11/14/2008

Wedding Place Card Ideas

It’s been a while since I featured wedding place cards, and when I saw these lovelies on Linda & Harriett yesterday, I figured it might be time for a mini-round up of some of my favorite recent place card designs.

First up, these stunning Linda & Harriett zig-zag place cards:

{photos by Jennifer Kloss}

I love, love, love these place cards – the juxtaposition of the zig-zag against the floral napkin, the handwriting on top of both the letterpress zig-zag and peony graphics.Â And I love that Linda & Harriett was able to make the place cards by using the backs of the flat notes used for the invitations (more on that later)!Â Oh, and don’t forget to click hereÂ to check out more photos from this gorgeous wedding!Next up, these fun escort cards from the wedding featured on Style Me Pretty earlier this week.Â The escort cards have the guests’ names stamped at the bottom, with the corresponding table number in the upper right corner:

{photos by Jenna Walker}

Next up are these two lovely eco-friendly letterpress place cards from Smock Paper…

…these lovely, but simple place cards from Lotta Jansdotter:

…these argyle-inspired place cards from The Bride’s Cafe:

{photo by Douglas Benedict}

…and, finally, these beautiful calligraphed place cards by Laura Hooper Calligraphy:

So which one is your favorite? Â Oh, and anyone still a bit confused by the difference between place cards and escort cards?Â Check out this detailed explanation from Laura Hooper right here!{images from their respective sources}

11/04/2008

Something beautiful…

I'm finding it a bit difficult to concentrate on anything tonight – and depending on how things go tonight may continue through tomorrow. So for now, I'll leave you with some beautiful calligraphy by Maria Thomas – whose lovely work was featured in this morning's inspiration board over at Snippet & Ink:

{images via Maria Thomas for Checkerboard, and you can see more of Maria's work here}

11/03/2008

Hello Handmade Paperie

Chances are you've already heard about this new collaboration between calligrapher Betsy Dunlap and Shanna Murray called Hello Handmade – but I'm too smitten with these lovely paper goods not to post about this myself! So far, the shop features this amazing calendar and a winter art print, but Shanna and Betsy will be adding holiday cards and gift tags a bit later on. Betsy's calligraphy and Shanna's illustrations are absolutely stunning, so I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

{calendar and print available here. Congratulations Betsy and Shanna!}

10/20/2008

Wedding Menu Card Ideas

I love the idea of providing menus for guests at a wedding.Â Your guests will appreciate knowing what they’re eating, and it’s a great way of continuing the design elements from your invitations or your wedding theme/style.Â And even if you don’t have the time or budget for a menu at every place setting, you could easily display one or two per table or next to the food for a buffet-style reception. Â So I thought I’d round up a few of my favorite menu ideas for those of you in need of a bit of menu inspiration:

Of course, you can’t go wrong with these templates from Martha…

Also from Martha, a tutorial on a clever way to combine place cards and menu stands

These fortune-teller menus were used by Mrs. Peacock for her wedding

Vintage_glam_cootie_catcher_menu

Luckily, Vintage Glam blog created a template for these menus, which you can find and download here

Smp_menu

I love this idea of framing your menus on top of patterned fabric or paper, found via Style Me Pretty

Chewingcudmenu

Viola from Chewing the Cud incorporated a fake quiz into her menus for fun twist

For a garden wedding, consider displaying your menus in wire stands next to your centerpiece arrangements. Menus can either be displayed on each guest table for a sit-down dinner, as done by Tara from In this instance (above)…

082

…or can be displayed next to the food for buffet or food-station style receptions, like I did for my wedding (photo by Punam Bean)

More wire inspiration from this wedding via MS Weddings

A vintage-inspired menu from serendipity

These two menus above – a vintage-inspired hand-written menu from RubyPR and a calligraphed menu from Brides – both found via Snippet & Ink are a great way to bring beautiful handwriting into the reception (just make sure your guests can read the handwriting!). If you don’t have the budget for calligraphy, just ask a friend (or a few) with good or unique handwriting to help out

The menu above (via Tec Petaja) would be easy to recreate using a Gocco or rubber stamps from Paper Source â€“ the text could be printed on your home printer on Paper Source card stock.

{images via their respective sources}

10/14/2008

Calligraphy – Crystal Kluge

One more post for your reading enjoyment this afternoon!Â I came across the fabulous work of calligrapher Crystal Kluge throughÂ aÂ wedding featured yesterday on Hello!Lucky and just had to share more of her lovely work with you.

From her lovely calligraphy and lettering:

To her lovely illustration and map design:

Isn’t her calligraphy just beautiful? I know calligraphy often isn’t a possibility given other wedding budget priorities, but I think even a small touch â€“ on place cards for example â€“ can bring an additional element of warmth and beauty to a wedding.

For additional examples of Crystal’s lovely work you should definitely check out her website and blog!

{top photos via Hello!Lucky, all others via Crystal Kluge}