A Great Client Referral

A thank you card for guests

A few months ago, we were very excited to work with some great friends, Lauren and Bryan, on their beautiful Port Townsend, WA wedding. We designed all of their paper goods for the big day, including programs, thank you cards, table assignments, and more. Check out the finished products here and here. 

We just received a lovely email from Lauren that we wanted to share. 

"How can we thank Jen Lyons of Vivid City for creating our beautiful paper products and signage? By telling everyone we know. My husband and I were thrilled with the creativity and thought that Jen put into creating our programs, guest book cards, thank you notes, and instructional signs. She took the time to sit with me and nail down out the exact vision of how we wanted the end product to look for each product. 


I will be the first to tell you that I can be nitty gritty about details but I was no match for Jen. She made sure that everything was perfect, not one feature was missed. We received so many compliments and we will continue singing the praises of Vivid City. We can’t wait to use them for our next big event."


Thanks Lauren! 

Sh*t Brides Say

We've all seen the new "Sh*t Girls Say" YouTube videos, and probably some of the spin-offs and parodies. Well, WeddingChannel.com just came out with "Sh*t Brides Say" and it is pretty clever. Most things are funny because they're (at least partially) true, right? Check out the video below for a good laugh. 


(Oh, and pardon the language)

Design work for a cause

Because of all the design work we do on invitations and other party materials at Vivid City, I was contacted by a good friend to pitch in on another project, Hope for Jess. It's an Etsy site in honor of Jessica Oldwyn. Jess is a friend of a friend (who I actually had the pleasure of meeting last weekend) who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2010.

Jess is an inspiring young woman who has grace, perseverance, and an amazingly positive attitude. Because of this, her friends have donated money, time, and materials to set up an Etsy shop to help raise money to cover some of Jess' mounting medical costs.

Etsy banner, designed by Vivid City

And what's the best part? They are selling prints and unstretched giclee canvas prints that are Jess' own creation, called "Hope".

The prints are available in their Etsy Shop. Learn more about Jess and her journey on the Etsy site, and on her blog, which is a really great read.

Fun table number idea

Sometimes here at Vivid City we cook something up that is so fun I can't help but share it right away! My dear Vivid City business partner Jamie is getting married next month, and we've been planning day and night. We came up with a super fun and easy way to make table numbers for her wedding.

We cut out cardboard numbers, and, with camera in hand, hit up some of Jamie and Bill's favorite Seattle landmarks. I love that some of them are classic Seattle (Pike Place Market), but some are more subtle (cheers-ing at their favorite bar, Kells). These will be framed and placed on each table at the reception.

Here's a sneak preview. Aren't they so stinkin' cute? I am loving this idea!

Pike Place Market flower stands

Pike Place gum wall--gross but awesome

A couple more from Lauren & Bryan's Wedding

Here's a few more pictures of our design work featured at Lauren & Bryan's Port Townsend wedding!

Advice for the happy couple!

Programs

Design Work-Lauren & Bryan

(Here's a picture of the venue, right on the water!)

Last Saturday, our dear friends Lauren and Bryan got married at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, WA. Talk about a beautiful venue! It was sunny and 75, with views of Mount Rainier, plenty of sailboats in the background, and set in the charming, antique town of Port Townsend. You couldn't ask for a better day for a beautiful, Northwest summer wedding.

Still don't believe me on how pretty it was? Here's the view from cocktail hour!

We were lucky enough to do some really fun design work for the bride and groom. From programs to instructional signs and thank you notes, we were busy! The final product turned out fantastic (If I do say so myself!

The "Hop, Skip & Get Married", their signature cocktail

This is my favorite piece--a thank you card for wedding guests

Congratulations to the happy couple! Thanks for letting us be a part of it!

Great marriage proposal!

Here at Vivid City, we're suckers for a good marriage proposal, since we work with so many brides and grooms every year. This is one of the best one's I've seen! Check it out.

More invitation design

Here's another example of Vivid City-designed wedding invitations. Email me today at jen@vividcitymarketing.com for a quote!

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!

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!

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.

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!

Color!

I'm always interested in how advertising and marketing uses color to enhance, clarify, and create campaigns. In my past life as a photography buyer, I spent so much time doing photo research that I could pick out where most images in print campaigns I'd see around town came from. I am still on the email lists of quite a few stock photography houses, and I just recently received a case study from Aurora Photos about a campaign they did for a neighborhood bank in Maine. They did TV ads, print ads, brochures, and other collateral. I think the campaign has so much vibrancy and energy that they would have missed with a "quieter" color palate. The bank has even reported a direct return on investment. Check it out!

Winter Song

I am a huge fan of Ingrid Michaelson. I went to her concert about a year ago, and she is fantastic.

About the same time last year, I came across a song called "Winter Song" that she did with Sara Bareilles. The song is really beautiful, and the video for it is so ridiculously cute. I love the old-time movie reel effect, and the animation is so simple and fun to watch.

Given that it seems like it will never be sunny in Seattle again, this seemed like the right thing to post on a rainy, cold, windy day like today. Enjoy!

Learn something new every day!

A friend of mine just passed along this link to Learn Something New Every Day. I think it is so cute and the drawings are really creative and fun. I also love that the writing is British English. I spend a lot of my day at work editing in British English, and I love the way they spell everything. Perhaps because I secretly wish I was British. And lived in London. sigh.

Here is today's.

Drumroll Please............

Sorry for the long hiatus on the blog. I've been cooking up some new ideas lately, and I'm ready for the big reveal. 

I've been lacking in creative inspiration recently, and decided I wanted to get back into doing some creative work on the side--writing, editing, design, various artistic endeavors, etc. 

The first step in this process was starting this blog. I've since bought the rights to a website, and am turning Vivid City Creative into a catch-all business for all my freelance work. 

Most recently I've been working on a line of original, hand-drawn and hand-painted greeting cards. They're the perfect way to combine writing, design, art, and more all in one product! I love them for their simplicity. 

Although the website is still in the works, I've posted the first of my cards for sale on Etsy. Check them out! There will be more to come soon! I'm looking into doing hand-painted stationary/notecards as well!