I'm sure most of you read Laura and Emily's fabulous blog the Scoop, Emily also runs Orange Beautiful, where she creates some of the coolest cards and stationery for various occasions. I loved the holiday cards sold via etsy this year and last.
Featured in the Orange Beautiful portfolio are beautiful custom pieces like wedding invites. My favorite is this one which features famous pairs like Bread & Butter, Romeo & Juliet, etc. I love love love this concept.
Image © Orange Beautiful.
These invitations from Bird and Banner are the very definition of simple elegance. They are not ornate, but are absolutely gorgeous. This first invite is fantastic. The color combo is great and I love the fabulous printed paper behind the actual invite. This invite is a great example of what really works well on a Gocco or screen-printed. The one-color invite would be super easy to recreate and you could find a great scrapbooking paper or patterned cardstock to bring in an accent color.
This save the date is reminiscent of the Mexican flags hung up for parties and actually features directions for how to create a Mexican paper flower from the actual tissue used. So cute!
Images © Bird and Banner.
I'm continuing with the invitation only series, even though our invites are finally completed. Photos to come as soon as we hear most of our guests have received them...some are still en route.
This invitation from Milkmaid Press is great. The shape used throughout is very reminiscent of the one I used on our save the date and of course, I adore the use of the typeface Engravers. This invitation provided some great inspiration for my final design.
Ahhh...from the first moment I saw this invitation by Swayspace in the Winter 2008 issue of New York Magazine Weddings it was love at first sight. Nick and I, like the couple the invite was designed for, also collect vintage tourist trays from all of the states we've lived in. So far we only have three states, but...the Air Force is working on it, don't worry. :)
It all started when I came across the Missouri tray at my grandma's house, Too weird, right? Nick's home state is Missouri, so I started hunting on ebay and other vintage sites to find an Indiana tray. Sure enough, we are now the proud owners of Missouri, Indiana, and Mississippi with a Nevada tray on the way. {We just found out we are moving to Las Vegas after the new year! Thank you USAF for picking a big city this time!}
Travel, particularly all over the US, is a huge theme in our wedding partially because of Nick's Air Force career so I love love love the idea of include our home states on our invites. However, I'm not sure it will work with what I've got in mind, but it is darn cute idea!
Images © Swayspace, New York Magazine Weddings.
When I first started looking at wedding invitations, the Signature Invitation from Linda & Harriett really jumped out at me. The handwritten names, simplicity of the type, uber-graphic zigzag lining spoke to me. {Zigzags really are all the rage right now!} I think the typeface I've chosen for our names {Sudestada, shown on our save the dates} is kind of similar to the handwritten names on the Linda and Harriet invitation.
On the right above is a coordinating note card featuring vintage wallpaper as the envelope liner. Love that!
Images © Linda and Harriett.
From the moment I saw these invitations, it was love at first sight. A fabulous concept executed brilliantly and I mean, brilliantly. One of those that makes you say, "What a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" There are so many wedding invitation designers and sometimes, they all seem the same, but The Future Mrs. Darcy aka Kristen really sets herself apart. Each suite is based upon a famous couple. Kristen has created gorgeous, customizable invitations for each of the couples, including Harry & Sally from When Harry Met Sally, Noah and Allie from The Notebook and many more. They are perfection! Kristen has taken care of every detail, each of the suites features multiple pieces to suit your needs, including table numbers, escort cards, accommodations, etc.
First up, the Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart suite. LOVE the exaggerated ampersand. Gorgeous.
The Miss Bennet and Mr. Darcy suite was Kristen's own wedding invitation suite. This typeface is so elegant.
My personal favorite is the suite based on main characters in The Notebook, Allie and Noah. The use of photographs is BRILLIANT. I love full-color photos in my everyday design work, why didn't it occur to me to use them on a wedding invite?
You should really head on over to The Future Mrs. Darcy site and blog to view Kristen's other creations. I could have featured them all, seriously! I love Sandy and Danny {yep, from Grease!} and the soon-to-be-completed Rose and Jack {Titanic}. All of the suites are completely customizable and available for purchase on etsy.
As I mentioned last week, I am starting a new series of posts focused on inspiring invitations. I am in the midst of laying out our wedding invites. I am in a bit of a creative burnout and I definitely need something beautiful to inspire me right now.
To lead off, I want to share a few invitations from Saima Says Design that are some of my personal favorites. Her invitations are absolutely stunning without being over the top. The first invitation is Erin and Ted. Love the typeface: Burges Script.
My favorite snippet is the lettering used for RSVP. So fun and playful, but it still compliments the fancy script. It is hard to combine scripts and this invite does it to perfection!
The second invite from Saima is Mita and Piyush. On the grey envelopes, the red ink just pops! I'm hoping to feature grey more in the invites than I did in our save-the-dates. I also love the size of the save-the-date {left image}. I'm thinking I might want to forgo the traditional A7 cards {5x7"} and go with something a little more unusual. However, that size might not work well with the Gocco.
The Sujana and Jai suite from Saima has been one of my favorites for awhile. The accordion style would require some serious maneuvering on the Gocco, but for a wedding with a lot of information I think it looks beautiful AND organized.
Of course, I'm a huge fan of the chartreuse with the tan/gold envelopes.
The final suite, Melissa and Grant, is fab! It is only two-colors which is incredibly manageable with a Gocco. I'm always partial to as many colors as posisble, but I think this invite is gorgeous and sophisticated with just two.
My favorite part is the one color save-the-date! GORGEOUS! The careful, beautiful use of varying typefaces really makes it unique and you hardly notice it is only one color. Love it! So incredibly inspiring.
You can view many more gorgeous invitations in the portfolio at Saima Says Design.
All images © Saima Says Design.
When I first started this blog, I posted my inspiration for our winter wedding and how I became a reluctant winter bride. There were a few specific things that really swayed me into thinking a winter wedding would be just as beautiful as any other season {an inspiration board from Style Me Pretty, a crystal tree from Enjoy: The Blog, and a gorgeous fur coat from Knottie TarHeels&Rebels}. It has come time to make some decisions regarding the coat.
When we first started looking at gowns, I was sold on the idea of wearing a vintage fur coat in a brown or sable color. My mom and aunt didn't hold back and neither did the sales girls saying that they didn't like the brown at all. The seamstress who is altering my wedding gown, also creates faux-fur coats and stoles. I tried on one of those and liked it. So I decided I would go with ivory.
That is until I saw this fabulous black faux-fur jacket on photographer Anne Ruthmann's blog.
AHH! This is pretty much the exact design I had in mind, but in black. And I LOVE IT in black. I think it would be the perfect tie-in to the bridesmaids dresses and tuxes. Plus, there would be a possibility I would wear it again. However, my mom still doesn't love it which has me second guessing myself. What do you think? Black or ivory?
Looking through the InStyle and MSN Emmy red carpet photo galleries this morning, I noticed a striking trend. It was like a white out. So many actresses arrived on the red carpet donning gorgeous wedding-inspired dresses in the very bridal colors of white, ivory, champagne and gold. So refreshing! These gowns were a lovely break from previous years' very colorful palettes {although there were still some–Teri Hatcher and Mariska Hargitay wore yellow quite well}.
Evangeline Lilly from Lost looked absolutely fabulous {top, middle}. One of my favorites, although I might be biased because her show is awesome. Felicity Hoffman from Desperate Housewives rocked her short hair* and a glittery gown. {Click all photos to view them large.}
Already this morning, Erin from Blue-Eyed Bride and other bloggers posted about Olivia Wilde's Reem Acra gown {far left above, and also below}. I love love love this dress. It is so reminiscent of the Pronovias wedding dresses I adored and posted about here in March when I first started looking. This kind of Grecian tailoring was exactly what I wanted in a gown, but the cut didn't flatter my figure. Either way, I can just imagine graceful floating on the dance floor all night in a dress like this. The pleating! The ruching! The beaded sleeves! Ahhh, I could go on and on...
Some more bridal-inspired looks complete with handsome dates. I do love Mad Men's Don Draper aka actor Jon Hamm.
Some actresses embraced the white trend, but went short. I love a great cocktail dress. These would make fun second/reception dresses. You could definitely party all night long in these!
It is wonderful when designers find inspiration from the bridal world. I especially love it when brides {myself included} can find inspiration from fashion designers and celebrities! Now I'm wishing I would have actually watched the red carpet arrivals to see these dresses in action, but I was busy catching up on work. I won't make that mistake again, after all I do have TiVo!
Now I want to know, what was your favorite Emmys 2008 red carpet look? Would you wear any of these for your wedding? Feeling inspired by any of these looks?
*I'm ready to go back to my short hair and join other newlyweds in the traditional chopping of the hair right after the wedding.
All photos © respective photographers and MSN.
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