Our amazing bride, Alexandra, requested two things….a bold, saturated, monochromatic color palette, and florals. We were all over that. I also added touches of rose gold foil and calligraphy throughout the suite to elevate the overall formality of her Black Tie wedding in Italy.
We used modern calligraphy in a dark blue to match the invitation. Each envelope was printed with original artwork in a tumble down the front of the envelope. The florals wrapped over the top and continue down the back flap to the return address!
I selected a pale blue to complement the more subtle colors of this design. As an added detail, we added some dried rose petals and a saturated pink to the wax.
Reply card sets with two different designs for the envelope liners, bright coral reply card, coral detail on the flat of the envelope, calligraphy return address, and gorgeous vintage postage.
Flourished coral calligraphy on handmade paper, pale blue vellum overlays with coral details printed on white in a frame around the edges, thin silver thread held tight with semi-transparent wax seals, and bold envelope liners.
We have some lovely details for the custom designs we’re finishing up for a beautiful wedding in Newport.
We created two different designs for the escort cards to use as meal indicators, and each card had a cluster of gold gilding at the centers of their blooms.
We continued the gilding on the table numbers, which were all gilded by hand.
Likewise, our menus had gilded details in the flower clusters and along the edges of the white handmade paper that coordinated with the invitation suite design.
You know I’m always a huge fan of incorporating the style of the postage into the design of the envelope and overall aesthetic and this suite is an unusual one. Since I know this client personally, she asked if I had any postage that I wanted to burn through (think ancient forever stamps), and I was like….welll….actually….
I have been hoarding leftover custom postage for years. Back in the day when we were able to design custom postage to match an invitation suite, I would order it for clients but then have the half-finished sheets leftover and they’ve just been sitting in my postage box. I can definitely see a consistency in my aesthetic over the years since so much of the postage matches!
So that’s what we used on this suite. Since the envelopes are not only heavy, they’re large and square, I knew I would need a decent amount of postage for each one. Since all the postage I was using was in different custom denominations depending on what the original project dictated, the postage for these baby shower invitations is all over the place! As long as it was enough to get them to their destination!
I’ve worked with vellum envelopes before, obviously, but this project was a little bit different. Vellum is a beautiful material to work with and I love how nicely it juxtaposes as a complimentary texture to so many other materials. Since I knew we would be using the woodgrain paper for both the invitation and insert, I loved the semi-transparency of the vellum to contrast against that. But here’s the thing…you can see through the vellum. So the question always is how do you protect the privacy of the invitation as it goes through the post? Whatever material is chosen, it also needs to support the guest addresses, meaning that it either needs to be dark enough to support a light address or the other way around.
Examples of how to circumvent this would be to do a vellum wrap in a pattern or a custom tissue paper - I typically like to use custom printed tissue paper with a complimentary pattern that we’ve designed to match the suite. For this project, we didn’t have the turnaround time for custom tissue, so that option was out. A vellum wrap was also out because the envelopes I selected were Marques size - 7.25 square - which means a vellum wrap would need to be at least 15” to wrap all the way around. Vellum prints on a laser printer (yes, I know you can get inkjet vellum, but I have a strong preference for how the ink sits on top using a laser) and my printer maxes out at 12”…so that option was also not available.
So what’s left?
Using the back of the invite and the envelope liner! The envelope liner obviously shows when the guest opens the envelope, but there’s nothing saying that I can’t print both sides so one shows through the envelope and shows when the envelope is opened, so that’s what we did. I matched the heavy pattern for the backs of the invitations and the back of the envelope liner so it created a consistent and cohesive pattern front to back, which I LOVED.
OI course, I didn’t stop there - I also wanted artwork on the outside of the envelope to overlap with what showed through from the envelope liner.
Calligraphy in a deep burgundy and modern style topped them off!
I specifically designed the envelope liner to have a negative space to frame the calligraphy, making it not only the focal point, but also easier to read.
Newport | Rhode Island
I’m so in love with these blues!
The blues are a perfect pairing for a spring wedding in Newport, Rhode Island. Our bride wanted a touch of the opulence of the venue without going full Victorian for her invitations. She and her family grew up spending their summer holidays nearby and she always loved passing by the Chanler House as a little girl. The invitations were the compromise between the classic Victorian styling of the venue and the more modern feel that the couple preferred as their own personal style.
I selected a white handmade paper with velvety soft edges for the invitation and reply cards, and paired with them with a bold lapis blue for the reception card. I loved the contemporary vibe the blue insert brought to the overall suite. We also selected a modern calligraphy style to pair with the blue watercolor florals.
Lets talk about gold gilding.
One of my favorite details to add is gold gilding to the edge of designs. For this particular design, I also added it to the centers of various blooms throughout the suite, including the reverse of the invitation, the die cut overlay, mailing envelopes, and reply envelopes.
Formal | Calligraphy | 1920’s | White Tie | Train Rides
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.
Inspired by the invitations of years past, elegant train travel, and a level of formality that we don’t see very often anymore.
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.
We begin each of our projects very much the same, all of which includes selecting a calligraphy style. Rather than having a set number of scripts that we offer to every client, we create new ones based on what our bride is looking for. I watch my calligraphy styles evolve and change so rapidly, that even if I had a set number of styles I offered, that set would only be relevant for a matter of months before it evolves into something new and better.
I also love that we present our brides with what their names will look like in calligraphy, which certainly changes the way they view each style.
This is how we always begin our creative process! We sketch out your suite and preset you with calligraphy options to jump start our design process.
an invitation suite for a wedding at:
For a wedding at the New York Public Library, our bride wanted to figure out how to combine super traditional, flourished calligraphy (her favorite!) but with more modern lines and a bit of gold.
We started with our paper selection.
We went with a bold, bright white cotton, a silky smooth black, and thick vellum with deckled edges. The bold white gave us a modern feel while balancing out the over-the-top calligraphy.
We also selected an oversized wax seal in black, again, aiming to combine the traditional and modern.
We used a combination of printing methods, including digital printing for our bold monochromatic patterns, and foil for the invitation, reply card envelope liners, and mini insert cards.
We placed the bold black and white floral pattern on both the backs of our insert cards as well as the envelope liners on our mini bright white envelopes.
Calligraphy has had a massive comeback in the last decade. When I first began my personal calligraphy journey in 2009, I couldn’t find a calligraphy class to save my life. I figured it out on my own, trial and error style.
These days it’s hard to ignore calligraphy in the world around us. It has been integrated into weddings, top to bottom, but also in logos, menu design, home decor, pillows, mugs, etc. (Home Goods, I’m looking at you for those last few).
The calligraphy we see ubiquitously throughout our world generally falls into to major categories (no, I’m not being technical here): modern and traditional. There are a whole handful of styles out there, but we’re talking about Copperplate here formed with a pointed pen and dip ink.
It took me a long time to learn how modern calligraphy moved and its characteristics. Traditional, flourished, formal calligraphy came most naturally to me, while I found the modern styling something I really had to learn.
I love how calligraphy can change the entire look and feel of an invitation. You can take an otherwise formal and traditional invitation and completely shake it up by adding a bold and modern script, or take a super clean and modern style and add in some traditional calligraphy to bring off the edge a bit.
Spot Calligraphy refers to a specific selection of calligraphed words in your wedding invitation suite. You could think of them as the titles of each of your invitation pieces…thinks like:
bride and groom’s names
“please reply”
“reception to follow”
your venue name
city and state of your return address
“dinner and dancing”
“please join us”
etc.
When working with an invitation designer or calligrapher, you can have them create “spot calligraphy” for your invitation suite and provide you with the title lettering to be used throughout your suite.
Formal calligraphy in white ink on dark green envelopes
We are currently accepting calligraphy projects either locally to us in Philadelphia, or shipped to us from anywhere in the U.S.
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.
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.
