Had some time to try out my new sketchbook and see how the paper handles different mediums. Here’s a few seconds of me painting a few poppies in a Cathrineholm coffee pot just for fun. I’ve been having a moment with doing studies on botanicals the past couple months.
Medium: Holbein Acryla Gouache
On: Odd Orange CMYK Hardback Sketchbook
One of the best voices in music that you’ve probably never heard of.
I spent some time working in my sketchbook over the weekend. My sketchbooks are like a journal for me; I usually sketch from current events. This little page about NYC was one of 5 spreads I completed yesterday. This was illustrated by using Copic Multiliners in Sepia for the line work and Copic markers for color.
Last night I decided to digitize the Lady Liberty part of the spread. This was illustrated in Procreate on my 12” iPad Pro.
Oh hi there! This is part of a series outlining our experiences having a destination wedding in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Here are the other articles in this series:
Vendors we used and loved
Our experience
Before we get started: the information below is based on our experience at the time of writing this article (September 2022). Before planning your own nuptials, make sure to verify current requirements to get married with the Santa Fe County Clerk’s office.
The actual process of getting married in Santa Fe was super easy. We just had to visit the Santa Fe County Clerk’s office to get our marriage license. Worth noting: when we went to get our license in July of 2022, the County Clerk’s office was operating on an appointment-only basis. We didn’t know this and just showed up. They were lovely and helped us, but asked us to make an appointment to return our license after our wedding ceremony.
Here is the short version of what to expect:
Make an appointment with the Santa Fe County Clerk’s office to apply for a marriage license. Both parties will need to be present with their photo IDs. You’ll also need to have $25 cash for the application fee.
You’ll fill out the application, provide your identification and payment to the County Clerk. They do their behind-the-scenes work and, assuming you’ve met the criteria to become legally wed in the state of New Mexico, they’ll provide you with a marriage license.
Tip: if you’re eloping, and have a quick turnaround in New Mexico, make your appointment to return your completed license while you’re there.
You get hitched! Your officiant (and two witnesses) will fill out the majority of the license.
After you are married, return the license to the County Clerk to make it official. You are not legally married until your license is filed.
Bring some cash so you can get a few certified copies if a name is changing.
That’s it!
100 Catron St, Santa Fe, NM 87504
The County Clerk’s office was easy to find. The staff members who assisted us were super friendly and helpful on each visit. They made the process really smooth and painless.
Oh hi there! When we decided to get hitched, we didn’t really know where to start. Being on the other side of things now, I wanted to share a little about our experience having a destination wedding in Santa Fe, New Mexico because it truly was the perfect experience for our little family. We are still buzzing about it nearly two months later.
I have a lot to share, so I decided to break it up a bit. This is part of a series that I’ll be posting with resources and reviews based on our experience.
If you’re like us, the second we announced our engagement, the questions started about wedding details.
Dude, we didn’t know. We literally just got engaged…slow your roll. 😂
But we knew we needed to get in gear and start planning before our friends and family took the wheel for us. Here is what we knew about what we wanted in a wedding:
Neither of us enjoys being the center of attention. No big wedding here.
We didn’t want our wedding day to be stressful.
We didn’t want to coordinate schedules or have a lot of moving pieces.
We didn’t want a lot of set-up or clean-up work, so decorations needed to be minimal.
It was important that it felt intentional and representative of our relationship.
We wanted it to be a moment in time we’d remember - special, intimate, and romantic.
We would need to throw a big ole reception afterward to celebrate with our family and friends.
Based on all of that, we quickly started talking about doing a destination wedding. It would give us the chance to choose a location and setting that felt special and romantic It would allow us to keep the ceremony small, and true to our vision, without hurting a lot of feelings.
Once that decision was tentatively made, we started talking about where we should go. We read a bunch of blogs and sites about destination weddings to get ideas. We wanted to stay within the US because our wedding date was during a busy period for us so we didn’t want to lose too much time away on traveling. We considered a beach wedding but that didn’t really feel like us — especially since my gingerness allows me to get burnt to a crisp even when I’m in the shade. 😂
Our kiddo actually threw out the idea of getting married in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We had been there last fall as a family on vacation and the entire experience was magic. We all loved our time there. When Santa Fe came up, it just clicked and felt right. It’s a city that’s important to our story as a family and a place we’ll visit frequently.
That was the hard part, right? Right?
Spoiler alert: it was not.
Once we decided on a location, we knew we’d need help planning the big day. Since we live about 10 hours away from Santa Fe, we couldn’t just pop over for the day, tour locations, meet vendors and plan the big day . Although we did make a couple trips out specifically for wedding planning, it still left us with a lot of anxiety when we were stuck making decisions remotely about one of the biggest days of our lives.
To avoid this becoming a monster of a post, I’m going to break it up into a few parts:
Beginning of series: Introduction (you are here)
Vendors we used and loved
Our experience
For the record, we used the following vendors and would recommend them without hesitation. More detailed reviews are coming but I wanted to share their info in case you’re looking to wed soon.
Our wedding would not have been possible without Jenn (and Dillen) from Wildcoast Photography. Full stop. I’ll go into more detail soon but I can’t recommend Jenn and Dillen strongly enough. We adore them.
Esther was the real deal. We knew what we didn’t want in a ceremony and Esther helped guide us to what we did want with grace. She wrote a ceremony that was intimate and poignant and very us. We adore her. You will too.
Cybele and Leda were an absolute delight to work with. We didn’t go crazy with flowers, so this was a smaller job for them. But they made us feel important and supported. Their flower arrangements were stunning.
We got hitched early in the morning on top of a mountain. By the time we had the ceremony and did pictures with the fam, we were starved. Mila’s Mesa sent a private chef and team to our AirBNB and, by the time we made it back to the house, had delicious food pouring out of the kitchen. The team decorated the tables beautifully, waited on us, kept the meal moving, and added so much to our big day. The highlight of the meal for me: our biscochito wedding cake made by MM’s pastry chef.
Located a block from all of the shops and restaurants on Canyon Road, this special house was the perfect landing zone for our family during our wedding trip. It is beautifully appointed, well-maintained, and comfortable for a group to share.
You might notice a theme with the vendors we chose: they are all small businesses owned by women. That wasn’t our intention when we started on this journey, but it definitely felt like a way to honor my mother-in-law, who we lost in 2020. She was a boss and a force of nature and so were all of the incredible humans we mentioned above.
Stay tuned! I’ll be back soon with part 2 of this series shortly.
Oh hi. I’m on the process of writing a series of posts about having a destination wedding — especially a destination wedding in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When we decided to get hitched in one of our favorite cities, it was super stressful because we didn’t know where to start. I’m going to share the lessons we learned and resources we found along the way.
Sharing is caring. ❤️
While I wrap that up, I thought I’d share this sketch from tonight. I took a break from another illustration project I’m working on and played around in my digital sketchbook.
I have a birthday coming up soon. The hubby surprised me with a trip to NYC for the two of us. We’re going to see Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway before it closes. We have tickets to see SIX too, which has one of my all time favorite songs in it (Heart of Stone). I’m really looking forward to being back in one of my favorite cities on earth and having time to take it all in with my favorite guy.
I’m sure I’ll share more NYC related stuff soon. Until then, here is the piece is sketched tonight. Made in Procreate on my iPad Pro.