Over-the-Top Invites

I’m a complete and utter paper geek and have always drooled over the fabulous invitations and stationery from Hello!Lucky. Created in 2003 by sisters/best friends Eunice and Sabrina Moyle with a vintage Vandercook press set-up in Eunice’s garage, Hello!Lucky offers unique and modern invitations for whatever style your wedding may be – rustic, chic, destination, elegant – you name it, they’ve either got something that will work or their talented team of designers will collaborate with you to create something you love. Although they were one of the first to specialize in letterpress wedding invites, they also have affordable digitally printed designs for all types of invitations as well as day-of stationery. Check out some of my favorites below or on their blog!

Hi everyone! Christen here with part 2 of my NSS wrap-up (check here for part 1 where I discuss trends in stationery design). For the second half I want to take a look at a few trends in the actual construction of invitations, going beyond the pocketfold and plain white 80# cardstock to create something that truly stands out and sets the tone for your wedding.

I was fortunate enough to attend Tuesday of the National Stationery Show at the Javits Center in NYC. If you didn’t happen to see recaps or posts about it anywhere else in the blog-o-sphere, it’s where hundreds of vendors from around the country come and display their products/work for people in the industry–buyers, reps, etc.

As I previously posted, our invitations went out last month and we have been receiving a steady stream of RSVP cards. As I was going through the pictures of the assembly process, it makes it look easy. Trust me, it was very intense and not the easiest invitations I have put together! (This is my fifth set of invites designing and assembling) If only I had pictures of the week long prepwork before this day (and yes, it was the entire day!). In the week or so before finishing the invites, my mom stamped the wax seals, I cut and folded strips of paper, printed all the items, struggled with the printer and getting letterpress paper to go through it (I just loved the texture of that paper though!) and mounting the invite to the blue shimmer paper and then to the gold enclosures. Oh yes, and then remounting everything with super glue to be sure it would stay. I think there was something about the dry Arizona air that made the photo mounting squares not work so well this go-around.

I realized that I never even got to show you our Chinese invitations! They were definitely a challenge, but I am pretty pleased with how they came out!

Our invitations are officially out and RSVPs have already started coming in! My mom, bridesmaid Julie, and I created the whole thing by ourselves so it was definitely a labor of love. Here’s a look at the final package!

For the longest time I told myself that we would not have letterpress invitations, even though I love letterpress printing. I once had a fleeting dream to go back to school for book arts, but then decided I couldn’t stomach the tuition for art school. I chose library school instead. Books are still involved, but unfortunately no presses or ink or double-sided tape for me. [Random geeky fact un-related to weddings, did you know there is such a profession as a book arts librarian?]

Unfortunately, once I made my design in one color, it was almost like I was asking for it. I saw how it would look from an offset printer, and all I could think was “wow, this would look so better in letterpress.” DUH MO! Of course it would look better in letterpress, everything looks better in letterpress! You know you want it: the paper is spongey, the ink is richer, it looks amazing framed. Just do it.

When searching for the perfect invites…I We knew we wanted something fun and unique that would also portray the country-rustic feel of our wedding.  I searched high and low…aka Etsy and wedding blogs :)

Designing my own invitations was undoubtedly the most daunting and time-consuming DIY activity thus far.  Prior to assuming the responsibility myself, I perused hundreds of invitation templates, online and in-person, searching for the following criteria: simple, concise, personal, one-page (green), my colors (kraft-paper-brown and silver), travel-themed, rich, and affordable.  During that time, I found a lot of what I was looking for–but not in the same invitation suite.  So I saved all my inspiration; internally dug up the knowledge I learned at a 2-day Photoshop training two years ago; and spent four months analyzing, agonizing and eventually, designing my own invitations. That being said, seeing them printed and sent is so satisfying, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I realized I haven’t posted pictures of our invitations yet! And I wasn’t even paranoid about wedding crashers. Anywho, I really wanted letterpress invitations more than anything else and it was my big splurge. But really, not that bad. I used someone local, Jenny Barry from Press Charming, and I brought in some art nouveau books I’d bought to try and figure out a design. Jenny sent me back so many possibilities and this is what we finally decided on!

I’m a huge admirer of the gorgeous stationery that Heather, the creative genius behind Maida Vale, creates.  Maida Vale has recently relaunched their website and Heather shared some photos of her collection!

After the church and reception venue were booked and the date was set, it was time to think about our Save the Dates.  Matt and I were talking one night and decided that we wanted to create a map chronicling the paths we each took to find each other and where we are now.  We both went off to college, moved across the country after graduation, and met as two midwestern kids in NYC before getting engaged and moving to Memphis. And now we were planning a wedding in Louisville. Whew.  It wears me out to just write it.  I mentioned our idea on Pretty Bride and soon Laura Hooper came to the rescue.

So now that you’ve seen the fantastic “campaign logo” created us for by ABCD, can you guess what happened after that? As much as I love paper, and as much as Amy loves working with fresh, outside-the-wedding-box visions, we  couldn’t stop our collaboration at the logo. We asked ABCD to design our entire wedding stationery suite, and let me tell you… it was one of the best decisions we made in the entire wedding planning process.

This is Part II of a two part series on my invitations. You can read Part I on the envelopes here.

At long last, I am finally going to share with you our beautiful letterpress wedding invitations from the one and only Bella Figura. When you’re surrounded by incredible letterpress invitations every day (because I work at Bella Figura, for those who do not know) deciding on your own becomes incredibly difficult. After a couple of months worth of debate, literally, we decided on Keswick, a 7″ square size, in mediterranean and pale gray inks with mediterranean envelope liners. The entire process was incredibly exciting – including hanging out with our printer, Carrie, as she set up the press check – but nothing topped the day I finally got to hold them in my hands. I love love love how they turned out and we will certainly be having a set framed soon.

Kathy at Merriment Design has outdone herself again!  I adore these fabric-backed invitations with half sewn fabric flowers.  My favorite part is the creative use of patterned fabric to create several unique designs with the same components.

In November EAD held a DIY contest, and E. encouraged me to enter my invitations, still in progress. Oh sure, I said, If I finish them soon! E., I totally did not finish them soon. Ladies- (And gentlemen? If you include DJ and one brother) I finished printing the maps on July 17, the night before we mailed them. Expert procrastinator. Hey E., can I enter now??

Whew, I’m back!  It actually happened, I am actually married!  I still can’t believe it.  After 6 and 1/2 years together, and 20 months of engagement, a whirlwind of anticipation, preparation, realization, celebration and recuperation, we are husband and wife.  I couldn’t be happier.

I have a serious weakness for vintage stamps on just about anything – but particularly wedding invitations.  I used them to mail my own invitations (you can find a horribly blurry photo on my blog – apologies in advance), E used them for her vow renewal invitations, and I just love the way they add an extra pop of color and personality to the overall invitation.  By now you all know that I’m a firm believer in trying to customize your invitations as much as possible so that they accurately represent you and your wedding style – and vintage stamps offer another opportunity to do just that, whether chosen thematically (like E’s baseball stamps), by color, or even by state.

Our guests will find a lovely treat in their mailboxes this week — our invitations! Finally! I never thought the day would come. Here’s a look at the complete suite, a.k.a. our pride and joy: