Vivien + Jon’s Geometric Baby Shower Invitations

As you saw yesterday, I love informal co-ed baby showers – aka a last shindig with friends and family! When designing the invitations for her friends Vivien and Jon’s baby party, Lauren Chism drew inspiration from a geometric pillow in the nursery and a bright color palette that included coral, navy, mustard yellow, and mint green. The resulting design couldn’t be more perfect!

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From LaurenWhen my dear friend Vivien, who is a stationery designer herself, asked me to design her baby shower invitations, I was honored, excited and a little nervous: designing for a designer – that’s a tough job!

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Vivien and her husband Jon did not find out the sex of the baby, and the shower was co-ed, so I knew the most important task was making sure that the invitation wasn’t too feminine and that the guys wouldn’t feel like they were being dragged to a traditional baby shower. They had already dubbed it a ‘Baby Party’ – so with that tag line and a fun geometric pillow from the nursery as inspiration, I worked to create something that was fun, not girly, not too baby shower-y and most importantly, something that Vivien would love. Easy, right?!

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The final result was a fun mix of typography, geometric pattern, and color. I worked with a palette that coordinated with her nursery: coral, gold, mint, mustard, navy and gray. I couldn’t decide which envelopes to use, so I ended up sending a combination of mint and mustard envelopes.

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I didn’t want to crowd up the main invitation with the hosts’ names (there were several), so I created a little insert with a list of names. That or using the back is a great way to include everyone when you have lots of people or couples hosting, without having to fit them all on the main invitation. (Plus it added some fun color to whole package).

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Vivien loved how they turned out and I loved getting to play such a special part in their shower. Oh, and by the way, Vivien and Jon welcomed a little GIRL, Zoe, in August!

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Thanks Lauren!

Lauren Chism Fine Papers is a member of the Designer Rolodex â€“ you can check out more of Lauren’s work right here!

Photo Credits: Heather Hawkins

Wedding Stationery Inspiration: Feathers

Feathers have been a popular wedding motif for some time now, and I think they make the perfect added touch for weddings of any season, but especially fall! Glamorous white feathers can be dipped in gold and attached to your escort cards, programs or menus, or you can incorporate the motif right into your day-of stationery with a sweet illustration or sketch. They can go rustic, elegant or whimsical, great for any wedding day style! —Kelly

Feather Wedding Menu Swell and Grand Kaysha Weiner Photographer

Photo by Kaysha Weiner Photographer, Menu by Swell and Grand via Ruffled

Feather Wedding Place Cards Southern Fried Paper NBarrett Photography

Photo by NBarrett Photography, Escort Cards by Southern Fried Paper via Style Me Pretty

Feather Place Cards Bash Please Bryce Covey Feather Chalkboard Cocktail Menu Rebecca Arthurs Photography

Photo by Bryce Covey, Escot Cards by Bash, Please via Style Me Pretty (left), Photo by Rebecca Arthurs Photography via Style Me Pretty (right)

Feather Wedding Escort Cards Swell and Grand Kaysha Weiner Photographer

Photo by Kaysha Weiner Photographer, Escort Cards by Swell and Grand via Ruffled

 Feather Wedding Menu Sweet Paper Bethann Greenberg Photography

Photo by Bethann Greenberg Photography, Menu by Sweet Paper via Green Wedding Shoes

Feather Wedding Escort Cards 5 Thirteen Designs Amalie Orrange Photography

Photo by Amalie Orrange Photography, Escort Card by 5 Thirteen Designs via Wedding Chicks

Feather Wedding Monogram One Handspun Day

Wedding Monogram by One Handspun Day

Washi Tape Feather Calligraphed Place Cards A Fabulous Fete

Feather Escort Cards by A Fabulous Fete

Feather Wedding Place Cards and Menu Paper Rock Scissor Rosann Konieczny Liz Banfield

Photo by Liz Banfield, Calligraphy by Rosann Konieczny, Paper Goods by Paper Rock Scissors via Style Me Pretty

Feather Weddign Escort Cards Vitalic Photo

Photo + Escort Cards by Vitalic Photo via Wedding Chicks

{images via their respective sources}

Crystal + Jason’s Red and White Retro Wedding Invitations

I love the versatility of the color red. Dress it up for a classic winter wedding invitation, or down for a picnic-inspired summer wedding. Today we have a set of fun red and black vintage-inspired invitations from Mary at Real Mart. Originally created for the wedding of Real Mart print designer Crystal Dennis, the invitations feature lots of swirls, flourishes, and playful polka dots!

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From Mary: Crystal is a print designer here at Real Art. One of our favorites of her designs is the retro invitation suite that she designed for her very own wedding! It has a classic retro theme filled with polka dots, swirls, and curly Qs. It features custom bird and index illustrations, polka dot ribbon and paper, a cute little hang tag, and red envelopes. The invitations were letterpress printed on off-white paper with red and black ink.

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Crystal’s wedding reception was held at America’s Packard Museum, an automotive museum filled with beautiful vintage cars! The reception also featured a rockabilly band for some “Real Retro” entertainment.

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Thanks Mary!

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

Photo Credits: Real Mart

Liam’s Colorful Letterpress Birth Announcements

While we’re on the subject of babies, how sweet are these birth announcements from Kimberly of Honizukle for her second son, Liam?! When it came time to design Liam’s announcements, Kimberly knew she wanted to incorporate lions in a yellow, mint, and navy color palette. Add in a sweet polka dot envelope liner, adorable baby photos, and some washi tape, and you have a recipe for seriously cute baby announcements!

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From Kimberly: I can say that three distinct things were on my mind when designing Liam’s announcement. The color yellow, which, for some reason, I’ve always associated with Liam. Lions, which I also associate with Liam because of a little Lion my husband got him even before he was born. Finally, handwritten fonts, which I’ve been obsessing over for some time. I thought there was a recipe in there somewhere for a good design.

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I knew I wanted Liam’s name to be large and yellow and I wanted the lion in his announcement to be this little lion I had designed previously and had a soft spot for. I had recently been printing with a lovely mint color I had mixed and became infatuated with, so I knew that also had to make its way in. Once I put those together I added a bit of navy, polka dots and a few carefully chosen fonts to come up with a sweet design for my sweet, little boy.

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Photos of my boys were included in a wax pouch decorated with yellow and navy polka dot washi tape that matched the polka dot liner I had designed. I opted to use photos of both of the boys as the announcement came from Liam’s older brother John Patrick, better known as Jackie, figuring there can never be too many photos of cute, little boys.

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I had planned to design a label to address the announcements as well but as a mother of two now, I didn’t quite have all the time in the world and so ended up using a lovely stamp I had purchased from Wit & Whistle a couple of months back. It worked perfectly with navy ink and finished off the announcement nicely.

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Thanks Kimberly!

Announcement Design + Printing: Honizukle

Address Stamp: Wit + Whistle

Photo Credits: Honizukle

Our Baby Shower!

Today we’re taking a quick trip back in time… to our baby shower! The ladies at On To Baby were kind enough to feature our shower yesterday, and I thought I’d share a few of my favorites here. My dear friends Janice and Maggie hosted the most beautiful shower for us, inspired by my love of all things constellation! Funny story: because I ended up having to be induced with Sophie 3 weeks early, our baby shower took place the DAY before we went into the hospital for the induction. Those last few days were a complete blur of anxiety and nerves, so it was really nice to have a day to spend with our friends and family before Sophie’s arrival!

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Sugar Paper did an amazing job with the invitations, incorporating gold and white foil on die cut kraft paper, calligraphy from Lisa Holtzman, and a custom constellation envelope liner. Janice worked with Verde Studio to select astronomy-themed vintage postage as the finishing touch.

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We’re not the most traditional of people, so we wanted an informal co-ed shower that gave us an opportunity to spend time with our friends and family. Janice asked her sister (a private chef) to put together a buffet of our favorite brunch food, and Andy came up with a trio of brunch cocktail recipes. There was also a coffee bar and dessert bar featuring cupcakes and macarons from our local favorite The Sweet Lobby.

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This is Maggie and Trevor’s pup, Eleanor, when she was just a tiny wee thing! I think it should be mandatory to have at least one puppy at every party.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you Maggie and Janice! Check out the full details over on On To Baby!

Event Planning: Bellwether Events and Maggie Adams

Invitation Design: Sugar Paper

Invitation Calligraphy: Lisa Holtzman Calligraphy

Day-of Calligraphy: Meant to Be Calligraphy

Postage: Verde Studio

Catering: Leslie Raybuck

Desserts: The Sweet Lobby

Photo Credits: The Observatory