Save the Date: Sherry & Thomas are Getting Married!

I mentioned in my post yesterday, that it's been really busy around here lately with custom work. Most of the custom work I've been doing this time of year is for weddings!  Typically spring, summer and early fall are the most popular times of year for people to get married and because of this, we're always busy in the winter working on wedding invitations for people getting married in the spring, summer and early fall of the coming year.  So this will be the first of several posts coming up that have to do with upcoming weddings!  

Right after I returned from Japan last November, I was contacted by a lovely bride-to-be in the Washington, DC area about creating a set of 200, custom Save-the-Date cards and wedding invitations for her September 2009 wedding.  Sherry told me that she didn't have a particular theme for her upcoming West Virginia wedding, but that she wanted her stationery to be simple yet elegant and in a classic color scheme: black and white.  

I've been thinking a lot lately about different possibilities for classic, elegant, black & white color schemes, partly because it seems to be in vogue this season, but also because classic black and white letterpress printing on white 100% cotton paper is always beautiful regardless of the time, year or event.  Many historical letterpress invitations and announcements that I have seen were printed in black and white with beautiful typography and were just as beautiful then as the ones we're doing now.  

I gave Sherry and Thomas several options, but this is the one they liked the best:

I originally designed this Save-the-Date as an A6 size, which would measure 4.5" x 6.25", but after looking at the design for a while, Sherry decided she wanted it a lot smaller.  So we altered the design to be a 4bar size (3.5" x 4.875").  This is the size I typically use for reply cards and the like, and I have never actually used it for a Save-the-Date card prior to Sherry and Thomas'.  After seeing it in print though I'm really in love with the small, gorgeousness of it and I'm going to start suggesting it to other potential custom clients.  

These Save-the-Dates were printed on Crane's 100% cotton lettra paper in Pearl White and came with matching 4bar 100% cotton lettra envelopes, also from Crane.  I love how the scroll pattern we used in the background and to frame the text turned out.  I printed it as a blind emboss, which is where you print a design on the letterpress without ink, just to get the impression and textural affect and in this design it turned out beautifully!  You can see a detail of the pattern in the image at the beginning of this post as well as in the photo below: 

Isn't it gorgeous?!?  This new scroll pattern is one that I recently came up with and have never used before and I just love the way that it looks!

Here is a detail of the little 4bar envelope that is paired with it.  We used the same font that Sherry and Thomas picked for their names on the Save-the-Date and printed the return address on the back flap of the envelope.  I love how Crane's Lettra envelopes truly match the texture of their paper.  If you are planning to use Crane's paper for your letterpress project and want a white (or off-white), pointed or square flap envelope to match, I would highly recommend going with theirs.  They are beautiful looking, feel great to the touch and print with just the slightest bit of impression without the impression showing on the other side.  Simply gorgeous!

Sherry & Thomas have also hired me for the design work and printing of the rest of their wedding stationery so if you love the way their Save-the-Dates turned out as much as we do, check back in a month or two for the rest of their stationery.  I know it's going to be gorgeous!  

Congratulations Sherry & Thomas!  I'm looking forward to working with you more!