Oh So Beautiful Paper

Before we start off with the first of the week’s giveaways, I just had to share these unbelievably gorgeous invitations from Parrott Design Studio featuring the gorgeous calligraphy of Betsy Dunlap:

Sarah from Parrott Design Studio sent over photos and some background on the design process.  The bride, Rae, is an art historian and sent Sarah a huge folder of images she found inspiring, including floral arrangements by Saipua, work by some of her favorite artists, and images of Betsy’s calligraphy.  Sarah recommended that Rae ask Betsy to do the hand lettering for the invitations, and then found ways of incorporating Rae’s other inspiration sources throughout the invitation suite:

Rae and Sarah worked with Betsy on all of the lettering for the main elements of the invitation suite — including the bride and groom’s names for the invitation, and the words “RSVP” and “Directions” for the invitation enclosures, the return address for the RSVP post card — as well as the calligraphy for the invitation envelopes:

The overall design of the invitation was kept elegant and simple — just Betsy’s calligraphy and type letterpress printed in a single color on super-thick cotton paper.  Before printing, Sarah hand-lined each invitation with a gorgeous floral pattern paper that Rae found to add a bit of color to the invitation:

Only the main invitation was letterpress printed, while the RSVP postcard and directions card were screen printed, also in a single color, to keep the overall cost of the invitation suite down:

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Check out Sarah’s blog for more on this gorgeous invitation suite and additional tips on ways to save on letterpress invitations.  Thanks so much for sharing these Sarah!

Oh, and stay tuned for our first giveaway of the week, coming up in just a little bit!

{photo credits: Parrott Design Studio}

1. Jasmine says:

   01/27/2010 at 7:07 PM

   I LOVE calligraphy!
   My fiance thought it was an “unnecessary expense” so we decided to compromise. Silly boys
   Anyway, We had our place cards and invitations done by a calligrapher, but we were able to find a place online (Bachcroft) that printed all of our guests names onto clear address labels for about $40! Luckily they offered a typestyle that looks almost exactly like what is on our invitations.
   I highly recommend that every couple with a budget check them out.
2. Yuda says:

   09/25/2009 at 5:02 AM

   I like calligraphy too especially your beautiful hand writing. Why don’t you create ebook of hand writing and calligraphy ?.
3. Raquel Raney says:

   09/10/2009 at 12:29 PM

   i absolutely love Betsy’s style.
4. Sarah says:

   09/08/2009 at 3:40 PM

   Thank you, thank you Nole! I am so happy you liked the invitaitons and shared them.
5. Nicole-Lynn says:

   09/08/2009 at 8:30 AM

   Love the calligraphy font..
6. Jessica Lynn
   Twitter: pennedandpretty
   says:

   09/07/2009 at 10:53 PM

   those are beyond drool-worthy. omg.
7. Courtney says:

   09/07/2009 at 2:56 PM

   Might be the most gorgeous invitations I’ve ever seen! Love seeing two of my favorite artists collaborate!
8. b. says:

   09/07/2009 at 2:05 PM

   i loove calligraphy.. been thinking about taking a class actually! sooooo pretty! xo.
9. Chaucee says:

   09/07/2009 at 12:29 PM

   This is interesting modern calligraphy. I’ve never seen anything like it! Love it.
10. Kate @Kids and Cocktails says:

    09/07/2009 at 10:31 AM

    Aren’t the beautiful? I saw them the other day and I might have let out a little squeal. I just love everything about them!