Category Archives: The Lettered Olive

unnamed

Our sister company, Lettered Olive, is a custom letterpress stationer based in Charleston, SC.  Specializing in wedding papers naturally, baby announcements, party invitations, and at this time of year, holiday cards.

unnamed-2

Surcies (a little surprise gift just because) a staple in the South, but to me the Surcie needs to be beautifully presented as well.  So, we created our surcie tag set (available on letteredolive.com), which are perfect to dress up Secret Santa/office gifts, hostess gifts, and other surcies of the season.  Who doesn’t feel even more special when they receive something, no matter how small, when it’s beautifully packaged?

unnamed-3 unnamed-1

Another popular item that we were printing often for our weddings were matchbooks. We thought it could be a great addition to homes around the holidays having their own custom matchbooks for the hearth or candles, parties, etc.

Lettered Olive cocktail napkins

Of course, there are your must haves for entertaining year round… Linen cocktail napkins would be a perfect surcie to gift, and a perfect companion for any hostess’ collection.  I have an affinity for cocktail napkins, so I have a wide variety of different designs, colors, etc.  You can definitely mix them up at your parties, put fun different colored ones at the bar or with the drinks, and mix complimentary ones throughout the food set ups.

Lettered Olive drink stirrers

A fun addition that you may not think about but will sure make a difference to your guests are cocktail stirrers (can also be used as food picks). Definitely a nice little touch, and the good thing is that they last forever, so you can stock up and not worry…

12.03.15   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Accessories, Entertaining, Food and Drink, Gifts, Parties, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive | Comments >>

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

Today we are sharing the wedding of one of the sweetest couples we’ve had the pleasure of working with. The bride planned her wedding in the middle of her second year of law school and while her fiancee was running for a local office and you would never know she had any stress! After attending one of her best friends’ wedding that we planned in Charleston, she asked us to come to her home state of Arkansas, for her New Year’s fete at Marlsgate Plantation. Liz Banfield was with us to capture it all.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

Classic blue and white was an early design decision made since the bride hade an affinity for Carolyne Roehme. We also knew we wanted to approach the wedding from more of an interior design perspective than a wedding design perspective. We were lucking enough to scout the perfect fabric that kicked off the design theme and we used that throughout including wrapping the bride’s bouquet. To give it an even more tailored look, we added blue fabric buttons.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

We, along with Lettered Olive, really enjoyed working on all of the printing… The guest welcome bags were custom made shoe bags so that guests could travel home with them, full of local Mountain Valley Spring Water, mini blue champagne splits, and bags of rice produced by the bride’s father’s business.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

We were so fortunate with the weather, it had rained and rained for days leading up to the wedding, and then on the big day, the sun just came out and shone. This looks like it could be a summer day in Charleston, but it was 40 degrees and wet! We had to wrap our sweet bride up in between photos to get warm again. P.S. her Carolina Herrera dress was unbelievable and literally looked as if it was custom made for her. Pleats of silk faille ran the length of the dress, but it still flowed so light, loved loved loved it.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

After the ceremony at a local historic church, the guests gathered for a tented affair on the plantation grounds. A framed fabric covered board held all of the caligraphied escort cards for dinner, and a fabric covered box we crafted for guests to drop notes they wrote to the couple.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

The dining room at this wedding was really magical. There were so many candles glowing in the room and the white carpeting really transformed it into that “winter wonderland” feeling. The linens were white suede with thick blue roping along the bottom. They draped on the tables so beautifully and made the perfect palette for the blue and white china. But, a scene stealer were the wrought iron chandeliers that were part of the plantation property. We loved that we were able to hang them in the tent and use real candles with them.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

Abundant centerpieces of garden roses made the room naturally fragrant… the letterpressed menu cards were slipped inside printed folders that were used for the save the dates and welcome booklets and were then caligraphied with each guests name.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

Champagne was passed as dinner was ending to accompany the cake cutting. The detail on this wedding cake was amazing, such a centerpiece of the room!

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

The after dinner lounge was an amazing hang out for the guests. We did a woven checkerboard ceiling in the wedding colors, and had the coziest gold suede furniture throughout. Custom pillows were made from that same awesome blue and white fabric.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

The couple opted for a traditional send off of a rice toss (for obviously family business reasons). We hand stamped muslin bags with the couples’ monogram, we really loved how these turned out.

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

Tara Guerard Soiree wedding by Liz Banfield

12.02.15   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal, Cakes, Event Design, Event Planning, Food and Drink, Interior Design, Reception, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Weddings | Comments >>

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

This is a great way to kick off a week! Today we are sharing part two our gold and plum party held at a ballroom in downtown Charleston, SC. As you can see the space overlooks the Charleston Harbor, so we had to take advantage of that and create lounge seating for guests to enjoy the amazing view.

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

Gold Rush roses and metallic leaves dotted lush arrangements scattered throughout the reception.

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

Since the couple were from Charleston, we used local street names for the table names. Tables dressed in gold from the suede linens, to the “tree” centerpieces welcomed guests for dinner. Each guest was gifted a box of macaroons in the coordinating wedding colors.

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

The amazing Jim Smeal knocked it out of the park with this cake! Adorned with designs in metallic gold and handmade flowers, real peonies separated the alternating round and square layers which smelled divine!

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

The dining room by candlelight. We carpeted and draped the expansive room which gave it the most cozy atmosphere. The girls in the office and I have always talked about the photos from this wedding just didn’t do it justice. The way the room glowed and felt that evening was one that will always stick out in doing over 600+ weddings!

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

Keeping guests comfortable and taking care of them is always important to me and is something I feel Soiree is known for… We had large baskets of flip flops and pashminas for guests dancing or enjoying the evening out overlooking the water.

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

Enormous drum shades covered in the perfect plum satin provided the ambient lighting we like to create at our events. Since being inside a building where the footprint already existed, we had to squeeze a cocktail hour, seated dinner and reception for 300+ AND a secret to be revealed later after party. We weren’t able to do dinner and dancing in separate rooms as we typically, so this was the solution to our space problems!

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

The Bride, whose nickname is “Lawdy” is a big fan of local Firefly sweet tea vodka. So, the perfect signature cocktail was born- Firefly over ice w/ a squeeze of lemon- the Lawdy Toddie!

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

As a focal point in the space, the expansive bar we built worked for cocktail hour before dinner as well as for the reception after dinner, and the secret late night after party. And provided a great hangout spot for guests taking a break and refreshing their cocktail…

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

We’ve all seen the sparkler send off (it still rocks in photos!), but we always try to do something to punch it up a bit… Custom metallic gold logo printed matchbooks gave guests a little something to toss in the purse or pockets at the end of the evening..

Tara Guerard Soiree by Liz Banfield

With two little ones in their family now, I think it’s safe to say, they lived Happily Ever After…

11.09.15   |   TARA GUÉRARD
Bridal, Bridal Style, Cakes, Charleston, Event Design, Event Planning, Flowers, Food and Drink, Reception, Stationery, Invitations and Pretty Papers, The Lettered Olive, Uncategorized | Comments >>