Amanda and Matthew are Married!

I've really been enjoying catching all of you up this week on a few wedding invitation suites I designed and printed this past spring/summer that I didn't get to feature right away! The suite I'm about to show you was printed last spring for a lovely couple who were married in late July in Jacksonville, Florida! Amanda and Matthew's wedding colors were blue, white and black and they desired a whimsical, yet modern invitation suite featuring hand-drawn line art of various "landmarks" near, in or around their wedding venues. Here is what we came up with!

You can see the majority of the pieces in the suite in the image at the top of this post. Amanda and Matt's suite included an inner/outer invitation envelope set, an A7 size invitation, a 4bar size reply card with corresponding envelope, a small 3.5"x2.5" reception card, and an A2 size rehearsal dinner invitation with corresponding envelope. All of the pieces were printed on Crane Lettra 100% cotton pearl white paper. All of their envelopes were from Waste Not Paper Company. The reply card envelope and rehearsal dinner invitation envelope were a lovely light blue color and the main invitation envelopes were white.

First things first, though, let's take a look at their invitation!

As I mentioned above, Amanda & Matthew's invitation is a standard A7 size, measuring 5"x7". It was printed in black and light blue inks on 100% cotton pearl white paper. The inspiration for the imagery on this piece came from a photograph of a clock that is near the church where they were getting married. Amanda wanted to include lovely hand-drawn line art of landmarks or other features that were relevant to the particular venues of their wedding throughout the design of the suite. She sent me a photo of this old, outdoor clock and we thought that it would be the perfect motif for the invitation with the hands of the clock indicating the time of the wedding. I love the way that all of the pieces in this suite came out very simple looking, yet modern and elegant all at the same time. All of the designs were really clean and crisp and I love the way that fine line art and typography just sinks into the cotton paper from the letterpress impression. Check out this detail photo to see what I'm talking about:

For their invitation envelopes, Amanda chose a lovely set of inner/outer envelopes from Waste Not Paper Company in white. These envelopes feature a European pointed flap. The outer envelope was unlined and was printed with their return address in blue ink on the back flap.

The inner envelope was unprinted, but featured a beautiful custom envelope liner created from handmade Nepalese Lokta papers in a variety of light blues. Amanda and Matt had quite a few invitations to send out and because Lokta paper is handmade, no two dye-lots of it are completely the same. Because of this we used paper for their envelope liners from a few different dye-lots, which added some lovely variety to the shades of blue in the suite.

Amanda and Matt's reception card was a standard 4bar size and featured a line drawing reminiscent of the tables and chairs in old French cafés.

We utilized the same typefaces and ink colors in the design of this card and gave guests the option to indicate what meal choice (roasted chicken with champagne sauce or seared salmon with citrus buerre blanc) they preferred for the reception.

We decided to dress up the envelope for this card a bit as well, all while keeping with the theme of the other pieces in the suite.

The envelope was a 4bar size envelope in a light blue, also from Waste Not Paper Company, and it featured Amanda's address on the front, printed in black ink, and a characterful mailbox with her actual address numbers on the side. You can't see the numbers on the side of the box because they are blurred out for privacy purposes, but let me tell you - the whole thing was super-cute. Here are the reply card and envelope together:

Amanda and Matt's main invitation suite also included a small reception card. This card measured 3.5" wide by 2.5" tall. The couple chose to do a separate reception card for their suite because they were getting married in a church and holding their reception at a separate venue. For the imagery on this card, Amanda sent me some lovely photos of chandeliers that were in the room where they were having their reception. We figured this would make the perfect little drawing for their little reception card!

Aren't the little line drawings cute?!? Here is what the three main invitation pieces look like together:

Last, but certainly not least, Amanda and Matthew also had me design and print a set of rehearsal dinner invitations, which they sent out separately to certain guests.

Their rehearsal dinner invitation was a standard A2 size, measuring 5.5" x 4.25" and came with it's own light blue Waste Not Paper envelope. The envelope had Matt's parent's return address printed on the flap and the card featured another fun and whimsical line drawing: this time of a crab.

I love the way this whole suite turned out and it was so much fun coming up with the ideas for the different graphics on the different pieces with Amanda! I'm sure their Florida wedding this past July was just lovely!

Congratulations Amanda and Matthew!

Tamera & Trevor are Married!

(Image courtesy of Lauren Brown Photography)

I have to preface this post by saying that I feel pretty lucky. I get to work with a lot of amazing people, all over the country (and world!) doing something that I love, almost every day. So when I tell you that the wedding invitation suite that I'm about to show you, is quite possibly one of my favorite invitation suites that we did this year, it's not to say that I wasn't totally excited about the others, it's just that this suite and the couple it was created for, were just really awesome.

Tamera and her now-husband Trevor are from a small town in North Dakota and were planning their wedding at a lodge in Montana, just south of Glacier National Park for this past July. Let's just say that while I create stationery for a lot of different types of weddings (rustic to high-class, casual to formal, etc.), I felt that Tamera's sensibility and style, as well as what she was planning for her wedding, would be right in line with the sort of ceremony I would plan for my own. After all, she and I have quite a bit in common: she's from a small western town and so am I, she was planning a casual outdoor ceremony in a beautiful place, which is probably what I would do for my own wedding, her wedding was small with just her closest friends and family, etc. Let's just say that when we started talking and she told me what she wanted, everything just sort of clicked. I completely understood her style and vision, and I loved it! Here's what we created:

Tamera and Trevor's invitation suite included a slightly-smaller-than-A7 size wedding invitation that was double-matted on Nepalese Lokta paper in olive green and plum purple and attached to a chocolate brown pocket folder. Inside the pocket folder were five insert cards: a registry/website card, a map card, a reply card with corresponding envelope, an accommodations card and a directions card. All of the interior cards were printed on a custom, handmade, 100% cotton, recycled paper from Porridge Paper in their birchy dirt color that was embedded with mixed wildflower seeds. Porridge's seeded paper is really neat in that, while it is one of the most environmentally-friendly papers I've ever found, it will also actually grow flowers if the paper gets wet. Pretty neat, don't you think?!? As you can see above, all of the little cards and inserts fit inside a chocolate brown pocket folder that looked like this when it was all closed up:

Each folder was sealed shut with a band of the same Nepalese Lokta paper in both the olive and plum colors that we used to matt the invitation and then tied with a piece of natural raffia. I love how earthy and beautiful each of these little packages looked! Each folder fit inside of an A7 size envelope in Khaki from Waste Not Paper Company.

Each envelope had the couple's return address and a small flying bird printed in chocolate brown ink on the back flap and their bird design that we used throughout the suite printed in three colors (3 colors!!) on the front of the envelope. Most envelopes that I print are only printed with one ink color, so it was really a treat to get to print these envelopes with all three. Each invitation envelope was also lined with Nepalese Lokta paper in either the olive or plum color that you've seen above. We did half in one and half in the other, just to mix things up!

Let's look at the main piece in the suite: the invitation.

As I mentioned above, Tamera and Trevor's invitation was slightly smaller than a standard A7 size so that it could be matted with both of their lokta paper colors and then attached to the inside of their chocolate brown pocket folders. We used a classic serif font for the majority of the text of their invitation and printed the couple's names in a more fancy script font in a lime green ink. The bottom of the invitation features a small wild grass motif and the top features a lovely design of plum purple birds in branches with little green flowers. I've used elements of this design on a few other invitations since Tamera and Trevor's, and let me tell you, it really is gorgeous in several different color combinations and layouts.

I love the way that all of the small details in this design worked together so harmoniously and how the fine lines and gorgeous colors created such a beautiful and crisp impression in the wildflower seeded paper! Aren't the too close-up photos above just lovely?!?

Since their wedding was a destination wedding, Tamera and Trevor had quite a bit of information that they wanted to convey to their guests. In order to do this, we created five separate insert cards in different sizes that fit into the pocket of their pocket folder. Each insert was printed in three ink colors on the same paper as their invitation.

The tallest insert was their directions card which featured directions to their wedding venue, Holland Lake Lodge, from all different parts of Montana.

The second tallest was their accommodations card. Tamera actually had me design and print two separate, but similar accommodations cards. One was for the family and wedding party that would be staying at the lodge with the couple, and the other was one for their other guests, which gave other accommodation information for people who wouldn't be staying at the lodge.

The card for the family and wedding party was single-sided and featured fill-in the blanks that Tamera used to tell them where they would be staying. The other accommodations card was double-sided and gave guests lots of choices for places to stay, from hotels to campsites, that were near the couple's wedding venue.

The middle card was Tamera and Trevor's reply card. This was the only card in the suite that was horizontal rather than vertical. It featured a standard accepts/regrets option as well as a question about what other wedding events guests might be attending. Tamera and Trevor planned a red bus tour of Glacier National Park and a whitewater rafting trip as other wedding events! Each reply card came with it's own corresponding envelope that had Tamera and Trevor's return address printed on the front in chocolate brown ink with their bird motif in three ink colors in the top left corner.

The second shortest insert was their map card. Originally this was going to be part of the directions card, but Tamera had directions from so many different places that we ended up creating a separate card just for her map.

A map like this is more decorative than anything else, but I think it adds a wonderful and whimsical touch to any wedding suite!

Last, but not least is their tiny combined registry/website card.

Sometimes you just need one extra little card for all of that "extra" information that doesn't seem to fit anywhere else. This card gave guests information on where Tamera and Trevor were registered as well as an address to their wedding website.

Isn't their invitation suite just stunning!?! I absolutely love how it turned out and think that it was a gorgeous beginning to what I imagine was an absolutely gorgeous outdoor summer wedding! Tamera also had me print one small piece for their wedding reception:

I designed a set of coasters like this for another couple, Lynn & Matthew almost a year before, but Tamera loved them so much that she wanted to use them for her own wedding, in her colors. Each coaster was 3.5" round and printed with two ink colors: chocolate brown and plum purple. Aren't they cute?!?

Working with Tamera and Trevor was an absolute joy and I hope that their wedding ceremony this past July was everything they had hoped it would be!

Congratulations Tamera and Trevor! All the best!

Emily & Stephen are Married!

(Photo courtesy of Emily G Photography)

Happy Friday, everybody! It's been kind of cold, rainy, and wintery in Western Oregon today, so I thought I would share with you a really bright and cheery wedding invitation suite I printed earlier this summer for a very cute couple who were married in Portland, Oregon in late September. Emily and Stephen are good friends of mine. Shortly after college I met both of them while we all worked at the same University bookstore. Emily and I worked in the graphic design/marketing department and Stephen was working in IT. I can remember talking to Emily constantly about how one day I was going to quit doing design for marketing and advertising and open up my very own letterpress shop (she and I used to have our desks about three feet from each other after all). At that point, she and Stephen had recently started dating, so it was really fun when she got in touch with me earlier this year about letterpress printing her wedding invitations, and it was really fun in September to get to go to their wedding!!

Anyway, being the über-talented designer that she is, Emily designed her invitations herself! Check them out:

Emily and Stephen's invitation suite included an A7 size invitation and envelope and an A2 size RSVP postcard. They were printed in two ink colors on Crane Lettra Pearl White 100% cotton paper and came with a coordinating white envelope from Waste Not Paper company. Emily and Stephen also had me print some really cute, matching wedding coasters for their reception as well!

Emily's stationery as well as her wedding, was bright, cheery and colorful. They had their ceremony and reception in Portland, Oregon at the McMennamin's Kennedy School - an old-fashioned school house that has been converted into a hotel/restaurant/bar/event space. I love how she was able to incorporate so many pretty colors into everything from her invitations to her reception without the whole thing being overwhelming. Here is her invitation by itself:

Emily chose to print her invitation in deep red and light pink inks. I love the fun and whimsical floral pattern she designed which adorned all of the pieces.

Their reception coasters were printed in the same ink colors with their names and the wedding date and some of the cute floral pattern. These are a 4" round coaster, which is perfect for beer, cocktail, wine and other beverage glasses!

I wish I had taken some photos of how cute these looked at the reception, but, I actually forgot to bring my real camera to their wedding and the only photos I have were taken with a cell phone (and they weren't very good ones). Let me tell you though, they were super-cute!

Here is the coordinating Waste Not Paper invitation envelope that Emily picked out:

We used a very pretty reddish-purple ink to print the return address on the flap. Then, for their reply cards, Emily chose to do a postcard to save on reply card envelope printing and postage. We used the same reddish-purple ink on this card as well as a bright and cheery yellow!

I absolutely love how Emily and Stephen's personality and sense of humor shines through on the reply card. Take a look at their accepts/regrets options: "Sure" and "Nah...". Aren't they just too cute?!? I think they're just about as cute as the couple they were created for. Here are some photos from Emily and Stephen's big day, taken by Portland-based wedding and portrait photographer Emily G.

(All Wedding Photos courtesy of Emily G Photography)

If you'd like to see more photos from their wedding, check them out on their photographer's blog, here.

Congratulations Emily & Stephen!

Elias' Bar Mitzvah

At Twin Ravens Press, I print a lot of wedding invitations, which is a lot of fun, but did you know that we also print invitations for other events as well? Besides weddings, we can design and print invitations for Bar & Bat Mitzvahs, graduation parties, bridal showers, baby showers, anniversary parties, fancy corporate parties and events, etc. You name it, we can probably do it! The stationery you are going to see in this post was created for a wonderful Eugene, Oregon family that I've done work for before. Their youngest son, Elias is having his Bar Mitzvah on January 16th, and these are the invitations they are sending out for it.

For those who don't know, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah (Bar for boys and Bat for girls) is a Jewish ceremony celebrating a boy or girl coming of age in the Jewish community. The Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony is typically an ordinary Sabbath service in which the boy or girl participates for the first time as an adult. Typically a boy becomes a Bar Mitzvah at the age of 13 and girls become Bat Mitzvahs at the age of 12. Following the service there is often a celebratory meal or other type of party with the family, friends and members of the Jewish community. If you'd like to read more about Bar & Bat Mitzvahs, you can here.

I actually did Elias' older sister Dahlia's Bat Mitzvah invitations about a year ago, and a good friend of theirs' Bar Mitzvah invitations earlier this year. You can check out Dahlia's invites here and the friend, Ari's invitations and other paper goods here. For Dahlia's invitations we did a fairly simple design involving an A7 size invitation with a perforated reply postcard and envelopes. For Elias' invitations, their mom, Cheryl, wanted us to print a design that didn't require envelopes, so this is what we came up with:

The invitations are long: about 15 inches long, to be exact, and 5.5 inches wide. They are either perforated or scored in three different places, so that when the invite is folded up it is the size of a standard A2 size card (4.25"x5.5"). The front side includes the standard invitation information on the top 2/3 and the bottom 1/3 of the front is a perforated reply postcard that the recipient can detach and mail back. The backside of the design has the back side of the postcard printed on the lower section and there is printing on a small section at the very top that has the Henderson's return address. When the whole thing is folded up, it looks like this:

Pretty cool, don't you think?!? I think that when they're folded up they almost look like an envelope, even though they are the actual invitation. These were sealed shut with 1" circular clear stickers that can be found at any office supply store. What's great about doing something like this is that you are saving money on having envelopes printed and you're saving a lot of paper! Postage for something like this is the same as a regular envelope ($0.44 if you're in the U.S.), so you aren't spending any extra on postage either!

You can see one close detail of the actual invitation portion at the top of this post and here is another:

I love the green and brown color combination that Cheryl and Elias chose and I love the tree leaves and branch pattern that they decided to use! These cards were printed on Crane Lettra 100% cotton paper in Ecru. Here are the front and back sides of the reply postcard portion of the invitation:

As I mentioned above, this card is perforated at the top so that guests can easily separate it from the rest of the invitation, fill it out and mail it back. Pretty neat design, don't you think?!?

If you'd like more information about custom Bar & Bat Mitzvah invitations or any of our other custom work, feel free to contact me at twinravenspress@gmail.com.

The Wedding Invitations of Mr. & Miss Ramen

Let me preface this post by saying that no, I didn't print wedding invitations for a couple whose last name is actually "Ramen". As this particular couple asked me not to reveal their real names on my blog, I will be referring to them by a pseudonym they chose for themselves. You see, Miss Ramen is a blogger over on WeddingBee, and the fifth WeddingBee blogger that we've printed invitations for. If you are a follower of WeddingBee, you may have already read some blog posts she's done about her wedding there. If you aren't, but like what you're about to see of her invitations, you can read more about her wedding here. Despite having to be a little sneaky about the information I show off to you about their wedding on this blog, working with the Ramens was an absolute joy and their invitations are absolutely lovely.

The Ramens, being the talented and uber-motivated individuals that they are, designed their whole invitation suite themselves and then hired Twin Ravens Press to do their letterpress printing! I heard from Miss Ramen that she is doing her calligraphy for her envelopes all by herself, which, for a bride who isn't planning a small wedding, this is quite the undertaking. The Ramen's invitation suite included a #10 size invitation, a reply postcard, a small business card size website card, an invitation envelope and a set of small cute tags! Here is their invitation:

As I mentioned above, Mr. and Miss' Ramen's wedding invitation is a long and skinny #10 size, printed on Crane Lettra pearl white paper with metallic silver ink. I love the elegant swirls and scrolls they created for all of the pieces in their suite! It's a little difficult to tell, due to me blurring out most of their names, but the typeface they used for their names and for the line at the bottom of the invite really compliments their decorative swirls beautifully!

Here is their invitation again with its corresponding envelope. The envelope Mr. and Miss Ramen chose is a #10 size, 30% post-consumer recycled envelope in a light blue color called "Cloud" from Green Paper Company. I love how these envelopes add just a subtle hint of color to the suite without being bold and overwhelming. I also love how they continued their swirl motif from the invitation on the front of the invitation envelope. The envelopes were also printed with metallic silver ink and included a very cute, framed return address on the envelope flap.

To save on postage and envelopes, Mr. and Miss Ramen decided to do their reply card as a postcard! These were also printed in silver ink on Crane Lettra Pearl White paper.

They did a fantastic job of keeping the look of their entire suite consistent, while incorporating some unique, fun, and super-cute details into each piece. Check out the little whole and broken heart icons next to their accepts/regrets lines:

Very cute idea, don't you think?!?

Now, I'm not quite sure what Miss Ramen has in store for these little guys, but whatever it is, I'm sure it will be adorable. The Ramens had me print them a set of small letterpress tags featuring their initials, wedding date and the city where they will be wed, inside the same cute kind of frame they used for their return address on their envelopes.

Miss Ramen opted to cut these out herself, in order to save money on die-cutting. Although I'm not sure what she's planning to use them for, they are super-adorable.

This last piece in their suite, is quite possibly my favorite. As Miss Ramen is an avid blogger (hence why she blogs for WeddingBee), she wanted to include a small website card that would direct wedding invitation recipients to their website for further information. This card measures 2"x3.5", which is the same size as a standard business card, and was also printed on Crane Lettra paper in silver ink.

Isn't that absolutely adorable?!? I love the cute little caricatures that Mr. Ramen drew of himself and his bride. So sweet... and such a cute idea for a little website card!

Mr. and Miss Ramen were an absolute joy to work with and I'm so happy that I got to do their letterpress printing! If you like these designs, head on over to WeddingBee and read more about the Ramens. They really are a very sweet couple. Miss Ramen posted a very cute teaser a couple of weeks ago, which you can read here, and she just posted at length about her invites here.

Thanks so much Mr. and Miss Ramen and many congratulations!