love letters

Married in a Fever

2011-08-04T08:21:00.001-07:00

We are starting to love this time of year when photos from our recent weddings are out. One of our favorite photographers Taylor Glenn just posted pictures from Andrea and Matt's late June wedding at Amangani. They called us 10 days before the wedding for last minute welcome bag tags and menus. When they saw our office, they gushed over the invitation we did for Anna and Eric's elopement, so we gave 'em a little something extra that they wound up finding a use for!

Check out Taylor's full post here. I love how fun this wedding looks, especially the dip in the pool!

Summer 2011 Weddings

2011-07-19T09:22:00.001-07:00

Um...Yeah...It has been a while. But xowyo paper and press has been way busy this spring with invitation work. We just received some pictures from Sara of her invitations and seating cards for her Missouri wedding on a winery. Check it!

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T06:36:00.000-08:00

This is just one image from a new line of cards xowyo paper and press will be debuting this month. And yes, we added to our name because we are now doing lots of letterpress, so stay tuned. We also have a new website and Facebook page, all the stuff we've been meaning to do but never had time for because we were so busy in 2010.

As we start the new year, Jenny and I are thankful for all the brides, moms and other clients who gave us a chance and hired a fledgling company. We cannot believe how successful we were during our first year in business, especially because we bought just one ad. Last year, we wanted to grow slowly and by word of mouth. This year is a different story. We already have several weddings booked for 2011 and some other fun stuff coming up. Thanks for your support!

Sew cool

2010-10-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

One of our wedding invitations was featured today on Style Me Pretty. This was a big project. Cutting, ironing and sewing 225 muslin cloths for Claire's Arkansas wedding. I made two trips to Idaho Falls to find the perfect shade of orange thread. Thank heavens we didn't have to fray these invites. For the rest of the wedding, check out Abby's blog post.

The end is near

2010-03-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Jenny and I promised to keep this project a secret until the bride's wedding was over. Sita was married at an old barn at the base of the ski slopes at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort on March 6. She arrived at the barn in a horse-drawn sleigh. Some of her guests even skied to the ceremony. For her table assignments, Sita wanted vintage ski posters with sayings that meant something to her and her now-husband.

This was the one at our table. The North Hoback is a place at the mountain resort. And my husband would probably kill me if I explained why exactly the North Hoback is so special to some people. He's been spending A LOT of time there now that there's just two weeks left of the ski season....if the snow can make it that long. I've learned that he, and many of my friends, start getting end-of-season affective disorder every year about this time.

So Jenny and I are turning this image into a poster. We've already had a few orders placed. Maybe this will get people through November, when ski season begins again.

Best, New

2010-03-02T18:32:00.000-08:00

Every week I usually find something that I label the "best, new" thing. Usually, my "best, new" for the week pertains to food.

As I sit here, I have just discovered my "best, new" for the week. And it's only Tuesday night! Right now, I am gobbling a piece of crusty bread, layered with ricotta, basil, these slow-roasted tomatoes, balsamic and the above lemon salt. My husband is down in Salt Lake City, where he is helping a museum take down and recrate a massive Victorian art exhibit. So you can see why this is a perfectly acceptable dinner.

I discovered this dried lemon salt at the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmer's Market last summer on one of my trips for my wedding gown fitting. I bought three jars of salt, including rosemary and lavendar, but this dried lemon, oh my, it's the best. But it is even better when it's mixed with the spicy basil and the sweet, deep tomato taste. Swoon.

Another day

2010-03-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

It's day two of my promise to blog regularly. Hooray for sticking with it thus far.

The above are some pockets we made from jean fabric, then sewed on the Tetons outline on one. The other (the one underneath) is a "W" for the groom's last name. These are samples we made for a bride who is still deciding whether or not to use them. She wants her invitations to be casual, different and fun, kind of like her wedding. But she doesn't want anything overtly western. My favorite is the one on the right with pinking sheared edges. A label with the bride and groom's name is sewed on the upper right corner. We made pockets for this bride because she needs something to package all her pieces together so they won't get lost. This gal has two to three events a day for four days. Plus, she needs invites, RSVP's and maps. I would lose it all, but this allows guests to keep everything easily organized.

I think they'd be perfect for anything: a casual wedding, rehearsal dinner or, really, any Jackson Hole event. You could package smaller invites completely inside the pocket, or leave something showing from the top.

Please excuse our photography. Our project this summer is to get everything professionally shot. Until then, our focus is getting all our work finished!

At it again

2010-03-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

It's the first day of a new month, and I have resolved to blog more regularly. Jenny and I have been so busy working our day jobs and completing orders in our spare time for, get this, 13 clients. I am so amazed at how busy we've become, especially because all these people came through word-of-mouth.

We are shipping off our first big order this week: 125 hand-sewn cloth pockets with invites, maps and RSVP cards. Here's a sample.

Sticking together

2010-01-08T11:42:00.000-08:00

Our latest creation is a rehearsal dinner invitation. I am kind of obsessed with it and can't stop gushing over the version we printed on this cool textured paper. This couple is getting married in March and plan a game of boot hockey (broomball to the rest of us) at their rehearsal. The couple that plays together, sticks together...Or something like that!

Have a great weekend. I'll either be skiing (if it warms up. This morning, it was -27), or I will be going to the gym. I've decided today is that day to get a membership.

Amazing wedding proposal

2010-01-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's been a while since we've posted. Blame it on the holidays.

Anywho, I heard about this Weather Channel proposal the other day, so I decided to check out other wedding proposals on You Tube. I've watched this one several times. The first two times, I cried. This guy must be amazing. Look how much planning must have gone into it! Oh, and can someone please teach me how to put video on this site. I can't figure it out, so you'll just have to go to the link.

Sarah's reaction to Justin's Marriage Proposal

2009-12-14T11:27:00.001-08:00

Oh how I do love Etsy. How fun are these glasses? What a great gift. I would use these every day when I come home from work for lunch. Except, I have no more room in my kitchen cabinets for glasses. And we definitely have no more room for bikes. Between Spencer and myself, we own six.

Announcing....

2009-12-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

Our new Etsy shop. Some of you have been asking where you can buy our fun undies, so here you go. Enjoy!

Naughty pants

2009-12-03T06:50:00.001-08:00

Jenny and I have a booth at the Snow King Christmas Bazaar on Saturday. Along with some cute cotton undies that have this design on the left rear, I'm also selling homemade — HOMEMADE — vanilla marshmallows and hot chocolate on a stick! I am really obsessed with the undies. I gave similar ones to all to my friends who came to my bachelorette party in Las Vegas. They are all great gifts. The undies are $8, so you can give them to all your friends.

Come by and check us out. And if you don't live in Jackson Hole, stay tuned for our Etsy shop. For custom orders, you can always email us at cara@xowyo.com.

I think I want this....

2009-11-19T07:22:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I received an e-mail from PaperSource about its new letterpress machine. For $150, it could be a fun way to pass the time at home. But I wonder if it could handle a big job, like these 75 invites we are making for a party next month. I don't want to scoop myself, so here's the back. I can't wait to get it back from the letterpress company!

\

SCORE!!!

2009-11-16T07:29:00.001-08:00

I just bought White and Warren cashmere slippers at 50 percent off. How psyched am I? You may just be one of the lucky gals who gets these for Christmas. And speaking of lucky, that's how I found the deal. Lucky Magazine is allowing readers 50 percent off these fine slippers for today only. Just enter luckydaily1 at checkout. Which colors did you buy?

MSW

2009-11-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

So, our wedding is finally posted over on The Bride's Guide. You can also find it at Martha Stewart Weddings. And....it will be on Style Me Pretty on Tuesday. We think this is way cool. And if we were a better blogger, we'd know how to do a screen grab and all that jazz. But that's Jenny's forte, and she's busy right now laying out the newspaper. Meanwhile, it seems the ladies at MSW and SMP kinda went gaga over this:

The elk head was a stamp I had made for $9. We put it on everything, the menus, the programs and the name and escort cards. Honestly, I just didn't have the budget to spend getting all this stuff printed in color. So I had it printed in black, and my sweet mama stamped everything. All 130 programs, 130 menus and 260 name cards. How's that for love? Enjoy!

JH Love

2009-11-10T06:48:00.000-08:00

We are meeting with a bride this week who met her fiance at the Cowboy Bar. She wants a "Jackson image" for her save-the-dates, a la this Bird and Banner suite. I have a feeling we are going to run into a lot of brides who swoon over their invites. So I think our challenge is going to be doing something totally unique with similar images.

We had a local artist, Courtney Leavell, draw this for us. Stay tuned, because Courtney will be doing some work for us in the future, hopefully many of our hand-drawn images. I think her first project, the antler arches, are going to be used a lot. On postcards. On bags. During her days, Courtney can be found arranging flowers and being creative at Lily and Company (she did my wedding flowers). She writes Lily's blog and also maintains her own.

We at xowyo are very excited to have a local artist on board. If Courtney could draw you any Jackson Hole image, what would it be?

Core

2009-11-03T06:49:00.000-08:00

So my good friend Erin is opening a Pilates studio. I am so proud of her. She left her old job working for a studio just over a week ago. Her plan was to take a few weeks to get her space set up, design a logo and do all that stuff that comes along with setting up a studio. But people just love her too much, and her first week in her new space she had 35 clients.

She has no rugs, no furniture and her mats haven't even arrived yet. But she has two reformers and a Cadillac and some Pilates chairs. And, now she may have a logo. Jenny whipped this up yesterday in just a few minutes when Erin said she needed business cards...pronto. What do you think? Should this be Erin's new logo?

My favorite part of the business card? The back.

November already?

2009-11-02T06:25:00.001-08:00

I woke up this morning and realized another month has gone by. How did that happen? Then I realized I am still craving the warmth of summer, so I posted this picture from our honeymoon in Kaua'i. I made Spencer snap this with me one night after dinner. Really, I wanted a picture of all the tall orchids outside this restaurant. You can kinda see them on the right.

Man, I love that dress, too. From Anthro. Wore it to the rehearsal dinner. Sigh.

Mixed tape

2009-10-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

When I was a junior in college, I was hired to work the perfume counter at Dillard's department store during Christmas break. My mom persuaded me get the job, saying she had a friend whose daughter worked a perfume counter and was making a lot of money. She wanted me to get the job because they had agreed to fund a trip that upcoming summer on which I planned to follow Phish for five weeks around the East Coast. My parents had spent, like, $600 on concert tickets for me.

I acquiesced. As a perfume gal, I was supposed wear all black. I spent my days standing around the front of the store, attempting to mist any woman who walked by, convincing her that she needed what I was sprayin'.

"Would you like to sample Gucci Rush?" I would say one day. "It's really the new scent for the holidays."

The next day I was peddling Cool Water for Women. The following, it was Boucheron.

And if I sold a gift box? Bonus!

Many people I know would find this job demeaning. But I have never been ashamed to work anywhere. If the money is good, I will do it. My first job was folding clothes at Benetton, then I moved on to....wait for it....Chuck E Cheese's. After that, I worked for three weeks at Kids 'R Us.

So with perfuming paying $14 an hour, this 21-year-old saw a windfall. At the end of my tenure, if I reached a sales goal, I would get a $500 bonus. But no matter how alluring the money was, sometimes I just could not stand the smell of perfume. Those days, I volunteered for the gift wrapping station. There, I could be quiet and work an assembly line of paper folding and ribbon curling. Before the perfume job, I was the worst gift wrapper in the world. My family always made fun of me because whenever I had to wrap a gift, it went into a bag with some balled up tissue paper.

But selling perfume really made me love wrapping presents. I learned how to do corners, match up the patterns and how to get a tight wrap. These days, I love the way a pretty gift looks under the Christmas tree. And every year, I come up with gift-wrapping themes to distinguish my gifts from the others under the tree. One year, I did zebra stripes and tied ornaments to the packages with green and blue ribbon

This Christmas, I think I am going to use Happy Tape. I plan to use simple kraft paper and twine to wrap, and secure packages with this. What do you think?

Due for a party

2009-10-25T12:53:00.001-07:00

The morning of my wedding, I had a brunch for all my bridesmaids. They, in return, each gave me a bottle of wine or champagne to drink during the first year of our marriage. Each bottle had a tag attached saying things like "Drink me during the first snowfall" or "Enjoy while writing thank-you notes." Their gifts instantly stocked our wine cabinet. But one of the gifts is going in the closet. This one was a bottle with a tag attached that said "Drink during a family visit." It was nonalcoholic, sparkling, peach wine. I'll let you guess what "family visit" is supposed to mean.

But, if we ever do decide to have a baby, I may use this invite for a shower. Jenny designed this one for fun. I love the cute silhouette of the pregnant belly. I hope I look this cute if I'm ever knocked up.

Photo Crush

2009-10-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

It seems there's a lot of couples gettin' engaged these days, and there's likely to be more as the holidays roll around. People often ask who I'd recommend to shoot their weddings. If I didn't hire Carrie Patterson, I'd have hired Taylor Richards Glenn.

I first met Taylor when he moved to Jackson many moons ago. He splits his time between here and San Francisco, where he studied photography. But it always seems like he's going somewhere. He shot the above images at Carolyn and Andy's wedding in August. I love the dreamy look of these pics. My favorite is the image of bride and groom behind the parasol.

Taylor has also started Jackson Hole Photo Booth, a mobile photo booth that can travel to your party, wedding, event, whatever. I have to say, having a photo booth at my wedding was The. Best. Decision. A few drinks and a photo booth really get people in the mood to party. It really gives guests something to do other than start at you. How fun would this be at your Halloween party? Taylor also did one of these for Carolyn's rehearsal dinner. Below, portrait of the artist. I believe the 'stach is real.

Anyway, you should check out Taylor even if your not planning a wedding. His editorial work also is phenom and can be found on his other blog.

These are my favorite because they bring me back to summer vacations to the Outer Banks with my family.

Another heart

2009-10-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

Jenny thought we needed to create something really girly for an invitation suite. This save-the-date option — with butterflies, birds and swirls — all scream "girl" to me. What do you think?

Shh...

2009-10-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday is my 31st birthday. I've told Spencer, my parents and all my friends that I don't want any sort of celebration. I am still riding the high of being married. And really, with all the parties and events thrown for us since we got engaged (three engagement parties, one shower, a Las Vegas bachelorette party, a four-day wedding extravaganza), I really don't need any more attention. But if a certain hubby were to surprise me with this Kate Spade, well, let's just say that would be okay by me.

Built for two

2009-10-15T07:18:00.001-07:00

Jenny and I created this save the date for friends who are getting married next summer in Jackson. It makes me laugh because — no matter how well Spencer and I get along — we could never, ever ride a bicycle built for two. I think it would devolve into a big fight, mainly me getting mad at him for making me do something physical that I don't think I can do. Like, the one time he took me skiing, and it got really steep. I sat down, crying, and screamed "Get me a snowmobile and get me off this mountain."

That's the thing I love about Spencer. No matter how nasty I am, he still loves me. He takes my tears and turns them to rainbows.

I am squealing....

2009-10-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

with excitement. I just heard from that my wedding is going to be featured on Martha Stewart's Bride Guide and on Style Me Pretty. They are, like, the two biggest resources I used while planning my shin dig. To occupy my mind, I thought I'd share the bags Jenny and I created for my out-of-town guests. I stuffed them with Jackson Hole Magazine, M&M's, Ring Pops, La Fresh sunscreen wipes, maps and a wedding newspaper that the Jackson Hole News&Guide made especially for yours truly (will post that soon).

I thought about the design for months. I even considered just using the word FINALLY down the side of the bag. But Spencer felt like that was picking on him. So in the end, I settled on the tree with the heart to give our guests a little Jackson Hole memento. Jenny and I will be selling this bag for $12.99. The more you order, the bigger the discount. And of course, we can swap out any initials for the WY.

I think our next design is going to have some snow mounds and Christmas lights strung around it for winter.

Brrr....

2009-10-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

I was so consumed with creating an Anthropolgie-esque, summer-dinner-party wedding (more on that when I get my professional photos back) that I never even thought about having a ceremony in winter. But whether we like it or not, winter is upon us in Jackson Hole.

Here's a little design we've been working on lately. As you can see, it's not yet finished (I mean it's cold in September, but if this were my save the date for a winter wedding, I'd be unhappy that the season starts in September). I like the clean, simple design juxtaposed with the red. It would look really smashing in letterpress, but it would also look great on thick, white cardstock and raised lettering. I can even see unfinished, torn edges on the paper.

You're invited

2009-10-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well hello there. For our first post, a picture of some of our recent work. Actually, it's our first invitation suite, created for Cara's wedding. We had the invitation screenprinted on muslin cloth. Cara spent hours on EBay buying vintages stamps. There will be plenty more to come when our Web site goes live. Meanwhile, you can contact us for custom wedding invitations at xowyom@gmail.com.

Oh, and we don't want to forget, the picture was taken by Cara's amazing wedding photographer, Carrie Patterson.