I know I say this every time I design wedding invitations but this set is really one of my favorites. The couple, who will be married this summer on Lake Geneva, decided they wanted to communicate to their guests the importance of the lake. They achieved this by adding hand drawn sketches of the Riviera building and the boat that their cocktail hour will be held. I’m excited to photograph these professionally and add the other design elements that I contributed later this summer. Check back to see their creative and beautiful escort card idea!

This post has been a long time coming! With life, work and everything in between I was finally able to connect with MaKenzie and get these fabulous details about their wedding day! This couple is stunning and their wedding day was absolutely beautiful. After a 10 month engagement, MaKenzie and Ross said “I do” in downtown Cincinnati. Their colors, which were navy blue and fire engine red, definitely make their photographs pop. Enjoy this interview and the photography along with it. Seriously, the photography is lovely.

1. Now that you look back on your wedding day (almost 2 years ago), what do you remember most? I was so nervous that day. More nervous than I have ever been in my life – and EVERY feeling of anxiety/stress came from the fact that I was to walk down an aisle with hundreds of people looking at ME! I do not like being center of attention, but on my wedding day I realized how much I truly hate it! My dad even got a little concerned right before we started walking – trying to give me a little pep-talk because he thought I was going to pass out. I truly was not worried about the “new life change”, or becoming a wife, I was just scared to be the person who had to walk and not fall (while smiling at the same time). As cliche as this sounds though, the second that I turned down the aisle with my dad and looked at Ross – every single fear, anxiety and sick feeling diminished. I was almost shocked at how instantly I felt calm when I saw his face. Made me realize even more that it feels so good to have my best friend to lean on. That moment sticks out in my mind when I think back to my wedding because its easy to “think” you realize how much you love someone – or how much they mean to you – but at that second even my own emotion/body/fear recognized that Ross Dykstra was going to take care of me forever.

2. What was the vision for your wedding day before you started planning? I love the style of the 1930′s. I knew I wanted the look and feel of the wedding to be from that era. I also wanted it to be relaxed and casual – not an uptight gathering where everyone refused to cut loose! In our minds, we just wanted to have a huge party with our friends and family.

3. How did that vision change by the time you were finished with the planning? I’m not sure if it did? At least I hope not! The chaos of planning often got in the way, but I tried to hold true to the fact that I wanted this to be FUN and a true portrayal of me and Ross, and make everyone who attended feel special and enjoy themselves.

4. What difficulties did you face while planning a wedding in Cincinnati? Location, location, location – I knew I wanted a downtown city wedding but it was SO tough finding a place that afforded decent parking and was not ridiculously expensive! Thank God though, we were able to find a great church at a reasonable cost – that was a huge burden off when we booked the date!

5. What was your least favorite part of wedding planning? I hated, hated, hated making all the “little” decisions. Like – “What will be the order of events at the reception,” “Do you want ranch dressing or italian for the salads,” “What is the timeline for the actual wedding day?” – ARGH… I’m a more free spirited person so it was tough for me to make all the little decisions that although very important, were boring in my mind!

6. What was your favorite part of wedding planning? Making a guest list.

7. How did Ross (the groom) fit into the wedding planning process? He fit into a 34×36 tan Express suit for the ceremony… and that’s about all the “planning” he did. :)

8. If you could go back in time – what would “married MaKenzie” tell “engaged MaKenzie” before the wedding planning started? Girlfriend – just enjoy this and don’t worry about all the minor details. You’ve got Ross and before you know it it’ll be just you two – so SMILE!

I hope you loved taking a peek at Ross and MaKenzie’s wedding day. All of these photos were taken by Megan W Photography.

I’m currently working on the branding and site design for 8Morsels. 8 Morsels is a very limited collection of 8 head to toe looks sold only online. I’m excited to see everything come together in the next few months. Temporary site shown below along with the business card design.

Everyone is a graphic designer these days and sometimes our culture forgets that it takes a lot of work. Not every designer just live traces everything and slaps on some generic font. I’ve started and completed so many projects this past year and the process is difficult. I thought I’d share a few of my “draft” vs “final” snapshots so that you can see the process. Enjoy!

^ This project is a current one. It’s always interesting to see where a project goes when the designer and the client have two completely different visions. I actually really like both versions.

^ This project has been completed and it took me awhile, as the designer, to understand what the client was looking for. Sometimes communicating through email isn’t good enough and because of this project, we began using Skype to talk voice-to-voice.

^ This wedding invitation set has not even been revealed on my website, blog, or Facebook page yet! I’m excited to show you all the entire set because it’s one of my favorites. The couple really knew what they wanted but even the most detail oriented people have so many options to choose from.

Hopefully I’ll be able to share things like this more often. No Monday Link Love today. I posted a lot links via Twitter last week. Check them out here along with some of my other favorite tweets by others.

I love prints. I love posters. I love local! These Are Things (located in Columbus, Ohio) is awesome! Check out their shop. I hope to purchase a Columbus neighborhoods print soon.

What’s on television tonight? I don’t know. Wait, actually I do know. All the time. We got rid of cable this year and now I have a love/hate relationship with television. Most of the shows that I watched are available on Hulu.com now but lately I’ve had a hard time interacting with others on Twitter after 7 o’clock in the evening. It’s either #greys, #americanidol, #LOST, #thebachelor, etc. What I’ve been seeing has really changed the way I view Twitter and how I want to present myself as someone with a Twitter account.

Here are some of my new Twitter standards and implementations:

- I cut down 300 people that I had been following. Reasons included : location, lack of tweeting, and tweeters who do not interact (ever).

- I’ll try not to tweet about random happenings throughout my day and instead start aiming at sharing links and interacting with others.

- I won’t automatically follow someone back. I need to look at what their purpose is on Twitter via their timeline and followers.

- I’ll be scheduling tweets via Postling.com. Often, I want to share articles or blog posts throughout the day but I can no longer consistently tweet while at work.

- If I don’t have something nice to tweet, don’t tweet anything at all.

One of my favorite new features in Illustrator CS5 is the ability to create a perspective grid while drawing. You can adjust the height, width and lots of other adjustable areas. Lynda.com is a great resource to watch tutorials on new software. What’s your favorite new feature in CS5? Is there anything you specifically DON’T like?

A trillion plus a million. That’s how many things I have running through my head. More to come later (including my new approach to Twitter, new and exciting blog posts, and a new philosophy that I invited. Just kidding about the philosophy part.) Oh and don’t worry–I found those ants outside. Not in my house. Or even near my house.

I’m not a banker but I have to say…I was overly excited when I logged into my online Huntington account and saw their new site design (pictured above)! As a designer, it wasn’t fun signing into their old site everyday. I thought I would include a screenshot of what their site USED to look like (pictured below) just so you can see the difference. Exciting, right? Just agree with me.

I had a wonderful time with family and friends this weekend at our friends’ wedding. Below are a handful of links to start off your work week!

- I’m planning on making this for dinner soon.

- Love this design. Peace Corps at 50 identity.

- These wedding invites are great. I’ve drawn an illustration the bride and groom before and it’s nerve racking!

- My upcoming freelance work will be influenced by this site and this site. Two very different projects!

The Charismatic Dogs book has a site now! The photographer, TOTSPUPS.com, emailed me yesterday informing me Blurb.com will be using the Charismatic Dogs book for marketing purposes! Very awesome. Volume II is in the works.