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Southern Weddings

Author: Nicole

It’s my favorite time of the year! The National Stationery Show recaps are here and I’m thrilled to relive the three days I spent in New York meeting new-to-us stationers, hugging old ones and finding the loveliest wedding stationery around. (Okay, and there’s a really good dose of just plain cute and just adorably Southern stuff in here, too.) With Ruthie of Ruth Eileen Photography by my side, we spent hours ooh-ing and ahh-ing over hundreds of booths. You may have seen up posting up a storm on Instagram (here and here)! Join us in reliving the magic?

Knot & Bow have been familiar to us for quite some time — we love their packaging supplies! But we we happy to see a new collection of gold foil confetti cards, confetti packs, and giant confetti-filled balloons in their lineup — they’d make quite the festive addition to any wedding!

I know Marissa loves this booth as much as I do, being the two resident pug lovers at SW! Emily and Lisa had me hooked when they gave me a Lydia & Pugs calendar for Christmas, so I may have been overly excited when I introduced myself to Dawn, the talent behind these adorable paper goodies. The wedding collection of pugs riding off into married bliss is perfect for dog-lovers everywhere!

The Lifeguard Press both, featuring Lilly Pulitzer, Ban.Do, and Kate Spade was impressive as always. We were most thrilled to hear about a new wedding stationery line from Kate Spade that’s soon to release! Ruthie and I got a sneak peek from our friend Natalie Chang, and all we can say is that y’all are going to love it! (Just a hint: they didn’t stop at stationery — one of my favorite new items requires a needle a thread!)

We’re sure any Southern belle and beau would love to see these sweetly wrapped gifts at their bridal shower. Monogrammed gift wrap and gold foil state cards from Ann Page stopped us in our tracks. (I mean really, y’all — monogrammed gift wrap.)

We were so excited to find Emily Ley’s booth within our first hour of walking the show. As many of y’all know, she’s a good friend of ours and her Simplified Series has helped us stay connected to what matters most, both in work and life. Her new collection of journals and notepads are a beautiful way to keep track of wedding to-dos! (Also, how gorgeous are those flower arrangements by Michelle Edgemont?)

Wonderful surprises were found at Parrott Studio’s booth! Parrott’s newest addition of gold cake toppers was a fun find, and we loved that they were displayed on custom wedding cakes.

We got a good dose of Southern design when we stopped to visit SW friends, Stephanie Creekmur (top image) and Southern Fried Design Barn (bottom image). Y’all might remember seeing Stephanie’s “Sweet as a Peach” print in V5. Southern Fried Design helped us create sweet tea packet business cards!

I love the idea of using Paper Lovely’s letterpresses tags to dress up bridesmaid gifts or bridal shower presents. Not to get ahead of ourselves here, but we had to snap a photo of the “Hello Little One” card! Gals — save this one in your brain for Southern mamas-to-be!

The charm and warmth we found in E. Frances’ booth made us want to stay there and rest awhile. Their adorably illustrated cards were new to us, and we especially loved the gold foil and watercolor collection. Our favorite piece from the booth read, “forget the honeymoon, have a honey life.” Our sentiments exactly!

Part of the fun of walking the Stationery Show is seeing how everyone decorates their booth. Ave Estudio hand painted the lovelies pink blooms on her cream walls. We were hooked as soon as we saw her sweet illustrations and this bright pink gingham card!

We were quite familiar with Betsy White’s wedding collection, but loved seeing them roll out items that are for more every day use! I thought the sticker packs were perfect for dressing up outgoing love letters and paired nicely with their custom stamps.

Gold foil pulled at our heartstrings again and again. Haute Papier’s Haute Papier’s new marriage certificates spoke to us — we love wedding day keepsakes and can imagine these looking amazing framed in a newlywed home! Ruthie and I both spent a lot of time at Dallas-based Read Between the Lines’s booth. They’re all about keeping it simple and heartfelt.

Tammy Smith Design’s embroidery prints reminded me of my mom — we used to embroider pillows and wall art all the time! I love that this tradition lives on with a state-based twist. Just choose your state and follow the lines to add your own embroidery.

Do y’all have a favorite design from this batch? I loved sweet illustrations at E. Frances. Don’t forget to stay turned — there are plenty more paper goodies left to explore!

nicoleyang Written with love by Nicole
12 Comments
  1. avatar Hannah reply

    E. Frances’ watercolor collection is my favorite and there are far too many “runners-up” to name! :)

  2. avatar Lisa reply

    So hard to choose favorites, but the gold foil state notecards and everything by Betsy White is especially catching my eye!

  3. avatar Emily reply

    Oh my goodness – so many goodies just in one post! I think my favorite might be the “Will you be my bridesmaid” cards from Southern Fried Paper :)

  4. avatar Molly reply

    loved Ave Estudio’s booth! and she was just so so lovely to talk to, too!

    • avatar Ave Estudio reply

      Thanks for posting this beautiful photos of our booth! Thank you so much Molly for your lovely comment, it was such a pleasure to meet you this year at NSS!

  5. avatar Sadie Schureck reply

    Too much loveliness to choose a favorite, but I am a sucker for any of Emily Ley’s products!

  6. avatar Emily Ley reply

    You gals are the sweetest! Loved seeing Nicole and Ruthie in NYC! Thanks for including our booth in your recap today! xo

  7. avatar Stephanie Creekmur reply

    Thank you SO much for including me in your NSS round up! It was so nice to finally meet you in person, Nicole! And so nice to meet you as well, Ruthie! :)

  8. avatar Erin / Knot & Bow reply

    What a lovely round-up! And it was so nice to see some Chapel Hill love in our booth at the show :) Thanks so much for including us!

  9. avatar maghon reply

    LOVE those gold foil state cards!! I need those in my life.

  10. avatar Bridget reply

    Every one of these National Wedding Show posts is incredible – I’ve got to plan a vacation to go see the show in person next year!

  11. avatar Dorothy Collier reply

    Getting so excited! I’ll be in booth #2630 this year with my line, Dorothy Art! Can’t wait!

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With V6, a brand new website and our exciting Southern Living announcement brewing, the holidays snuck up on us this year! Before we could say “scuppernong,” our Third Annual Gingerbread Barn Building Competition was before us! Of the many exciting things we get to do around this time of year (like our launch party), this event is definitely one of our favorites. It always marks the beginning of the merriest season and gives the SW gals a lot more time to talk to our readers and friends (and to eat lots of candy). We met our very own Kristin Winchester at our first Gingerbread Barn Building event, so it will always have a soft spot in our hearts.

Be sure to check out our live stream of the event on our Ustream channel. You get to hear Emily and I talk like sports commentators, as we take this competition very seriously. Huge hugs to the lovely Robyn Van Dyke for spending the evening with us and capturing all of the action!

The Carolina Inn is magical during the holidays. We were so lucky that they hosted us for a third year!

We saw so many familiar faces this year and were happy to welcome back some old pros at the gingerbread craft. We love that our former editor, Whitney and former intern, Melissa came! Aprons are encouraged, and it put a big smile on our faces to see so many people donning their favorites.

Y’all, the competition gets fierce as time runs out! Gingerbread barn builders are only given three rules: 1) you must build your barn within the bounds of your plate, 2) you may only use edible items and 3) you must be finished within 75 minutes! We snapped a quick photo by the Carolina Inn’s Christmas tree before we began judging.

We inspected many fine barns as we made our way around the room. We love hearing each group’s inspiration, their execution strategy and the explanation of their final product. We gave out prizes to some honorable mentions, including the lovely buildings below.

Above, on the left: Two-year-old Grace’s barn didn’t get an honorable mention, but kudos to such a young competitor! On the right: Honorable mention for Most Structurally Sound.

Above, on the left: Honorable mention for Most Architecturally Creative. On the right: Honorable mention for Most Festive. This barn featured a barnyard animal holiday party, in which the guests were instructed to “BYOH” or bring your own hay :)

Below: Honorable mention for Most Creative Story. This poor gingerbread barn was devastated by a hurricane, but its residents (who survived the brunt of the storm by climbing to the roof) are ready to rebuild for the holidays.

Finally, it was time to announce our winners! Anticipation filled the air…

…and these lovely gals won! Their structural integrity, red barn wood and happy reindeer stole our hearts!

We are giving giant hugs to everyone who came out to celebrate the season with us — we had so much fun with y’all! If you weren’t able to make it, we hope to see you next year.

Be sure to check out our Second Annual Gingerbread Barn Building Recap and our First Annual Gingerbread Barn Building Recap for plenty of holiday inspiration!

nicoleyang Written with love by Nicole
2 Comments
  1. avatar Lisa reply

    All of the barns were so impressive!

  2. avatar Maghon reply

    LOVED that night! It was my first introduction to southern weddings and I haven’t stopped reading since! Thanks so much!

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Happy Wednesday, friends! Are y’all feeling the holidays in the air? Sure, it’s getting mighty cold around here, but that’s a sign that the fun is coming! My favorite part about this time of year is the gathering of family and friends. It’s what we love about weddings, and it’s why we love this feature. Y’all know nothing gathers people to one spot quite like good Southern food. We’ve done biscuit bars, biscuit favors and even a biscuit cake in another V6 feature. This one, however, is a good ole spin on traditional recipes handed down from our grandmas and the food staples of the South. Might it inspire some last-minute Thanksgiving menu changes?

This feature was truly an in-office collaboration. These three spreads contain the illustrations of Lara and our intern, Morgan, the hand-lettering of our own Emily (who has hand-lettered quite a few of our features now!) and some Photoshop magic from Adobe and myself. It was truly meant to be viewed as a whole, so we love that we can share these spreads directly from V6 with you!

You didn’t think I’d tease you with those tiny photos, did you? Our photographer Eric Kelley did an amazing job capturing the delectable ingredients that Chef Crawford and Chef Benjamin from The Umstead Hotel created and styled. Here’s a closer view. (Be warned: you will become very hungry!)

Aren’t those kissing fishies the cutest?

We are glad that our chefs were well-prepared and had plenty of leftovers. The whole team kept sneaking back to the kitchen to nibble on extra biscuits. The sweet potato and herb biscuits were my favorite!

Are y’all’s mouths watering yet? Look at those berries, below!! Gorgeous!

Now if that doesn’t call for the addition of a biscuit bar to tomorrow proceedings, I don’t know what will! We love each of these for incorporating our favorite Southern flavors. Which one is your favorite?

nicoleyang Written with love by Nicole
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