17 Apr

Amanda and Tim's tropical honeymoon | 100 Layer Cake

After all the excitement of our wedding (which you can see here, here and here), Tim and I had a few days together as newlyweds and were off on the trip of a lifetime…our honeymoon! Katie from Ever After Honeymoons planned a spectacular vacation for us to kick off our marriage in the best way. Looking out at beautiful turquoise water in two of the islands of French Polynesia, oh yes!

Warning: you may have the sudden urge to immediately purchase tickets to these destinations, unbeknownst to your partner, before you reach the end of this post!

Le Taha'a Island Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

We took a flight to Tahiti where we boarded a small plane, got on a boat and sped off to a little island called Taha’a, where Tahitian vanilla beans grow a-plenty. Our destination was the beautiful resort Le Taha’a Island Resort and Spa. We settled into our beach villa and explored our dreamy and vanilla-scented surroundings.

Le Taha'a Island Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

Le Taha'a Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

The villas are romantic little huts with bamboo walls, palapa roofs and nicely furnished inside. We felt like islanders living a plush life.

Le Taha'a Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

Le Taha'a Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

French Polynesia honeymoon | 100 Layer Cake

I mean, really.. that bed?! This is what we arrived to. A decorated bed with flowers and a soft breeze wafting through the room. Pure bliss! They sure knew how to welcome a guest.

Island honeymoon | 100 Layer Cake

La Taha'a Island Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

La Taha'a Island Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

La Taha'a Island Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

After settling in we ate, swam, snorkeled and sipped tropical juices. We slept in, threw on swimsuits and sauntered in crystal clear water all day. Lazy was the name of the game. There were plenty of times we thought this was all a dream, but alas it was not.

La Taha'a Island Resort and Spa | 100 Layer Cake

Island honeymoon | 100 Layer Cake

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16 Apr

Glamorous bridal makeup and hairstyles | Gucio Photography | 100 Layer Cake

Sometimes the focus doesn’t always have to be on the dress, right? Beautiful hair and makeup with a little bit of accessorizing can make for a glamorous bride that no one will want to take their eyes off. These pretty ladies are proof.

This styled shoot was done in collaboration with makeup artist Emily Cheng and photographer Gucio Photography and focused on showcasing four different distinct looks for a bride to consider for the big day. There are some really pretty options here ladies. Take a peek…

glamorous-hair-and-makeup-styles-14

Glamorous bridal makeup and hairstyles | Gucio Photography | 100 Layer Cake

The Classic Bride

This is the perfect example of putting a twist on a classic look. The cat-eye liner is always a favorite amongst brides and by using color you can make it your own. Here we’ve used a turquoise blue but other colors like purples and greys can do wonders in bringing out your eye color. Finish this look with clean, sharp red lips and full brows. The hair has a classic retro wave to it yet it is still movable and soft. Instead of crystals or flowers a feather clip with gold accents add the perfect finishing touch.

Glamorous bridal makeup and hairstyles | Gucio Photography | 100 Layer Cake

Glamorous bridal makeup and hairstyles | Gucio Photography | 100 Layer Cake

Be sure to check out our wedding ideas section for more bridal hairstyle ideas!

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15 Apr

Hello dear readers! Now for all the pretty photos of our cocktail hour, dinner reception, dance party, and design details captured oh so perfectly by Max Wanger! If you haven’t already seen our wedding invitation suite or part 1 of our wedding yet, pop over and take a peek.

Going to kick this post off with a lovely shot of me with my ‘maids in their cute b&w dresses, and Tim with his studly groomsmen.

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

black and white bridesmaids dresses | 100 Layer Cake

Glitter heels in full effect!

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

Our cocktail hour took place inside, at the Solarium at Casa Romantica. The white archways and gorgeous chandelier are what sold us on using this venue.

Casa Romantica, San Clemente | 100 Layer Cake

Geronimo Balloons made these fun fringe installations to add a festive touch around what would later be the dance partay. Aren’t they great? We also had their signature balloons mark the entrance to the venue.

Geronimo Balloon frill | 100 Layer Cake

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

Our friend Tal from the Pharmacie conjured up fantastic cocktails that were the talk of the town. With ingredients like fresh pineapple juice, Aztec chocolate bitters and fragrant Torani Amer, I’m sure you could see why. Our guests begged us for recipes after the wedding.

A lot of the vintage barware for our wedding actually came from my own collection. I had only started to collect them at the beginning stages of planning our wedding… and then quickly turned into a bit of an obsession. Now I can’t walk by a gold-flecked glass without snatching it up. Many of these glasses were purchased on the cheap, at antique markets and thrift stores in Kansas. Some of them were as low as $1 per glass! See how I made the drink stirrers here.

Pharmacie cocktails | Photo by Max Wanger | 100 Layer Cake

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

Cocktail servers passed out vintage playing cards with quotes from the James Bond movies to our guests.

(Oh hi, Catherine and Jaimi!)

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

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15 Apr

The BIG DAY is here, YES!! You’ve seen our proposal story, our engagement photos in Italy and Palm Desert, my wedding dress hunt, my wild bachelorette party, tiki bridal shower, and planning bits and bobs. And now it’s time to share part 1 of the most beautiful day of our lives, as captured by the visionary Max Wanger, a talent who I have known would be there photographing us since I first discovered his breathtaking work four years ago.

wedding portrait by Max Wanger | 100 Layer Cake

Tim and I hadn’t really collaborated on many creative projects, but during the planning process we found ourselves bouncing ideas back and forth about our wedding style, location and vibe. Everything seemed to flow so easily… yet another sign I was marrying the perfect guy for me. We both love mid-century design, the style and colors of the early 60′s, so we knew we had to incorporate that vibe into our wedding.

Our first kiss happened after a James Bond party a friend threw (as told here), so we thought it would be fun to give a nod to those early movies. Our first project was a save the date. Inspired by the opening credits to From Russia with Love, we collaborated with Scott Clark on a quirky video to announce our wedding and give our guests a bit of intrigue. The song in the video is Lujon, by Henry Mancini, and pretty much sums up the feeling we wanted our big day to portray. Here is a screen from our wedding website Tim and I created..

Amanda and Tim's wedding website | 100 Layer Cake

Come and walk with me through our fairy tale..

San Clemente wedding view | 100 Layer Cake

Tim and I arrived in San Clemente a few days before the wedding to relax and focus on each other. The months and weeks leading up to the wedding were full of excitement, trying to get everything done and ready to celebrate our love in front of our family and friends. The planning process was a blast, extremely hard and time-consuming, overwhelming at times, but downright amazing. With the help of our wonderful planners, Bash, Please, we had a celebration of the century. There is no way we could have pulled this off without them.. they were a pleasure to work with, had a creative solution for everything and kept us sane throughout the process.

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

The Fiore Beauty team arrived to get me and my ‘maids all fixed up! Jaimi gave me the prettiest glitter French mani..

Wedding nail art by Fiore Beauty | 100 Layer Cake

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

My wedding dress hunt was a long one.. filled with full tulle gowns, pretty blush colors, lace and many different dress shapes. I had an idea of what I wanted, but when I tried on many of the gowns in my research folder they just didn’t feel perfect on me. When I saw this Jorge Manuel gown on a mannequin at The White Dress, I was instantly drawn to it.. with its sparkly beaded details and body-hugging mermaid shape. The moment I put it on, I felt like a million bucks. Like a movie star. Like an silver-screen siren. It wasn’t what I had planned to wear all along, but sometimes the dress finds you.

Amanda's wedding accessories | 100 Layer Cake

To compliment the dress, Twigs and Honey made me an ethereal custom blusher veil. Paula from Ila Handbags designed two amazing clutches to go with each gown, which are some of my prettiest treasures. And I couldn’t resist these Nicholas Kirkwood heels to pair with my reception gown. Here is one of his similar styles.

Amanda's wedding shoes | 100 Layer Cake

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15 Apr

Aaaaand here we are.. the day I’ve been waiting to share with all of you dear 100 Layer Cake readers.. OUR WEDDING DAY! I feel like I’m dreaming as I write this post. I’ve thought about how all our details would all come together, what you all would think and how being a part of this blog for the last 4 years has influenced so many of the things we dreamt up for our big day. And I’m so happy to finally share it with you.

As a graphic designer, the paper details were my favorite part of the wedding creative process. I went a little nutty and designed our invites, drink coasters and cocktail napkins, matchboxes, flower take-away bags, sweets bags, menus, programs, and our dinner napkins (which you will see in the next post). Once I got started it was hard to stop. So here are our invites, photographed by Edyta Szyszlo… I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Amanda and Tim's wedding invites | Photo by Edyta Szyszlo | 100 Layer Cake

Amanda and Tim's wedding invites | Photo by Edyta Szyszlo | 100 Layer Cake

Amanda and Tim's wedding invitation suite | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

One of the first things I did before starting our invite design was email Bernadette Pascua, and beg her to do the lettering for our invites. She is an amazing fashion illustrator and I’ve always been a groupie of her hand-lettering style. I love how sophisticated yet casual and fashion-forward it feels.

Amanda and Tim's wedding invitation suite | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

Amanda and Tim's wedding invitation suite | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

No shortage of gold here. Remember how I DIY’d these gold envelope edges? It was surprisingly easy, with a nice ‘wow’ factor. My gal pals Sarah and Audrey helped cut, glue and stuff these babies one evening. (Thanks for the help, gals!)

Amanda and Tim's wedding invitation | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

I’m a sucker for a good vintage stamp. And I don’t think the trend is going away any time soon. I visited my local stamp and coin shop and scoured through their old dusty books of stamps until I found the perfect pretties for our envelopes. The Wizard of Oz stamp harkens back to my roots. I was born in Kansas, and Tim and I met in Kansas City. He is from Michigan, and I was lucky to happen upon stamps of trees native to the area. When I was a young girl, I had a fascination with space and wanted to be an astronaut, so this Apollo stamp was a fun little addition.

p.s. We did an informative post on vintage stamps a few years back. You’ll have to check it out for some tips.

vintage stamps  | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

Amanda and Tim's wedding | 100 Layer Cake

Moving on to our wedding favors. Eeee these make me happy. Really happy. Many an hour were spent trying to come up with the most perfect favor idea. On a brainstorm with my 100 Layer Cake team one day it hit us.. diamonds! Since our wedding had a retro James Bond-ish style, the “Diamonds are Forever” idea became the perfect fit. (Thanks Tara, for helping me come up with the saying!). My online search for gems didn’t prove to be fruitful right away. I couldn’t find the right size, so ended up having them produced by Charming Creation.

Amanda and Tim's diamond wedding favors | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

Amanda and Tim's wedding invitation suite | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

I wrote little sayings with a gold pen on each of our candy takeaway bags.

Amanda and Tim's retro wedding details | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

Drink stirrers are one of those things that add the perfect little touch to your cocktails. Everyone loves a cute drink stirrer. I couldn’t decide which ones I liked best, so I decided to go with both. The vintage gold glitter lucite stirrers were collected on many late night eBay and Etsy scavenges. I may consider selling 50 of them. Any takers?

Amanda and Tim's wedding drink coasters | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

Coasters are a wedding-day essential, if you ask me. It’s a nice takeaway item that guests can use at home, and it’s a fun reminder of your special day.

Mama’s Sauce is the bomb when it comes to printing. I sent in my artwork and they sent back beautifully letterpressed, foiled and utterly perfect coasters. Plus they were such cool people to work with. (Hey, Brooks!)

retro wedding drink coasters | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

wedding drink stirrer | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

I made these stirrers using a bamboo skewer and sequin balls. You literally stick the skewer into the foam ball and you’re done. Easy peasy.

custom wedding matchbox | 100 Layer Cake | photo by Edyta Szyszlo

The cocktail napkins and matchboxes were printed by For Your Party. Those people can print anything.

You can see photos of our wedding in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, in print and on the iPad).

So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed perusing through all the pink. Stay tuned for the rest of our wedding details in a jiffy!

xo, Amanda

Photography and styling: Edyta Szyszlo / Hand-lettering: Bernadette Pascua / Invitation screen-printing: Diversified Images / Coaster printing: Mama’s Sauce / Napkin, matchbox printing: For Your Party / Striped paper bags: Shop Sweet Lulu

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dresses, shoes, hair, makeup, flowers, bachelorette party, photography, decor, invitations, ceremony, honeymoon