Beth Helmstetter Blog

BE MY VALENTINE

Beth — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I’ve always been relatively low maintenance when it comes to romance, so if I could have anything I wanted on Valentine’s day, it would be a day filled with understated sentiments…

from top to bottom: chocolate chip pancakes shaped like hearts, an afternoon spent reading poetry from pablo neruda, a bouquet of fresh coral peonies and a handwritten love letter

VALENTINE’S DAY LOVE

Beth — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000

I know it may be cheesy, but I am one of those girly girls who loves Valentine’s day! I would like nothing more than to string a garland made of crocheted hearts in shades of pink throughout my backyard, throw some embroidered linens on a picnic table and host an uber-feminine tea party with a few (or even all) of these heart shaped goodies.

sweet crocheted heart garland from bella dia, comforting hot tea in heart shaped cups from Squidoo, heart shaped cupcakes from cupcakes take the cake (they certainly do!), epicute’s sweet heart shaped jam sammies which could be a cute option for any tea sandwich, a heart shaped linzer tart from andrea’s cookies, heart shaped goodies from eat drink chic, simple but sweet conversation hearts, i heart martha and her heart shaped ice cream sandwiche s and her sweetest little heart cookies, heart shaped rice krispy pops from skip to my lou

KAREN & AL : THE STATIONERY

Beth — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:08:53 +0000

As some of you may know, we often produce a lot of the lovely details for the events we design. We just love getting our hands in there when it comes to creating custom pillows, linens, table numbers and often even the stationery to introduce the design for the day. We especially loved the invitation suite we created for Karen & Al’s anniversary party. Here are a few more shots of the lovely set. Calligraphy was by Plurabelle. She ranks amongst one of our favs, and I especially loved the first name only on custom labels. So fun and approachable, yet still sophisticated. Thanks again to Steve for getting the lovely shots.

KAREN & AL : 10 YEARS TOGETHER : MALIBU

Beth — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:08:08 +0000

We had the pleasure of working with Karen & Al on their 10 year anniversary party which was a wonderful treat for us. For their wedding, they eloped to Martha’s Vineyard and while Karen said it was magical, she had always wanted a full blown celebration. And, that’s exactly what we gave her. Dreaming of white on white, beautiful draping, luxurious lounge furniture and fun pops of color, Karen let us take the reigns and in doing so, we created a classic and ethereal party proper for celebrating a decade together. See what we mean below…Steve Steinhardt gave us so many gorgeous images, we almost couldn’t narrow them down! You can also see more over at Inspired by This.…

BALI BOUND

Beth — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:04:41 +0000

I’m off to Bali to scout for an upcoming June wedding. Think layers and layers of bohemian batiks, overgrown garden blooms and vines EVERYWHERE and a wedding full of residential warmth, Balinese style. We’re very excited to take our effortless and approachable aesthetic to Indonesia to create an intimate wedding weekend and an experience the guests will never forget. What would you do if you were designing your dream wedding in Bali?

While I’m off getting inspired, Susie and Miya are holding down the studio. Otherwise, I’ll be tweeting and instagramming throughout and give you all a follow up next week!

WE’RE PINNING

Beth — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:34:26 +0000

I’ve finally have caught up with the times and joined Pinterest. To say I’m addicted would be an understatement…Check out both our work and what I’m truly inspired by in all things design by following us here.

Happy Monday!

TRUNK SHOW TIME : MONIQUE LHUILLIER

Beth — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:09:03 +0000

For all of you newly engaged ladies, Monique Lhuillier is having a trunk show at their Melrose location next week. The show will feature their Fall 2012 collection which is gorgeous to say the least. Here are all of the details and for those of you who can’t make it or wanting a little sneak peek, below is their Fall look book.

See the collection here…

KARI & ELAN GET HITCHED : CARMEL, CALIFORNIA

Beth — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:00:23 +0000

Kari & Elan were the loveliest tree huggers we’ve ever had the opportunity to work with. We loved working with them to create an urban oasis in Carmel highlands, completely inspired by the landscape of Big Sur and completely and utterly green. From plantable invitations made with handmade paper to every detail of the seven course tasting meal being locally grown and sustainable, it was beautiful to see that this couple loved Mother Earth as much as they loved each other. We used air plants, succulents and orchids on the actual plant instead of cutting flowers which not only was environmentally sound, but also now all of the plants used from the wedding have made a home in Kari & Elan’s personal garden. I just love their story…and how beautiful is Kari? I just loved her bohemian style and was honored to help create her vision at the beautiful Point Lobos Ridge. Enjoy the images from Tiny Water and see the entire gallery over on Style Me Pretty…

YOU’RE ENGAGED! WHAT’S NEXT?

Beth — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:00:37 +0000

Congrats to all the newly engaged couples out there!! It’s obviously a romantic and very exciting time. As you settle in to your role of “fiance”, for many of you the thought of starting plans for the day can be a bit overwhelming…To help out, we invite you to check out Darling for a game plan on how to tackle the planning process. Our article, “Congratulations, You’re Engaged! Now What?” is our answer to a planning process that takes one thing at a time, hopefully making it just a little less stressful for all of you. Enjoy this time and happy planning!

REAL LIFE BRIDE : THE HONEYMOON

Beth — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:00:45 +0000

Hi there. Remember me? Your Real Life Bride-To-Be? Well it has been a few months now and I am happy to report that I am well-rested, happy and … married! I’ve missed writing you and feel that there is so much to catch up on: the ceremony, vows, dress, flowers, video, my handsome groom and did I mention the dress!?? (which is up for sale on Pre-Owned Wedding Dresses.com) (link to: http://www.preownedweddingdresses.com/dresses/37635/Vera-Wang-Fawn-Size-2.html)

I can’t even begin to tell you how amazing our wedding day was. I realized today that I started writing for Beth’s blog on 11/22/2010 (link to post here: http://www.bethhelmstetterblog.com/2010/11/brand-spankin-new-real-life-bride-week-1.html) at the time not knowing just how unbelievably fast the year would fly. I feel so much wiser, confident and safe in my family and marriage. Life is so good! It’s been an incredible journey and one that I am very thankful for having documented right here on this blog.

I will tell you all about our wedding day once we have more pictures to share. In fact, I have a special letter waiting to post for all of you brides out there. Until then, I thought I’d share with you some of our honeymoon photos. We ended up traveling to Hong Kong, Thailand and Bali and it was so incredible!!! If you’re planning on traveling there in the future please reach out because I have several amazing recommendations. Sure we wanted to adopt an elephant or two and bring home a baby tiger, but I must say after 18 days of traveling we were happy to see our pups and eat a cheeseburger.

I will be sure to give you a full wedding recap very soon. I just didn’t want all of you readers out there to forget about me. Your real life….Wife!