Be our guest: Wedding Invitations

Our wedding invitations process began with a visit to Laura Hooper for a consultation. We wanted to meet her and see/examine/touch the types of stationery she has produced for past brides, hoping to gain inspiration for invites we would love. Laura has always been so wonderful, helpful, creative, and accommodating with our budget, that I knew between this meeting and lots of emails, we would get the invitations that are so perfectly "us." We looked through plenty of letterpress and thermography options, considered white vs ivory paper, picked our favorite calligraphy style, decided what words would be in calligraphy and what would not, delved into designs we liked, touched different textured paper, contemplated what pieces we would need (invite, rsvp, map, etc), and reflected on what shade of purple we really wanted.

We chose 3 pieces to our invitation suite, all double sided, in white textured paper with thermography printing

The process, from the initial consultation to the delivery, took about 3 weeks and we are so pleased/happy/appreciative with the results. My heart skipped a beat when they arrived at my doorstep. Wrapped up in damask paper, labeled and bowed, it was like receiving a present :)



Our invites are double sided for efficiency, allowing us room to include a map with the reception card, a words of wisdom section on the rsvp postcard, and a fun texture to the back of the invitation. I also love the lavender color.

The invitation was simple. Wording came from here. Our monogram sits on top, the little dots that surround it inspired all of the polka dots in our invitation suite. The feeling of dozens of polka dots on the opposite side of the invite is really cool, fun, and unexpected.

The RSVP postcard let us save on postage :) More little polka dots on both sides. I love that we got to have a space for guests to write their wisdom and wishes to us. It adds to the fun of receiving them in the mail.

We have two venues, so a reception card is nice for our out of town guests. Our website information is noted on it as well. The map notes both venues and some major streets to help guests get around. Both sides are bordered by the little polka dots :)

I am so pleased with how the entire suite turned out. Each piece is complements the other and our style is reflected very well. The best part is the feedback we have been receiving from guests.

How did you design your invitations? Did you have a theme that carried through the invitation suite?



Blog title is from song in Beauty and the Beast

For you to notice: Stationery Details

Our invitations arrived at the end of June, and while we are waiting until the end of the month to mail them out, I wanted to share some of my favorite details. We worked chose to continue to work with Laura Hooper Calligraphy because of her talent, care for her work, and we loved the way our maps turned out.

In an attempt to narrow down costs yet achieve the lux look we wanted, we chose thermography printing. This type of printing has a raised texture, similar to engraving, but is produced when paper is flat printed and the wet ink is dusted with powder which is melted by heat. The wet ink and powder mix to create the raised texture.

The best display of said texture are the many little lavender polka dots, printed on white paper, make up the back of our invitation.


Our monogram makes an appearance at the top of our invitation.


Here are our names written in calligraphy. We chose to go with the invitation wording I wrote about here.


Another view of our names. You can slightly see the monogram at the top.


Our other monogram is printed on our RSVP postcards. I love the look of the little dots detailing the border. :)


A glimpse of our simple map that notes ceremony and reception venues and major streets, bordered with more dots. We chose to add a map because many guests are not from the area.


And a Laura Hooper map isn't complete without a cute animal couple. The illustration of the fish is too cute :)

I'm really excited to mail our invitations out! We've hand delivered them to both sides of our family and loved the warm receptiong we've received. It was a pleasure working with Laura again, and I highly recommend her to anyone who wants beautiful and stylish stationery.

Blog title is from lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

I'll take your invitation: Invitations to a Friend's Wedding

A few weeks ago we received some invitations in the mail. Not our own but from a college friend, Chris whose wedding is about a month before our own. We are excited for them and would love to attend the wedding, but the distance (it's in Seattle) and close proximity to our own date has hindered our plans.

Once I was engaged, I had wanted to attend one more wedding before my own so that I could gain ideas and inspiration from the couple's details. Although we won't be able to attend Chris' wedding, I can still find inspiration through their chic invitation design and wedding style.

The invite was held together with a belly band. Love the added tan tie detail on the belly band and the brown and green colors. (We will also use a belly band for our invites.)

The invitation set came with a directions card and website card. All pieces were printed using gocco.

Close up of their spoon, fork, and knife image shows texture in the ink.

And carrying the spoon, fork, and knife design through stamps is a great idea.

This was also the first letter we received that used the King & Queen of Hearts stamps. Totally appropriate for a wedding.

While we are unable to attend, we are so thankful and happy to be invited.



Blog title is from lyrics by Lifehouse

We go together: Invitation Suites

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Stationery has always been one of my favorite things to purchase, collect, use, and look at. It all began with Hello Kitty letter sets at the Sanrio store that came with matching paper, envelopes, and stickers. The colorful designs and cute cat appeared in varying degrees, allowing a unified theme throughout.

Now I'm on to obsessing over letterpress/engraved/flat printed wedding invitations, with fancy calligraphy, flourishing designs, flower details, and lux textures. Whatever pieces you choose (invitation, rsvp, map, envelope, coasters, etc.) the varying designs and textures of a wedding invitation suite is always so creatively tied together through an overall theme. This love and appreciation for all things paper has challenged me to look for details which allow us an invitation suite that goes together.

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Details I always look for are colors, monograms, and modern flourishes. All of which, if used sparingly within our invitation, rsvp postcard, reception card/map, thank you card, and envelope, would tie a theme through out. Below are a few invitation suites I am loving.

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Floral details are among my favorites.

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And this boy and girl icon is just too adorably modern :)

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I've been working with Laura Hooper Calligraphy for one of her beautifully designed monograms that we could use on invitations and on various details.

How did you choose and design the overall theme of your invitation suite? How did you tie each piece together?

Blog title is from the musical, Grease

RSVP, it's a private affair: RSVP Wording & Design

After narrowing down our invitation wording, another part of the invitation suite to consider is RSVP wording and design. On our RSVP card we want to note the standard: guests' names, amount of guests, response (yes or no), and reply by date, but we also want to add something more. Something to further infuse personality into our stationery and allow guests to write a response longer than yes or no. And since we are offering a buffet rather than meat vs fish vs veggie, this leaves a bit of room for something fun.

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I like the idea of an RSVP postcard, which saves on paper and postage, yet allows a cozy amount of room for the wording since a portion of room on the card is designated for our address and stamp. So how about utilizing the opposite side of the postcard? The side that usually contains a photo or drawing. Instead of a photo of Santa Barbara or flourish design we can add a few lines if guests have anything "furthermore, would like to say..." ala Mrs. Lovebug from WB, some "words of wisdom" guests could write to us, or a box to "draw what love means to you". These are our main ideas and we're interested in what our invite designer comes up with :) Also, I love receiving letters via snail mail and RSVPs w/ special notes would definitely make my day.

Source sample of Mrs. Lovebug's RSVP card

How are you designing your RSVP card? Are you going for a card & envelope, postcard, or something else?

Blog title is from lyrics by Heart

It's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away

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After various invitation designs were considered, we are leaning towards a pure calligraphy designed invitation, with minimal to no illustrations, a la Bella Figura and Laura Hooper. So finalizing the design means the next step is to consider the invitation wording. The wording is an important subject since it states essential details (names, date, location), dictates formality, expresses style, notes the host, and contains etiquette. Along with save the dates, the invitation gives guests an idea of what to expect from the wedding.

Wedding blogs and invitation design sites have opened up my eyes to the variety of wording available to one's situation. Sites like theknot, Melissa's Smitten, and hello!Lucky use etiquette to help with the ever important order of names: bride's parents host, bride and groom's parents host, bride and groom host, etc.

After researching ideas and taking into account etiquette, we decided on something formal and personal. From the beginning we wanted a casual feel to the invitations, though the wording must also be formal since our ceremony will be held in church. We will be funding our wedding, but we wanted to include our families in the invitations. We also wanted to go for a simple look of just our first names instead of first, middle, and last. I combined two wording styles I saw on LH Calligraphy and Sugar Plum Invitations, and came up with the following two options.

The Delilah and Wood families*
Request the honor of your presence
At the marriage celebration of

Jeannine & Matthew

Saturday, the xx of September
Two-thousand nine
At one in the afternoon

Old Mission
Santa Barbara, California
Reception to follow
Oceanview Center

--OR--

Because you have shared in our lives
With your friendship and love

Jeannine

&

Matthew

Together with the Delilah and Wood families*
Request the honor of your presence
At our wedding

Saturday, the xx of September
Two thousand nine
At one o'clock in the afternoon

Old Mission
Santa Barbara, California
Reception to follow
Oceanview Center

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We are leaning towards the second wording option. It’s a little different but we like it. For some reason I like the look of just our first names. We will be ordering invites after our Engagement Encounter weekend and after we meet with our Pastor, so there's still some time to get opinions from our families and finalize everything.

How did you decide on the wording in your invitations? Are you just writing your first name, first and middle, or first middle and last?

*Names have been changed for privacy.

Blog title is from lyrics by the Bee Gees

If everybody had an ocean

Ellwood Bluffs

Whether it's the touristy family filled beaches downtown, the college beaches of IV and Sands, or the calmly local beach of Ellwood, the beach is one of my favorites places in Santa Barbara. I love the warmth of the sun, crashing of the waves, and laying out on the sand. Since SB is known as a beach town so it's only natural to incorporate designs like palm trees, shells, waves, sailboats, and sand dollars into our wedding stationery suite.

Ellwood beach with oil rig in the background

Starting off with our save the date map of downtown SB (reception location is on the beach), the invitations are a perfect way to continue a beach theme through our stationery.

Bluffs at UCSB

We're looking for a design of either palm trees, shells, or waves that are simple and modern. We also like the look of flowing calligraphy to match a lazy, breezy day at the beach.

The following are a few photos of SB and invitations we like.

Downtown beach by the wharf

Sail boats are docked in and around the harbor. It's common to see them all around the downtown area beaches.

View of Pacific Ocean from East Beach

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I love the whimsy waves of this Bella Figura letterpress invite. Notice the two birds by the sailboat. Symbolic of the couple or just a cute detail?



Palm trees line Cabrillo Boulevard. I love palm trees.



There are a few that can be seen from our reception venue.

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The soft pink color and simple design of this Ceci New York letterpres invitation is so sweet.

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A chic invite with a few palm leaf designs and a sand dollar. Either icon (sand dollar or palm leaf) would be good to use in other stationery (programs, place cards, guest book) to tie the theme together.

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I like the appeal of this modern design. It has placed the color perfectly to add pop.

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Palm trees and shells are another good match. I love shells. As kids we would collect them on trips to the beach.

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Sugar Plum Invitations' simple flourish and shells have such a clean look.

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More seashells :) I would love to incorporate real shells to the reception decor.

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And of course, starfish. I love the unified look of all Ceci New York's stationery. Be it the colors, icons, font, each piece of stationery is designed with such cohesion.

I think once we narrow down and design our invitations, we can use them as a starting point for the rest of our print details. These details include ceremony programs, place cards, photobooth design, guest book, and OOT bag inserts. We have a few more designs to consider, but we're pretty set on the wording. I like when things are coming to shape :)

How has your location influenced your stationery design? Have you used any part of the design in other wedding details?

Blog title is from lyrics by the Beach Boys

Rooftops and Invitations

I received an email reminder to start looking for and booking our invitation designer. With the wedding about 7 months away we can still leisurely gather ideas, but knowing the many details left to finalize means the pressure is on. The save our date maps provided our guests with a sort of wedding stationery amuse bouche. Our plan is to work that initial look and feel in the invitation suite, to make it flow. We have to consider the wording, font, font color, design accents, printing style, paper, envelopes, addressing, etc. But before we do all that, we want to start with looking at design themes.

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While we like flourishes, calligraphy, and flowers, we also want to incorporate Santa Barbara locations into our theme. One favorite SB location is the Canary Hotel. It's a hotel we considered when scouting venues, built during our college years making it a fairly new hotel in the city. It's location is perfect walking distance to downtown's shopping, dining, and sightseeing, but far form the beach. What it lacks in distance it makes up for in the view. The Canary Hotel has a rooftop terrace with a 360 degree view of downtown, the mountains, the ocean, and the mesa. It would be amazing to get married under the warm sun and celebrate under the stars :)

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So with the Canary Hotel as a starting point, and a theme of love birds, nature, and branches, here are some invitations from hello! Lucky and Wedding Paper Divas that I can see at a Canary Hotel wedding.

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hello! Lucky is one of my favorite invitation companies. They have a beautiful collection of letterpress and digital invitations that come in a wide array of colors to match your wedding colors. I love their interactive site. It allows you to estimate price based on quantity, personalize your design with paper and font choices, fill in your own text, and provides a preview of what your invitation would look like.

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They also have corresponding: RSVP card, save the date card, wedding announcement, thank you card, accommodations card, reception card, directions card, menu, place card, seating card to complete your stationery suite.

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With an easily navigated site, plenty of design and color choices, helpful personalization browsing, and etiquette tips, Wedding Paper Divas is one of my favorite stationery companies.

Source I love the look of this invite and the yellow color.

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I love browsing stationery sites. They overflow with inspirational eye candy.

What are your favorite invitations websites? How did you choose the design of your invitation suite?

Blog title is from lyrics by Dashboard Confessional