How it all got started...

Before there was La Belle Fete, there was a do-it-yourself bride with a degree in graphic design and a vision for a beautiful wedding. A two-year engagement period afforded me many months of scouring all the wedding magazines I could get my hands on. I still have my crammed-full scrapbook full of ideas, which has now grown to two full-sized bulletin boards in my office! And those wedding magazines? I still have subscriptions for my favorites, which I lovingly archive and pull out from time to time for inspiration.

Obsessed? To some, perhaps...but I prefer to think of it as a healthy outlet for creative ideas - helping those who seek my services in an area I'm particularly passionate about. How much luckier can a girl get?

One of my favorite parts of designing our wedding was the discovery of this beautiful ornamented capital "A" in one of my dad's old Speedball lettering books from college...perfect to use as a logo for our event.

I scanned it, re-drew it and used it wherever I could. I stamped it in gold on white paper luminaries for our getaway path, used it to make thank-you notes, and probably my favorite piece, on our ceremony program fans.

August was HOT and the fans were a great way to help guests stay cool. I designed them to match our wedding invitations (which, admittedly, were pretty plain), but I think the effect was nice and simple and clean:

So there you have it...a small peek into this bride's first attempts at wedding design! I plan to use this blog to post some of my favorite projects over the years, working forward from our 2003 wedding to the present.

Check back soon - maybe you'll see yourself or some of your projects I may have had the pleasure of working on! Cheers!