MDS Announcement | 2012 Happenings Thus Far

Starting this business almost three years ago, I had huge dreams of where it would take us; Clients we were so excited to meet, venues that we wanted to see and have the opportunity to set up at, fellow vendors that we wanted to work with and so much more!  Today, I still sit here pinching myself thinking that this could all be a dream.  It's hard to believe Matinae Design Studio has taken off as much as it has. I'm feeling beyond blessed!  Going into 2012, I knew it was going to be a BIG year but didn't think it would be quite this big of a year and that it would all happen so soon.  I mean, we're only 4 weeks into 2012! :)

We have a couple of huge announcements to make and I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be more announcements to make in 2012!

First and foremost, both of my companies, Matinae Design Studio and Sugar Rush Candy and Confection Bar Rentals have been asked to join an elite group of local vendors that now makes up an organization called "An Officer And A Wedding"!  An Officer And A Wedding was created by Andrew of J. Andrew Photography and his wife Joslynn.  They've organized quite the group of vendors to sponsor two weddings a year for military couples. This is a cause very close to my heart as both of my grandfathers, along with my cousin and some of my friends, have served.  These are couples who have, or are currently, serving our country and have done so much by doing so!  Vendors with An Officer And A Wedding will be donating or discounting their products and services to these couples so they can finally have their "dream wedding"!  Some of the couples have been married but had to rush and do so before being deployed and didn't get the chance to fully celebrate with their friends and family!  The first couple chosen is Eileen and Miguel and we had the honor of meeting with Eileen this week to start her invitation design and talk about other wedding designs that we'll be doing for her!  We had such a great time and are beyond excited to be working with them!!

An Officer and A Wedding will also be participating in different charity events year round as well as helping other military couples plan for their big day!

You can "like" An Officer And A Wedding on Facebook by visiting www.facebook.com/anofficerandawedding, follow us on Twitter @OfficerNWedding, and if you'd like to read more about it and how it got started you can read this blog post by Andrew!

We are so excited to be a part of this and to be working with fellow vendors including J. Andrew Photography, Anamie's Sweets, A House of Flowers, Fairy Godmother Day Of Coordination, PM Custom Catering, Kevin Rush Entertainment, Roger “The Lounge Guy” Martin, Sit-N-Grin Photo Booth, The Randall House, and Fino's Menswear!  The list of vendors is still growing too!

Our second announcement is we had the opportunity to work on a top secret project this week with some local vendors.  Not much can be said about this as of yet, but we promise it will be amazing when we can post the details about it.  This too was a huge dream of our's to work with such amazing vendors on such a unique project!  I can't wait to be able to share it with all of you!

One more little glimpse of what is to come!  Matinae Design Studio will have a whole new blog-site that will launch soon!  

We hope everyone else is enjoying 2012 thus far!

Monday Matinae Feature | Rabobank Dinner Party

Last spring we were contacted by Colleen Bauer (owner of Fairy Godmother Coordinating Service) in regards to designing some elements for a dinner party that Rabobank was having!  Colleen works at Rabobank as well and we were thrilled to design for the party which was going to included some pretty important guests! 

Colleen selected an apple green and chocolate brown color scheme which was so unique and beautiful for Spring!  We designed square menu cards using the color scheme as inspiration that featured calligraphy flourishes that were printed on white metallic cardstock and layered on bronze metallic cardstock.   We folded each napkin to create a pocket, tucked the menu cards inside, and tied it off with a satin chocolate brown ribbon.  Also designed were coordinating place cards and monogrammed notecard sets for each guest as a favor along with delicious cookies provided by Anamie's Sweets!

We loved working with this group of vendors and how everything turned out!

And one more final picture I took using my phone...

Location | Seven Oaks Country Club

Coordination | Colleen Bauer of Fairy Godmother

Paper Styling | Matinae Design Studio

Cookie Favors | Anamie's Sweets

Floral Design | Uniquely Chic Florist

Linens and Rentals | Walker Lewis Rents

Monday Matinae Feature | Christin + Jason

Welcome to our first "Monday Matinae" feature!  We're starting the year off with Christin + Jason's wedding that took place this last spring.  Christin and Jason were wonderful to work with and their wedding featured tons of vintage shabby-chic details!  They were married at the historic Woman's Club in downtown Bakersfield, California.  The venue was the perfect setting for their wedding and Christin was stunning in her dress, wouldn't you agree?  We love the pictures of them with the '47 Pontiac and while we don't typically feature engagement pictures, the pictures from Christin and Jason's "Beloved" session are just to amazing not to post! Wishing Christin and Jason many years of wedded bliss! :)  Click here to view product pictures of designs from their wedding.  Enjoy!
*All images and video done by Made U Look Photography.

Here are some highlights from their "Beloved" session!

Wedding Venue | Bakersfield's Woman's Club
Photography and Videography | Made U Look  Photography
Paper Accessories and Garters | Matinae Design Studio
Floral Design | Irma Salazar
Catering | Caesar's Deli
Rentals | Details Party Rentals
Makeup | Kate Alley
"Beloved" Session Location | Kern County Museum

Christin + Jason | Wedding | April 9, 2011

Christin was referred to me by one of my other brides, Megan, who happened to work with Christin.  I was so happy when Christin contacted me in regards to designing her ceremony programs and some other items for her wedding!  She explained to me that she was planning her wedding to include vintage details including antique buttons that were handed down to her by her grandmother and would be getting married at the historical Woman's Club in downtown Bakersfield.

We first discussed ceremony programs and designed a four layered landscape program that included a cover, ceremony order, wedding party introductions, and thank you's.  A script font paired with a typewriting font were combined with a vintage illustration of a flower and eggplant ribbon to complete the design.

Next was a custom bunting Christin wanted to hang from their sweetheart table at the reception.  A double strand bunting spelt out "Just Married".  Each panel featured vintage buttons, lace that mimicked the lace on Christin's dress and ribbon rosettes.  The panels were strung on the same eggplant ribbon that were used on the programs.

Table numbers were designed as square tent cards layered on eggplant cardstock and featured the vintage flower illustration as well.

Christin also had us design her bridal and toss garters.  For the bridal garter we once again used materials that mimicked her stunning dress and added in some vintage buttons for detailing.  The toss garter was very similar but was made out of eggplant organza and chiffon.

Click here to view their wedding and vendors!

Love Candee Photography | Logo Design

You might remember the wonderful wedding invitations below from this wedding that I had the honor of designing for! Well, I got the chance to work for Candice again!  You see, she started up her very own photography business, Love Candee Photography and needed a logo designed!  I was so excited to work with her again as she always brings unique and creative ideas to the table!  This time she wanted a modern logo using a yellow, black, and gray color scheme.  After playing around with a few concepts and fonts, we came up with the final product!

If you are looking for a photographer in southern California, I highly recommend you check her blog out!  She's quite the talented photographer!  Visit the Love Candee Photography blog or "like" her on Facebook!

All images copyright of Love Candee Photography

Halloween: Alice In Wonderland Style, Part 2

Over a year ago, I got the chance to design birthday invitations and accessories for an adorable set of twins.  During that event, a guest at that party (Melanie) noticed my work and asked or my info so she could get in contact with me about her daughter's 8th birthday.  Soon after, we met and realized she actually lived on my same street!  As we spoke, she told me that her daughter, Maggi, was born on October 27th and  they had always had a Halloween inspired party for her but this year she wanted to put a twist on it.  I had just seen an Alice in Wonderland inspired paper line that had just hit the stores and when I showed the paper to Melanie she fell in love with the idea of using the paper as our inspiration and turning Maggi's party into a Alice in Wonderland tea party with a Halloween twist!

We designed two panel invitations that were held together with ribbon.  The fronts of the panels featured Alice in Wonderland and Halloween elements while the backs featured the invitation wording and information.  These were enclosed in small black boxes filled with purple paper shred, tied off with ribbon, and were hand delivered to her guests.  A large 3 panel bunting was made for Maggi as well as a three panel bunting that was added to the candy bar/food table.  A collage was made and was displayed on an easel next to the food table as well.

After we designed the invitations, Melanie asked if we would be up for designing and setting up the whole party along with coordinating all of the elements! We had been wanting to do something like this for such a long time and we were so excited to get started!  The guests were going to include 5 of Maggi's friends and cousins and they were going to need their own table for the tea party which was going to be held at the park right next to her house.  The adults were going to hang out inside and all of the guests were going to want some treats!  

I just did a project for Anamie Mahanke, owner of Anamie's Sweets.  As a swap, I designed for her friend's shower and she designed the most amazing cake and cake pops for this event.  After the cake and cake pops were taken care of, we did a Halloween themed - kid friendly menu that consisted of Monster Mash Meatballs with Drippings, Wicked Witch Fingers, Pumpkin Patch Roll-Ups, Frank 'N Mummy Wraps, and Ghost Dip with Raw Dunkers  For beverages, we served a Black "Burried" (black berry) Sweet Tea and Blood Orange Punch.

For decor, the table featured floor length black linens with a black glitter overlay that was cinched at each corner and tied off with ribbon.  We added white dishes, vases, pumpkin, and a tea pot along with two glitter candelabras, glitter pumpkins, favor boxes that featured each girl's first initial in black glitter on an Alice in Wonderland tag and other accessories. A paper chandelier and two pumpkin paper lanterns that lit up were hung from the tree directly above the tables.

We decided to do a small candy bar for the girls and adults that was placed on a table along with the food and cake!  The candy bar included Creepy Crawlers (gummy worms), Goblin Grape Vines (grape licorice), Tarantula Eggs (mixed Halloween colored jelly beans), Dracula's Dark Truffles (dark chocolate truffles), and Bat Bites (white chocolate special edition orange M&M's).  Anamie created a two tiered cake that featured chocolate cake with Orea filling and vanilla cake with buttercream and raspberry filling and believe me..this cake was as delicious as it looked!  Each guest got a cake pop to take home and those were orange or red velvet cake!

We had such an amazing time designing this event and can't wait to have the chance to do others in the future!  Here are some of our favorite pictures from the event before the girls got there!