I'm Thankful for Our Fun, Creative Brides.

We absolutely love each and every one of our brides! Each bride is different, and we love having the opportunity to work with each couple to create the perfect invitation suite for their big day. Today we chose to share one of our most creative invitation suites. It not only highlights the creativity of the couple but also uses one of our favorite printing methods--letterpress.

Letterpress is a method of printing in which the ink is pressed into the page. The paper tends to be made from cotton and has a lot of texture. The particular letterpress that was used for this was a salty letterpress which gave a little variation in texture to the orange background.

This couple used a 'bee' theme for their wedding invitation, which worked perfectly with the honeycomb pattern on the invitation. My favorite part of the invitation suite is the swirling bumblebee on the RSVP card! The invitation suite was wrapped with a Jute string, a bumblebee tag and a piece of burlap with the couples wedding date on Kraft paper.

Here are a few more pictures of the invitation suite. Enjoy!

We hope you enjoyed! Check back in next week for our next installment of what we are thankful mini-series! As always, if you ever have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us!

I'm Thankful For... | Part One

In order to get into the spirit of Thanksgiving, we want to share some things we are thankful for. We are always thankful for any bride who chooses us to be a part of their big day. Because of this, we plan to share some invitation suites leading up to Thanksgiving that truly embody what we are thankful for. Many of you know that I lovvvvvve my dog.  She (used) to be my child, I would take her with me ev.ery.where.   Since Jackson has come along, she's been miiiiiildly displaced but I still love her to pieces and she will always be my first fur baby :) So THIS girl is Miss Popularity apparently, because she has been featured once again! Check her out and many of the other cute fur babies on BRIDES Magazine "Top 40 Ways to Include Pets in Your Wedding"! Seeing the BRIDES blog made me think about this stylized shoot that I was part of with many other wonderful vendors to kick-off Tidewater and Tulle's blog launch.

Beyond drooling over the beautiful compilation of greens and ivory flora, we had a lot of fun creating a romantic invitation suite that embodies the classic, southern elegance of the Hampton Roads Area.

The natural cotton fabric and the Kraft envelope are a wonderful compliment to the eucalyptus leaves used throughout the decor of the shoot (and also donned by Miss Kayley in a gorgeous wreath . The soft gray ink gives the invitation a softness that fits perfectly into the overall aesthetic of the big day and compliments Tiderwater and Tulle's color palette beautifully).

This program is an interesting spin on the traditional day-of paper goods. The program is assembled into three tiers and attached to a spindle. This would be a perfect idea if you were planning a romantic, outdoor ceremony.

Each table setting had a menu with elegant calligraphy on the same fabric that we used on the invitation.

To add a pop of color and to provide labels, we created fun tags for each food item.

We are so thankful to work alongside so many wonderful vendors and to be a part of many stylized shoots.

VENDORS: Venue: Hermitage Museum and Gardens // Photography: We Are The Mithcells // Event Coordination & Custom Linens: Antonia Christianson Events // Hair: Behind the Veil // Cake Backdrop: Bluebird's Garage Vintage Rentals // Cake: Cake Delights // Catering: Chef by Design // Chairs: Distinctive Event Rentals // Videography: Jeremy Mitchell Cinema // Makeup: Makeup by Kim Porter // Stationery: PaperDolls Design // Bridal Gown and Bridesmaid Dress: Pure English Couture Bridal // Wooden Tables: River Design Vintage Furniture Rentals // Florals: Roost Flowers

Please check back next week to see more of what we are thankful for! As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!

Happy Halloween! Kiss or Treat Styled Shoot

Recently, we teamed up with some of our favorites to create a styled shoot exclusively for Tidewater and Tulle (check out their blog post about the styled shoot here: http://www.tidewaterandtulle.com/2014/10/eclectic-halloween-wedding-inspiration.html). With Halloween right around the corner (can you believe it is almost November?!), we wanted to share the styled shoot that combines some of our favorite parts of October: pumpkins, Halloween, and the leaves changing colors (if it ever gets cold enough...). Enjoy!

To keep with the changing of the leaves, our friends from Leslie Hartig Floral Design used reds, purples, and oranges to capture the essence of the leaves changing. Having these colors in mind, we followed a similar color palette with our invitation suite.

Our eclectic invitation suite ties in our favorite elements of fall with the spookiness of Halloween. The varying fonts, use of color, and pattern create a fun, festive vibe! The invitation is tied with white and metallic gold baker's twine and has a large Halloween pumpkin tag with the wedding date. The vibrant purple RSVP envelope ties in the use of the purple on the invitation and the festive theme.

What better way to tie in your spooky theme than to continue the pattern into your day-of paper?! Below are the place cards that we designed to go along with the paper goods and to continue to tie in the deep reds, vibrant purples, and oranges.

We absolutely loved teaming up with so many wonderful vendors for this exclusive shoot. Check out Tidewater and Tulle's blog to see more photos and to see the many other wonderful vendors we had the chance to collaborate with.

As always, please keep a look out for our new blog posts. We try our best to post something new and exciting every week. If you have any questions or would like to receive more information about our company, please contact us! We hope every one has a safe and wonderful Halloween!

LET'S GO....HOKIES! (and fall-themed invitations)

When a bride came to me a couple of years ago and said that she wanted her invitations to reflect fall and her love for Virginia Tech, I had a step-brothers moment and thought "Did we just become best friends??".  YEP! Being a Hokie alum, there are a few things that make my heart happy, in the fall specifically: college football and the leaves changing to the beautiful colors of orange & maroon. This week's featured invitation set combines both of these elements into one hokie invitation suite ;)  (Hokie in the good way).

The combination of orange, maroon, burlap, and kraft paper creates the perfect fall-themed, Hokie invitation set. Both the invitation and RSVP card have a matching leaf motif to reflect fall and my alma mater, Virginia Tech. For this invitation set, typography is used to create a rustic-chic vibe.

Finally, we cannot share the next few photos of this adorable invitation suite without paying homage towards the envelope liner. An envelope liner can provide a fun twist or an additional pattern to any invitation suite. Personally, I love the inclusion of an envelope liner to add a pop of color. I may be biased, but I absolutely love the subtle nod to Virginia Tech inside the liner (look closely at the repeated pattern).

The invitation suite is wrapped with an maroon-striped belly band and tied with a jute raffia and burlap tag with the couples' initials printed on Kraft paper.

The burlap tag is a fun and unique way to add a rustic-chic element to the invitation suite.

I try not to show favoritism towards any one suite, buttttt this one definitely stole a little piece of my hokie heart <3

Hokie Hokie Hokie Hi, Tech Tech VPI!

Be on the lookout for our post next week about how fonts (also known as typography) help to enhance any theme or invitation suite! If you have any questions, please do hesitate to contact us!

The Beginning of (Many) Fall Weddings!

Happy Fall Y'all!  As we enter October and all things pumpkin(along with my birthday month, the dreaded 3-0), we thought it seemed appropriate to share this fall-festive invitation suite.

This Bride was obsessed with Halloween and she wanted to incorporate it somehow into her invitations! So what better way than the most adorable little pumpkin tag you ever did see!  We kept it more on the modern side with fun typography on the main invitation, and kept it a little traditional with the falling leaves motif along the sides.  Pair it with kraft envelopes/tag and hemp twine and you've got an invitation suite that screams fall!

Keep on the lookout for more fall festive wedding invitations every Tuesday! Please feel free to take a look at our gallery for more designs that we have done throughout the years! If you have any questions, feel free to email us at april@paperdollsdesigninc.com.