03/19/2013

Minted Weddings Brunch

Last week,Â MintedÂ invited a small group of blog and magazine editors (including yours truly) to New York for a brunch introducing their new party decor and letterpress wedding invitation collections. You saw a tiny sneak peek on Friday â€“ and more if you follow me on Instagram â€“ but today I have the full set of photos to share with you! Even though it was a super quick trip, it was full of gorgeous inspiration and catching up with friends. Pretty much my idea of a perfect morning!

The party decor â€“ from the menus and signs to the bunting and drink flags â€“ came from Minted’sÂ MatthiolaÂ collection created by Meg ofÂ Moglea. The decorÂ was styled specifically for the brunch by Jenny Batt ofÂ Hank + Hunt.

Before we sat down to eat, Founder Mariam Naficy announced that MintedÂ will reintroduce letterpress printing options, with a select range of wedding invitation designs available in up to 3 color letterpress. In addition, Minted will soon offer a digital rsvp service incorporating a couple’s invitation design, creating a completely cohesive experience for wedding guests.

With some of my favorite ladies! From left to right: VanÃ© of Brooklyn Bride, Ami of Elizabeth Anne Designs, Cyd of The Sweetest Occasions, Me, Anne Chertoff, Shira from Martha Stewart Weddings, and Natasha from Minted.

Just looking at these photos makes me so happy! It was a cold and wet day in New York, but the MintedÂ team did such a great job of making everything bright and cheerful inside. The new party decor, digital rsvp service, and letterpress wedding collection should be available on the Minted website soon. A big thanks to MintedÂ for inviting me to participate in this event!

Photo Credits: Charlie Juliet

Minted provided my travel and accommodations in New York. All words and opinions are my own.

03/18/2013

Jennifer + Charles’s Floral and Woodgrain Wedding Invitations

I’m finally starting to see some color around DC in the form of bright yellow daffodils and tiny pink blossoms, and this time of year I just want to hug anything floral in the hope that spring will arrive even sooner. Jessica from Moira Design Studio sent over these pretty floral and woodgrain invitations that she designed for a recent wedding. Each motif was hand painted, and the envelopes also feature lovely Moira InkÂ calligraphy. Pretty!

From Jessica: We have been obsessed with exploring other mediums in our design work (aside from our computer) and decided to get back to our roots and hunkered down with some paint and a jar full of brushes. Our timing was rather spot on, as this lovely bride approached us for a rustic and organic invitation with artistic roots â€“ something unique and soulful.

She was really looking for a piece to give an impression of the relaxed, homey and intimate feel of their wedding. The couple is to be wed under a massive, gorgeous old oak tree beside a nearly equally as old stone house. The entire reception area is surrounded by lovely old trees, crickets singing, and a fire pit to keep the guests toasty. A venue completely befitting to them!

All the graphics for her invitation are custom painted, differing piece to piece and included clusters of blush flowers, trailing leaves, and rustic wood grain. The backs are also printed either with flowers or the wood grain pattern and envelope liners to match.

Each piece was printed on super thick cotton stock. All the envelopes were also printed with a matching motif, and we added a personal touch and addressed each envelope in calligraphy to bootâ€¦ truly a suite to set the tone for their nuptials!

Thanks Jessica!

Design: Moira Design Studio

Invitation Text Font: Lady Rene

Calligraphy: Moira Ink

Check out theÂ Designer RolodexÂ for more talÂentedÂ wedÂding inviÂtaÂtion designÂersÂ andÂ theÂ real inviÂtaÂtions galleryÂ for moreÂ wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Moira Design Studio

03/18/2013

Courtney + Paul’s Brooklyn Wedding Invitations

Happy Monday everyone! We’re kicking the week off with the totally awesome wedding invitations of Courtney from Swiss Cottage Designs! Courtney was inspired by her adopted home town of Brooklyn and her love of music to create a stunning black and white invitation suite with hand drawn illustrations, cute silhouettes, and even a miniature record rsvp card. So cool!

From Courtney: We didn’t really have a theme going into our wedding but one thing that kept coming up was music and the colors black and white. Our save the date was based on the Rob Base song “It Takes Two” so we weren’t afraid to get a little weird. For the actual wedding, I used a line from a Biggie song that ended up being a repeating theme throughout our invitations and day-of pieces.

I knew I wanted the invitation to be focused around a hand drawn illustration since that is what I love to do. We got married in the DUBMO neighborhood of Brooklyn which has some pretty awesome views. There is one iconic street that showcases the Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State Building nestled below; I chose that as our main image.

The invitation was printed in two parts then duplexed to #220 and printed on Crane Lettra. One of the important things for me was to have the invitation sound like the way we both actually speak. We have a very dry sense of humor and we really wanted that to come out in our invitation text.Â The ridiculously talented Jenna of Love, Jenna Calligraphy addressed our black envelopes in white ink.

My personal favorite detail was the envelope liner! My friend is a photographer and when looking through her pictures, I saw one of a guy with knuckle tattoos. I knew I wanted to incorporate that same idea into our suite somehow. One I realized that “BROOKLYN” fit on the knuckles, it was a done deal!

For the RSVP card, I created a letterpress printed mini-record complete with glassine sleeve. I paired this with a 4″ x 4″ square black envelope and had our return address letterpress printed in matte silver on the front. We also provided our guests with an insert with suggestions for spending a perfect winter weekend in NYC and Brooklyn. This was printed flat on kraft paper. I finished the suite with black + gold twine (from the awesome Knot & Bow) and had a die cut tag created to hold everything together.

I love little silhouettes and created one of our hair to use throughout our suite as a continual theme.Â Overall, we wanted our invitations to feel classic, set the tone for our wedding, but most importantly to make our friends and family laugh.

So awesome â€“ thanks Courtney!

Invitation Design: Swiss Cottage Designs

Calligraphy: Love, Jenna Calligraphy

Twine: Knot & Bow

Swiss Cottage Designs is a member of the Designer Rolodex â€“ you can see more of Courtney’s amazing work right here or visitÂ theÂ real inviÂtaÂtions galleryÂ for moreÂ wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Courtney Jentzen | Swiss Cottage Designs

03/14/2013

DIY Tutorial: Scalloped Wood Frame Save the Date

This save the date project has been brewing in our brains for a while now. After we found out how wonderful it was to stamp on wood in this tutorial, we’ve been biting at the bit to use it again. For this save the date, we used spray paint to create the “frame” effect on the wood piece before stamping the text. We couldn’t be happier with the finished project!Â â€“Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

The subtle wood grain adds such a nice texture to the design.

Step One: Since the wood veneer that we used in the project comes in large square sheets, we first had to cut out our A2 (5.5″ x 4.25″) cards from the sheet.

Step Two: Once you have all of your cards cut to size, you’ll now need to prep them for painting. To mask the center and make the frame shape in the wood, we double stick taped an oval scallop flat card to the center of each wood card. We then used acrylic spray paint over the entire card to complete the frame image. **You really only need one pack of oval scallop cards to complete the project. You can reuse them after the paint is completely dry.** Once everything is dry, peel off the oval scallop card and set aside. Repeat the process until all of your cards are complete.

Step Three: You’ll now want to print your save the date. Place one of the cards on a hard surface. Ink your stamp (we used our Floral Calligraphy Save the Date stamp) and center it over the oval portion of the card. Once centered, press down firmly, using both hand to make the print. Please watch this video for more information on inking and stamping an oversized stamp.

Step Four: Since many out of town guests need to make travel and accommodation arrangements prior to receiving your wedding invitation, it is wise to include an accommodations card or website card with your save the date. This way, they have all of the information they’ll need to make it to your wedding! Print this standard business sized card (2″ x 3.5″) using the stamp printing technique described in step three. To coordinate with our save the date, we used our (Floral Calligraphy Accommodations stamp).

Step Five: Now all that’s left is to stamp your return address (we used our Floral Calligraphy Return Address stamp), address them, add postage and send them to all of your guests!

Materials

Floral Calligraphy Save the Date Stamp

Floral Calligraphy Accommodations Stamp-custom sized to fit tag

Floral Calligraphy Return Address Stamp

Stamp PadÂ in Chestnut

Wood VeneerÂ cut down toÂ A2 (5.5″ x 4.25″) cards, we bought ours locally at an art store

Oval Scallop Cards

A2 Envelopes

Double sided tape

Spray PaintÂ in Liberty

Suminagashi Tags

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

03/07/2013

Stationery A â€“ Z: Apology Cards

Let’s face it, we all make mistakes. Hopefully one of these well-designed cards (along with a heartfelt apology written on the inside) will make it a bit easier to smooth any ruffled feathers andÂ make amends. Â â€” Tashia