Caitlin + Andrew’s Historic Gettysburg Wedding Invitations

Happy Monday everyone!  My husband and I are back home after a quick weekend trip to upstate New York to visit family; it was a great trip, but I’m so happy to be back home with our cats!  We’re starting this week off with a suite of lovely invitations for a wedding in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania from Dianna and Emily at Fourth Year Studio.  Once Caitlin and Andrew settled on Gettysburg as their wedding location, Dianna and Emily set to work on the wedding invitations, save the dates, and rehearsal dinner invitations – drawing design inspiration from some of the unique historic features of the region.

From Dianna: As history buffs, Caitlin and Andrew were traveling in Gettysburg for a weekend visit when they first realized they were in love.  After getting engaged, they knew it was the perfect place to tie the knot.  The invitation design stemmed from the historic relevance of Gettysburg.  The battlefields are lined with wood fences that are unique to the area and the tree graphic was actually derived from an image of a witness tree (a tree that was witness to the civil war battles and is still standing today).  Their October wedding took place at sunset overlooking the historic battlefields.

 

For the main invitation, we letterpress printed three pieces in turquoise and brown ink onto thick cotton paper.  Coordinating fabric strips strung the three pieces together.  RSVP postcards were flat printed on wood veneer and enclosed in a fabric pocket.  The final invitations were packaged in kraft paper envelopes with a matching address label.

Like the RSVP postcard, the save the dates were also flat printed on wooden postcards.

The rehearsal dinner invitation was letterpress printed and backed with fabric.  All the fabrics used for the rehearsal dinner invitations made a reappearance at the reception in the form of little love birds handmade by Caitlin’s sister.  The RSVP portion of the rehearsal dinner invitation was printed front and back on extra heavy cotton paper.

Thanks Dianna and Emily!

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

Photo Credits: Dixie Pixel

Friday Happy Hour: The Robert Frost

Today’s cocktail is the Robert Frost, a bourbon-based cocktail with sherry and white port that is unbelievably tasty.  The drink was invented by none other than Derek Brown, DC’s cocktail master, for a 2009 White House holiday party.  While we sadly aren’t invited to parties at the White House, we had the pleasure of tasting Derek’s creation during a recent outing to the Columbia Room, one of his DC establishments.  Be careful with this one.  It goes down easily, and may disappear faster than you mean it to!

Cocktail-Recipe-The-Robert-Frost

Read below for the recipe!

The Robert Frost:

3/4 oz Bourbon
3/4 oz Dry Sherry (such as Amontillado)
3/4 oz White Port
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
1 dash Orange Bitters

Cocktail-Recipe-The-Robert-Frost Cocktail-Recipe-The-Robert-Frost

Combine the ingredients and shake gently with ice.  Strain into a chilled, wide-rimmed cocktail glass.  Garnish with thinly sliced orange and lemon wheels, and enjoy!

Cocktail-Recipe-The-Robert-Frost

This is a really fantastic and complex drink that showcases sherry without being overwhelmed by it (which I’ve discovered can easily happen with sherry in cocktails).  The bourbon lends an oaky, vanilla flavor but the real star of this drink is the Amontillado sherry, which is fruity, nutty, and grainy all at the same time.  The bourbon, sherry, and port all lend sweetness to the drink, so add simple syrup sparingly (and to taste).

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

{happy weekend!}

Yet another week that flew by much too quickly (at least for me)!  This weekend my husband and I are heading to upstate New York to spend time with my husband’s family and visit our brand new niece!   I’m bracing myself for cold weather and hoping to catch a glimpse of the changing leaves that I’ve heard are so pretty in the region (although the leaves have been very pretty here in DC, too).  But in the meantime…

…a few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

Welcome to the newest member of the Designer Rolodex!

That’s it for me this week!  Check back a bit later for this week’s cocktail recipe – it’s a seriously good one this week!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday! xoxo

Photo by me (from Instagram), taken near the Washington Monument yesterday afternoon

Glory + Avery’s Silhouette Storybook Wedding Invitations

Happy Friday everyone!  These wedding invitation booklets from Glory at A Little Love Story are so darling, they seemed like a wonderful way to help end the week on a sweet note.  Created for her own wedding last year, Glory and her husband Avery drew their inspiration from storybooks, incorporating simple silhouette illustrations and phrases to share their personal story with wedding guests.

From Glory: My husband and I believe in a simple, almost child-like attitude towards marriage.  We decided to use the format of a child’s storybook with illustrations and simple sentences to present our journey. The invitation suite featured a letterpress cover with digital printing inside and a detachable RSVP postcard.

Thanks Glory!

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

Photo Credits: A Little Love Story

2012 Calendar Round Up, Part Six

It’s time for a few more 2012 calendars!  In case you missed them, you can find the previous calendar round ups right here.  Today’s installment is all about variety, with bright and modern illustrations, beautiful letterpress, wall calendars, desk calendars, and even a couple of tea towel calendars!

Ella-Leach-Desk-Calendar

Ella Leach Designs

Pressbound-Letterpress-Wall-Calendar

Pressbound

Steel Petal Press

 

The Paper Thieves

Jolie Jolie Design

Dutch Door Press

Sesame-Letterpress-Calendar

Sesame Letterpress

Cicada-Studio-Tea-Towel-Calendar

Cicada Studio

Embroidery-Tea-Towel-2012-Calendar

Embroidery Tea Towel Calendar from Curious Doodles

Flora and Fauna Press

 

Retro Menagerie

 

Lisa Rupp

And last up for today, a pair of letterpress calendars from the UK.  Found commissioned illustrators Charlotte Trounce and Stephie Ginger to create two limited edition letterpress calendars!  Charlotte’s calendar has an Olympic theme for the upcoming London Olympic Games, while Stephie’s design is a nod to Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.  So fun!

Found

Did you miss any of the pre­vi­ous cal­en­dar round ups? You can find them all right here!

{images via their respective sources}