Conveniently it seems that just as wedding planning stress kicks into an all-time high, it's time to figure out what our signature drink will be. Time to try 100 cocktails in 100 days!

  Style Me Pretty, photos by Shannon Moore Photography

Well, not really. But lots of cocktail is lots of days until I find the right one. And cocktails are proving to be quite valuable during the madness of doing completely DIY wedding invitations and creating a wedding website from scratch.

  Martha Stewart Weddings

I think I'm going at this a bit backwards though. I've picked the liquor I want as the base, and now I'm trying to find the right cocktail to serve that compliments it. Trouble is, since I'm far too obsessed with aesthetics, I really want this drink to not only taste great but to look pretty too. Ideally, it will be served in a coupe glass with no ice and lovely little garnish. Is that asking too much??

Joy the Baker

If I still haven't found my holy grail of a cocktail within one month of the wedding, I might need to make some concessions. But in the mean time, I've been trying drinks from a Gin Fizz with blueberries and fresh rosemary from our garden, to the classic The Fitzgerald, to Gin and Joe Rickeys.

St. George Spirits is a local Bay Area distiller that makes a series of 3 really delicious gins. I would love to feature one of these gins, since they're locally made and many of the ingredients are foraged from local areas, and they're all very well crafted to boot.

San Francisco Chronicle, photo by Liz Hafalia

So I've been loading up on mixers and pinning drink recipes like crazy in search of the cocktail that embodies the right balance of drinkability, creativity, and prettiness.

Do you have any favorite gin drinks? Or any good suggestions for where I can find great recipes? Time to experiment!