Recently, as I fell down some internet rabbit hole that I could never retrace, I stumbled upon Happy Menocal’s whimsical, engaging, and oh-so-darling watercolor family crests, and they completely put the brakes on my internet free-fall! I am completely in love with Happy’s breezy artistry and the obvious thought and personalization behind each one. Though wedding invitations and custom paper products immediately come to mind, I could not help putting one of these special family mementos on my own wish list!
Happy describes her work as “custom heraldry for a new family, wedding gift or invitations, personal monogram or logo”, and shared a little more info about how she took a sort of antiquated idea and made it modern and fresh.
From Happy: A few years ago a close friend was getting married, and asked me to design her invitations. I wanted to do something really regal, but also a little playful. I wanted to create an emblem for their family that they could use forever. I’ve always liked medieval heraldry and thought it was beautiful and grand, but the imagery struck me as a bit arbitrary. Maybe an ancestor had some connection to pineapples or dragons, but I was more interested in the current character of the new family.
So I talked to my friends about things they love, traditions in their family, colors they gravitate toward, plants, flowers and animals that they identify with or like most. Their wedding was in Florida and they spend a lot of time there, so I went with a very tropical thing. It was a lot of fun to create, and afterwards a slew of newly engaged guests at the wedding asked if I could do their stationery. I’ve been creating crests and wedding stationery pretty much non-stop ever since!
It’s a trip for me to get to know the families I work with, and learn their quirks and tastes and stories. Lately I’ve had a few people request that I include their Chinese birth year animals, which I LOVE.
My custom crests have been used in all sorts of ways. Mostly on stationery or just framed in someone’s home, but I’ve had them embroidered on Stubbs & Wootton velvet slippers, stamped on cocktail napkins. One couple had the crest I made them screen printed on umbrellas and gave them as gifts to guests at their autumn New York City wedding. I am presently working on a signet ring with one of my drawings.
The idea of stamping a heraldic seal all over your stuff is of course a bit pompous, but because my illustration style is a little ‘off’, or not technically accomplished, the crests have a humility and sense of humor to them that takes the edge off.
I love the idea of a modern and totally personalized symbol of your new family, created in Happy’s whimsical style. What a unique touch to your wedding day, and keepsake that you’d treasure forever!
Even without the gorgeous French-Country decor and soft patina’d color palette going on at LeeAnn and Drew’s Georgia wedding, the sweet smiling faces exuding joy in all these photos would have gotten me from the start. Best wishes to you and yours LeeAnn and Drew!
What three adjectives best describe your wedding day? Romantic, French-Country, Patina
Was there a decor theme that ran through your wedding? What was the inspiration for that particular idea and how did it reflect you as a couple? French-Country was the decor theme for sure. Drew is an avid hunter and outdoors man. I have always been inspired by french vintage decor… so, French-Country embodied the two combinations that best suited our personal styles. The location of our wedding, at a picturesque plantation in Georgia, really lent that country and garden feel we wanted. To add to our theme, instead of having a traditional wedding registry, we suggested that guests contribute towards our trip to Paris for our one year anniversary in March of 2013. So, our wedding present is our trip to Paris. We are so excited!! We wanted to have a gift that gave us an experience we would remember forever.
What were some of the different ways you used decor elements to create the beautiful, cohesive event you were envisioning? I used mostly vintage objects for my wedding decor. Some were found items from my home and others were found at discount or antique stores. I wanted the reception to feel like a tea-party with heavy appetizers and dancing. So the linens were burlap with lace coverings, and the flowers were placed in antique silver and glass tea pots or tea cups. The flowers were very romantic, pink roses, purple lilac and blue/white/green hydrangas. This was all set into a stable courtyard at the center of the plantation, below large sphere white lights. We cut our cake up on the balcony overlooking the courtyard. We decorated the tables with patterned paper florets in muted teal and pink from BHLDN and gold candle holders with tealights. Our cake cutting area was surrounded by the florets as well as striped pennants, photos of our parents cutting cake on their wedding day encased in vintage silver frames and custom monogrammed dessert napkins. I designed our monogram for the wedding…it was a gold L and D with a feather separating our initials.
Where did you choose to hold your wedding, and how did the location influence your decor decisions? We chose to have our wedding and reception at the same location, called Pebble Hill Plantation, in Thomasville, Georgia. Since we already had a solid theme for our wedding based on our personalities, the location was chosen around our theme. When we were able to secure our date at Pebble Hill, all the decor elements came together easily, because the beauty of the location already encompassed our French-Country style so well. We were lucky.
Looking back, do you have a favorite project or successful decor idea from your wedding? Tell us what you loved about it! The only item I feel really stood out for myself and guests were the silk flowers we hung in front of the balcony where we were married. Everyone assumed they were real flowers and we received many compliments about them. They were easy to install, and Im so glad I thought to do it, because it enhanced the scene. Im also glad I stuck with just white flowers and greenery, rather than going crazy with color. It looks better to me in the photographs that they were just simple white flowers, so that they didn’t take away from us. It was just enough!
File this one under…couples to take a lesson from! Tannen and Peter planned for their wedding to be intimate, cozy, and meaningful for all of the people most important to them. But they also asked something of their guests in return – a commitment to witnessing their marriage, blessing their union, and playing a role in their lives moving forward. Combined with the crazy-sweet vows the couple wrote and the ceremony performed by Tannen’s best friend, their wedding brought new meaning to significant moments!
The Couple: Tannen and Peter
The Wedding: 1.14.12 – Casa Todo Bien – Punta Mita; Nayarit, Mexico
What three adjectives best describe your wedding? Intimate, laid-back, inclusive
What was your wedding color palette? Ethereal white and bright yellow with sage green accents
What inspired your personal wedding style, and how did you incorporate your style and personalities into your big day? Peter and I have different, but very compatible styles. I’m classic/modern (with a love of quirky details), hes sophisticated with a dose of rock and roll. But I think its our shared romantic nature that really came out in our wedding style. We wanted it to be bright and ethereal, almost dreamlike. Cheesy or not, it’s how our relationship feels! Were also very spontaneous people. We wanted our wedding to feel impromptu, surprising and alive, the way you feel when you’re on a stolen vacation.
Looking back, what are the moments, decisions or memories that you love the most about your wedding? Like all the best things in life, its difficult to describe. But I think the best decision we made was to keep the wedding very small and inclusive. We believe it takes a village to make a marriage work, and we wanted our little village to celebrate (and commit) right along with us. We included them in our vows (we do!), we had them hold and bless our rings before we placed them on each others fingers, we invited them to light and release lanterns, and we got to spend quality time with each person over the long weekend we spent in Punta Mita.
Its cliche, but I can say with certainty that the greatest moment of my life was walking down that aisle on my dads arm, looking at all my most beloved friends and family beaming back at me, my best friend nervously waiting to officiate, and the love of my life squaring his shoulders as tears ran down his face. The love was truly palpable, like electricity in the air. I knew in that moment that all the waiting, all the heartbreak, all the tough stuff life can deliver was worth it.
Then there were the lanterns. Oh…the lanterns. One of the advantages of getting married in Mexico is that you don’t get in trouble for lighting things on fire and sending them into the night sky. Each person had their own lantern or two to light. We gathered down at the beach and sent them flying out over the ocean. The effect was incredible, like our own little floating constellation.
When I first started planning the wedding I asked my married friends for advice, and they all said, get the right photographer, no matter what it costs. And boy, were they right. I could not have known that Jillian would become a dear friend (talk about icing on the proverbial wedding cake), but her photos captured that day, all the participants and all the emotions, perfectly. That electric love we felt, I can actually see in her photos. Ill never be able to thank her enough.
I also loved the unconventional nature of our wedding. The wedding was truly ours. My best friend, Aimee, was ordained (on a website where she also became a baroness), and she wrote an incredible, unique ceremony. Peter and I wrote our own vows (Me: Thank you for beating cancer. Thank you for bringing me water every night before bed even though I hate water. Him: Without you, I am nothing. With you, I am everything.). There was no first dance. In fact, the first person I danced with was my friend, Dan, who was fresh out of the ocean from an impromptu swim. At one point, I looked around the dinner table, teeming with conversation and laughter, and everyone looked truly happy, lost in the moment. I just remember thinking, this is what happiness is.
What piece of advice would you give to a bride planning her wedding today? Choose three things you really care about (mine were: the dress, the lighting and the music for the walk down the aisle) and delegate (read: try not to worry about) the rest.
My mother is a horticulturist, so she worked with our wedding planner on the flowers. Our good friend Jory has an incredible aesthetic, and helped pull together the look and feel the day of the wedding. We left the cake tasting to the wedding planner. And of course renting a mansion on the beach didn’t hurt anything either – who can worry about silly details when the backdrop is so stunning? I always said (and truly meant) that as long as I had my dress, my guy, my friends and family, the day would be a success. I think our laid-back attitude in planning the wedding, led to the laid-back vibe AT the wedding.
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