Boo!!! It's Halloween month and we are soo excited! We love holidays around here, any excuse to celebrate! Speaking of celebrating.... The wonderful Hostess with the Mostess has some uber exciting Halloween party ideas. Just check out the Spooky Chic party theme with deep orange roses, and toxic cocktails; Or the Ghoul's Night with it's trendy black and pink decor. It's diva, diva, diva! Hot pink skulls, and rhinestones everywhere! They are to DIE for! Muahh aahhh haaa aaahh!!



Browse around and enjoy her "spine tingling" blog, it's a feast for the eyes. We can't get enough!

Photo Credits: Hostess with the Mostess

Remember our "In the Works: Kari and Christopher" post? Well, we have been mentioned on Kari's blog, Kee To Your Heart. It was so great to find out that she loves us, she really does!!! Clients like Kari make us love what we do even more!

Thanks Kari for posting about little ol us!!!

This one's for the guys. Ladies we know you should be the focus on your special day, but where would you be without that strapping young fellow next to you!? Let's face it, he is in the pictures too. Read below and forward to your favorite boy!

Guys!
Grooming for your special day is extremely important. While everybody waits for the bride to make her big debut, what do they do? They stare at you! Why not give them a sexy new face to stare at, we are talking shaving, plucking, moisturizing, shellacking, drilling, stuccoing, and anything else you can think of to make your face glow (a manly glow of course). Like a beer bottle in the moonlight.

Let's not forget the ever-important haircut and if you are ready to go where some do not dare......THE MANICURE! Yes, we went there. There is nothing sexy about the splinters you got while trying to build that stand to hold your new 42 inch plasma TV. All of these minor details help make the day extra special, not only for you but for your bride-to-be. We found a great website that breaks it down for you in a "man-ish" way: www.thegroomguide.com. Read below for some of the excerpts from the article on grooming for the big day and tell us what you think. It's a rather fun read.


“Never outshine the master”.
Words to live by, especially when it comes to your wedding. Yes, the Bride-to-Be is the “master”. The Bride is the focus, center of attention, and the one everybody stares at when you’re both walking down the aisle. This is her special day, but every Queen needs a King. It’s time for a crash course in looking like you belong on that throne. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about looking your very best without looking like you spent more time then the Bride-to-Be.

Nail it down
Look at your fingers. Look carefully. How long are your nails? Do you see pieces of donut inside your fingernails? Would your nails set off store alarms? Does it look like a pair of hungry hyenas gnawed on them all night? It may be time to visit the local nail salon.
Yes, we know. It makes you look like a Nancy Boy. And the truth is, it probably will. But there is a light (a rather dim light) at the end of this tunnel. When your wife or everybody at the whole frickin wedding holds your hands, they will not be repulsed, and they certainly won’t pick up any coodies. Somebody once said that,”God is in the details”. Let those words speak for themselves. In terms of your body, this is like icing on the cake. It makes everything look a hell of a lot better. It shows everybody that you’re a man of class, and you enjoy the finer things in life...like hygiene for example. Plus, the “hand in hand” pictures will live for forever!

Visit The Groom Guide for more tips on grooming for the groom. Hope this helps.


Resource: www.thegroomguide.com

I think we need clear some things up. There are some rumors that need to be addressed. Ok, so they aren't rumors but they still need to be fixed.

Guess What? Unique Designs will be at the 2008 Florida Bridal Expo!!!! Presented by Solutions Bridal, the expo will be held at The Hilton University of Florida on Sunday, September 7th. Your favorite invitation studio will be at Booth #27!

Ok...I, like most girlie girls, LOVE fashion. Especially Couture fashion! So as I was doing my daily run through on my google reader I came across a post on What Junebug Loves about wedding fashion inspiration by Versace. I could have melted! It was AMAZING! Even the sketches are fierce! These dresses are like artwork. I can't even begin to tell you. You have to see it for yourself. Did I mention these dresses are amazing?!

I mean besides the fact that they are visually STUNNING...the amount of work that had to have gone into creating these masterpieces is mind boggling! It's very contemporary, chic and edgy with vibrant colors such as acid green, lilac, pearl grey and shocking blue. I love it! There are even more on fashionologie.com. Ok, I'm gonna stop talking now so you can go see all the fabulosity for yourself.

We have been truly blessed to be a part of the Let's Eat Cake fundraiser that we mentioned last week. This great competition was created by the incredible Melissa Margarita-DiStefano (aka Maria) of Masterpiece Weddings. The goal is to help cure cancer with cake, and that is exactly what we are going to do!

There is so much to look forward to and best of all it's for a great cause! So, if you are interested in donating or just want to know more, email or call Melissa (melissa@masterpieceweddings.com 352-317-3222) And be sure to check out the Let's Eat Cake blog for updates.

Curing Cancer with Cake...Sounds sweet to me!

We really would love some cake right now! Well, since it is our cake day, we just had to post a few more beautiful cake pictures from KB's Kake Kreations.




Photo Credits:
First Photo by Powers Photography
Second and Third Photos by Caroline Johnson Photography

We are calling today "The Unique Designs National Cake Day"! Why you may ask? Well, because of our love affair with these sweet creations! As we have previously mentioned we LOVE cake! Any cake. Super moist. Maybe with a rum based wash. Rolled fondant. Royal Icing. YUM!!!

Today we wanted to feature one of our new friends, It's the wonderful ladies over at KB'S Kake Kreations! KB's Kake Kreations was selected as a 2008 Pick for The Knot Best of Weddings magazine and rightfully so! Not only did they make the cut for the magazine, the cake below was featured inside the pages of this prestigious issue. Their cakes are A-mazing! Kathy is a cake genious! A Godess of the fondant, if you will! Just browse their gallery and get ready to crave some cake!


You can always vist them online at www.kakekreations.net to drool over more sugar than is humanly healthy! Ooohhh, they also have a delicious blog called Happy Tiers, browse around and make sure to leave a comment!

Photo Credits:
First and Second Photo by Caroline Johnson Photography
Third Photo by Powers Photography

Please forgive us for the use of all the exclamations on this post, but we are sooo excited!

WOW! We just wanted to post a quick thank you to everybody that helped us this weekend for our first photo shoot! It never would've happened without the great people that came together with the same vision and determination to see an amazing end result. It rocked!

Paul (Footstone Photography) - You are amazing! You exceeded our expectations. We really appreciate all your hard work. It was great to see how you paced when you were inspired or you had a new idea. Thank you for all your work, ideas, and patience!! You are the awesomest!

Britt (Solutions Bridal) - Stylist, dressing room assistant, hair retoucher, idea cultivator, and so much more. Thank you for everything. You really helped us in a HUGE way. You were there till the very end and had awesome ideas, a great personality and were great to talk to during down time. We owe you big time!!

Danny & Nicole - The make up geniuses!! You guys killed with the make-up. It was pretty much amazing!!!!! Nobody, and we mean NOBODY could have done it better. The looks were pulled right out of our heads and exceeded anything we could have imagined. Thank you so much!!!

Jennifer - The hair diva! We loved every single strand of hair! You rocked out those looks. Honestly, the hair was super important for this shoot, and it was WOW!!! You are hired! Thank you sooo much.

Lorena - Crazy Beautiful! You were a great model, you took direction and critique. You made each pose and look your own, thank you so much for being a part of this! Cant wait to see your face all over Gainesville you big star! Thank You!

Never Say Never
We cant wait for everybody to see pictures of all our hard work! It was an amazing experience how this came together and we hope our work speaks for itself. Kenya and I really stressed about this but when the day started and all the help arrived it was a breeze and we enjoyed every second of it! You just have to see these photos that Paul took. It is brilliant!!

Thanks so much for all the help you guys!

Sincerely,
Giovanni & Kenya

"Use your experiences to build character" Helen Keller

Impossible is nothing.

“While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.”

Yeah, the sub-heading for this tip might sound a bit like a hyperbole. But Keller and the people around her really pulled something amazing off. Becoming such an inspirational figure from such a bad starting point at that point in history couldn’t have been easy at all. It was probably something no one expected.

And isn’t life and history full of those things? People standing in groups of various kinds saying that things can’t be done. And then someone goes for it and does it anyway.

The opinions of others can be helpful. But to take them as fact could be very limiting. Perhaps all of them don’t say things because they know much of those things but because they are stuck in a pessimistic perspective. Or want to cling to the safety they have created within.

We pride ourselves on being different, risk takers, being Unique! Hellen Keller would have fit like a glove with us here at Unique Designs. She was a woman who insisted on breaking stereotypes and challenges that were put in her path. We could only imagine what invitations for such an extrordinary mind would have looked like!

Sometimes a person needs to hear encouraging words to keep keeping on, and that is exactly how we have continued to build this company. Through support from friends, family, colleagues, and some fellow business owners who believed and continue to believe. We are trully honored by the positive feedback we have received in our short time and look forward to making everybody proud(er)! For the encouraging words, and positivity we are humbled.

Thank You from the bottom of our little hearts.

Love, Unique

Ok, so we just found these incredible cupcake pops and we want some really bad!! These are the creations of a company called Bakerella. They are so adorable and would go great with the new candy buffet trend. On her blog bakerella shows how to make these tasty treats from beginning to end and then decorate to fit your needs. These delicious little pops would be great to have on display for any event, they can be matched to the colors and would make a great conversation candy. We really think these would be a knock out! If you happen to try making these please send us some.... We are cake hogs! Who doesn't like cake!?

P.S.
Speaking of CAKE! We are extremely fortunate to be a part of a great event that is taking place on February 17th 2009 called Let's Eat Cake. This event is the brainchild of our friends over at Masterpiece Weddings and will benefit the St. Judes Childrens Hospital! This is truly an event not to be missed. Honestly, who doesn't want to go to an event to see some of the best cake designers/experts compete to benefit such a wonderful organization!!!! And you get to eat cake! C'mon!

If you would like to donate or learn more about this wonderful event, visit the Let's Eat Cake Blog. Check back next week to read a full blog post on this event, with news on celebrity judges, prizes and how YOU can help!

We have found one of our favorite inspiration blogs! It's called Snippet & Ink. Kathryn does a wonderful job at gathering images from around the web to demonstrate new and old color concepts in a vivid new way.


The blog consists of inspiration boards, real weddings, giveaways, and many more helpful little articles, but our favorite thing for sure is the HUGE library of color concepts and boards. We highly recommend this blog and even if you already have your colors picked out, just do a little search on the blog and we are sure it will bring new inspiration!! Promise!

8 day sale begins today! Just because it's 08/08/08 we decided to play with the number 8. For the next 8 days we are offering 8% off of your entire order. If you wish to take advantage of this great offer call us at 352.376.0598 or visit us online at www.daretobunique.com.

Have a GREAT weekend everybody!

Guess what? 2 of our brides are getting married tomorrow!

Zully and Josh placed an order with us a few weeks ago for place cards. Zully is a creative bride who has done most of the work herself, including her beautiful invitations in aquamarine with cocoa accents. Her intimate affair is very classy with a contemporary flair. She chose a metallic aquamarine with a strip of cocoa for the bottom of the card for added texture and color. We added her pre-designed monogram in a chocolate ink with the names of each guest in a contrasting font and a swirl design on the upper corners for a little flair. We are sure her attention to detail will be prominent at tomorrows nuptials.

Now, Letica and Ronnie! We have been working with them for several months now. They ordered their invitations from us and just recently came back to have us design coordinating reception programs. Letica and Ronnie's colors were chocolate, champagne and cream. Together with Letica we designed a tea length program printed on ecru linen card stock then layered with a metallic chocolate backing and finished off with a Swarovski Crystal in a golden champagne. She has been waiting a very long time for this wedding and we were so honored to be a part of it!

Congratulations to both couples and may tomorrow be stress free and all that you had wished for!

We have redesigned the blog, renamed it, and reignited the fire!! Ladies and gentlemen, let us introduce "Love Unique: A Fabulous Little Blog". It is a goal of ours to communicate with a large audience in what we do and what inspires us. It's our "Hollywood Approach", Gainesville is not big enough for us, so we take to the web! We are bold and have tons to say, unfortunately {at this time} we do not have paparazzi following us and reporting any news. So what do we do? We do it ourselves! This blog is our chance to show the world a little part of us, our imagination, our thoughts and most important our love for what we do.

We really enjoy the art of conversation, and this blog allows us to converse openly. Actually, we encourage conversation, comments, questions, ideas, feedback, thoughts, opinions, likes, dislikes, pretty much anything! Let's talk!

The Name:
A letter is a form of written communication that has been replaced by the fascination with immediate gratification, I mean honestly, why write when you can type and hit "send"? The name is a homage to how a formal letter would be signed to a dear friend or a loved one. It is a stamp of a dedication made to another person. The word love is described as a profoundly tender, passionate affection and is a perfect symbolism for what this blog will be about. As cheesy as it sounds we love invitations, paper and heck even tape! We have bold ideas and challenge ourselves with each order to out-do the previous. We honestly love to do what we do, it's not just a passion anymore, it's a mission. Our mission: To show the world what we can do! We are aimed at Gainesville right now and want to inject uniqueness into the bland "catalog" choices out there.

The Slogan:
By "little" we mean BIG! What we wish is to eventually update the blog daily with info on what we are doing, what we have planned, what websites we love at the moment, inspiration ideas and any fabulous little thing that gets our attention!


The Features:
You can click on our logo on the right side of the page to visit the Unique Designs homepage or navigate through the top tabs. On the right you can see a list of our favorite websites and friends. As a new addition we have added a list of our fave blogs with a small preview of the newest posts on each blog. Just click on any blog name and go straight to that blog. Check them out, you will see why we love them!

So, by the authority vested in us by the many thrilled and happy customers in the town of Gainesville, we are pleased to introduce: Love Unique!

Have you ever met people that are the same "wave length" as you? We have been very fortunate to meet a few people on our wave length in the last several months. One of these is Paul. Paul and his brother have a photography and graphic design studio by the name of Footstone in the Haile Village Center. Paul is super cool, with his laid back demeanor. He takes amazing pictures with an undeniable modern approach which really stands out to us.


So this is how it happened... We walked in to introduce ourselves, we shook hands, said what we do, blah, blah, blah, and that was it! Instant connection, it' s like he understood exactly what we were trying to accomplish with our company. It was magic! Paul has a very {unique} eye and we really admire his photography. In fact we have a very exciting project in the works with Footstone Photography! We are doing our very first collection of invitations! We are extremely happy with the end result and are doing a high-end photo shoot in 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS!! We will be unveiling the new collection on September 7th, online and in person at an event right here in Gainesville! {more info on that soon!}

Paul was involved in every detail of this photo shoot, his attention to detail and profesionalism have made the planning a breeze, which I am sure is how you would like the photography for your special day to be handled. We are extremely lucky to have met Paul and his brother, we would recommend their services to anybody that is looking for stunning photos and graphic design work! Visit them online at www.footstone.com to see for yourself.