We’re back! Ladyfingers Letterpress here, reporting today on a subject very near and dear to us. As some of you may already know, our company is owned and operated by two ladies, Arley-Rose and Morgan, who wed in Massachusetts in 2011. We have always taken marriage equality very seriously, making donations to equality efforts for every invitation suite ordered since we started our business in 2011. On June 26, the Supreme Court voted DOMA as unconstitutional and gave same-sex couples access to 1138 rights that were previously denied to them. We’ve always proudly worked with same-sex couples and are excited to share some of our favorite invitations with you today. –Arley-Rose and Morgan of Ladyfingers Letterpress
Jeremy and Joe’s Mexican Fiesta Wedding
These guys are good friends of ours – Jeremy is a talented type designer (I designed a typeface thanks to him!) and Joe is an amazing playwright. They selected a hidden gem in Mexico to wed and wanted an invitation suite to reflect the culture and fun their guests are about to have. They sent us colorful and vibrant images of Mexican hand-lettering that appears on storefronts and signage, as well as old broadsides that advertise Mexican wrestling matches.
After some deliberation, they decided they wanted to create an invitation that resembled a wrestling match featuring Lucy, their “El Bulldog Francés†as the headliner. We letterpress printed a full bleed rainbow roll flat, with a black letterpress layer on top. The invitations were two sided, with a step-by-step story illustrating the exciting journey that lies ahead to their destination wedding.
The invitations were then rolled and sealed with a red sleeve with the words “Vamos a Celebrar!†letterpress printed on it. What did we do with the invitations next? Well, hide them inside a piñata, of course! The “miñatas†were then placed in a box and shipped off to their small list of friends and family!
Lauren & LaQuet’s Interactive Invite
When we were first approached by these fabulous and outgoing ladies, we knew their invitations would be totally fun. LaQuet is a Broadway star and Lauren is a TV producer, so naturally their invitations would have to reflect some element of performance! Their wedding website was amazing, with videos of them speaking to the viewer on nearly every page. When they received their save the dates, they recorded their reactions and sent them to us. So adorable!
Their save the dates were designed to resemble old Motown and ’60s Soul posters, featuring a three-color letterpress print on an oversize poster and shipped in a large kraft paper envelope.
For their invitations, we created illustrations of the couple and letterpress printed them on kraft paper. The ladies were then laser cut and placed through a slit in the invite, which was designed to look like an old school record player. The result was an irresistible urge to make the ladies dance together, getting this party started early!
Liz & Janis’s Cuban Social Club Invitations
This was another friend couple of ours, so naturally we were psyched to help them out with a set of invitations! Their wedding took place at an amazing Cuban restaurant in Brooklyn, so we aimed to create a suite that reflected their artsy taste, their love of travel and the Cuban flair of their venue. We used a brush lettering for their script and paired the letterpress chip board invites with actual maps that were torn out of an atlas and individually die cut into an envelope shape.
We created two sets of invites for them since their wedding had two rounds of guests: An earlier crowd who would enjoy the ceremony and dinner, and a rowdier bunch arriving later for dancing, revelry and drinks.
Ladyfingers Letterpress is a member of the Designer Rolodex – check out more of their beautiful work right here or visit the real inviÂtaÂtions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!
Photo Credits:Â Ladyfingers Letterpress
I hate to be the one to point it out, but is there a particular reason you’ve singled out these wedding invites as being “gay” wedding invites? I realize they’re for same sex marriages, but there is no other thing that ties them together. Same sex marriages are the same as any other marriage. Wedding invites for these marriages don’t really differ from other wedding invites, except that there may be two names that look to be from the same gender. I usually love this blog, but I feel like this post was a miss. I do appreciate the nod to the fact that same sex marriages are finally happening though.
Hi Calee,
Thanks for the input. One of the main reasons we started our business was because at the time, same sex wedding invites were, well… pretty stereotypically gay. Bathroom symbols of two men or two women. Lots of cliches that we didn’t identify with at all as two ladies in love. And working with vendors became tiring after repeatedly explaining that there was no groom!
We agree that same-sex wedding invites shouldn’t look any different than straight wedding invites. We started out wanting to make incredible wedding invitations for everyone, and I see your comment as proof that we’ve accomplished what we set out to do: make amazing wedding invites that are only identifiably gay by the names written on the papers.
Perhaps you may not have realized that this post was written by a guest blogger – a gay guest blogger who is happily married to the love of her life, and proud of the work that they’ve done together not only in the stationery world but as advocates for same-sex marriage.
Yes — you hit the nail on the head. I didn’t realize that this was a guest post until after re-reading it. I love that you’re pushing the envelope and making beautiful invites that are just that — beautiful invites. Thanks for clarifying!
I think the title of the post is probably the only thing that still makes me a little annoyed — just putting the “gay” label on something that doesn’t have a sexual orientation (just like calling something girly or boy-ish that’s not gendered) rubs me the wrong way. I’m overly sensitive, and I’m not gay, or transgender, but I’m a big advocate. Seeing things like that is usually a red flag to me.
Hi Calee,
Morgan and I are always appreciative of the efforts of our straight allies, and thank you for being vigilant! We hope that for most readers, the word “gay” in the title summons the old fashioned use of the word, as in “elated”, and look forward to the day when the word will again relate to a positive emotion rather than the sexual orientation of a person.
What a fun roundup of fun and quirky designs! I especially love the interactive dancing ladies invitation suite, as it exudes such warmth and joy. And I hope we will continue to see more same-sex weddings featured in wedding blogs and print publications, as it’s long overdue!
As a side note, I feel that this post is tied together very well, as it showcases favorite designs from one design studio. Besides the fact that all the custom suites were created for gay couples, each design has a very playful, whimsical feel and a wonderful play between type face and hand lettering.
I’ve been exploring for a little for any high quality articles or weblog posts on this kind of space . Exploring in Yahoo I eventually stumbled upon this web site. Reading this information So i’m glad to exhibit that I’ve a very excellent uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed. I so much without a doubt will make certain to do not disregard this web site and provides it a look on a continuing basis.|