This will be the first of many posts on this blog regarding weddings and custom wedding stationary. When I first started Twin Ravens Press I knew that I was really interested in doing custom letterpress printing and design work, one on one, for various clients. Don't get me wrong, I like doing the cards and other commercial printed items for etsy, arts & crafts shows, and retailers a lot, and I get really excited every time I sell something to someone somewhere where I've never sold anything before (so excited in fact that I'm tracking them on a map like you do in elementary school, but more on that later), but there's just something so much more awesome about getting to create work for an individual client. It's even more awesome when said client is great to work with and really excited about what you're doing. Lynn & Matthew were this kind of client.
I'm not entirely sure at the moment where Lynn found out about me. It could have been through my etsy shop, or from another blogger who blogged about my work, but it was most likely from a previous client blogging about my work on her wedding bee blog. You see, Lynn is also a blogger on wedding bee (she's Miss Coconut), so I'm guessing that's probably where she found me.
When I first started working with Lynn she told me that her wedding colors were chocolate brown and yellow and that she really liked my elegant scroll pattern thank you cards from etsy and that she was also trying to incorporate a bird theme into her invitations, decorations and other stationary items. Check out this cute reception poster she found from another etsy seller. After trying out some different ideas based on this info, this is what we came up with:
The entire stationary suite incorporates both yellow and chocolate brown inks on Crane Lettra Pearl White 100% cotton letterpress paper. This job was a lot of fun because we got to create so many different pieces and it's always fun figuring out how to use a theme throughout several pieces in the design.
The main piece of any custom wedding stationary suite, is of course the invitation. Lynn & Matthew's invitations are an A7 size invite and incorporate both colors and two of the three fonts we used throughout the suite. You can see photos and close-ups of just the invitation and invitation envelope below. (Please Note: there will be selective blurring of certain information on the following photos to protect the client's privacy).
Here is the invitation with both the front and back of the envelope. The address on the flap was letterpress printed in yellow ink and Lynn hired a calligrapher to do all of the recipient addresses on the front of the envelopes. I don't personally do calligraphy, nor does my shop offer it, but I think that it's awesome when people use it for their stationary.
To complete their invitation package Lynn and Matthew also ordered some cute RSVP cards with matching envelopes and a Directions/Accommodations card. Both the RSVP and Directions/Accommodations cards are double-sided. I modified a map Lynn provided for the map on their directions card so that it would fit in a little better with the whole "look" of the other pieces and elements in the suite. I think it turned out really well. You can see photos and details of both cards below:
The top photo above is the RSVP card, front and back, with envelope and the second photo is detail images of the RSVP card. Below are details of the accommodations/directions card.
Another popular option that I like to offer my clients for their stationary is thank you cards. I think this is a really nice thing to get, especially if the couple getting married has gift registries. Sending out matching thank you cards for your wedding presents to your guests is always a classy gesture. Check out Lynn and Matthew's thank yous below:
Sometimes my clients also order stationary items for their actual ceremony. Lynn and Matthew ordered program covers, menus and place cards for theirs. The program covers are square and were printed on chocolate brown Waste Not Paper with yellow ink. For the place cards I printed a small scroll pattern on the bottom and Lynn's calligrapher is going to write the individual names on each of the cards. You can see pictures of these three pieces below.
Last but not least, when I started designing all of the little "extras" for Lynn, one of the designs I came up with was for a custom coaster for them to use at their ceremony. I kind of like the idea of having coasters at a ceremony for cocktails or during the dinner and I think that making them custom to your specific ceremony and design taste is really cool. Believe it or not, I actually had never printed coasters prior to this custom job. When looking at everything else they were getting L & M didn't think they had room in their budget for this one extra thing, but since they were such totally awesome customers (and they had already ordered so much stuff!), and I liked the design and wanted to try out printing some coasters, I decided to print them for them anyway as an early wedding present. The turned out pretty good, don't you think? 
I'll be posting about more upcoming and past custom wedding jobs in the future, but I thought that this was a great one to start with because it was so much fun and really shows off all of the different types of things that Twin Ravens Press can do for a wedding or other event. Lynn was really excited about all aspects of the process and about her stationary. If you'd like to read what she had to say about the stationary or about working with Twin Ravens Press you can find it on her personal blog here and here. Or on wedding bee here, here, or here. Another wedding website also read what she wrote and wrote about it here. Check it out!
Congratulations Lynn & Matthew!! Thanks for being so awesome!
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