Spring Wedding: Cherry Blossom Chic

The springtime wedding of my favorite clients of all time - a bright, fun, gorgeous lady and her sharp, funny, nice British guy. Plus, a tutorial on how to transform a plain-jane book into a custom journal, album or guestbook like the one I made for them (below). 

clockwise: 1 programs with luminescent blush pink cover with monogram and ivory interior; 2, 9 All Souls Episcopal Church, Washington DC; 3, 7, 10 cherry blossom cake with buttercream-lined fondant; 4 minimal cherry blossom, pink peonies, celadon green viburnum arrangements, 6 custom made guestbook in taupe with modern blush pink satin ribbon accent and monogram book plate; 8 escort card favors of dark chocolate squares

guestbook/journal how-to
1. Buy these supplies from craft, paper, book stores:
plain journal, book cloth, large sheet of book cloth or decorative paper in different but coordinating color, letter size paper in coordinating color, spool of satin ribbon, bookbinding glue, spray glue
2. Play with the ribbon on the journal cover to create a design. Photograph the design. Cut ribbon into corresponding lengths, with enough to tuck each strip over the back of the cover by 0.5" at each end.
3. Measure out side of book from cover to cover. Add 1.5" to that measurement. Cut book cloth to that size, making sure there's enough length to cover book when closed.
4. Coat the back of the book cloth with bookbinding glue and carefully cover the front and back of journal. Press and smooth with a ruler. Cut 2 slits aligned with center binding along top and bottom. Shorten the resulting tabs, coat back with glue, and tuck into the center binding. Cut some of the cloth at the corners so the sides of the cloth barely overlap (for a smooth, almost flat corner). Fold over and glue the sides of the book cloth onto the back of the cover. Press and smooth.
5. Measure the inside of book 1/4" from edges of cover all the way to the edges of top page.  Cut coordinating book cloth/sheet to that size, ensuring enough length to go into binding crease and allow book to close easily.
6. Place the ribbon strips on the front cover according to your design, wrap around the back/inside of the front cover and glue in place.
7. Use either spray glue or bookbinding glue on the back of the cloth/paper and carefully cover the inside of the front cover and top page. Press and smooth. Because you measured from 1/4" from the cover's edges, this lining will cover the edges of the main book cloth (and the ribbon edges) while leaving a 1/4" margin on the back of the front cover but no margin on the top page.
8. Design your monogram, print out on letter-sized paper, cut, and glue onto top page.

l  i  v  e    e  x  u  b  e  r  a  n  t  l  y™

stationery: natalieS@calliope; photos: amydeputy