02/21/2018

Modern & Creative Save the Date Ideas

Any recently engaged couples out there?? Choosing a save the date is probably one of the first decisions you’ll make for your wedding! Save the dates can reveal a lot about your wedding, so it’s important to choose wisely. Will your wedding be casual or formal? Is it in the mountains or by the beach? Your save the dates should reflect the type of wedding you plan to have. And since there aren’t as many rules for save the dates as for the formal invitation, you have more freedom to play around with the design. So have fun and don’t be afraid to think outside the box! Here are a few modern and creative save the date ideas to get you started! – Annie

Love the bright splash of color in these modern watercolor save the dates! | Photography: Philip Ficks, Stationery: Swiss Cottage Designs via The Knot

The photo booth strip and handwritten text add a personal touch. | Stationery: Bird and Banner via Brides

Obsessed with these embroidered vintage postcards! | Embroidery: Sarah West Ervin via Green Wedding Shoes

Feel free to play around with unique wording! This infographic save the date makes me wish I was invited. | Stationery: Natalie Grosner via Natalie Grosner

Feeling inspired by the geographic location of your wedding? Go with a map save the date! I’d hang this map save the date on my wall! | Photography: Phil Chester via Green Wedding Shoes

How fun is this pinwheel design?! | Photography: Christa-Taylor, Stationery: Tie That Binds via Style Me Pretty

You can never go wrong with gold foil and bold type. | Photography: Ryon:Lockhart Photography, Stationery: Allison Rhodes Designs via Style Me Pretty

The combination of wood and gold calligraphy is stunning. | Photography: KT Merry Photography, Stationery: Anticipate Invitations, Calligraphy: Curlicue Designs Calligraphy via Style Me Pretty

Has anyone ever said no to chocolate? | via Un Beau Jour

Give your guests a sneak peek at the wedding destination with postcards. You can even order a custom rubber stamp with your details to add all your information on the back. (And you’ll save money on stamps.) | Photography: Patricia Heal via Brides

All you need is a Polaroid camera to make these cute DIY save the dates! | Calligraphy: A Fabulous Fete via 100 Layer Cake

The sheet of vellum adds an elegant touch to an already gorgeous save the date. | Photography: Jose Villa, Stationery: Amber Moon Designs, Calligraphy: Anne Robin via Martha Stewart Weddings

You can find more wedding invitation and save the date inspiration in our real invitations gallery right here!

02/20/2018

Black and White Calligraphy and Watercolor Wedding Invitations

Black and white is a classic combination any time of year â€“ but the high contrast feels especially dramatic in the winter, don’t you think? Victoria of Design House of Moira sent over these black and white calligraphy and watercolor wedding invitations, with flourished calligraphy text in stunning platinum foil on vellum, monochromatic watercolor floral details in the envelope liners, and a super dramatic 2 inch black wax seal. Just gorgeous for a black tie winter wedding!

From Victoria: Winter weddings are often a palette cleanser after the spring and summer filled with pale blushes and French blues. I loved working with Rebecca on her winter wedding, which was held at the New York City Public Library. With hopes for snow on her wedding day, along with the neutral backdrop of the library, she chose a monochromatic palette of black and white with an accent of platinum foil for her wedding day. A true black tie wedding, her bridesmaids were in black gowns and the groomsmen in custom tuxedos.

With each bride we work with, the paper selection is such an important step in our creative process. For Rebecca, we suggested using a heavy weight vellum for her main invitation to reflect the semi-transparency of the snow she loves so much and her engagement ring of onyx and diamonds. Her entire suite was hand calligraphed and printed in platinum and black foil with some serious flourishing and formality throughout. All the calligraphy was designed diagonally across each piece.

The bride really loved all the artwork we create here at Design House of Moira, but was concerned that she would have to forgo watercolor details for her suite due to her limited color range. We suggested a monochromatic watercolor piece created entirely in black for her and we lined her mailing envelopes with the pattern. Her reply envelopes were lined with a heavy foil pattern created from the positive and negative space of her floral artwork.

The final suite included her invitation printed on vellum, the reply card printed in black foil on cotton paper, and her small reception card, printed in platinum foil on vellum and tucked into a tiny envelope for an added detail. The smaller pieces of the suite were bound in a remarkably smooth paper in the blackest of blacks, tied with metallic thread, and sealed with a custom 2″ black wax seal.

Her envelopes were all lined in her pattern, the back bore her return address in calligraphy and a wax seal sealed the envelope. Each envelope was hand addressed with matching calligraphy in black ink. The suite was finished off with two custom postage stamps designed with her artwork.

Thanks Victoria!

Design & Calligraphy: Design House of Moira
Foil Printing: Viking Printing

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more talÂented wedÂding inviÂtaÂtion designÂers and the real inviÂtaÂtions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Design House of Moira

02/15/2018

Mediterranean Inspired Watercolor Wedding Invitations

With these beautiful deep blue tones, these stunning Mediterranean-inspired watercolor wedding invitations could be for an al fresco dinner party in Tuscany or an exotic getaway to the Greek Isles! Instead, we’re bringing the Mediterranean a bit closer to home, for a wedding in Houston, Texas! Sarah McKeon of Bluebonnet Press designed these stunning invitations with blue letterpress printed text on white handmade paper. The watercolor tile-inspired envelope liners are the perfect bold touch!

From Sarah: This was one of my favorite custom designs! I love that inspiration can come from anywhere and I’m only limited by my imagination. The inspiration for this invitation suite was the beautiful venue, The Gallery in Houston, which has lots of Mediterranean style architecture and Spanish vibes with all the gorgeous terra cotta tiles. I knew I wanted to use blue because there was going to be blue glassware used in the table settings. I painted a watercolor piece mimicking patterns used in old Spanish tiles, which I then digitized and turned into custom liners for the suite.

I kept the design of the invitations simple with some beautiful typography to not have it compete with the busy liners. To add texture and give the suite that old world feel we were going for, I letterpress printed them on gorgeous handmade paper. The natural feathery edges of handmade paper get my heart every single time! The finishing touches were the blue vintage stamps that pulled everything together.

To continue the theme, the place cards were brush lettered, with the same blue watercolor used in the liners. To save on cost we ended up digitally printing the menus, but gave them a rough deckled edge along with the place cards to echo that detail used in the invitations suite.

As a stationer, when designing wedding invitations I am often one of the first pieces of the puzzle and get to brainstorm and create with brides as everything starts to fall in place. However, sometimes I wish I could be a fly on the wall at the weddings to see how everything came together. Which is why I absolutely love getting photos, it’s such an honor to work with other creative vendors and see how each of our talents play off each other to create a fabulous event!

Thanks Sarah!

Design: Bluebonnet Press
Handmade paper: Fabulous Fancy Pants
Vintage stamps: Verde Studio

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more talÂented wedÂding inviÂtaÂtion designÂers and the real inviÂtaÂtions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Nicole Young

02/13/2018

Printable Valentine’s Day Candy Wrappers

Anyone else in need of some quick and easy last minute Valentine’s Day treats? Well, we’ve got you covered with these printable Valentine’s Day candy wrappers created just for us by Kristen of Thimblepress! The wrappers are the perfect size for covering a Hershey’s chocolate bar, but the designs are so flexible that you could wrap them around pretty much any type of treat â€“ or cut them down to use as a cute little card! All you have to do is download, print, cut, and wrap! Use them for your co-workers, as teacher gifts, or even as classroom Valentines!

Kristen of Thimblepress created a total of SIX different designs for us to use! Isn’t she just the sweetest? Thank you Kristen! I absolutely love the illustrated floral XOXO, the designs that look like text made from beautiful ribbons, the conversation hearts, and the sweet smiley face and rainbow! And I love you more than chocolate?? Ooooh, those are some BIG shoes to fill!

If you’d like to use these printable Valentine’s Day candy wrappers to help make someone’s day, just download the files through the link at the bottom of the post, print them out on white paper (can be text weight or cover weight!), cut, wrap, and tape in place. And only a couple of the designs are really Valentine’s Day specific, so you could even use these to help spread the love throughout the year! Oh, and Kristen even made a little space to write both your name and the recipient’s name on the back. So cute!

Download the printable Valentine’s Day Candy Wrappers right here!

p.s. DIY watercolor and gold leaf gift tags and printable Valentine’s Day envelope liners!

All artwork Â© 2018 Kristen Ley of Thimblepress created exclusively for Oh So Beautiful Paper. All artwork is made available for personal use only. By downloading the patterns you agree to the terms of use.

Photos by Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

02/12/2018

Los Olivos Illustrated Watercolor Wedding Invitations

We love that weekend itinerary maps are becoming more of a mainstay in wedding invitation suites, and we absolutely swoon over maps with impeccable attention to detail and execution. Enter Michelle of Honey Paper (a talented member of our Designer Rolodex) and these beautiful Los Olivos illustrated watercolor wedding invitations. Drawing inspiration from the couple’s Los Olivos venue in the Santa Ynez Valley, Michelle illustrated a stunning watercolor map with the most darling landmarks. We love how clean and crisp the suite is, allowing the watercolor illustrations to shine through, while the palm frond liner adds the perfect touch of texture to bring it all together!

From Michelle: During a weekend getaway from Los Angeles to the vineyards and tasting rooms of the Santa Ynez Valley, Elizabeth and Michael discovered a piece of California history, and their future wedding venue, in the charming town of Los Olivos. The venue, Mattei’s Tavern, is an utterly charming and thriving restaurant as well as an iconic Santa Ynez Valley landmark. The handsome white clapboard exterior, boxed eaves, looping wisteria and pepper trees recall a time of horse-drawn carriages, parlors filled with wicker chairs and generous helpings of shepherd’s pie. Return trips to the Valley found them back at this corner of beloved land enjoying evenings spent, “under the palms and stars.” Mattei’s Tavern was built by Swiss-Italian immigrant Felix Mattei in 1886 along what was once a bustling stagecoach and railway stop through San Marcos Pass.

Elizabeth and Michael wanted the invitation to reflect the uniqueness of the 130 year old venue and the essence of Los Olivos. We created a hand illustrated watercolor map of Los Olivos oriented to Mattei’s Tavern whose corners emphasize robust palm fronds and clusters of wisteria. The keepsake map was a must so guests would arrive in the Santa Ynez Valley with a sense of its story and a ready appreciation for its natural beauty.

The invitation was flat printed on a brilliant white Crane Lettra paper so the original hand illustrated watercolors would render vibrant and crisp. The hearty palm frond motif provided continuity between the pieces both in color and story. We used a subtle mossy green for all the text which complemented the original illustration on the envelope liner. One of our favorite details is the initial monogram with mirrored feathered palm leaves and extended stem.

We are honored to be able to share a part of Los Olivos’ history through a lovingly made and illustrated wedding invitation.

Thanks Michelle!

Design & Printing: Honey Paper
Paper: Crane Lettra Paper

Honey Paper is a member of the Designer Rolodex â€“ check out more of their beautiful work right here or visit the real inviÂtaÂtions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Michelle Castle

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Modern & Creative Save the Date Ideas

Black and White Calligraphy and Watercolor Wedding Invitations

Mediterranean Inspired Watercolor Wedding Invitations

Printable Valentine’s Day Candy Wrappers

Los Olivos Illustrated Watercolor Wedding Invitations