Need a Vacation?

Itching to take an extended vacation abroad but it just isn’t fitting in the budget or the PTO allotment? No worries – take this 2 minute vaycay through 4,000 photos.

Photographer Mike Matas and his girlfriend traveled through Spain and Morocco for two weeks. During the trip he captured the 4,000 photos and has condensed them down to this incredible video. We first saw this video posted on NPRs blog and loved the photos and the idea of making a video to share his trip. We just had to pass it on. Leaves me refreshed and ready to pack my bags!

Morocco & Spain from Mike Matas on Vimeo.

Wedding Central!

As you've noticed on recent posts, it's "all wedding, all the time," here at Vivid City. If we're not coordinating weddings, designing invitations and programs, or dishing out advice, we're working on our own weddings!

Jen, co-owner of Vivid City, got married on October 9th--event management and stationary photos to come, and Jamie, our other co-owner, is recently engaged, and getting married on September 10th, 2011.

Jamie recently wanted a creative way to ask her wedding party to be part of her big day. She decided we should make custom champagne labels, and she'd give each wedding party member a bottle when she asked them!

Best part? She has bridesmaids, a maid of honor, and a bridesman! It went off without a hitch, and we'll be putting together another great Vivid City-designed wedding on 9/10/11!

Check out the photos below, and email us today for info about how we can help with your big day!

Congratulations, Christy and Paul!

Our good friends Christy and Paul are getting married over Labor Day weekend, and we've done a ton of design work for them. I didn't want to spoil the surprise until all of the pieces had gone out in the mail, but since their wedding is coming up this weekend, I think we're in the clear! I love the simple design and the blue and green. Congrats again, guys!

Distinctive Design Concrete, LLC

A few months ago, we introduced you to Distinctive Design Concrete, LLC. We're happy to say that, with the help of Eclipse Media Solutions, Vivid City is proud to announce the official launch of DDC.

Here's the final logo, the website is up and running, and Distinctive Design Concrete, LLC is open for business.

Congratulations, Chris and Mike!

Check out their new website here.

Baby Shower Fun

Vivid City recently designed the cutest baby shower invitations (if I do say so myself). I love the little birds, and the font.

More invitations coming soon!

A Meaningful Memorial

Vivid City's most recent project was a more somber occasion than the usual. Recently, PJ Livingston, the father of one of Jamie's close friends passed away suddenly, and we were tasked with organizing a memorial reception. Jamie took the reins on the event itself, while I handled the creative side.

PJ was quite the chef, and so his family had the idea of making keepsake recipe cards at the memorial service, instead of regular programs--what a great idea and great way to honor him.

Although I never met PJ, through everything I've heard about him in working on this project, it sounds like he was truly an amazing man, and really lived life to the fullest. We wanted to share the recipe cards we designed here on the blog, so that PJ's recipes can reach even more people! I love the casual, improvisational directions provided on the cards. (You can click on them to make them bigger) Hope you enjoy.

Christy's Bridal Shower Invitation!

Sorry for the delay in posting to the blog. We've been busy designing, printing, planning, and more! I'm happy to unveil a wedding shower invitation I recently designed for my good friend Christy. She's getting married here in Seattle this summer (I'm also designing her wedding invitations!) and we're having a bridal shower for her next month. I love the way they turned out, and they are part of our larger decorating theme for the shower! Congratulations Christy!

New Client--Distinctive Design Concrete

Vivid City Marketing & Events is excited to announce one of our newest clients, Distinctive Design Concrete, LLC. DDC is a new Seattle contracting company. Owners Mike Jellison & Chris Lyons are specializing in residential and commercial concrete, pavers, hardscaping, outdoor design, water features, and more. Mike and Chris have more than 20 years combined experience and their work is truly beautiful. Congrats on the new business.

This logo is the first of our work with Distinctive Design. More to come, including helping with a website launch, marketing materials, and advertising. Stay tuned. And, if you're interested in sprucing up your home this spring/summer, contact Chris Lyons at christopher.lyons04@gmail.com.

Design at the Olympics

Say what you want about NBC's coverage (or lack thereof) of the Olympics this year, but it's hard to not get sucked into Olympic fever. In fact, I'm watching the Men's Half Pipe Final as I write this.
The Olympics are great not only for the sports, but the fanfare, branding and design, fashion, and the way the host city goes all out with new buildings.
Fast Company has a slideshow about design elements at the Olympics, and is is really interesting. Did you know the Olympics logo was picked as the winner in a contest of 1,600 entries?
The slideshow talks about the interesting new buildings, the US team's uniforms, and even the design of the medals, which are made of recovered gold, silver and bronze from computer motherboards.
What do you think about the 2010 Olympics? Check out the article here.

The Uniform Project

Here at Vivid City Marketing & Events, we're all about creativity. So when a friend sent me the link to this amazing site called The Uniform Project, I had to share it. I love when people combine their passion with community service. In this case, a woman named Sheena is wearing the same dress every day for a year, as an exercise in "sustainable fashion." (Don't worry, she has 7 different copies of the same dress, she's not wearing the very same dress every day!)

The Uniform project is a fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, which raises money to send underprivileged children in India to school. She is collecting donations online. And, followers from around the world send her accessories to wear each day. She takes a picture of each outfit and posts them online, and all of the accessories will be sold in an auction at the end of her project as a final fundraiser. What a great way to involve people from all over the world. Her year-long experiment continues until May 2010.

Check out the video for the project, and visit the website here.

The Uniform Project Trailer from The Uniform Project on Vimeo.

The Rumors are T-R-U-E!

The myth became the legend this morning when Steve Jobs - Apple CEO unveiled the new Apple iPad. Names, features, costs and size rumors had been circulating for months but now we have real pictures, real features and real prices!

Mashable has done a great job at providing a comprehensive list of all the bells and whistles of the iPad. Jen might be in love, but her hot little hands might have to wait a bit longer – iPads aren’t available until April. Until then, I dare you not to want one by the end of the article. Read on >

I'm in love!

Mashable just posted some clever detective work about the illusive and yet-to-be-confirmed Apple tablet computer. As a creative professional, I've already had a decade-long love affair with the Mac.

Rumors of the Apple tablet have been circulating lately, but you won't believe the detective work done by Flurry to (semi) confirm its existence. I hope it's true, so I can buy one soon. Here's the story.

Special Thanks

We'd like to say thanks to Tim at Eclipse Media Solutions for building our new website. We love everything about it--the design, the simplicity, and the way it fits seamlessly into our branding. Eclipse Media Solutions is a Vivid City partner, and they do amazing work in website building, search engine optimization, and more. Thanks again!

Cherisse & Kelly's Save the Date Cards!

We're so excited to be working with our friends Cherisse & Kelly on their upcoming wedding! The first order of business was their save the date cards--they wanted something simple, classic, and not too flowery. I love the fonts that we chose, and I love that we were able to incorporate an image from their proposal. Congrats, you two!

Seattle Wedding Show

I just got back from the 2010 Seattle Wedding Show. I was a little hesitant about it, picturing swarms of crazy brides elbowing each other out of the way for cheap wedding dresses. But, since I am getting married this year, and I wanted to make some contacts for Vivid City, I decided I should go.

I was pleasantly surprised! I had a great time and got a lot of ideas for my wedding. Here are my top reasons to check out a wedding show when you are planning your big day:

1. Great vendors. We met vendors from all different areas: DJs, invitation designers, florists, tuxedo rentals, gift registries, caterers, and more.

2. Dresses. We saw a great fashion show, and were able to skim the racks of a lot of dresses. It was so great to see dresses on real people, in person, instead of just in wedding magazine ads.

3. Great deals. Many vendors give away great discounts at the show only. Make sure to pick up coupons and sign up for discounts wherever possible--weddings are expensive!

Don't get overwhelmed! Vivid City can help you navigate the confusing waters of wedding planning. Email us at info@vividcitymarketing.com