i do monograms

Just a little reminder that today is the last day to receive 10% off the new embroidery line over at iDoOriginals.com! We're so happy with how well the new line is being received and want to send out a big thank you to all of you who have taken advantage of the 10% discount so far this month. If you haven't gone over to check it out yet... what are you waiting for?!?

We're starting a new blogging adventure! Check out The Honeymoon Blog: "Join us as we virtually travel around the world looking for amazing honeymoon destinations from A-Z. Each day we will feature a new destination working our way through the alphabet and around the world. Have a specific destination you'd like us to visit? E-mail us at TheHoneymoonBlog {at} live {dot} com. We'll also be featuring 'Real Honeymoons' from time to time so if you'd like your honeymoon to be featured send us an e-mail! We look forward to taking this journey with you!"

This is super exciting and should be lots of fun... after all, everyone wants to go on vacation right? Why not take a virtual vacation each day and learn about fantastic honeymoon spots all around the world! Go check it out! So far we've visited Antigua & the Bahamas... I wonder where we'll go tomorrow for letter "C"???

Customizedgirl.com is now running their "Customize for a Cure" campaign where 10% of your entire order will be donated to Breast Cancer Research. Just use the code CURE at checkout. Get cute stuff and support a great cause at the same time!

Talk about wanting your runner to make a statement... this one definitely does just that! Monogram 18B has always been one of our favorites due to all the intricate detailing and the opulent feel but when done in all black it just makes it all the more classy and elegant. Congratulations Anne & Arthur, we wish you the very best!

We are simply in love with the runner that we created for Jill & Ray's December wedding using monogram #3B... isn't it just so pretty and elegant? The little flourishes at the top and bottom really add that little something extra. Best wishes Jill & Ray!

We always gush over monogram 10D but can you blame us??? It's so beautiful and so regal and done in the light pink it just looks so soft and romantic. I can never get too much of this design... we hope Bride Tiffany will send us lots of pics after the wedding so we can have her and her new hubby Edwin as one of our "Featured Couples" (hint hint Tiffany!)

As we share so many of our creations on this blog we think it's only appropriate to give our creative features a catchy title! So from now on, every time we display our latest creations we'll call those posts our "I.D.O Spotlights"!

Top Left: monogram #1C with modified font for last initial
Top Right: single initial parasol in font 6
Bottom Left: single initials parasols in font 5
Bottom Right: monogram #15C

Anytime someone stumbles across my old knot bio I always get an e-mail with the question: "where did you get those cute undies!?!" They are pretty cute I have to admit :) so I figured I'd officially share a fantastic site I found during my own wedding planning: Customized Girl. They offer the cutest clothing options that you can personalize anyway you'd like. It's really easy and the prices are great too. Check it out for yourself!

Classy, fun, spring-bling, with butterfly accents. These were the descriptors used for this set of custom monograms. With the fall season fast approaching (when is it officially fall anyway?) and the colder weather creeping in, these monograms make me crave for spring again! I know I usually pick a favorite from the four when I do a custom monogram post, but this one is super hard cause I really love them all! Which one do you like best?

I don't know if I've just been in the dark or what, but have you seen the site myDavinci.com?!? I really wish I had known about this when I was getting married as I definitely would have tapped into it for gifts for my parents! Actually... maybe I can still do it for Christmas gifts, or ohhhh.... maybe for my parents anniversary coming up... anyway, I digress. This site is unreal. They take your standard photo and turn it into a work of art- it's really quite incredible. Love love love. Bookmarked!

For their first dance, Kelly & Jim invited their parents to join them on the dance floor as a way to show their appreciation and to honor them. Following the first dance my dad gave a beautiful welcome speech to the couple and their guests.
Centerpieces consisted of calla lilies, orchids, and the vases were filled with limes. For my toast, half of it we were cracking up laughing and the other half I was balling my eyes out. You may be wondering why I'm holding up a headless barbie... I was telling a story about how growing up one of our favorite pastimes was playing with barbies and our little brother would come along and take their heads off. Right before the wedding my mom actually found this barbie- with no head... so of course I had to show it! We actually found the head- which is what my brother is showing in the top right picture. It was a great touch!

And that's it for our week long posts of Kelly + Jim's Wedding! We hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into their wedding and lots of luck and the very best wishes to this beautiful couple!

I love this picture- my dad and one of his good friends were down doing the turtle and Kelly is cheering them on... so cute. I'll be back later on with some more great pics from the reception.

Top Left: custom monogram sent by client
Top Middle: monogram #13D
Top Right: monogram #3D
Bottom Left: 3 initial parasol
Bottom Right: Love parasol

These are some of my favorite photos from my sister's ceremony. I loved the architecture of the church- very modern looking... it made for a beautiful backdrop. My favorite thing about Kelly & Jim's ceremony was that Father Jim, the officiant, made it so personal. He really got to know the couple and their relationship as he touched on aspects of their lives together. I've never been to a ceremony that was so persona, memorable, and all the more special. Stay tuned for our final installment of Kelly + Jim tomorrow... the reception!

My sister was so thoughtful when it came to honoring those in our family who have passed, particularly our three grandmothers. In the top left picture, Kelly is tying a ring from our Nana to her bouquet. Our Nana left Kelly this ring when she passed as it's garnets, Kelly's birthstone, so it's very special to her.

The second picture in the top row is the actual handkerchief that my dad's mother carried on her wedding day. It was embroidered with her initials and wedding date and my aunt then embroidered Kelly's initials and wedding date below. Kelly carried this down the aisle with her.

The top right picture is showing my mom sewing a ring from her mother under Kelly's dress.

All are very subtle thoughtful ways to honor a loved one passed. What did you do or what do you plan to do to honor loved ones?

Whoever said your shoes had to match your dress? More and more brides are choosing to make a statement with their shoes by choosing a bright fun color to envelop their feet and show off their pretty pedi's. These are some of my favorite picks for fun colorful soles from ShoeSale.com. If you're not familiar with ShoeSale.com you definitely need to check them out- they carry all the top designers at amazing prices. Not a bold bride? No problem, they have lots of traditional white & ivory to choose from as well!

Here's another one of my favorite shots from the "getting ready" phase of my sister's wedding. We were all wearing our lovely monogrammed slippers from Exclusively Sew, which was one of the gifts she gave us. I love gifts that are practical and can be used more than once. I wear mine all the time... in fact, I'm actually wearing mine right now :)

So exciting... if you live in the Northern Virginia area be on the lookout for us in the 2008-09 issue of Northern Virginia Bridal Planner! The new issue will be published on October 29th and will be available all across Northern Virginia and The Greater Piedmont Area. Yay!

The long white dress, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, the happy smiling couple, these are a few of the thoughts that probably come to mind when you think of wedding photos. Basketball is probably not one of the images... that's why these are some of my favorite "shots" from my sister's wedding.

As we were all getting ready at my parent's house the photographers couldn't help but notice the basketball court my parents have in their basement and of course wanted to get a couple shots... it doesn't get much cuter than this. When it comes to wedding photos, it's so important to think outside the box, it definitely pays off and makes for precious memories.

If you're a regular reader you probably know that my sister recently was married in August. Well I am so excited to share some of the incredible images from her amazing day... and what a fantastic day it was! All throughout the week I'll be sharing some of my favorite details from the wedding so be on the lookout cause there's a lot of them! To kick things off, here is just a very small snippet of what's to come. All images are courtesy of the incredibly talented Jeremy of Enigma Productions. He is fantastic and for all you non-local brides... he does travel! Congratulations Kelly & Jimmy!!!

Ahh, monogram 10D... so decadent, so regal, so prominent. I can't help but to gush over this monogram on runners and I feel like it's been a long time since we've done one. Yes it's true, this monogram takes an insane amount of time for us to paint and it is a little more clostly than a text-only monogram but it's sooooo worth it. Definitely for the bride who wants to make a statement. This one is done in dark orange & saddle brown, perfect colors for a fall wedding. And to top it off, this October bride ordered a matching unity candle to pull all the ceremony elements together. LOVE.

For our final installment of embroidery week we wanted to share these adorably practical ring pouches! Let's face it, no one wants to trust their precious wedding bands to the little ring bearer (that's way too much responsibility for a little one!) so most couples entrust the best man to carry the rings. Now you don't want him to just toss the rings into his pocket do you?Heaven forbid he has a hole in his pocket! And you definitely don't want him to be walking around with the big bulky ring box... so these personalized ring pouches are the perfect solution. They can be embroidered with the couples new married monogram and date or you can put the bride's first initial on one with the date underneath and the groom's first initial on the other with the date (as shown above). Either way they're cute, personal, and a great way to keep your precious wedding bands safe. These are definitely one of our favorite picks!

Remember when you were little and played games where you had to figure out which object was different from all the others? Well let's play! At first glance all these runners look like they have the same monogram, but look again! Out of the four runners shown above, 3 are all monogram 3D and one is monogram 36C... who can figure out which one is different?! If you get it right give yourself a cookie! :)

For Friday's embroidery feature I wanted to share the Bride-To-Be Sash! I love this sash because it's so much more sophisticated then the standard little plastic sashes you can find in any party store. This sash is made from luxe satin in your choice of black, white, or ivory with your choice of font and thread color. It can be worn by the bride not just at the bachelorette party but also for her wedding shower and other pre-wedding events as a great way to make her feel super special. I think if I got one of these I might just wear it out shopping so everyone knew I was a bride-to-be! :) Be sure to check back tomorrow for our final installment of embroidery week!

I just adore things that are multi-purposed... like these fun preppy luggage tags that can also be used as keychains. They come in sets of two and make a great gift for the bride and groom to use for their honeymoon. It's so frustrating to look for your luggage amongst all the many suitcases that look identical- these adorable luggage tags will help your bags to stand out from the rest! They can be completely customized with your choice of ribbon color, font, and thread color. I love these so much, I got two sets for me and the hubby :)

This pretty white cosmetic bag makes the perfect gift for bridesmaids. It can also be used as a bridal emergency kit! The inside is finished with an inner plastic protective lining; zippered closure. You can embroider with a single initial, 3 letter monogram, or first name in your choice of font and color. This is definitely one of our favorites from the new embroidery line... it's just so cute!

Just because it's embroidery week doesn't mean that we've forgotten about posting our regularly featured items and latest creations! We've realized that it may be helpful to note the monograms and colors used on each runner so be on the lookout for more details about each of our personalized items from this point on!

Top Left: Monogram #1D in green3 & black
Top Right: Custom Monogram created by iDoOriginals.com in cornflower and silver
Middle Left: #13D in red3 & black
Middle Right: #37A in turquoise4 & black
Bottom Left: font #8 in chocolate4

Want a sophisticated way to designate the seats of honor for the Bride & Groom at the reception? Here it is! These luxurious satin chair sashes are embroidered with Mr. & Mrs. followed by your new last name, or they can can simply say Bride & Groom. They're available in white, ivory, or black with your choice of font and thread color. Remember to order by 9/30 to get 10% off! Use coupon code NEW10 at checkout.

All week long we will be highlighting items from the new Embroidery Line over at iDoOriginals.com. To kick things off, we're going to start with our best seller... the Reflection Tag, a special gift from the bride to her mother. We are so proud to offer this new concept to the bridal world. Our reflection tags offer a sentimental spin on the traditional dress tag and are sure to bring tears to the mother-of-the-bride as she reflects back on her daughter's childhood. Our reflection tags are embroidered with the bride's maiden name and birth date followed by the bride's new married name and wedding date. The gift is sure to be a treasure and comes in its own gift bag with a beautiful reflection poem:

It's so neat to see the personal style of our clients. A monogram or logo says a lot about the couple's personal style, it can be clean and classic like the all black monogram shown above (monogram 21D from our pre-ready monograms) or fresh and modern like the other two runners (both monogram 30A), or they portray a natural elegance like monogram 17D used on the unity candle pictured above. It's so important to select a monogram that evokes the personal style of the couple as well as the overall feel you want your wedding to have. Best wishes to all these fantastic couples on their upcoming weddings. We hope to see lots of pictures!

Sasha! Congratulations Sasha and thanks for your great comment! Please send us an e-mail at iDoOriginals {at} live {dot} com and we'll give you information on how to claim your $25 gift card!

Thanks to everyone for all your great comments! In appreciation, we will be extending a 10% discount off all our embroidered items to EVERYONE for the month of September! Just enter the code NEW10 at checkout to receive your discount!

Today is the last day to enter the contest to receive a 10% discount off our new embroidery line and to win the grand prize: a $25 gift card to iDoOriginals.com! Be sure to enter below by midnight EST tonight! In the meantime, here our some of our latest creations for our lovely brides!

Need some more incentive to enter the contest below? How about this... everyone who enters will automatically receive a 10% discount off all embroidered products on the new line for the month of September! Pretty cool huh?! The contest goes until midnight EST on Thurday so hurry and enter so that you can be sure to get the discount! Good Luck!

We'd like to officially announce the launch of the new embroidery line from ExclusivelySew at iDoOriginals.com! To kick off the launch of the new line we're holding a week long contest and the winner will receive a $25 gift card to iDoOriginals!