Erin & Andrew are Getting Married!

It always amazes me how time does fly here at Twin Ravens during the early parts of spring. It seems like almost all (not all, but almost all) of our clients this time of year are having us design and print stationery for their upcoming weddings in the early spring and summer. We do have quite a few other projects in the works this time of year, including some very sweet baby announcements, an awesome set of Bar Mitzvah invitations, and several different sets of business cards and other business-related stationery, but by and large, this time of year seems to be dominated by weddings. While I truly enjoy this time of year and getting to work with so many amazing people, I must admit, it does make things very busy, which would explain my extremely inconsistent blogging. However, I do have some absolutely lovely things to show you in the next few weeks, starting with this.

Nearly a month ago we finished a really fun, yet classic set of invitations for a couple in North Carolina who are getting married at the end of April. Erin and Andrew had seen some invitations I had designed and printed previously on this blog and chose to combine/modify a couple of them to create their own unique invitation suite! Their suite included an A7 size invite with matching envelope, a 4bar size reply card envelope and a combined A7 size reply card and accommodations card that were perforated down the middle so that the reply card could be detached and mailed back. You can see all of the pieces in this suite together at the top of this post.

Erin and Andrew's wedding colors are navy blue and a light green and we chose to incorporate these into her suite with both her ink colors and her paper choices. Here is Erin and Andrew's invitation all by itself:

This invitation is an A7 size, measuring 5"x7" and has a fun, organic frame surrounding a mix of a classic serif typeface and a fun, modern script, all printed in navy blue ink. To give the invitation some additional texture, we blind embossed a series of vertical lines in the background behind the framed portion of the invitation. I love how a little bit of blind embossing can add some wonderful texture to a design, without being too overwhelming! Below are some detail images so you can see the texture of the embossing and printing better.

We had originally planned to pair this invitation with a green envelope (Erin and Andrew's other wedding color), but due to a very long backorder of the green from our supplier, we ended up going with a matching white envelope, printed with navy ink instead. Check out the cute heart detail below their address! Isn't that adorable?!?

For their reply card envelopes, we did end up using the green. This green is a light green color called "Balsam Fir" from Green Paper Company. Not only are these envelopes a fabulous green color, because they are made from 30% post-consumer waste, they are also "green" environmentally-speaking too!

For Erin and Andrew's two insert cards, we did something that I absolutely love, but have only done a few times before: we combined them. There are, in fact, two separate cards here, but they were designed and printed to be mailed as a single card (5"x7"), but perforated down the middle so that the reply card could be detached and mailed back.

As you can see in the above photo, an accommodations card that is similar in design to Erin and Andrew's wedding invitation is the top half of the joined card, and a cute, navy-blue-on-white reply card is the bottom half.

The accommodations portion of this card also featured some blind-embossing: this time diagonal lines behind our cute frame. The interior of the frame featured information about where to stay and were to find Erin & Andrew's website. If you look closely at the above photo, you can see the perforation in the card right below where the blind embossing ends. Isn't this just cool?!?

The lower portion of this card is their detachable reply card.

Erin and Andrew included a space for guests to write in their names, check-box options for the actual response and an area for guests to initial what their meal preference is for the reception. I just love this combined-card idea. It saves money for the couple on printing (by printing effectively one card instead of two) and it's a great way to keep all of the enclosure information together until the reply is ready to be sent back.

Erin and Andrew were wonderful clients and I thoroughly enjoyed working with them on this suite! Thanks so much Erin and Andrew and congratulations on your upcoming big day!

Mini Promotional Notecards for In The Now Weddings

Are you getting married in Orange County, California this coming spring, summer or fall? If the answer is yes, you really ought to contact Amanda Auer, the owner and wedding planner behind In the Now Weddings and Events. Amanda contacted me back in August of last year because she was holding a special party to promote her business and wanted some really special and unique favors to hand out to her guests. What Amanda desired was to create a set of letterpress-printed, modern, 3" square, folded notecards with envelopes in sets of 5, with different love-related quotes on them, that guests could take home. I thought it was a really sweet idea! Amanda came up with the quotes and the design and Twin Ravens Press did the letterpress printing! Here are all five, sweet, mini-notes together. Click on the picture to make it larger if you'd like to read the quotes.

I love the modern style of these sweet, little cards and I love how Amanda made them coordinate with the look and branding of her business. Each card measures 3" square, when folded, and was printed with black ink on Crane Lettra Bright White 100% cotton paper. The quotation was featured on the front and the In The Now Weddings logo was featured on the back. Each card came with a coordinating white envelope.

Isn't this an awesome idea for a promotional giveaway?!? I love it! It's way better and more memorable than ordering something generic as a promotional item, like magnets or pens. Here are a few more images so you can see the cards closer.

So cool! Working with Amanda was a real pleasure and I imagine hiring her to coordinate a wedding or event would be equally rewarding. I hope she and I get to work together again in the future!

If you are interested in having a custom promotional card or other letterpress printed favor created for your business, wedding or upcoming event, please contact us. We'd love to talk to you about your ideas!

Thank you so much Amanda! Keep up the great work!

Shanley & Christopher are Getting Married!

Check out this elegant set of wedding invitations that were recently completed for a lovely couple in the Atlanta, Georgia area who are having a destination wedding in Colorado this coming April. Shanley and Chris are having a lovely, early spring wedding in the Vail, Colorado area where they will wed and hope to enjoy some spring skiing! Their invitation suite includes an A7 size invitation and an A2 size reply card, both printed in one ink color (chocolate brown) with blind embossed details and envelopes to go with each! Check out the whole suite at the top of this post.

Here is Shanley and Chris' invitation all by itself.

Shanley chose a simple, classic serif typeface in all caps for the main text of her invitation and we used a slightly more decorative script face for the couple's names, which were featured prominently in the center of the invitation. We kept the design fairly simple, but created a lacy, blind embossed border around the names to set them apart from the rest of the text. It wasn't my original intention, but I think that the lacy pattern reminds me somewhat of a mountain range, like where Shanley and Chris will be holding their wedding, as well as formal lace, like on a wedding gown, at the same time. I just love the way clean, crisp letterpress printed type sinks into 100% cotton paper. Check out these detail photos to see it for yourself:

Isn't that just lovely? We paired the invitation with a matching A7 size envelope from Crane & Co. in Pearl White and created a custom liner for it in a shiny eggplant purple, fabric-weave paper. It's difficult to see from the photograph, but I love the way the purple liner adds an extra splash of color to this white and chocolate brown invitation suite.

We then letterpress printed Shanley's parent's return address on the flap of the envelope.

Shanley and Chris' reply card was designed to coordinate with the invitation. In order to do this, we enlarged part of the lacy, blind-embossed pattern from the invitation and placed it at the very bottom of the card. We then used the same fonts to create spaces for guests to respond to both Shanley and Chris' actual wedding ceremony as well as to their Aprés Ski event which will be held the day after.

Isn't the blind embossing extra pretty when enlarged? I really like it. Here are some more details of the reply card so you can see the fonts, blind embossing, impression, etc. a little bit better.

This card was paired with a coordinating A2 size envelope with Shanley's parent's address printed on the front. We had originally wanted the reply envelopes for these to also be from Crane, but a mix up with the supplier over the holiday caused us to have to choose another envelope from a different company. This wasn't the easiest mix-up to deal with, especially right after my accident, and we couldn't find an exact match, but the one we found was mighty close. Check it out:

Having to choose an alternate brand for this last piece wasn't the most optimal situation, but Shanley and Chris were really wonderful with the whole situation and the suite turned out gorgeous just the same!

Thanks so much Shanley and Chris! I know your wedding in Colorado is going to be fabulous and really really fun all at the same time. Congratulations to you both!

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!

Sherry and Thomas are Married!

If you've been following this blog for a while now, you may remember a very pretty little set of black and white save-the-date cards that I designed and printed back in February for a couple who were married this past September in Wheeling, West Virginia. I know it's been quite a while since then, so if you either weren't following us then or don't recall what I'm talking about, check out the Save-the-Date cards here. I realized while writing yesterday's post, that I hadn't ever shown off the rest of Sherry and Thomas' suite, and they were just so cool, I couldn't resist. You can see all of the pieces in the main invitation suite together at the top of this post.

Sherry and Thomas' suite included an A7 size matted wedding invitation, a 4bar size reply card with corresponding envelopes, a small 2.5"x3.5" reception card, and a gorgeous set of inner/outer invitation envelopes. The inner/outer invitation envelopes were A7 size and the inner envelope was lined with a custom, letterpress-printed envelope liner. The outer invitation envelope was unlined and featured a very simple, yet elegant, return address printed in black ink on the flap.

Above you can see the two invitation envelopes and the main invitation together. If you checked out Sherry and Thomas' save-the-date card from my previous post, you'll recall that it featured a really neat blind-embossed pattern that acted as a frame for the words. For the inner envelope liner of Sherry and Thomas' invitation envelope, we printed this same pattern on a black paper in silver ink and custom die-cut the liners to fit in the envelopes. I absolutely love how fresh and pretty silver ink on black paper looks! Isn't it cool?!?

Here is their wedding invitation by itself:

Sherry and Thomas' invitation was an A7 size that was printed on 100% cotton, Pearl White, Crane Lettra paper and then matted on a piece of black card stock to create a 1/4" black border all around. We used the same pattern from the save-the-date cards and envelope liners to create a blind embossed border pattern around the text of the invitation. We also utilized two large, dramatic, flowing flourishes (say that five times fast) as decoration throughout the design. All of the flourishes and typography were printed in black ink. These are stunning! Here are some detail photos:

Isn't the blind-embossed pattern combined with the black, flowing flourishes absolutely lovely? I think so...

Sherry and Thomas were married in a church and held their reception in a separate location: The Wheeling Artisan Center. For this we needed to create a separate reception card as part of their suite. The card was fairly simple: we still utilized the same typefaces and flourishes from the other pieces as well as a small blind-embossed area, but as the card didn't have tons of information it didn't need to be very large. We chose a custom 2.5"x3.5" card size for it, which you can see below.

For the reply card and envelope, we chose a standard 4bar size. The card was blind embossed and printed in black ink on Crane Lettra Pearl White Paper and the envelope was a 4bar size black envelope with a European Pointed flap, printed in silver ink, from Waste Not Paper Company.

I love the way the black envelope with silver ink coordinated perfectly with their envelope liners!

As with the reception card, the reply card was kept very simple and elegant, without a lot of extra "stuff". Just clean, simple, gorgeous design with black ink and blind embossing on black paper. I love it!

Sherry and Thomas were absolutely wonderful clients to work with and I'm sure that their wedding this past September was just as wonderful as they are! Congratulations Sherry & Thomas!