Personalized Perfume Bottles
This past month has held a few perfume bottle projects, which just warms my heart! They’re such an interesting and unique gift!
This particular set was designed to match the bride’s wedding invitations and was a gift from the mother of the bride to her daughter on her wedding day. (If you don’t know, Jo Malone is designed to layer and pair scents, so these two are the two the bride selected to wear on her special day!)
The bride’s invitations may look familiar to you, we posted the pictures a while back. Her perfume bottles pair beautifully with her blush and blue invitation suite.
Creating a Client's Sketch
Hang out with us on our YouTube channel as we put together a sketch for a client!
A Formal Wedding in the Hamptons
Formal | Calligraphy | 1920’s | White Tie | Train Rides
Private Estate | Hamptons, New York
Saying that our bride, Katen, has a passion for the 1920’s would be an understatement. Working in the antiques and historical field with a specialty in the time period, we knew it had to be the focus of her invitations.
One of first conversations we had with her shared her annoyance at how we now portray the 1920’s with little to no historical accuracy and attend it like a costume party. Being all about historical accuracy ourselves, we were all about this. We worked with her and did a ton of research on invitations and etiquette of the period, looked up calling cards and their usage, and travel styling of the day. We brought all of this new information into her invitation design.
We had a few different elements that we knew we wanted to integrate:
Each invitation would be personalized for each guest, and we don’t mean the envelopes. Each invitation, reply card, reception card, travel card, and accommodations cards were all personalized for each guest.
She loved traveling by train from New York City up to their family home in the Hamptons, and booked all the travel for her guests. All travel was arranged by the bride and groom, including cars to transport guests from the station to their accommodations.
All the guest accommodations were also arranged and taken care of by the bride and groom.
The bride enlisted a staff member of their Hampton’s household to act as a concierge to arrange anything additional or answer any questions for their guests.
The idea was that the guests wouldn’t have to lift a finger. For anything.
Our invitations on stiff cream handmade paper were edged in black. Each invitation bore the name of each guest and was worded to address and invite the guests by name.
Our reply card were similarly personalized for each guest, but formatted differently than what we see in our contemporary wedding invitations. Each guest was provided with two cards, one for a response to attend, and one to decline. Each card was worded again to integrate the guest’s names into the pieces.
A petite envelope holding three small cards told each guest where they were booked to stay for the weekend, that a car would pick them up from the train station, and a card that stood in as a train ticket for the guests ride up from the city.
Several pages, bound with a tassel, detailed out all the events for the guest’s four-day stay including transportation details, dress codes, and other event details.
Each envelope continued our theme with formal copper calligraphy. A collection of vintage postage completed suite.
Fall Rose Garden Invitation Suite
Moody | Roses | Fall Greens | Velvet | Romantic
an invitation suite for a wedding at:
The Mount, Lenox, Massachusetts
We wanted to create a romantic garden invitation suite without feeling dainty or pale. Our lovely bride, Nicole, wanted a bit of deeper colors and drama in with her more traditional roses. It was a pleasure to help create unexpected moments throughout her suite, including the blind press details and little brass bee apliques for her garden wedding at The Mount in Lenox, Massachusetts
We began our design process with the idea of roses and bees. Once I had a good idea of what artwork I had in mind, I went into devising adorable little additions to her design. We designed her reception cards to be a simple design (to balance out the other artwork heavy pieces) and then added an overall bee impression pattern to bring texture and visual interest to the dark green cards.
Our reply cards were also fairly simple with a couple fall leaves and little bees pressed into the pale purple papers.
Let’s talk about these envelopes. It’s no secret that envelopes are one of my favorite thing to design. They’re difficult to print, require precision and imagination. I also think they are a wildly under-designed space in wedding invitations. Think how naked this overall suite would feel if the only artwork-heavy piece we had was the invitation! I love being able to use simple pieces like the reception card and reply card to keep a balance in the overall suite.
Our envelopes were printed front over to the back flap, creating an entire piece when they opened, while not feeling incomplete when closed. We also pressed a few little bees into the corners for added detail and texture.
For postage, we went with our usual mix of current issue and vintage.
Also in our usual fashion, both our mailing envelopes and reply card envelopes were lined in matching artwork.
Last, but certainly not least, lets talk about the invitation itself.
Printed on pale blush paper, the invitation was designed to be a punch of moody artwork. I wanted layers of design elements, so we started with 300lb paper, printed deep florals, blind pressed little bees, and then added our brass bee appliques amongst the flowers.
We added a few finishing details, including the vellum wrap around our insert cards, the tiny little wax dots with brass bees, and deep green velvet ribbon.
Sneak Peek - Formal Wedding in the Hamptons
Formal | Calligraphy | Dramatic | Personalized | 1920’s
Inspired by the invitations of years past, elegant train travel, and a level of formality that we don’t see very often anymore.
Art Nouveau Wedding Invitations
art nouveau, pale greens and nudes, elegant, overall texture, soft, unexpected, soothing, formal
Glen Foerd Mansion | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
We wanted to bring in the graceful and soothing vibes of the Art Nouveau era with pale neutrals, smooth greens, and impressive overall texture. We selected artwork inspired by antique wall paper to start our design work. Working with the artwork and palette of nudes and greens, we developed our overall look and feel, a perfect fit for the gorgeous Philadelphia mansion of Glen Foerd.
The most striking element of the design is the texture. Each piece was embossed with a glorious overall texture for a pillowy and tactile feel.
My personal favorite piece of the suite are the reply envelopes. We embossed the envelopes after they were lined, so the liners as well as the fronts and back of the envelopes all had a contiguous embossed pattern.
Like most of our projects, we combined several different paper types to come to our finished design. For this particular suite, we ended up with six different types of papers, including both machined and handmade.
The art nouveau design includes three handmade papers for the green reception card, reply card, and dress code tri-fold. The invitation consisted of two different machined papers, the first in a nude, then backed with a pale green. Our envelopes were both a gorgeous cream, and our envelopes liners were on the same rich nude as the invitations.
Our darling little tri-folded cards of handmade paper were sealed closed with a tiny wax seal in a taupe grey and embossed with the pattern showing on both sides.
Sneek Peek - A Fall Wedding in a Rose Garden
Roses | Moody | Fall Greens | Bees | Texture | Velvet
an invitation suite for a wedding at:
the mount | Lenox, massachusetts
I love designs that reward you for taking a closer look and this suite is a perfect example of that! The invitation has the tiniest little bees blind pressed (letterpress without ink) into the border of the design. We also see the same pressed bees on the reply card, reception card, and envelopes.
Stay tuned for more details of this design to follow!
Sneak Peek - Art Nouveau Wedding Invitations
Romantic, pale, textured, unexpected, handmade paper, tactile, art nouveau
an invitation suite for a wedding at:
Glen Foerd Mansion | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
pale shades of nude and sage, with classic art nouveau texture and artwork, saturated with heavy texture emobossed onto pillowy soft papers.
Bold Fall Wedding Invitations Reveal
Our YouTube reveal of our punchy fall wedding invitation suite
Fall Wedding Invitations for a California Wedding
moody | bold | unexpected | texture | fall
an invitation suite for a wedding at:
Whispering Rose Ranch | Solvang California
The Colors
When our brides first approached us, they had a pretty good idea of what they were looking for. They wanted unexpected texture, deep rose colors, a pop of green, and shades of neutrals.
We selected two shades of greens, two shades of rose, and three shades of pale neutrals, including a sage and chartreuse green, a deep rose and a more violet blush, and a range of pale taupes and creams.
We loved the idea of unexpected textures! We have two pieces that were blind pressed (debossed) layered with digital printing on both the reply card envelope and reception card with a pillowy texture. I also really loved pitching the idea of layering cane into the invitation itself, adding an additional pale color as well as some awesome texture.
The Design
We love the artwork suite for this design. We included two pieces of watercolor artwork, as well as some solid artwork for our tone-on-tone design, and line artwork design of two different vintage style bows.
We see the bow design topping the invitations, reception cards, and reply envelopes. We see them again sneaking in on the back of the rehearsal cards and flaps of the reply envelopes.
We loved the variances of heavy and light design work throughout all the cards, like the minimal design on the reply card, to let the green pop and stand out. Meanwhile, we have the brunch card and its heavy floral tone-on-tone border, which I just love.
Our mailing envelopes were also pretty amazing with artwork on the fronts and back. We also see our second piece of artwork on the mailing envelope liner.
Postage - Curating with Current USPS Issued Postage
When we think of curated postage, we typically think of a collection of vintage stamps, but I’d like to challenge that idea.
While I love working with vintage postage, I actually have found that I prefer mixing current issue and vintage together. It’s a great way of ensuring that you’ll have enough postage to get your invitations to your guests without requiring a ton of stamps.
By selecting current issue with discretion, we’re able to select stamps that blend in seamlessly with a collection of vintage stamps. I love this option to bring up our denomination while still maintaining the overall look and feel of vintage.
Can you spot which stamps are vintage and which are current issue?
Watercolor and Masking Fluid
I’ve been playing around with watercolor and masking fluid lately, trying to find a good combination of product and paper.
After many trials and errors, I think I have found a combo that I like! See it in action in the time-lapse I posted on our YouTube!
Moody Velvet Fall Watercolor Wedding Invitations
Moody Fall at Filoli Gardens
A color palette focusing on rich tones of burgundies, golds, deep blues, and ochres started us on our design path with Natalie and Ammar’s suite. The truly remarkable venue with a historic brick mansion, tulip fields, apple orchards, and rose gardens was the perfect setting for a modern take on an old-world wedding.
Bold and deep colors, mixed in with pale roses and deep-hued papers bright this suite together. We began with a moody watercolor pattern, incorporated a simpler line botanical, and mixed in the bride and groom’s silhouettes.
The bride wanted her suite to feel like guests were opening a book into their love story, which was the perfect jumping-off point for a bound invitation suite.
Each guest received a custom made burgundy linen-bound book with the couple’s silhouette on the cover in a custom wax seal. The inside of each linen-bound book was lined in the pattern we created for them and held their invitations with brass corner mounts. The invitation itself was printed on leather paper with a glorious texture. We also incorporated individual wax seals of each of the bride and groom’s silhouettes into the invitation design.
Our custom made reply envelopes of deep blue velvet had the climbing rose line botanicals tumbling off the velvet. We went with bold white printing on burgundy paper for the reply cards.
Our additional insert cards, including a hotel information card, reception card, and brunch card, were printed on pale blush, rust, and blue velvet reflecting the artwork and florals used throughout the suite.
Let’s talk envelopes! Since the linen bound folio we created was fairly thick, we had custom made envelopes printed to accomodate the size we needed.
Each envelope was printed on the inside with the same artwork we used throughout the suite, with additional artwork details on the front and wrapping around the edges of the envelope.
Moody Velvet Fall Watercolor Wedding - Reception Pieces
Moody Fall at Filoli Gardens
We brought the same moody fall colors through to the reception pieces, including deep burgundies, blue velvet, patterned vellum, and gracefully watercolor florals.
We continued the use of the bride and groom’s silhouette wax seals for the escort cards and menus, layering vellum over blue velvet and printed artwork.
Our table numbers featured a pressed and white printed number on blue velvet, layered with artwork from the invitation suite and mounted on the same burgundy linen used in the invitation booklet.
Each of the blue velvet escort cards were printed with white climbing rose vines in varying positions with the wax seal details. Each guest’s name was printed in white on vellum and fixed to the bottom of each card.
Our menus layered pale pink papers and vellum layers personalized with each guest’s name and affixed with a wax seal.
Our ceremony programs layered vellum artwork covers with burgundy inside pages and were bound with a pale purple tassel.
Another small detail that we love to add are dress tags and boutonniere tags for the bridal party. Each of these tags hung on the hangers of each bridesmaids dress noting which dress belonged to which girl and were a lovely little keepsake from the day.
Custom Envelope Liners
Envelope liners are a gorgeous way to add more details to your wedding invitation suite! I personally love using the liners and a vellum overlay to bring in a pattern for a bold statement of your overall aesthetic.
Envelope liners are essentially just one more place you can customize your wedding invitations. I love an unexpected punch of color or pattern, and envelopes just feel terribly naked to me without them.
The three liners shown above include a pattern based on Delft blue vases, with watery deep indigo blue artwork throughout the suite. The bright summer vibes of pinks and yellows tumble down the envelope and custom watercolor envelope liner of the center invitation suite, while modern lines flex and compress against watercolor and a bright white envelope for a wedding in Bilbao, Spain.
Spring Garden Floral Wedding Invitations - Papers
romantic | vellum | handmade paper | french blue | rose garden
an invitation suite for a wedding at the
Brooklyn botanic gardens | New york, new york
Let’s talk paper! We have warm white machined paper, subtle stripe taupe, vellum, handmade paper in green, handmade paper envelope in blush, and machined French blue in this suite.
I really love combining different paper types. It can absolutely present a special breed of problems when printing sometimes, but the final look is definitely worth it. This is certainly not a look that is easy to curate, and not something you can usually find without a decent designer to help guild your selections.
I love this pale green handmade paper that we selected for our reception cards. When it comes to selecting product, I usually only present paper types to our brides once I’ve selected everything I’d like to use and checked inventory to make sure I can actually get it. I want my brides to see the vision in my head as a complete idea, and presenting them with the entire suite’s paper helps them visualize.
We also used vellum in this suite - one of my favorite papers to print on. I love how luminous the colors look! We did dual printing on both vellum pieces, overlaying white and color.
We went with a blush handmade envelope with french blue envelope liners printing in tumbling vines for the reply envelopes. The front of each envelope was printed with matching artwork and calligraphy (of course).
Our French blue mailing envelopes have the most gorgeous white vines tumbling down the back with the return address in matching calligraphy. Our mailing envelopes were lined in matching rose artwork.
Delft Blue Wedding Invitations
Delft Blue Inspired Wedding Invitations
A classic inspired pattern for a wedding in an old English country estate.
The Inspiration
The bride’s mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother are all avid collectors of the famous Netherlands Delft blue. Long since immigrated to the United States, her family still has strong familial ties to family back home in the Netherlands, where Delft Blue china originated.
The bride asked for deep indigo blues that reminded her of Delft without being on the nose about it. She wanted to bring in a bit more of a modern take rather than having her wedding feeling dusty and outdated.
When it came to the artwork, we also minimized the pattern itself, sticking to florals only rather than the overall pattern-work of Delft.
We selected handmade paper in earthy tones of bone and taupe to tone down the blue a bit, as well as a vellum wrap tied delicately with thread.
We also kept the typography simple and very minimal, leaving lots of negative space.
We paired white printing with the blue on the overlays, to bring in interest and depth and to soften and dilute the intensity of the overall Delft feel.
a suite with these details at 120 suites starts at $6,500 with full assembly
Invitations Featuring Custom Artwork
There are several different routes you can go aesthetically when it comes to your wedding invitations. Around here, we typically lean towards the artwork heavy side of things, specifically watercolor.
Watercolor wedding invitations still seem to be in the forefront and limelight of design these days, and I’m loving it! From simple watercolor washes to colorful florals and patterns, we love it all - granted, around here, we tend to lean towards the more complex side and avoid the simple washes (I personally find them a little dull).
Watercolors are perfect for all seasons and aesthetics, from spring pastels to deep jewel tones of fall and winter.
Each suite of artwork is unique to each client, reflecting their personal style and wedding locale. I love bringing in bits of the season and venue, tying all of their details together.
My best advice when working with an artist for your wedding invitations:
Find an artist whose entire portfolio you love. If you start with a designer that you hope can capture the look you’re going for, it’s like cramming a square peg into a round hole. This also requires you as the bride to be able to perfectly articulate what you’re looking for, which sometimes is not all that easy. You know the vibe you’re going for, and can point to pictures you love, but when it comes down to it, you will be in charge of driving the creative direction of your wedding invitations and having the vocabulary to communicate that to your stationer. This leads to frustration on both sides, with the designer not understanding what about their work just doesn’t feel right to you, and you not having the vocabulary to communicate why it doesn’t feel like what you’re looking for.
In contrast, if you find a designer whose entire vibe you dig, you can trust them to create something for you that naturally fits within the aesthetic you’re looking for without requiring you to be in the driver’s seat. A good designer has a distinctive look and feel, which takes so much of the design burden and stress off of you, allowing you to enjoy the process rather than wanting to pull your hair out.
A good stationer isn’t just a designer - they’ll also have knowledge and experience with resources, materials, printing methods, and assembly tricks that we would never expect you to know. Find someone whose work you love, and trust them to guide you through a process you can then enjoy!
Vintage Postage on Wedding Invitations
I love curated postage on wedding invitations! It’s like a miniature gallery of art in support of your overall aesthetic.
As a designer, vintage postage has its pros and cons. The pro is obviously how gorgeous and unique it is, bringing in supporting aesthetics to your suite (especially if you’re going for an old-world or vintage vibe!). Sourcing vintage postage can be challenging when wedding invitation suites require 100+ stamps. Inventory also tends to change quickly, so stamps you found three weeks ago and included in your pricing and proof may no longer be available at the same price.
I personally l love the challenge of finding the perfect collection of stamps for our clients. I have several tried and true suppliers who always have great selections and will help me find any postage that we need.
Tips for including vintage postage for your wedding invitations
Some designers will offer this service and don’t be surprised when they have an additional fee attached to it (we don’t, it’s a service we include in our pricing). Sourcing the right quantities and prices for vintage postage can be time-consuming, but not nearly as time-consuming as applying them to your envelopes!
If you’re applying the postage yourself, give yourself lots of time, it takes much longer than you think!
Use glue, don’t rely on being able to lick the old stamps as the adhesive ages at different rates, depending on how old the postage is. You certainly don’t want any falling off in transit!
Be prepared to pay about 3x the rate of current issue postage when shopping for vintage postage for your wedding invitations
Spring Garden Floral Wedding Invitations - Overview
Pale blush, taupes, pastel spring greens, and French blues for a botanical garden wedding.
Spring Florals & Handmade Papers
French blue garden wedding invitations with tumbling vines and blooming roses
So much spring happening here! Like most of the wedding invitation suites we design, we have lots of mixed media paper types here.
We began the overall design with the blue - we knew we wanted a medium French blue…not too grey, but on the spring side. Once I had the blue sourced, I was able to collect all the other papers we used.
Roses and forget-me-nots play with each other in the artwork for this suite, incorporating spring green, blue, and blush into the watercolor that was designed and created specifically for this client.
