I'm not sure if I shared this already, but on top of freelancing, I've also been working part-time on social media and marketing for a local events company and the brand new loft-style event venue the company's owners are building (part of why my posting here has been less frequent). As you might expect, in addition to corporate and social events, galas, and bashes, the company plans and designs a lot of weddings. 

I've always loved weddings, not just because I'm a romantic, but because of all the insanely great decorating ideas, stationery, and fashion. I've reached the age where most of my friends are married so I'm not attending a lot of weddings. Being at this job gives me even more of an excuse to fritter my time away on Pinterest (as if we needed more excuses for that, right?) and look at pretty ideas, which is how I came across this gorgeous cake. 

The thing about this cake is that it is fashion-forward and could easily inspire both an outfit and decor, mixing stripes and floral with hits of gold. I know it's probably over by now since everyone did it years ago, but I still want to paint an entryway with vertical black and white stripes. I was supposed to do this in my last house, but as you may have gathered by now, I didn't pull the trigger on too many decorating projects, mostly for financial reasons. The plan was black and white stripes, a floral-upholstered bench, and I bought these great red coat hooks from Anthropologie. I really love this Hana floral pattern from Kenzo/Lelievre which I first saw several years ago when we used it in another colorway for a Traditional Home story. I couldn't decide on a colorway and now I'm worried that it's been discontinued. So the search continues.

But it's not like good floral elements are scarce: How about a classic Cecil Beaton fabric? I actually really like florals on a black ground, like this fabric from Osborne & Little. Or another print from Manuel Canovas with more of a hand-drawn quality. These could each work well with a bold stripe and metallic accents. 

One of the easiest ways to create a look that's truly your own is to include handmade products in your house. The best thing about handmade goods is that they're generally limited in quantity, so few people will have the same pieces as you, and even those that aren't so limited are still special because it's very difficult to achieve uniform precision on each creation. But, I bet artists and designers prefer it that way; the happy accidents and imperceptible mistakes behind each piece may be totally unrecognizable to you but tell the story of their process.

The story behind each piece, or more precisely, the story behind the Maker of each piece, is exactly what the site BRIKA is after. How the designers got started, what music they listen to when creating, what inspires them—all of that matters  and creates a connection to people all over the country pursuing their passion. 

One of those people is Karen Young (above), the Brooklyn-based designer behind Hammocks & High Tea. Karen is a joy—I've been lucky enough to work with her in the past—and is just one of dozens of women (mostly) and men featured who've dedicated their lives to the imprecise, but monumentally fulfilling, work of crafting their products by hand. Karen is selling some of her fabulous dopp kits in exclusive patterns for the site.

Also, completely randomly, I came across jewelry maker Penelope Rakov who went to my high school, graduating only a few years ahead of me (I remembered her name)! Small world.

Many of the products featured on BRIKA are modern interpretations of traditional techniques practiced by past craftspeople and artisans, and the founders of the site hope that the pieces bought today will become new heirlooms to be passed down. 

Here are my favorite products available at BRIKA right now (click the images to purchase or see more):

Check out the site and let me know which pieces are your favorite!

Well, today was a lot of things, but let's just say today was a Monday. 

One thing did go well, which was a quick meeting with the event coordinator regarding our vow renewal. I looked at some options for where we can have the brief ceremony if the weather is nice enough to hold it outside. I also chose the tablecloth and napkin colors, now that I have a tentative plan in place for the decorations. It's going to be pretty low key, because I am going to try and do it myself (party decor I tend to do DIY, that's about the only thing). Since I'm still going to be really busy between now and October fourth, I'm getting a little stressed about fitting it all in. 

Some days I catch myself calling it "the wedding" and I'm trying to find a balance between having enough decoration that it looks pretty and not so many that it looks like I am trying to recreate the big day. I am using a slightly more grown up version of our original color palette and I modeled the invitation after our original. But most of our wedding decor was floral, and we just don't have the budget for that. So I'm going to try a few things and hope they work out. If they do, I'll post them. 

Here is a 10-year vow renewal I came across today from Green Wedding Shoes. It's more "done" than ours will be; of course, they had an event planner and photographer. I can't afford to rent the fancy chairs or put up a big backdrop but I do want to make sure it feels special and pretty. And apparently, this site is like a secret weapon for engaged girls: Cloud Parade, which is probably the most dangerous thing to happen to me right now. Someone hide my wallet.

Yesterday we spent a lovely afternoon at our friends' wedding. The ceremony and reception were intimate, rustic, and sweet. And the dessert table featured insanely delicious homemade biscotti, brownies, s'mores treats (with from-scratch marshmallows), and caramel corn. Mmmm.

In just under a month, my husband and I will be celebrating our 10-year anniversary. We are renewing our vows and having a very small dinner party at the place where our wedding reception was held (the zoo!). So now, even though I have a lot of work due over the next two weeks, I'm also looking for small-and-simple decoration ideas for the dinner. These richly colored bouquets are a beautiful place to start getting inspired.