fabulous floral friday

Yes. Yes. Yes. Nouveau Romantics, you can do no wrong...

There's something so rustic and beautiful about greens, soft pinks, deep reds and pops of mustard yellow. Absolutely stunning.

xoxo,
zar

my business = launched!

Happy Monday morning everyone! I've got some very exciting news to share and it just couldn't wait until a reasonable hour (in my opinion, blogging before 8am = an unreasonable hour, wouldn't you agree?!) I'm thrilled to announce that after a month of working night and day (literally) to get my new vintage rental business up and running, we're finally launching! Can you believe it? Today is the day!

Say hello to One True Love Vintage Rentals!

What do you guys think of the website? That was all zpao (with a little feedback from me of course!) As zpao continuously reminds me, this is just the first version of the website. We've got lots more up our sleeves :) Sometime in the near future (after my wonderful fiance takes a short break from this seemingly never-ending project) we will be creating a comprehensive inventory page which will organize each item according to category (tables, chairs, small accessories, etc) and make it super easy to find the exact piece that you're looking for. There will also be a portfolio page showcasing my pieces being used at weddings and events and styling projects that I've done.

Zpao has been amazing through all of this. He has photographed most of my pieces, created my whole website from scratch and more important served as my sounding board. We may have bickered a little along the way (and sworn never to work with each other on business related stuff again...haha) but honestly, the whole experience just made me feel so lucky to be marrying such a talented, hardworking person.

And now the real work begins: finding clients, getting my name out there, and hopefully making this into a career! If you would help me spread the word to Bay Area brides, event planners, and photographers I would be eternally grateful :)

xoxo,
zar

latest antique store finds

Oh my goodness. Did I just hit the jackpot in terms of incredibly awesome antiques/vintage items. This past Thursday zpao and I had a meeting with our lovely wedding coordinator Marky Carr, at Radonich Ranch (more on this later) and then headed down to Capitola to take a look at the house we are renting for our families (more on this later too! Aghh so much to share!) On our way to Capitola, we came across this adorable little town called Soquel. Little did we know, Soquel is antique heaven. Literally, everywhere you look there is an antique store. Naturally I started shrieking in the car. How had I not known that such a marvelous place existed?! Long story short, we never made it to Capitola to look at that house. Instead, we spent the day marveling at some amazing antique/vintage furniture and decor and of course we didn't leave empty handed!

(Please excuse the not-so-great quality of some of these pics. I was so excited to share my newest finds with everyone that I snapped these at night in our apartment despite the terrible lighting)

 Say hello to my gorgeous Royal typewriter (which is in perfect working condition!):

And my vintage camera/books:

 

A first-aid kit tin from the early 1900's:

And finally, a picnic basket (which will be perfect for our engagement photo shoot out in Golden Gate Park!):

Yay! More vintage accesories means more fabulous things to include in our wedding AND more fabulous things to add to my vintage rental company's collection. Definitely a win-win :)

xoxo,
zar

weddings shoes part II

Ooh ohh! I found another fabulous pair of sparkly flats! These lovelies are from Vera Wang...

In case you're wondering, I'm planning to wear flats on our wedding day because a) I am not a heels kinda girl (they hurt [yes, I am a wimp] and I'm all ready super tall so they make me feel like a giant) and b) because I'm only a wee bit shorter than zpao (2/3 of an inch to be exact).

It's definitely going to be a challenge to find flats that are fabulous enough to wear on my wedding day but I think the two options I've found thus far are a good starting point. Feel free to send me links to any wedding-worthy flats that you come across!

xoxo,
zar

wedding shoes for the mrs.

I just came across these Kate Spades and have decided that I am in love....

Ballet flats with a peep toe and a bit of sparkle = perfection! Now I just have to wait for them to go on sale.

xoxo, 

zar

fabulous floral friday

I know, I know. Its been a while since I've posted a fabulous floral friday (or anything for that matter). I have a good excuse for being a blogging slacker, I swear! In fact, I have two good excuses...

1. Working/trying to get my company off the ground/contacting wedding vendors has been taking over my life. I eat, sleep, and dream work/wedding stuff. In fact, my life has become one big work/wedding continuum. There's the purely work side of my life, then my new company...which mixes work/weddings, and finally the wedding planning itself. I guess food and trashy reality T.V. have a place in there somewhere but for the most part it's work/weddings all. the. time.
2. Because of all of the things listed in #1 my days (weeks even) have been blending together. Mid December - mid January is one big blur to me (wait, it's mid January?! Can someone please explain to me how it's MID-JANUARY?) Clearly I have a hard enough time figuring out what week it is let alone the day, hence me missing a Friday.  Or two. Or three.

I hope these to-die-for floral arrangements from the uber-talented ladies of Bash, Please will make up for my lack of recent floral posts! Did I mention these arrangements were to-die-for? And that flower box that says "enjoy"? Probably my favorite flower container ever. 

These arrangements have inspired me to add some drama to our centerpiece flowers. The current plan? Add a pop of dark red/purple (think berries/small grapes) to peach/light pink flowers. And guess what? Zpao loves the idea. Yay!
 
xoxo,
zar

diy project #2

Well, it's been a while since I finished DIY project #1 so I figured it was time to get cracking on DIY project #2! We only have 8 months until the big day and I'm fairly certain that these projects aren't going to make themselves (and let's be real...zpao isn't going to make them either). 

This project might end in disaster, but I am going to attempt (key word here!) to make these cuties...

photo courtesy of milk tea on etsy

photo courtesy of milk tea on etsy

photo courtesy of together forever on etsy

Custom-made cake toppers! Too cute, right? 

I found the ones above on Etsy, an awesome source for all things artsy and handmade, for about $150 but I'm hoping to make my own and save some mullah. The real question is: will I actually be able to make one of these? Also, considering the cost of materials plus the time and potential frustration that will go into making these is it even worth making them instead of buying them? Honestly, I'm not sure. But that's the risk you take with DIY projects! I think I'm a pretty crafty gal so I feel fairly confident that I can pull these off. And if I fail miserably? Well that's what Etsy is for! Oh, and I'll be sure to share pictures of my disastrous attempt at DIY stardom with all of you ;)

Keep your eyes pealed for photos documenting my progress!

xoxo, 
zar

music woes

There isn't much about wedding planning that makes me nervous. For the most part, I feel like I have a pretty clear vision of what I want and a plan for how to make that vision come to life. But when it comes to making music related decisions, I get a little uneasy. I know exactly what I want in terms of ceremony music (strings, strings, and more strings...cellos, in particular) but for the reception music, I'm a bit lost.

On one hand, I think a live band might be more fun, festive and entertaining than a DJ. On the other hand, choosing a good band that plays song we all know and love and is affordable seems like a daunting task. Another concern I have? That the cover songs will be vastly different from the versions I'm used to hearing (is that silly? I really don't like change!)

Then there's the DJ. Should we just go ahead and get a DJ so that we don't have to worry about a crappy cover band? At least the DJ can play music that we all know and love in the versions that we're used to hearing. And, we can always give them a list of exactly what we want to be played. It seems pretty hard to mess that up. But I don't want to have some corny person that makes people feel like they're at their high school prom.

Bottom line? I am quite confused. Maybe if we procrastinate long enough someone else will just make this decision for us? Eh? Any takers? Alright, I know that no one is going to make this decision for us, BUT if anyone has any Bay Area band/DJ recommendations, zpao and I would love to hear them! 

xoxo, 
zar

spotted and hearted

Remember yesterday how I said I was going to get down to business in terms of wedding planning? You know, researching and contacting vendors? Well, that didn't work out so well but I did spot some gorgeous design ideas/inspiration. I'm going to need to have at least 15 different weddings to incorporate all of my ideas. There are just so many pretty things to pick from! How's a girl to choose?

photo courtesy of erin ever after

photo courtesy of frolic

photo courtesy of ashley meaders

photo courtesy of ashley meaders

photo courtesy of ashley meaders

Can you blame me for getting distracted? Yeah, I didn't think so. 

xoxo,
zar

hello new year

Happy new year everyone! Can you believe that it's already 2011? That means zpao and I can no longer say "we're getting married next year". It's officially THIS year! Agh! 

I guess that means we really need to get cracking on this whole wedding planning thing, huh? I should probably be researching DJs, florists and other vendors (remember how I said I was going to give monthly planning updates to keep myself on track with booking vendors? ha.) but instead I am obsessing over my latest source of inspiration: postcards and pretties! This blog has some of the best inspiration boards I have ever laid eyes upon so of course I have to share them with you! They just scream relaxed/rustic/vintage/chic wedding (i.e. my dream wedding!)

Ok, back to doing some real research. Inspiration boards, unfortunately for me, are not going to be super useful when Septemeber rolls around and we have no florist/dj/officiant/cake/etc!

xoxo, 
zar