We are super excited for our friend and fellow party gal Courtney Dial of Pizzazzerie who has been working on her first book since last summer. Her cookbook titled, Push Up Pops is off to print and will be released in the spring, so stay tuned for more information on purchasing it!
Push Up Pops are a hot new trend in the party world and a wonderful new way to serve sweet treats from pies to frozen desserts. The book is FULL of recipes for serving up these yummies.
Leave your personalized seal using these clever, funny and stylish return address labels and gift stickers on your mail and gifts! Available for ordering in our store now from demby+solomon and also seen in O Magazine. Visit our store to select your custom return address labels or gift stickers. You can get 24 gift stickers for only $22! What a deal! You can purchase 150 return address labels for only $40 and they will even let you split a set of return address labels of the same shape into two different designs for no extra charge, so get 75 for you and 75 for a friend! (Other quantities are available).
Plan ahead and purchase holiday labels for your cards and gift stickers to use when wrapping your presents this year. Many more designs to choose from in our store, you may also view the designs on their website too.
P.S. I almost forgot, these cool labels are also scratch and water resistant! How functional!
We are thrilled to share this feature about one of our favorite local photographers, PW Photography, with our brides and readers! We hope that you all enjoy learning more about what makes them unique and seeing some of their work.
Drawing upon artistic styles that are both complimentary and diverse, husband and wife photography team, Pete and Liliana Wright, have become sought after for their edgy style and intuitive ability to capture clients’ personalities through photographs. During his 24 years of working as a photographer, Pete has earned the degrees of Master Photographer and Photographic Craftsman from Professional Photographers of America. He also received Photographer of The Year honors from PPA (Professional Photographers of America) in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 and has been awarded multiple Fuji and Kodak Gallery Awards, as well as multiple images selected for the international PPA Loan Collection. Liliana has earned the degree of Photographic Craftsman and has been in the photography industry since 2003. Pete and Liliana have been featured in several national publications and are fortunate to have lectured to other photographers around the world about their passion for photography and photographed people from various cultures.
Pete and Liliana are based in Richmond, VA and their work is a reflection of their passion for life and family. They enjoy all aspects of photography including maternity portraits, infant portraits,and Senior portraits. As Richmond wedding photographers, they are also known for their unique and modern wedding photography style.
Why did you decide to become a wedding photographer? I grew up in photography, as the son of an amateur photographer and having worked as a photographer since I was in high school, it was only natural that I would eventually start photographing weddings. I started doing weddings in addition to the corporate and editorial work in 1997 and was fortunate to be joined by my lovely and talented wife, Liliana, in 2003 when she decided it was time for a career change. Liliana jumped in feet first and quickly became an extremely accomplished and talented photographer. We knew that photographing weddings was a great fit for us and our different styles were actually very complimentary.
Why do you think brides should book a professional photographer versus asking one of their friends or family to do it? First, I think a close friend or family member would much rather enjoy being a guest and celebrating your wedding with you. Secondly, and more importantly though, you shouldn’t trust something as monumental as your wedding and the documentation of it to someone that is not a professional. While it may save you a few dollars and allow you to spend more on other things for your wedding, what good is it to do that if at the end of the day you had a photographer that did not have the competence to capture those things that you invested that extra money on? If you are unhappy with the results, it could result in hard feelings with that friend or family member. Hiring a professional in each of the vendor positions of your wedding can be crucial in the flow, timing, and success of your event.
What is the number one question brides should ask when hiring a wedding photographer? We hear about all the questions brides should ask like “will you actually be the one photographing my wedding” or “do I get a disc with my images”. The main question should be “are you licensed and insured?” This is a question that often never even gets considered. This question right off the bat weeds out a lot of the weekenders that have little or no experience photographing weddings and do not do photography as the bulk or all of their annual income and have the necessary wedding experience. License and insurance are two things that are important for two big reasons. One, if they are operating without a license, then they are operating illegally by not reporting all of their income for tax purposes and once they get caught not doing so, you may end up without a photographer after having paid for one. Be sure that you have hired a competent photographer that is likely to show up and do what you paid them to do. Two, if your photographer is not insured and you or one of your guests gets hurt as a result of a piece of their gear, you will not be covered and are likely in for some lawsuits to get your expenses covered. Any professional photographer should be operating with liability insurance to protect people that could be potentially harmed by a piece of their gear and also equipment insurance to cover all of their gear in the event that it is broken. A caveat to this is that you should always ask your photographer is they bring back up gear. If they drop and break a camera or if they have equipment failure you want to have the peace of mind in knowing that they are capable of grabbing a second camera to continue shooting without missing key moments in your day.
Can you share with us some of your favorite shots over the years? My favorite wedding images are not the ones that our studio is known for. We love to capture brides and grooms along with their bridal party in fun and unique locations in creative new ways, but the truth is our favorite images are the ones that we capture of genuine emotion filled moments. The heart felt love we see during a father-daughter dance or during the vows are so emotional for us and to be asked to be a part of those moments is so special to us. It often evokes the same emotions in us while taking the image as the emotions that we are capturing. Fortunately, we get to hide behind our camera so people can’t tell sometimes that we are getting choked up. As parents, we imagine experiencing our children’s wedding day and know how important those memories are to the families.
What are some of your favorite wedding trends popping up this season? We LOVE event lighting!!! We have been fortunate to work several times with Blue Steel Lighting Design and we can honestly say that in 14+ years of photographing weddings, nothing transforms a venue the way lighting does. The splash of color and drama that are added to a room are something that is unmatched and can take an ordinary wedding to extraordinary!
View some of PW Photography’s favorite shots below:
Contact PW Photography to discuss your wedding photography, engagement or children’s portrait session…and be sure to tell them we sent you!
PW Photography
11341 Business Center Drive, Suite A
Richmond, VA 23236
804-560-8800
Visit their website: www.pwphotography.com
Read their blog: www.pwphotography.com/blog
Find them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PeteWrightPhotography
Find them on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/PWPhotography
We’re pleased to announce that you can still find signed, hardback editions from the 2010 original release of Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt’s book Finding Thalhimers for sale at our store. If you’re from Central Virginia, this book probably needs no explanation. But for the rest of our readers, here’s the scoop on this book recounting a wonderful piece of our history.
Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt represents the sixth generation of Thalhimers living in America. For five generations, her family managed Thalhimers department stores, headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, for 150 years. At its height, the store had 26 locations across Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Since 2001, Elizabeth has been an entrepreneur in her own right. She runs freelance naming consultancy Smartt Ideas. She graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and earned a Masters degree in English from Virginia Commonwealth University. She currently lives with her husband Ryan, daughter Lyla, and pug Deacon in Richmond, Virginia.
Finding Thalhimers traces the author’s obsessive quest to find the true story of her father’s family and their beloved department store. Riveting and poignant, this multigenerational narrative weaves together history, biography, and memoir into an unforgettable portrait of an ambitious American retail family.
Guided by unwavering principles and visionary leadership, the Thalhimers store watched American history unfold, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, from the arrival of ready-to-wear fashions to the rise of “big box” stores. Five generations of Thalhimers grew the business from a modest dry goods shop into a twenty-six-store chain. When the author reached the age of sixteen, the empire began to crumble when her father lost his job and the store became Hechts, and now Macys. The wrecking ball hit Thalhimers’ headquarters on her grandfather’s 90th birthday, striking an emotional chord for the author and her family.
Intertwining a genealogical treasure hunt with a powerful and unusual family history, Finding Thalhimers tells a true story both celebratory and bittersweet. Its words packed with every ounce of the author’s passion for carrying on her family’s legacy, this is a book to be embraced and treasured as much as the Thalhimers store once was.
This book would make a wonderful holiday gift for anyone who is familiar with the Thalhimers legacy. We are thrilled to still have a limited number of signed copies remaining for sale. Stop by soon to pick up a copy for yourself and those you know would enjoy!
We are officially not getting any more work done today because this is on its way to our store!
A few of our favorite Richmond, Virginia area brides will be receiving a copy with our compliments very soon…so they can swoon too.
It’s beginning to look a lot like this at our store…and we’re just getting started! Be sure to join us for our Holiday Open House Event & Sale this Friday, October 21st from 11-6 and Saturday, October 22nd from 10-4. Preview just some of our great holiday merchandise below! You can click here to get all of the details about what to bring to our open house to receive 20% off all in-stock merchandise. You can also RSVP on Facebook for the event too! A few of our other special sales this weekend will include:
- All Boxed Holiday Greeting Cards, Buy 1 Box, Get a 2nd Box Free
- All Halloween Merchandise 40% off
- All cinda b merchandise 50% off
- All PSA Stamps on sale for $30 instead of $40, plus shipping
- Spend $150 or more and receive a FREE Roland Pine Votive Candle
- All custom printed holiday cards 15% off
- Largest selection ever of gifts priced under $20!
We look forward to seeing you this weekend for these great sales!
We are so pleased to announce that we now carry stationery designer Emily Ley’s new Wedding Invitation & Stationery Album in our store. Appropriately named the Wedding Crests & Classics Collection it is an album that will wonderfully suit the taste of any southern bride! It features gorgeous classic crest designs, monograms, tradition elements and many beautiful color options. We are proud to be the exclusive location in Richmond, Virginia to showcase Emily’s newest designs.
The new album includes Save the Date Cards, Invitations, coordinating envelope liners and seals as well as Thank You Notes and stationery that even ladies who aren’t brides would love. Brides may also choose between traditional letterpress printing, new digital letterpress printing or flat printing methods.
We would love to sit down with you to show you these beautiful new designs! Please contact us to set up your appointment to view this new collection. We’ve provided a sneak preview of just a few designs in the album below.
A little bit about Emily Ley:
Emily Ley Paper is a Southern stationery design co based in Tampa, Florida. Born in 2008, ELP has grown quickly from a small custom design start-up into a fine stationery collection carried by retailers nationwide. The ELP look is clean, polished and rooted in Southern tradition. How did ELP come to be, you ask? Well, when Emily was just a pig-tailed five-year-old, she looked forward to the special notes from her Mom that sat between her turkey sandwich and juice box – in her lunch box, of course.
A good cook once said that a casserole is a blend of inspiration and what’s on hand. Beatrice Ojakangas must have had inspiration by the gallon to come up with these 500 casseroles. From a breakfast of Eggs Florentine to a dinner of Pork Chops with Apple Stuffing, soon even the most casserole-wary cook will be dishing about these delights. Yummy treats like Parmesan and Sun-Dried Tomato Quiche and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp are just right for parties. Even appetizers are reinvented in casserole form!
The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever will inspire comforting dishes and innovative feasts for any meal of the dayno matter what’s in the fridge. Beatrice Ojakangas has written over 20 cookbooks. She teaches cooking classes in her home near Duluth, Minnesota.
This great cookbook is a best seller in our store and retails for $24.95. We’ve featured a recipe from it below. Enjoy!
Wild Rice Casserole with Peppers and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
page 349, Serves 6
Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter, plus extra for the dish
½ cup chopped onion
1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
¼ cup julienned sun-dried tomatoes
1 cup wild rice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
2 cups homemade or prepared chicken broth
½ cup dry white wine or apple juice
1 cup cubed sharp Cheddar cheese
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 1 ½ quart casserole dish.
In a saucepan or skillet, melt the 1 tablespoon butter and add the onion, bell pepper, and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir and cook over medium heat for 4 minutes, or until the onion is soft but not browned. Transfer the mixture to the casserole.
Wash the rice in 3 changes of hot tap water. Add the rice to the casserole along with the Worcestershire sauce, parsley, chicken broth, and wine.
Cover and bake for 1 hour or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Stir in the cheese cubes and return to the oven just long enough for the cheese to melt, about 5 minutes.
We are so honored to be the exclusive retailer of the PaperFreckles wedding invitation line. Locally designed in Richmond, Virginia, they have a wonderful eye for creating beautiful save the dates, wedding invitations and other wedding stationery. They have recently released even more beautiful designs that we can now offer exclusively to our brides, so we had to show off a few of them!
Brides will now have the ability to select from even more beautiful paper options as well as invitation backers and envelope liners in a wide array of colors that can be used to tie in their wedding colors just beautifully. If you’re planning a wedding and would be interested in setting up an appointment at any of our locations to view the PaperFreckles line click here to schedule your appointment.
Preview some of the new PaperFreckles wedding invitation designs below:
Contact us to help you select the perfect first impression for your wedding day!
Want to send something different to the folks on your holiday card list this year?? We think so! Stop by to view these and 24 other designs of adorable holiday photo card magnets. We know everyone sticks their holiday photo cards straight onto their refrigerator, so make it easy for them and send them a photo card that is a magnet.
Starting at just $53 for 25 (other quantities available). It’s this easy:
1. Select from one of the 24 designs available. (You can even change colors at NO charge!)
2. Email us your photo.
3. Review and approve your email proof which you’ll receive in about 3 business days.
4. Wait for your holiday magnets to arrive. (In about 10 business days)
What could be easier! From now through October 22nd all holiday photo magnets are 15% off with our Early Elf Discount! Just come on by and tell us your ready to select your holiday magnet.
