Thursday, June 18, 2009

Joel & Jessica's Desert Wedding

I finished putting together a set of wedding invitations late last week that I'm excited to share. They turned out quite nice -- very simple, but that's exactly what this couple wanted.

invitation front, back and envelopeJoel and Jessica came to me with the photo you see in the shot to the right. They were having what would probably be categorized as a destination wedding, but also a fairly small gathering of mostly family. They didn't want to go over the top on the invitations, like many destination weddings do. They just wanted one piece to announce the basic information, and were going to use the web for everything from RSVPs to directions.

I had paper in mind that I thought might be perfect -- Neenah's Peppered Bronze in a laid finish; the variegated color of the paper makes it look incredibly textured, but it doesn't present problems when it comes to screen printing on it. Jessica liked it, and paired it with French Speckletone envelopes in 'Chocolate.' For ink we simply used the color of the opposite paper, and a clean script for the text.

The result is a compact little treasure, equally comfortable in a frame or on the fridge of its lucky recipients.

To see more images of this invitation, or to browse Phaedra's other designs, visit the Phaedra Paperie website.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Krista & Aaron's Butterfly Invitations


invitation open
Krista's wedding is loosely butterfly-themed, with a palette of dark purple and ivory. From there, she let me fly free on the design.

One of my favorite parts of custom design is shopping for paper. Running my fingertip along the subtle textures, flicking the corners to gauge the stiffness, coming back to old favorites, and ogling all the new papers on the scene. This time, I found a gorgeous feltweave textured eggplant paper that was perfect for this project. We decided to use this for the main invitation, screen printed in a custom-mixed lighter purple and white gold.

invitation closed


rsvp postcard
Then, for the RSVP postcard, map, and envelope, we chose an ivory paper with a subtle white gold shimmer from the vast array of cream/ivory/off-white papers available, and printed it with the same custom mixed purple.

Her wedding is also going to be a small, intimate gathering, and the invitations reflect this. We kept the physical dimensions of the assembled package small, and the invitation itself involves folding and a self-closure element, making it an unusual size. Part of the joy of wedding invitations is in the recipients' experience of opening them: Krista's tiny shimmering envelopes will announce themselves as little mail-borne treasures, and reveal layers of interactive discovery.

As a bonus, they were designed to come out of standard sheet sizes with very little waste, and to require no more than standard letter postage, keeping costs very reasonable. Proof that beautiful wedding invitations don't have to destroy your budget.

To see more views of this invitation suite, visit the Phaedra Paperie website.

Update: Krista has been receiving overwhelmingly positive responses to these invitations -- even from male coworkers! I think it's safe to say that they're a success.