Transparent Overlay Wedding Invitations

Lisa discovered these amazing wedding invitations — the invitations were printed in two parts on two sheets of transparent paper (like vellum), so that one side of the invitation had to be placed over the other to see all the information:

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In addition to just being a very cool design, the invitation was also meant to convey a sentimental element.  The designer* said the use of the couple’s initials was meant to convey their union in marriage.  Sweet, no?

Have any of you considered using overlapping transparent elements in your wedding invitations?

{image credits: Breno Pineschi}

*I don’t speak Portuguese, so I used Google translate — hopefully I got it right!

{happy weekend!}

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Aside from Halloween festivities, I'll be busy working on the second half of the 2010 calendar round-up and pulling together more holiday goodies to share with you next week!  But in the meantime…

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…a few fun things from the week:

  • I'm so inspired by the photographs from Jane's trip home to Ireland – such a magical landscape!
  • Cute library card business cards on Simple + Pretty.
  • Beautiful styling work from Shana Faust, a former deputy style editor at Martha Stewart Weddings.
  • A must-read post for any brides: this list of questions to ask your wedding photographer before signing a contract on Elizabeth Anne Designs. Speaking from personal experience, you don't want to overlook any of these important details!
  • I've fallen completely in love with these dresses (particularly the plaid!) from Lauren Moffatt via The City Sage.
  • Don't forget to check out this week's real invitations: a gorgeous yellow + gray apothecary-inspired design and a Jackson Hole wood veneer suite.
  • For those of you on Twitter, you'll have noticed the introduction of a new function called "lists" – which both allows you to organize people (whether you follow them or not) by a category of your choosing and, by checking out other people's lists, discover new people to follow.  So if you're looking for some fun new people to follow on Twitter, here are a few of my lists that you might want to check out:
  • Paper professionals: A list of anyone in the stationery industry, including invitation designers, gift wrap, letterpress printers, and more.
  • Letterpress: A sub-set of the paper professionals list, with a particular focus on letterpress printers and designers.
  • Weddings: A mix of talented wedding industry professionals and wedding bloggers, each with a unique perspective and full of wedding inspiration.  
  • Interior and lifestyle blogs: A list of people who inspire me on a daily basis, with a particular focus on interiors, fashion, food, and just living a good life.   

Also, for any engaged couples in the DC area, I'll be speaking at an event called the Not So Big Wedding next Sunday, November 8, in Potomac, MD:

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The event is organized by the folks who manage my wedding venue, Woodlawn Manor, and I'll be speaking as part of a panel of recent newlyweds.  If you're in the area, I hope you'll swing by and say hello! 

{image credit: Happy Cavalier}

Wedding Invitations — Campbell Raw Press

Maggie Campbell is kind of my hero — she *just* had a baby (the ever-adorable Charlotte) and just three weeks later she’s launching her new line of absolutely beautiful letterpress wedding invitations.  Amazing!

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The Campbell Raw Press wedding line includes three invitation suites named for some of Maggie’s favorite authors — Fitzgerald, Collins, and Strand — each of which can be customized with different color palettes and beautiful Japanese patterned screenprinted paper known as chiyogami:

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{Fitzgerald}

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{Collins}

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{Strand}

Aren’t these gorgeous?  So elegant and beautifully letterpress printed.  Just in case you’d like to see one of these suites in person, Maggie has made samples available for purchase in her etsy shop.  You can also read more about the Campbell Raw Press wedding invitation line (and check out a bunch of additional photos) on her website right here.  Congratulations Maggie!

{image credits: Campbell Raw Press}

Sparkling Lights + Beautiful Flowers

I just love these photos from two recent weddings.  First, from Diana + Anthony's wedding via What Junebug Loves, and photographed by Sean Flanigan, the globe lights strung across the reception area create such a beautiful effect:

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And from Jen + Nick's wedding photographed by the amazingly talented Robert Sukrachand via Once Wed, I love the idea of a floral wreath hung above the bride and groom during the ceremony — totally unexpected, and undeniably lovely:

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Aren't those flowers fabulous?  The arrangements were created by the fabulous Saipua.  Amazing.

{photographs by Sean Flanigan and Robert Sukrachand}

Carrie + Barrett’s Wood Veneer Mountain Wedding Invitations

Today’s real invitations come from the fantastic design duo of Bird and Banner, who created an amazing set of wood veneer wedding invitations (and ceremony programs, menus, favor labels, and table numbers) for Carrie and Barrett for their Jackson Hole, Wyoming wedding last year.  This suite is one of my favorites from the Bird and Banner portfolio, largely for its wonderful mix of different materials and typography styles.  Erin and Nicole, the talented ladies behind Bird and Banner, stopped by to describe the creative process behind these lovely pink and brown wedding invitations, so I’ll turn things over to them!

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From Erin and Nicole: Neither Carrie nor Barrett are from Jackson Hole but the couple had shared many special times there.  They knew it was the perfect place to celebrate their wedding.  Held at the Crescent Ranch, the inspiration was rustic yet elegant which included a formal BBQ menu and a fiddler band.

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Because it was a destination wedding Carrie and Barrett wanted to highlight the location in their invitations as much as possible.  This led us to explore using new materials and formats that would help introduce their guests to the location.

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Our initial idea was a muslin bag filled with wooden postcards.

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We loved the idea of mixing Carrie’s palatte of bright pink and brown with wood.  Working with language describing the location, we planned to use a mix of type styles.

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Unfortunately the design started to look like a “Most Wanted” poster!  So we scaled back, and then everything came together.

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Carrie and Barrett had a full weekend of festivities planned so we also created an itinerary for guests that included hand drawn illustrations of the various Jackson Hole event locations, including the arch in the town square where they got engaged.

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From the bride, Carrie: Erin and Nicole from Bird and Banner are so amazingly creative; I never had to reiterate the feel/mood we wanted to convey to our guests more than once.  Awesome!  The itinerary, invitations, packaging, etc., are what I was most proud of in the wedding planning process — even though they did all the work, they made me feel like we were a team in creating the PERFECT presentation.

So, so lovely — and a beautiful mix of rustic and modern design elements that create the perfect invitation for a wedding in Jackson Hole.  I love the attention to detail throughout the invitation, from the line illustrations to the tiny hearts and border details.  Thanks so much to Carrie, and of course to Nicole + Erin from Bird and Banner, for stopping by to share these gorgeous wedding invitations today!

{image credits: reception photos by Carrie Patterson, all others via Bird and Banner}