DIY Tutorial: Vintage Fern Wedding Invitations

Vintage botanical artwork is one of those things that truly never goes out of style. The lifelike renderings of plants and flowers take a very skilled hand to create and happily bring the outdoors into an indoor space (without the upkeep of real plants!). With the outdoor wedding season approaching, we were inspired to create this lush and lovely suite that is like sending a beautiful garden through the mail! – Bailey and Emma of Antiquaria

DIY Tutorial: Fern Inspired Wedding Invitations by Antiquaria via Oh So Beautiful Paper

This fern invitation suite is a wonderful compliment to our Botanical + Watercolor Save the Date Tutorial!

DIY Tutorial: Fern Inspired Wedding Invitations by Antiquaria via Oh So Beautiful Paper

DIY Tutorial: Fern Inspired Wedding Invitations by Antiquaria via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Step One: Lay an A7 (5″ x 7″) card down on a firm surface. Ink your stamp (we used our Fern Forrest Invitation Stamp) thoroughly and center it over your card. Once it is positioned correctly, press down to make a print. use both hands to ensure even pressure. Lift off and let the print dry. For more information on this process go here.

DIY Tutorial: Fern Inspired Wedding Invitations by Antiquaria via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Step Two: Repeat the same process from step 1 for your reply card (we used our Fern Forrest Reply Card stamp) on an A2 (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) card.

DIY Tutorial: Fern Inspired Wedding Invitations by Antiquaria via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Step Three: To incorporate more botanical elements to the suite, we used our fern A2 envelope template as our reply envelope. Simply cut the pattern on the lines, fold in the sides and glue the bottom to the side flaps to create your own envelopes! Stamp your address (we used our Floral Calligraphy Return Address Stamp) on the front so that guests can easily return the reply card to you.

DIY Tutorial: Fern Inspired Wedding Invitations by Antiquaria via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Step Four: Adding an envelope liner adds a bit of luxury to your invitation suite. It’s also really easy to do yourself! Simply trace the shape (using a liner template) onto your paper and cut along the line. Use stick glue or double sided tape to affix the paper into your envelope.

DIY Tutorial: Fern Inspired Wedding Invitations by Antiquaria via Oh So Beautiful Paper

Step Five: Lastly, you’ll want to stamp your return address onto your A7 outer envelope. We used the same stamp as the reply address (our Floral Calligraphy Return Address stamp) but used a different color ink for this piece. In order to change ink colors, you’ll want to clean your stamp. To do so only requires making a paper towel damp and wiping off the acetate stamp image. Never use anything other than water to clean the stamp as it can damage your print image. You also never want to submerge your stamp in water as it could dislodge from the mount.

Address those bad boys, add postage, and send them off to delight your guests! You can also tie the suite together with a nice ribbon if you like!

Materials:

Fern Forrest Invitation Stamp

Fern Forrest Reply Card Stamp

Floral Calligraphy Return Address Stamp

Stamp Pad in Chestnut and Moss

A7 cards in Luxe White

A7 envelopes in Sage

A2 cards in Luxe White

A2 DIY fern envelopes: available soon from Antiquaria

Liner paper – available soon from Antiquaria

Envelope liner template:

Ribbon

Anti­quaria is a mem­ber of the Designer Rolodex – you can see more of their beau­ti­ful work right here or visit the real wedding invitations gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Antiquaria

Molly + Mark’s Floral-Inspired Southern Wedding Invitations

These wedding invitations from Holly Hollon mix whimsical calligraphy and floral illustrations – so perfect for a late summer wedding in the South! I love the simplicity of the single color letterpress printing, which really allows the beautiful calligraphy to take center stage. Gorgeous!

Floral-Inspired Southern Wedding Invitations by Holly Hollon via Oh So Beautiful Paper (2)

From Holly: This invitation suite was created for a southern wedding. The bride loved calligraphy mixed with florals and she wanted the calligraphy to be inside a floral wreath. It was lots of fun to create the whimsical details and to add in flowing banners to tie everything together to highlight certain parts of the invitation, such as their names.

Floral-Inspired Southern Wedding Invitations by Holly Hollon via Oh So Beautiful Paper (1)

Floral-Inspired Southern Wedding Invitations by Holly Hollon via Oh So Beautiful Paper (3)

With the exception of the thank you cards, everything was letterpress printed in a bright blue to coordinate with the bride’s wedding colors.

Floral-Inspired Southern Wedding Invitations by Holly Hollon via Oh So Beautiful Paper (4)

Floral-Inspired Southern Wedding Invitations by Holly Hollon via Oh So Beautiful Paper (5)

Thanks Holly!

Design: Holly Hollon

Letterpress Printing: Patrick Masterson

Styling: Bits and Bobs

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credit: Spindle Photography

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone! We had a wonderful week in New York, but I’m definitely happy to be back home in DC. Sophie had such a great time on our little trip – she rode Amtrak for the first time, visited the Museum of Modern Art (she loved Mondrian and Pollock), and explored the city with her papa during the day. She even got to visit NYIGF and absolutely loved it; I think she enjoyed all the bright lights and colors around the show. As for me, I really just need to nap for about 36 hours to recover from so many long days at the Javits Center. I’ll be wrapping up my NYIGF coverage with a couple of final posts next week! But in the meantime…

  

Photos by me via Instagram

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for me this week! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo

Calligraphy Inspiration: la Happy

Today, I’m happy to be sharing the work of la Happy‘s Sally Balt. Sally is a designer and calligrapher of gorgeous custom paper goods. I immediately fell for her charismatic writing style; it’s so playful and lively. Perusing her blog, you can see her work is only getting better. There’s no doubt we’ll be seeing many more beautiful creations from la Happy in the future. A girl this talented is going places!  – Julie

Calligraphy Inspiration: La Happy

Calligraphy Inspiration: La Happy

I love the way Sally amped up the fun factor here, playing off her whimsical style with juicy bursts of colour. (Not to mention, a little bit of humour!)

Calligraphy Inspiration: La Happy

La Happy calligraphy invitation suite

La Happy calligraphy return address

Lucky us! la Happy also has a shop filled with custom stamps. I particularly like the Thank You stamp, don’t you?

Calligraphy Inspiration: La Happy

Calligraphy Inspiration: La Happy

Don’t forget to follow along la Happy on Facebook for more sneak peeks into her work, as well as her blog for more visual treats!

Photo credits: 1, 3 left, 5 La Happy; 2,6 Chantal Andrea; 3 right Woodnote Photography; 4 Jasmine Star; 7 Julie Harmsen Photography

Design credits: 1 ; 2, 4, 6 design La Happy, 7 design: Finch and Thistle Events

Katie + Matt’s Classic Southern Wedding Invitations

Happy Monday everyone! Today I’m hanging out at the New York International Gift Fair, and I can’t wait to share some of my favorite finds from the show later this week! But in the meantime, designer Kristen Smith sent over these classic invitations that she designed for a Southern wedding. I’m loving all the vibrant pops of red – such a great touch!

Classic Southern Wedding Invitations by Sase Ink via Oh So Beautiful Paper (12)

From Kristen: Katie is an art teacher and Matt is an industrial designer, and when it came to the invitations they wanted something elegant and classic with a few modern touches. We first set to work creating a custom monogram (since the bride and groom have last names that begin with the same initial), which could be used on everything from invitations to favor tags. The monogram was one of my favorite parts!

Classic Southern Wedding Invitations by Sase Ink via Oh So Beautiful Paper (8) Classic Southern Wedding Invitations by Sase Ink via Oh So Beautiful Paper (7)

Classic Southern Wedding Invitations by Sase Ink via Oh So Beautiful Paper (11)

The RSVPs were done as postcards and pre-stamped so attendees could simply return them in the mail. On the front of the RSVP was a “Marriage Advice” madlib for guests to fill out and return as well. At the reception they were hung in a tree near the tent for everyone to see!

Classic Southern Wedding Invitations by Sase Ink via Oh So Beautiful Paper (4) Classic Southern Wedding Invitations by Sase Ink via Oh So Beautiful Paper (3)

The invitations were letterpress printed while the other flat pieces were printed digitally. All three were then edge painted in a beautiful red to match the red liners chosen for the envelopes. The belly band that held everything together featured a gate on the front with wreaths containing their initials. On the wedding day, similar wreaths were hung with moss initials for both Katie and Matt.

Classic Southern Wedding Invitations by Sase Ink via Oh So Beautiful Paper (10)

The programs were done to match the invitations with the monogram and names prominently featured on the front. On the inside we used the same red from the liners and edging to make the pages stand out a little more. The inside featured information and historical tidbits about the venue as well as the history for all of the important items incorporated during the wedding ceremony. The programs were punched and tied with bakers twine as well.

Thanks Kristen!

Design: Kristen Smith

Printing: Sase Ink in Charleston, SC

Edge Painting: Moglea

Calligraphy: Diane Rember of Calligraphy Expressions

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Kristen Smith