We love seeing the real weddings of brides and grooms who ordered their wedding invitations from Smock, but it’s an extra-special treat when the wedding photos come from one of our beloved Smock dealers! Today’s real wedding spotlight features Olivia, daughter of Edie Frere (Smock dealer extraordinaire and owner of Landis Gifts & Stationery in Los Angeles!) and her gorgeous wedding at The Holly Farm in Carmel, California. Olivia ordered a stunning invitation suite featuring our modern Ossa design in black and lime inks with a sophisticated folio that tied everything together. Inside Weddings loved her invitation set so much that they chose to feature it in their Summer 2012 issue! Olivia filled us in on what went into planning their fabulous wedding and even gave a few tips for couples who are currently planning their own celebrations.

How did you choose your invitation design & ink color?
I am very fortunate that my Mom and her team at Landis Gifts and Stationery are so good at what they do! We told Mom that we liked letterpress and wanted something fun and unusual. She took it from there!

Can you share with us a bit about your wedding and your inspiration for the event?
We focused on throwing a really fun, casual party for our family and friends.  Our wedding would not have been possible without their support, so we wanted to make sure THEY had a really good time!

What advice do you have for couples currently planning a wedding?
Don’t stress. Planning a wedding can be so overwhelming. I’ll admit, I was a bit of a stress case myself, but in the end it all worked out the way we had envisioned. My husband’s advice: Eat meals together, family style. You can do a better job planning when you talk about it over meals.

What was your favorite moment?
The satisfaction of planning and enjoying the occasion so deeply. We feel we did something as a couple that was greater than what we could have done as individuals and that was incredibly meaningful to us both.

Favorite design element of your big day?
We loved the flags that Mom had made for our signature drink. They were a surprise and added a great touch to our reception!  We also loved our wedding cake decorated with a tandem bike.

What’s next for the newlyweds?
We are planning a honeymoon to South America, hopefully this fall! We love traveling and adventure, and are planning to spend a few weeks exploring Chile and  Argentina by bike and boat.

Congratulations and best wishes to Olivia and Tim from everyone here at Smock!

Vendors:
Church: Church in the Forest, Pebble Beach 
Reception: The Holly Farm  
Save the dates: Custom design by Landis Gifts and Stationery 
Invitations: Smock via Landis Gifts and Stationery
Photography: Kristy Ahumada of Volatile Photography
Flowers: Kim England at Fleurs du Soleil
Hair and Makeup: Salon at Lincoln Lane
Catering: Grapes of Wrath
Desserts: Patisserie Bechler in Monterey
Band: Cam Perridge 415 948 4446

What a wonderful suite we received from our friends at Landis Gifts & Stationery. This Ossa design was customized beautifully on our white bamboo paper, and letterpressed in Lime and Black inks. The invitation and reply card were edge painted in Orchid. The invitation is adhered to an awesome folio, offset printed in our Ashwell pattern in Black on the outside and in our Sherbrooke pattern in Lime on the inside. The final touch of brilliance is the envelope liner, offset printed in our Sherbrooke pattern in Lime to match. This one was a very personal suite as it was printed for the store owner’s daughter. We are so happy to be able to be included in such a special day.

inks: black + lime | fonts: carrington stripes + alice + chaplin | paper: 2-ply white + 1-ply white  | printing: letterpress + offset | liner: the sherbrooke pattern in lime | folio exterior: ashford pattern offset in black | folio interior: sherbrooke pattern offset in lime | invite size: S-8 folio

During our West Coast travels, Lindsy and I had the chance to stop in and visit lots of our LA dealers – we were thrilled to be able to stop in to the shops and meet our lovely retailers in person! Today we’re highlighting some images of two of the stores we visited during our trip – we’ll start with Presence Studio City, a stationery and gift shop in Studio City. Presence offers a carefully curated selection of unique gifts – including some gorgeous hardcover books, one-of-a-kind jewelry, home decor, fragrant candles, and more.

We chatted with Kaila from Presence – she was kind enough to tell us more about this sweet boutique!

What about the store are you most proud of?

We try to showcase unique yet affordable gifts that people won’t find anywhere else. We also pride ourselves on our customer service – many of our stationery and gift customers come back on return visits because they were so happy with their experience.

What’s the hottest color palette right now?

We’ve been seeing a lot of blues right now – cool tones of blue paired with silver, lots of navy, some turquoise here and there too. Blue is definitely a popular color right now.

One of our other stops in LA was to Landis Gifts & Stationery – a shop that truly has something special for everyone. Located on Larchmont Boulevard – an area that got its start in the early 1920’s – the shop is nestled into one of the most historic areas in LA and is surrounded by a wonderful mix of boutiques and restaurants.

Edie shared some thoughts about some of our latest products – check out her interview with Lindsy!

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