Nikki + Josh’s Balsa Wood Wedding Invitations

These wedding invitations come to us from my very own ‘hood!  Nikki and Josh were married just across the river in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, this past May.  Nikki and Josh’s photographers, Holland Photo Arts, thought I might be interested in Nikki and Josh’s beautiful and creative wedding invitations (and of course, I totally was).  The invitations were designed by one of my local favorites, Saima Says Design, and printed on balsa wood with letterpress enclosures and coordinating day-of pieces, including fan ceremony programs.

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Virginia-Balsa-Wood-Orange-Blue-Wedding-Invitations-Suite

Virginia-Balsa-Wood-Orange-Blue-Wedding-Invitations Virginia-Balsa-Wood-Orange-Blue-Wedding-Invitations

Nikki and Josh had a vintage-inspired wedding theme based around one of Nikki’s father’s childhood toys.  The invitations reflect the overall vintage inspiration while retaining an overall modern feel.  So pretty!

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Virginia-Balsa-Wood-Orange-Blue-Wedding-Invitations-RSVP

Virginia-Orange-Blue-Wedding-Escort-Card-Display Virginia-Orange-Blue-Wedding-Ceremony-Programs

Virginia-Orange-Blue-Wedding-Ceremony-Programs

{image credits: Holland Photo Arts}

Submitted via Two Bright Lights

Today I Love: Dark Interiors + Wedding Trends

Happy Monday everyone!  Are you all still here, or have you started to run off for the holidays already?  We leave for my in-laws house on Thursday, but I’ll be posting all week just in case you were wondering.  I always use the last couple of weeks of the year to get myself organized, and I spent quite a bit of time over the weekend updating my Pinterest page with some of my favorite inspiration from the last year.  I love looking back on the year to see what inspired me, from fantastic wedding invitations to wedding details to interiors.  So to start things off this morning, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite images:

Mr-Boddington-Studio-Desk dark-room-antique-table

{Mr. Boddington’s Studio via Brooklyn Bride; Eric Piasecki via Desire to Inspire}

This year I’ve been drawn to slightly darker interiors, although we’ll see if I start going back to peaceful whites and lighter tones now that the sun is setting at 4:30 every afternoon.  I absolutely adore the desk and wallpaper from the tour of Mr. Boddington’s Studio, and if there’s anything I’ve learned this year, it’s that darker walls can be beautiful with the right kind of light.

forest-wedding-reception-table-ideas

{Jose Villa via Once Wed}

Silhouette-Wedding-Cake papel-picado-wedding-banners

{Ashley Brockinton Photography via The Bride’s Cafe; Rosie Parsons via Ruffled}

For weddings, I’m still just as in love with silhouettes as ever, but love seeing them done in an unexpected way – like the wedding cake above.  I also developed a serious crush on papel picado banners and quasi-industrial lighting for wedding receptions.

rob-ryan-papercut-wedding-invitation

{evs media via Once Wed}

heart-shaped-wedding-invitations

{The Indigo Bunting}

This has been a pretty incredible year for wedding invitations and I’m going to attempt a best-of round-up of my favorites next week, but these two invitations are high up on my list.  For the papercut invitation, artist Rob Ryan gave the bride permission to use his artwork for the invitation – so amazing!

{alli coate}

One of my favorite quotes, made even more lovely with sweet embroidery.

There’s tons more where that came from, and you’re welcome to visit me over at Pinterest!

{all images via their respective sources}

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday everyone!  Yesterday we got our first real snowfall here in DC – just a couple of inches, but I love the magical feeling of the first snow of the season.  The city gets sooo quiet; and my neighborhood of Capitol Hill looks particularly pretty with a little dusting.  This weekend we’ll be finishing up our holiday shopping (I know, I know, I’m such a procrastinator), staying warm indoors, and drinking lots of hot chocolate.  But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

That’s it for me this week!  Oh, and don’t forget to enter the New Year’s card giveaway from Wild Ink Press – the contest closes tonight at midnight!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you back here on Monday!

{image credits: honey and jam via mary ruffle}

Maple Leaf Wedding Invitations

With Christmas just a week away there’s no denying that it’s officially winter, but I love these fall-inspired maple leaf wedding invitations that Adrienne from Dingbat Press created for a wedding in September.  The overprinting details – where the different leaf colors overlap and create an almost semi-transparent effect – are particularly beautiful:

Maple-Leaf-Orange-Red-Wedding-Invitations

Maple-Leaf-Orange-Red-Wedding-Invitations

So lovely!  You can see a bit more over on Adrienne’s blog right here.

{image credits: Dingbat Press}

Kate Spade Inspired Birthday Party Invitations

Don’t let the bright colors fool you – these invitations are actually for a grown-up’s birthday party.  Anastasia from Anastasia Marie recently celebrated her birthday, and when it came time to designer her birthday party invitations she was inspired by the bright colors and patterns from Kate Spade.  How fun!

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Kate-Spade-Inspired-Birthday-Party-Invitations

From Anastasia: Printed on creamy linen paper with red, yellow, blue, and green as the color palette, these lovelies also boast colorful flower bloom pop-ups!  The Kate Spade theme was suggested to me by a friend and I jumped at the idea.  I thoroughly enjoyed making these invitations and they definitely brought a lot of color into the actual party when guests arrived decked out in bright sweaters, bows, and mustaches!

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Kate-Spade-Inspired-Birthday-Party-Invitations

Kate-Spade-Inspired-Birthday-Party-Invitations

Kate-Spade-Inspired-Birthday-Party-Invitations

You can read a bit more about the inspiration behind the invitations over on Anastasia’s blog right here.  Thanks Anastasia, and happy belated birthday!

{image credits: anastasia marie}