The Etsy Invitations

Oh invitations, glorious invitations. I struggled big time on invitations at first. I had actually started out in school as a graphic designer, and ended up working as one for four years. So it seemed simple enough that I would design my own! Turns out I’m my own worst client. Nothing I came up with seemed right! And one of the main reasons was that none of my designs we’re gorgeously stamped into thick yummy paper…I had a crush on letterpress. After visiting with my favorite local letterpress studio, I unfortunately thought the letterpress of my dreams was out of my price range.

Enter Etsy’s Blackbird Press. Spectacular letterpress invitations – in my price range – and an amazing designer, Melissa, to work one-on-one with. I had recently purchased a lace pattern vector from istockphoto that I really wanted to incorporate.

I sent Melissa the artwork and our general idea of wording and she sent back numerous design options. She also mailed me a bunch of samples of work she had done before. Poor Melissa spent the next few weeks putting up with my nutty little tweaks and changes. Around the holidays we had everything finalized and Melissa had them done in weeks. Not kidding you, tears in my eyes when I opened the box from her. They were stunning. She had created invitations, RSVP cards with return envelopes and program covers. These were definitely one of our favorite aspects the entire wedding.

invitations 1

invitations 2

invitations 3

The final product had a lace-paper wrap. Our envelopes were dark gray, very similar to the bridesmaid’s dresses with fabulous robins egg blue lining. Photos, sadly, don’t do them justice. Especially with the blurs.