Sweet & Spicy | bridal shower

Up in the historic little town of Portsmouth, NH sits the cutest lil' letterpress & invitation boutique. Gus & Ruby opened up shop last year and have been taking the letterpress world by storm... I love paper, cards, and girly-fabulousness so trips to their little storefront are most definitely a treat.
Samantha, (co-owner) just happens to be maid of honor in a wedding this coming weekend, so when she threw her bestie, Lauren, a bridal shower last month, it was sure to be plethora of themed letterpress awesomeness........and indeed it was!

The theme was Sweet & Spicy. Guests were requested to wear pink or red and the event itself was held in downtown Boston at the Eastern Standard.

Well done Sam.... you are a wonderful MOH. ;)

The invites were lined with dried chili peppers.

favors were containers of cinnamon and sugar!

Guests had a choice of name tags declaring "I'm a little sweet" or "I'm a little spicy"

A quick little sequence of the bride's surprise after the blindfold came off...

Fun little mini portrait sessions with props!

and perhaps my FAVORITE of the day. The bride's Grandma was quite the little firecracker.

(ps) This saucy shower was just featured on 100 Layer Cake Blog :)

Sarah + Cedric | DIY Wedding

I am DIY. I thrive on the opportunity to create something exciting out of nothing. Or turn something antique into a modern treasure. Give me glue, paper, glitter, a hand saw, a gum wrapper, and a candlestick and I'll make you a wedding dress or even a bomb. :) Needless to say my hero is part Martha Stewart, part MacGuyver. If you could peek into my RSS reader, you will see 1/2 photography or business related blogs, and the rest are blogs like....

Design Sponge
Talk Crafty to me
The Crafty Bride
My Hands Made It
Honestly...WTF?

It's definitely a disease. :)

All that to say, I was super excited to shoot Sarah & Cedric's wedding. Sarah is the crafty-woman extraordinaire.... Everything was created by her. The garland made of antique handkerchiefs that she collected since she was a kid, the hair accessories and necklaces worn by her bridesmaids, the boutonnieres, her customized shoes, her veil... EVERYTHING. She is a one woman show. :) And to top it all off, She is downright adorable... a beacon of southern charm and darling-ness.

See?....

I shot the shoes on the bar where Sarah and Cedric met. It happened to be right down from the salon so the bartender kindly let me take a few photos.

A classic game of Croquet

And the corn-bag toss game created with silhouettes of the B&G as a wedding gift from groomsman and bridesmaid, Jeremy and Angelika. You may remember these two from their wedding I shot a few years ago. Remember the helicopter? :)

The cake was made by one of Sarah's bridesmaids... Sarah.

Sarah's young adult sisters were the ring bearer and flower "girl" ;) Both of the items below were made by the bride.

Cedric always calls Sarah his little "sassafras" so the wedding favors were, of course, bottles of sarsaparilla!

And, like I said before, everything you see below...The flowers, the boutonnieres, the hair clips...all made by the lovely bride.

Sarah runs the most adorable little boutique in Winchester, VA called The Purple Fern. I spent quite a bit of time there the day after the ceremony. She also has an Etsy store for all you out-of-staters ;)