I love working on my close friends weddings, because all the time and energy I put into it, is manifested with a little more heart and soul. When my college roommate and BFF, Ashley told me she is not passionate about anything in life but the Lakers, her family, and Jeff, it was no surprise when she revealed her wedding theme would most definitely be oriented around NBA team, The Los Angeles Lakers. {And yes, I’m behind on this post, but it’s Lakers Season now…so it’s relevant.}

The other bridesmaids and I tried to convince her to save the casual sports theme for the bridal shower {Check out our Casino Couture Shower we threw for her instead} but she was adamant about a Purple & Gold Championship Lakers Wedding to the fullest. They decided on a combined Lakers + Ravens Sports themed wedding, which highlighted the commonality between both the teams and them. Half the table number photographs were at the Ravens Stadium in Baltimore, and half were taken in Lakers jersey’s in the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

So we were posed with the challenge to create a Lakers and Ravens inspired, Purple & Gold, Indian-esque -but-modern Wedding Invitation set and corresponding stationery, while still being elegantly chic. Last time I went to a Lakers game, I wore Nike’s, distressed jeans, hoop earrings, and a jersey…so far from elegantly chic. It was a challenge we happily accepted.

First, we had to modify the traditional purple & gold color palette associated with the Lakers. We opted for a deep plum and a antique gold with a pearl gold, and Topaz Swarovski Crystals. Once the colors were set, coming up with a design that embodied both their tastes, vision, and aesthetic was our next task. I think it worked out well, because we built a cohesive set with the invitations, labels, program booklets, water bottle labels, escort cards, and food label tags.

And that’s when I thought of one of my favorite ad campaigns. The NBA in the US promoted the 2008 Playoffs and Finals with an epic tagline: “There Can Only Be One.”  This led to an integrated advertising campaign involving interactive, print and film components. The campaign, featuring two players at a time, {Shaq & Kobe below} promoted basketball games on NBA, TNT, ESPN and ABC, connecting with fans online at www.nba.com/therecanonlybeone where users were allowed to submit their own.

It was brilliant. It was timeless.

And while all of this seems so far removed from Paper, Daydreams, and…Weddings… this was actually the inspiration for all of the above for the beautiful couple, Ashley & Jeff. I’ve never met  any couple like Ashley and Jeff. They’re equally complimentary and compassionate, and just like the tagline, there can only be one…like them. They’re brilliant. They’re timeless.

The Escort Cards inspired by  Sporting Event Tickets {read: Lakers Tickets} with the inspirational tagline for the couple.

The creative, clever, and custom table numbers photographed at both the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and the Ravens Stadium in Maryland.

The breathtaking bride Ashley, with her beautiful twin sister, Anisha.

There Can Only Be One.

I remember when my parents used to take us on our annual family trips to Vegas every winter break to eat, shop, and play at Circus Circus. Not exactly sure why, as Vegas was never rated ‘G‘– but for whatever reason, I always had a Great time. However, Gone are the days that Vegas could ever be credited as a “Family Fun Zone.” Vegas can be rated many things, but it’s definitely closer on the ‘R‘ scale, than ‘G‘.
Let’s be Real.
We live in the era of ‘The Hangover,‘ {I’m slightly in love with Bradley Cooper, so I’m OK with this era} where partying and forgetting one’s problems are glorified.

Needless to say, when Monte Carlo re-strategized their branding and ad campaign back in 2009, I was totally impressed. David & Goliath — The Creative Agency behind this masterpiece, did an incredible job at painting you perfect pictures of scandals, glamour, and luxury… all without the pretense. {Sorta}
Using French-{ish} words in a phonetic breakdown with appropriately inappropriate imagery, the result was exactly “Unpretentiously Luxurious.”

I loved the series of questionable scenes and scenarios that one expects to find in Vegas. In this case, in Monte Carlo. It was perfect. This IS what Vegas is about.

I was inspired by this campaign to mimic the unpretentiously luxurious lifestyle to create T-Shirts for Sanna’s Bachelorette trip in Vegas. I thought it would be cooler to have everyone’s shirts have a different phrase, like ‘Tray-Sheek,’ ‘Bon App A Teet’…but “Duh Botch Or Ee’ stuck.
Not sure if it resonated, or if many understood it — but the artist in me can’t do anything without intention and a deeper meaning, blah-blah. I at least hope it initiated interesting conversations. And I really hope their weekend was full of… debauchery. =]

We were so excited to work on the logo and branding concept for Rubina’s Cake Shoppe! {revamp from her shop previously known as “Rubina’s Cakes.”}

After confirming the color palette of a rose pink and chocolate brown, we thought we’d add a touch of a modern-artistic-painterly look. We initially had the logo just include the hand-drawn swirl on top, so it would look like a somewhat abstracted cupcake top, but without the bottom wrapper, it could have easily been mistaken for a ice cream sundae…We obviously added the bottom wrapper extend from her shop name. The polka-dots were a no-brainer. A little mod, a little girly, and totally trendy…and voila, Rubina’s Cake Shop relaunch had begun.

I’m really behind on posting these pictures that her and her hubby so graciously sent over, so my apologies on the delay!

Rubina was a featured vendor showcasing at the “3rd Annual Valentine Romance “Sneak Peek” Oscar® Gifting Party” in Beverly Hills, this past February!

With the event styling by Hello Kismet Events, PaperDaydream designs, and the beautifully delicious Cake Truffles and Fabulously Sculpted cakes by Rubina, I’d say the event looked like a success. Below is the gorgeous Shop Owner and Pastry Chef herself with a few of Hollywood’s familiar faces, including Kevin Eubanks from The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Vivica A. Fox {Kill Bill, Booty Call}, and Kiowa Gordon of Twilight: New Moon & Twilight: Eclipse. Everyone loved how amazing her cakes were, Oscar Nuñez from the hit show The Office even commissioned her to create his wedding cake!

Feel free to contact her to sweeten up your day, and your next event.

Oh baby, baby. Are you ready for some sereni-tea, beau-tea, and a par-tea?! Whilst trying to paint you a hyperbolic picture with my corny play on words, we realize that these probably are not the best pictures/photographs for it, but for now, they’ll do.

Chocolate-Brown-&-Mint-Green-Polka.Dot-Whimsy-Adult-Adorable-Baby-Chic Tea menus, favor tags, place mats, and seating name cards were designed for Nadia’s Baby Shower hosted at Alice’s Tea Cup in NYC.

The menus were obviously inspired by an actual tea bag. A little mix of traditional with original, we thought we’d make the entire menu card a “tea-bag.” Unfortunately, dipping it in hot water would only turn it to mush instead of whipping up some mint tea. Speaking of, that sounds really good right about now…so, while I go make some mint tea for myself…y’all can enjoy the par-tea.

Ciao!

xoxo.

Imagine a female version of Ocean’s 11– Seriously. A Team of 11 of Ashley’s Ace’s forwent planning a casino robbery in lieu of planning a casino shower. The end result: A lil’ Casino Royale, a lil’ Romance, and a lot of Sexy. Equipped with maps, spreadsheets, meetings and teams — we practically could have made our own movie! But, somehow I think the lack of Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon’s star prowess would not help our cause. Anyways…

I’m no gambler, but I went all in with the idea I had for the invitation. After crap shooting a bunch of “blah” ideas, I decided to keep it simple: 4 Aces for Ashley. Each card listed different information for the shower details. The cards were printed double sided with 1/4 in. rounded edges, and a Red Garnite & Charcoal Gray Swarovski Crystal on the 1st Card.

That made it easy and clear to pave the way for the rest of the design elements! A Red, black, and White color palette theme was kinda default chosen for us going off of the Card Suites and shapes.

The water bottle labels had 4 different designs; One for each card suite shape — Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, & Clubs.

When we went flower shopping, we found black flowers! Love. We paired white hydrangeas with Chocolate Cosmos, Red Roses and Curly Willow. Ashley’s fabulous twin sister, elder sister and BFF’s took care of the food and the gorgeous cake! Our other A-Team member/BFF took care of the games…It was a fabulous calloborative A-Team effort.

Perhaps it was divine intervention, or just a gift from the gods – but what ever the case,  Miss Natasha was well deserving of this Greek Goddess {All White & Gold Err-thing} Bridal Shower.  A Bridal Shower that came straight from Mt. Olympus, was totally  fitting for the well-traveled bride, whose favorite vacay spot is Greece {Also their honeymoon destination}.

We are SO excited to be featured in the Winter 2011 Anniversary Edition of South Asian Bride Magazine! We teamed up with the creative forces behind 2Create Design Studio to create this Winter Wonderland Luxe tablescape. We designed the full suite menus, favor tags, table numbers, escort cards, and invitations for this fabulous Wedding shoot at the beautiful Island Hotel in Newport Beach, CA. Saman at 2Create Design Studio did an AMAZING job with everything, and we love how beautifully everything turned out – but then again everything always does with them. Also, the photography is nothing short of breathtaking, no? Aman at Samson Productions did an AMAZING job with the photography. Love!

xoxo,

PD

Other participating vendors that contributed to the awesomeness: Just a Bite Cake Pops {Cake Pop Favors} | 3D Sounds Lighting | BTB Events | WildFlower Linen

Do you remember when we had to bring Valentine Cards and candy for EVERYONE in our class back in elementary school? Just to ensure no one would feel left out… Such a considerate thing to do! What I remember the most about the cards was that they were all so ridiculously cheesy. =] Loved how they were themed around our favorite TV shows, super heroes and random other cheesy things. So to pay homage to ‘back in the days’ and to tribute all the little ones out there {Elementary school and younger!} here’s a Throwback Valentine just for Choo…You!

By the way – The ONLY reason I even did this thing was because my co-worker came up with the hilariously clever copy that he heard from The Simpson’s, for this after we worked on the Blu-ray menus for Chuggington: Let’s Ride The Rails! Perfect pairing.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

xoxo,

PD

When the beautiful, intelligent, & humble Komal B. was getting married — her beautiful, intelligent & humble sister came to PaperDaydream for help. We were more than happy to.

Since Neetu B. {her sister} knew she wanted a chocolate brown and blue color scheme, with a “Naughty & Nice/Sugar & Spice” theme –  thoughts for chocolate cupcakes as favors instantly popped in my head. {Though, we went with red velvet instead – it has sugar AND spice…kinda} As for the “naughty” part, she wanted a “Charlie’s Angel-esque” look for matching wife-beaters for the girls to wear out partying. So instead of doing the cliche Charlie’s Angels silhouette of the 3 girls pointing as if their hands are pistols, I opted for 5 girls…without the air-guns.  I mean, 5 hot girls are better than 3.

They say you should never mix business with pleasure, but when it came to do business with Tara and Jorge on their full wedding stationery suite, it was impossible for it to not be a pleasure. They were the ideal client to have! Clear on their general direction, while still allowing us creative control. After having her color theme already selected – coming up with the design and style for her custom chocolate brown and red rose colored invitations, favor tags, seating charts, and table names was the next step. Tara wanted swirls and bling, while Jorge wanted clean and simple. We compromised.

When Halloween is Haute…it’s destined to be a Happy one. When 2Create Design Studio asked PaperDaydream to design menu tags for their haunted Halloween party, we took it upon ourselves to make it Haute.

Royal Skulls and Spiders in a wispy web, was the themed look we created.  A simple black, white, red and orange was used to invoke the traditional colors of the Halloween spirit.

We’d say this is eye-candy. Wouldn’t you?

Happy Halloween!

xoxo,

Paperdaydream