new additions to my collection

Alright, my loves. Are you ready for a serious dose of pretty? I sure hope so, because as promised, here are the new additions to my ever expanding collection of lovely little vintage things (plus a wildflower inspired bouquet that I made myself!)

 

 

Just for the record, it's official, I am head over heals in love with inanimate objects. I could stare at these pictures all day! What can I say? Vintage pieces/antiques make my heart sing...especially yellow ladders and blue pitchers from Loire Valley, France! Absolute perfection.

I may be obsessed with these new items, however, I am not obsessed with San Francisco's weather. Unfortunately the weather didn't quite cooperate with us and our photo shoot. The sun didn't make an appearance until about 4pm (thank you good 'ol San Francisco fog) and we ended up having to rush to catch the light before the sun set (picture a frantic zar & zpao running up and down flights of stairs lugging massive amounts of heavy, fragile stuff). We didn't get to do the full photo shoot that I was hoping to do, nor did we get to do the shoot where I had originally planned (we ended up doing it on our roof instead of our apartment building's courtyard so that we'd have enough light) but I think we got some great shots nevertheless!

I can't wait to use these new pieces as part of our wedding decor and in the meantime, they're making great additions to our apartment's decor! I definitely don't mind being surrounded by these beautiful things.
  

xoxo, 
zar


p.s. Next up? The big announcement!!! 

sneak peak: my collection

Reason #827 why planning a wedding is awesome?

Having an excuse to buy all sorts of fantastically fun vintage stuff because it will be "used in the wedding" in some capacity (or at least that's how I justify my purchases, but let's be real, I'd probably be buying these things regardless of the wedding!)

The latest additions to my ever expanding collection of vintage pieces? 

Well, for starters we recently bought letters that spell out "love is all you need": 

Zpao and I love letters (especially the letter 'z') so you'll see them throughout our apartment. 

Like here:

And here:

Don't you think the "love is all you need" letters will make a great addition to the guest book table or dessert table?! In case you're wondering, all of our letters come from Timeless Treasures, an adorable vintage home furnishing/decor boutique that specializes in all things french and whimsical (candles, teacups, chandeliers, letters and signs of all colors, shapes and sizes...you name it, they have it!) If you live in the Bay Area you should definitely check it out. It's one of my favorite places in the entire city and the owner, Joan, is just a peach. But I digress. Where were we? Oh, right. The newest additions to my growing collection of awesomeness...

Zpao and I spent last Sunday at my all-time favorite place, the Alameda Antique Fair, and picked up some really great items. I'll post pictures of everything very soon (after the photo shoot that zpao and I are having today, to be exact. I'll be playing stylist & zpao will be my photographer! Eeep! It's going to be a blast!) 

In the meantime, here's a teaser:

Check back soon for the full scoop (read: b-e-a-utiful pictures courtesy of photog extraordinaire, zpao!) on the new purchases AND a pretty big/exciting announcement. And no, it's not that type of announcement. A few more years loves, a few more years ;)

xoxo, 

zar

i also have a crush on...

...whimsical photo shoots like these:


photo courtesy of OCpropgirl

photo courtesy of rus anson



photo courtesy of rus anson


Afternoon tea underneath hanging clocks/frames? Check. Straw + skyhigh hair + gorgeous antique desk? Check. Stove/oven overflowing with wildflowers smack dab in the middle of the woods? Check.

So lovely. And dreamy. If only everyday life looked like this.

xoxo,
zar

i have a crush on...

....strings of globe lights. And who could blame me? They're the epitome of rustic-chic-dreaminess. Mmmm, sitting under the sparkly lights on a warm summer evening, drinking wine, talking with friends and eating delicious food. Yepp, that sounds pretty perfect to me!

photo courtesy of snippet & ink

photo courtesy of snippet and ink

photos courtesy of oh happy day

photo courtesy of the haystack needle

photos courtesy of oh so beautiful paper

Lucky for me, our venue, Radonich Ranch has me covered in the globe light department. Win!

photo courtesy of misti layne

Who's down for a dinner party? You bring the globe lights and I'll supply the wine and food? Faaabulous.

xoxo, 

zar

fabulous floral friday

Saipua. 

I sure as heck can't pronounce it, but I can spot it from a mile away. This Brooklyn florist has such a distinct (and stunningly beautiful) style I can actually look at pictures from weddings and know immediately when Saipua is the genius behind the flowers (true story, this happened yesterday!) 

One part wild, one part whimsical, and a dash of romance...definitely a recipe for floral magic.

Saipua, I have a serious flower crush on you. I hope you don't mind.  

xoxo, 

zar

save-the-dates: revealed!

You may remember my previous posts about our save-the-dates (here and here and here) and how it was a long and arduous process getting them picked up, assembled and addressed. Well, I think the annoyance and frustration was well worth it because I am completely obsessed with the finished product! Aside from zpao's family in Australia (they're on their way, I promise!) everyone should have received their save-the-dates by now and boy does feel good to check that off the to-do list!

Take a look at the finished product below. They're pretty snazzy if you ask me (and I'm not biased or anything...)

The front (please excuse the not-so-great picture quality. I was trying to avoid glares on the paper as much as possible!):

The front without the twine:

 And the back...

The wrap around labels that we made:

The front:

And the back...

And finally my materials (minus the avery labels/printer):

Pretty cute, huh? I am pleased-as-punch :)

xoxo,

zar

a weekend-long celebration

Aside from marrying the love of my life the thing that makes me most excited for our wedding is getting so many friends and family members together. Living in California means we don't get to see our east coast friends and family nearly enough (we miss you all!!) but our wedding is the perfect excuse to get everyone in the same place at the same time! Since many people will be traveling to our wedding we've decided to spread the fun out over the entire weekend. We're still working out the details but the weekend will look something like this:

Thursday: Welcome party for bridesmaids/groomsman/immediate family

Friday: Welcome party for all guests (cocktails, s'mores, karaoke?!)

Saturday: WEDDING!
Sunday: Farewell brunch for all guests

Honestly, I'm getting ridiculously excited just thinking about it. In fact, zpao just told me: "calm down, it's still a really long time from now". Ummm, thanks for bursting my bubble PARTY POOPER! Well, I am still uber-excited. Four days straight with all of our favorite people?! What could be better?

While we're on the topic of welcome parties let's take a look at an amazingly cute winter wonderland outdoor ice-skating party. 

If I...

a) were getting married in the winter

b) were getting married someplace where it snows...a lot

c) were sure our guests were fans of snow, ice skating, and hot cocoa (but really, who isn't?)

...you better believe the welcome party would look a little (or a whole lot...) like this:

photos courtesy of the sweetest occasion

Mason jars filled with candles, kettle corn, apples, hot cocoa, ice skating, twinkly lights. What's not to love? Oh right, freezing your butt off. Ha. Minor details, minor details.

xoxo, 

zar

i dream of...

Genie?

Nope. Library card catalogs.

You know, the things that used to hold information about each and every book in a library...like who checked it out, it's genre, author, dewie decimal system number? Whether or not you actually have any clue as to what I'm talking about isn't important. All you really need to know is that a library card catalog is the latest item on my list of "if I don't get one of these for my wedding I will just die. DIE I tell ya!" (Yeah, so I'm a bit dramatic when it comes to owning vintage decor. Psh, whatever.) I've seen them used for wedding decor and am positively smitten with the idea of owning one. So smitten, in fact, that last night I had an entire dream that centered around me trying to convince an antique seller that he should lower the price on his gorgeous card catalog so that I could include it in my wedding. He was a grouchy old man who apparently did not appreciate my need for a card catalog (remember, I might die without one...) and refused to budge on the price. My dream self wasn't about to pay $500 for the card catalog so I shared some choice words with the grouchy old man ("But it's for a wedding! Ugh, you're a mean ____.  ____ you!") and left his store empty handed. When I finally awoke from my dream I had a burning desire to:

a) find myself an awesome old card catalog

b) blog about my wacky dream/latest obsession

c) dislike any and all old men that own antique stores on the off chance that they might be grouchy and stand in the way of me getting the card catalog of my dreams

If you're having a hard time picturing a card catalog and why on earth I would want such a thing at my wedding, take a look at these pictures. I'm sure you'll agree thatthey are simply gorgeous and make a great (albeit unusual) addition to wedding decor. Beware though, if you (like me) get really, really, ridiculously excited about repurposing vintage items and giving them new life - these pictures may lead to oooh's and ahhh's and perhaps some drooling. So, if you're in a coffee shop, a library or other public place, things could get a wee bit awkward. Don't say I didn't warn you.

photo courtesy of style me pretty

photo courtesy of snippet and ink

photo courtesy of daily-craft.blogspot.com

photo courtesy of classic bride

photo courtesy of jose villa

photo courtesy of jose villa

photos courtesy of shaunayounge.blogspot.com

photos courtesy of shaunayounge.blogspot.com

photo courtesy of etsy

photo courtesy of $10,000 wedding

Are those pictures not the epitome of awesomeness? There is SO MUCH you can do with a card catalog. Fill it with flowers, use is for escort cards (it lends itself well to sorting names alphabetically), use it as a dessert bar. The list goes on and on...as does my search! I can't wait to bring one of these babies home. Until then, I guess I'll keep dreaming of card catalogs (and the grumpy, old men who sell them).

xoxo, 

zar

fabulous floral...monday?

Yeah, yeah I know. Fabulous Floral Friday is called Fabulous Floral Friday because it is supposed to be featured on...you guessed it...Friday. Well, I got a little behind on the blogging (would it make it less terrible if I told you it was because I was busy doing wedding related things?) and Friday came and went. So here I am. It's Monday. And I have flowers galore to share.

I came across these pics a while back on 100 Layer Cake and I knew immediately that I had to feature them on my blog. They really are too pretty not to share!

I mean...WOW. So stinking gorgeous, right? It's no wonder the florist who created these arrangements, Ariella Chezar, has been featured in issues of Oprah, Martha Stewart Weddings, Town and Country and published her own book. I absolutely love her unique take on bridal bouquets and centerpieces: romantic and whimsical yet elegant and modern all at the same time. Ariella...will you fly out to SF and do the flowers for my wedding?!!?! Pretty pretty pretty please?

xoxo, 

zar