and free shipping! If you only need the refill pack, those are $8.

Kill two birds with one stone

Check out this great idea from Project Wedding!

Use mini-lanterns as escort cards for your guests. Light them up and spread them on a table--and look how pretty.


Click here to read the full post--complete with tips!

If we didn't already have our escort cards figured out, I'd definitely consider this! The red lanterns are even sitting on the same fabric we are using for our napkins.


Here are some sites that have mini-lanterns if you'd like to use this for your wedding:
American Bridal
Amazon
Favor Studio
ebay (set of 60...if still available)

Visit Project Weddings for a lot of great wedding inspiration!

Desktop Calendars are only $10 on 10-10-10 with free shipping!

That's right! In celebration of 10-10-10, I am offering my 2011 Desktop Calendar for only $10 with FREE shipping! Because I know a lot of my readers visit during the week, I will extend this offer through 10-17-10.

If you'd like a refill pack, I am offering those for $6 with free shipping this week.
Email me if you're interested in the refill.

Here's a look at 2011:




The standard calendar includes the desktop case, seen below (image shows August 2010):


These make great gifts for your friends or co-workers. Order now while they're in stock. I sold out early last year. :)

Our reception site

I was so excited to receive photos from my parents tonight along with an update on the reception venue. Up until today, I'd really only seen it from the outside.


I know that probably sounds a little crazy, but I'd heard great things and I knew that as cute as the exterior was--the interior had to be nice.




I was actually more impressed than expected. I love all the open beams, it is very similar to the airiness of our ceremony site..


The woodwork is so beautiful. I can envision the beams wrapped in pretty white lights.


I'm so glad that our venue has some outdoor space for our guests to enjoy, provided the weather is nice. According to the almanacs, we have little chance for rain--and pretty mild temperatures earlier in the day. If so, we'll be enjoying drinks and socializing with our friends and family on the deck!




Now that I have seen the space, we can start planning on all the fun details to fill it up. Happy Friday everyone!

The October desktop calendar is ready to download!

October's calendar is based off of my Tres Chic invitation. This is one of my favorite invites, I love the contrast of the blue stripes with the bold damask patterns.



Click on the link below to download your desktop (a new window will open, either drag it to your desktop or right click and "save image as"):

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Our Ceremony Site

My parents are in Maine for a few weeks, so they were amazing enough to take some pictures of our ceremony site. Not only that, but they are going to meet with a caterer and also take some photos of our reception venue so that I can start on the details. I'm so lucky that they are able to do this stuff for me...you know, living on the OPPOSITE side of the country and all.

I am in love with this meeting house. It's so adorable and full of New England charm. The inside is so spectacular (or maybe I am biased!), that I don't think we are going to have to do much at all for the ceremony as far as decorations. My mom is going to plant a bunch of flowers for us to pot on the steps to dress up the outside, and we'll probably put some baskets of flowers in some of the windows. I hate to distract too much from the woodwork and the abundance of charm that the meeting house has.

The outside:


And pictures of the inside. Each box pew has cute numbers on the doors. It has a balcony, which I imagine will make for some great photos of the ceremony:

We've moved!

Wow, this month has been so busy. I apologize to those who came looking for the September desktop calendar – I promise to have October ready for you. I have good reasons for my lack of posting these last few weeks.

We packed up our house and moved to the Bay Area the first week of September. Needless to say, our time has been spent unpacking and settling in to our new home. I'm all caught up on emails and orders, so it's time to give my blog some TLC. Not to mention, I have my own wedding to plan and I'd love to share what I find with you.

Let the fun part of planning begin!

We booked our reception site. After lots of back and forth, number crunching and logistical issues with planning a destination wedding we have decided to have our reception at The 1812 Farm. I love it--go to their site and check out the gallery of photos. We should be able to have some fun with this.

Featured Testimonial: Michele!

I worked with Michele earlier this year to create custom event style posters for her wedding invitations. I modified my usual event design for her, to contain some other typefaces and scrolls for another look. I also designed a larger poster for her to print and frame for the reception for the guests to sign. What a great idea!

Photography by Johnny Wolf Photography
Click here to view large.

Here is a photo of the newlyweds---how ADORABLE is her dress and how cute is she? Michele got it from BCBG and is has.....gasp....POCKETS! I am a total sucker for a dress with pockets, I'd love to get some put into my wedding dress.


Photography by Johnny Wolf Photography
Click here to view large.

I love how they turned out and so did Michele and S.J. Here's what they had to say:

Marit,
My husband and I wanted to send a big thank you for putting your amazing talents to work for our NYC wedding reception. The night was perfect and we got numerous compliments from guests that just LOVED our invites and the poster was the perfect way to greet guests. We now have the print completely signed and marked up from guests framed in our apartment. It totally captured "us" and our event.


Thank you again and I hope you are taking some time to enjoy the summer,
Michele and S.J.


Thanks Michele, you guys were so much fun to work with--and thank you so much for sharing photos with me.

2011 Desktop Calendars

For the third year in a row, I am offering a desk calendar containing designs from my stationery collection. I sold out of them last year, so I ordered more this time around. But when they are gone--they're gone!

My desk calendars are professionally printed on 100# cardstock and packaged in a specially made desktop CD-style display case and sell for $12. Here is last years:


Here is a preview of 2011:

View large.

2011 calendars with cases will mail by October 1. Refills can ship right away!

If you ordered one of my calendars last year, and you'd just like to order the calendar pages alone--not a problem. You can buy the refill pack for $10.

Click here to order the 2011 refill. In the body of your email, please include your shipping address and I will send you an invoice with directions for payment.

Click here to order the 2011 calendar with case. In the body of your email, please include your shipping address and I will send you an invoice with directions for payment.

These calendars are a fun way to dress up your desk and make wonderful gifts!

Brooch Bouquets

I wish I had enough of my grandmother's brooches to make a bouquet like these from Fantasy Floral Designs. Check out her arrangements, they are so amazing! If you are lucky enough to have a big collection of heirloom brooches, you should consider making a bouquet from them:


Above photos are from Fantasy Floral Designs

I only have a handful of jewels from my grandmother, I think I will pick my favorite one and pin it around my bouquet to represent my "somethingi old":

Photo from Fancy Pants Weddings

Our ceremony site!

While there is still SO MUCH to figure out, we do have our ceremony location set in place. I'm so excited about it--since I was a little kid, I thought it would be pretty amazing to get married in the Harrington Meeting House. It was built in 1775, and the inside is all kinds of beautiful. The outside is pretty charming too.



I'm really not sure what we will even need to do to the inside, other than put some flowers in some of the windows. Frommer's Maine Coast says it best, "It's an architectural gem on the inside, almost painfully austere..."



Rather than typical bench pews, the meeting house is filled with box pews--which is our favorite part.



Even the ceilings are breathtaking:



Now, to determine the reception location. Hopefully that will be nailed down this week, along with a photographer (which is turning out to be the hardest decision!).

August is ready for download!

August's calendar is based off of my Serendipity invitation.



Click on the link below to download your desktop (a new window will open, either drag it to your desktop or right click and "save image as"):

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If you would like to order a sample of this invitation, click here.

Happy August everyone!

Found on Etsy: Cake Toppers

I did some looking around etsy and came across some really creative and cute toppers. I'm just not sure that I'm willing to pay around $100 for something to sit on top of my cake (just my personal opinion). I don't picture it being something I'd save or put on display--but if I were to do so, it would definitely be one of these:


This one is from togetherforever and sells for $155. She will custom design the couple just for you...so cute!


Image from togetherforever etsy shop.


These lovebirds by cottonbirddesigns are adorable, and I really like how she makes them out of linen and silk. She will customize the flower color for you for $125.


Image from cottonbirddesigns etsy shop.


Okay, seriously...these custom couples from urastarhouse are beyond amazing for $125. This is a cake topper that I'd put on the dresser in our bedroom. I love that the backs are painted as well. She also offers pets as an add-on (totaling around $150). Perhaps Pete could sit on top of our cake!




Images from urastarhouse etsy shop.

Happy Thursday everyone!

The perfect tie

My friend Amanda (check out her work--it's gorgeous!)sent me a link to some super cute ties she found on etsy. I've been so busy thinking about all the other wedding details, that I haven't even started looking for Dave yet. I passed the link off to him to see what he thinks and I hope he's excited about them as I am. We still have to talk about our color palette and since we are both designers, I bet this will be one of the toughest things to agree on. Whatever it is, red will be a likely accent due to our Maine destination.



They also offer narrow ties in some colors and you can convo them about printing in another color. I am definitely favoriting this listing!



Find these ties in Toybreaker's shop on etsy.

I say "I do" to this do!

I've found myself sifting through my wedding magazines in more detail than before. I used to scour them for design inspiration and now I have turned into the girl that takes in each and every page. It's okay though, I warned my husband-to-be of my latest wedding obsessions and he seems to be okay with it. He has to be though right, because it's technically his fault!

In a recent Martha Stewart Weddings email, she had a feature on updos. I believe it was even in her last magazine issue.

This is my favorite updo, and it even gives instructions on how to do it yourself. I think I might try it out this weekend. It's beautiful as is, but depending on my dress I might pair it with a birdcage veil or a pretty flower.


Click here to see other updos or to get the easy directions on how to achieve this look yourself.