Kallie + Anthony’s New Year’s Eve Wedding Invitations

February 28, 2012

I was perusing Two Paperdolls gorgeous portfolio when I came across these stunning typographic letterpress wedding invitations that they designed for Kallie and Anthony’s celebration, which also happened to be on one of the most cheery evenings of the year: New Year’s Eve. The beautiful black, yellow, and shimmer-y silver invitations feature vintage-inspired typography and a die cut, letterpress belly band that adds a playful touch to the festive and fantastically designed suite. Yep, I’m definitely crushing on these!

image source: Two Paperdolls

Liam’s Hand-Lettered Birth Announcements

February 27, 2012

Oh, I am completely head over heels for these sweet, hand-lettered letterpress birth announcements that Moglea, a.k.a. Meg Gleason, designed for little Liam. The baby blue and gray announcements feature Meg’s wonderful, whimsical lettering and, because the announcements were sent around Christmas, a holiday greeting was added to the back flap of the announcement envelope. What a great little detail!

image source: Moglea

New Lab Partners Destination Wedding Invites

February 22, 2012

Lab Partners and Hello! Lucky recently released four brand new destination wedding invitation suites – Martha’s Vineyard, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. – and I’m just as swoon-y over the new designs as I have been over pretty much every other destination wedding invitation design in the series. Here’s a look at the brand new wedding suites, which feature Lab Partners’ always awesome illustrations:

image source: Hello! Lucky

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, you’ll help Invitation Crush, and you’ll get super cool destination wedding invitations, too. Win, win!

Modern Boarding Pass Wedding Invitations

February 21, 2012

Smokeproof Press offers a contemporary take on the travel-themed wedding invitation with this completely crush-worthy letterpress wedding suite for Laura and Eric’s May celebration. This gorgeous, teal and chartreuse suite includes sleek, modern boarding pass invitations, as well as fun extras like luggage tag rsvp cards, custom printed envelopes, and actual luggage tags that guests can use to tag their bags when they leave for the big event.

image source: Smokeproof Press

Elegant Letterpress Fill-In Invitations

February 20, 2012

I’m swooning over these undeniably elegant letterpress fill-in invitations from Missive. These invites sure are pretty, and they’re versatile, too. The “Soiree” design is just the thing for everything from cocktail parties to dinner parties, engagement parties, and upscale birthday shindigs. And the “Shower” invitations are a lovely choice for a baby shower or wedding shower.

Invitations come in sets of 8, and they’re printed on thick 110 lb. 100% cotton paper. Coordinating letterpress place cards are also available.

image source: Missive

Dave + Hollie’s Ticket Style Wedding Invitations

February 16, 2012

Check out these bold black and white, ticket style wedding invitations by James Prunean of OOXX, which are absolutely oozing with vintage-inspired goodness.

The ornate invites were designed for Dave and Hollie, whose wedding took place on an orchard in Ontario, Canada. The couple rented a trolley to take their guests from the hotels to the farm, and OOXX decided to create their invite in the style of a ticket, with a tear off RSVP that could be mailed back. The invitations were printed on recycled paper that gave them a wonderful, vintage look.

image source: OOXX

Ali + Gary’s DIY Letterpress Wedding Invitations

February 15, 2012

I was so excited to find these wedding invitations in my inbox because 1) they’re beautiful – I love the embossed and blind debossed flowers and the rich, yellow ink, and 2) they were made using the L Letterpress Machine, a contraption which I want to love so badly but with which I haven’t had great success. It gives me much hope that such a gorgeous letterpress wedding invitation suite can be done on the L; I may have to go dig mine out of the closet and start playing again.

This lovely suite was designed and printed by Ali Crouch of Lowercase a Design Studio for her own wedding. Ali loves letterpress printing but knew that she wouldn’t be able to fit it into her wedding invitation budget, so the L Letterpress was the next best option for her. She received one from her fiance, Gary, for her birthday and got to work on her plan to print her own invitations. She studied a great post by Boxcar Press about getting good results from the L and splurged on Crane’s Lettra paper, a favorite of letterpress printers. The project was a wonderful success, and Ali ended up printing her entire suite, including the main invite, a response card, a reception card, and a small card that directed their guests to their wedding website for more information the big day.

Because Ali had never printed using the L Letterpress before this project, she decided to stick to a one color design. Inspired by the gorgeous embossed floral paper that she used for her envelope liners, she used blind debossed flowers throughout the entire suite. This allowed her to use only one ink color while giving additional depth and interest to the design.

The pieces in the suite were tied together with ivory ribbon embellished with a paper disc (printed in blush pink) that contained their wedding logo. Envelopes were hand calligraphed by San Antonio-based calligrapher, Jennifer Lavin.

image source: Ali Crouch

Fairy Tale Map Save the Dates

February 13, 2012

This undeniably sweet map save the date brings to mind princes and castles and happily ever afters. The charmingly unique design was created by Krista McCormick for her upcoming June wedding, and here’s what the bride-to-be has to say about the oh so romantic project:

I designed this “fairy tale” map save the date for my upcoming rustic wedding in June. I thought a map would be charming and helpful to our guests, showing all the important landmarks of the big day. My fiancé, Josh, and I grew up in the same little square-mile, tree-city town (Wenonah, New Jersey), which is the starting point on the map. I thought the business-sized, wedding website card would be easier for guests to carry along to the computer, and I just had to use the cute little envelopes!

We love the outdoors and are little kids at heart, so I think we are depicted well in our save the dates. I cut all 100 cards by hand! It took a lot of patience, but it was well worth it in the end.

Be sure to check out more of Krista’s invitation design work at her site, A Piece of Kake.

image source: Krista McCormick

Heritage Collection Letterpress Invitations

February 06, 2012

I have a mad, mad crush on all of the letterpress wedding invitation designs in Moontree Letterpress’ new Heritage Collection. The collection, a collaboration with Philadelphia based designer, Edward Brogna, includes five suites, each of which is utterly gorgeous and oh so sophisticated.

Inspiration for the collection came from Edward’s interest in collecting, vintage graphics, and the great outdoors, and the resulting designs incorporate all the elements of iconographic American design and typography. Below is a peek at the lovely collection, and you can find many more images over at Moontree Letterpress.

Classic Literature Suite

Vintage Stationery Suite

Weathervane Suite

Anchor Suite

Marquee Poster Wedding Invitations

image source: Moontree Letterpress

2012 Wedding Invitation Trends : Texture, Texture, Texture

February 01, 2012

The feel of an intricate, laser or die cut detail; the striking appearance of lustrous, foil stamped typography; the organic appeal of a wash of watercolor – it’s all about texture, and I am loving it!

Wedding invitation designers are finding all kinds of innovative ways to give their designs additional depth and interest, and the great news is that, whether you’re in the market for custom, hand-painted, watercolor letterpress invites a digitally printed, watercolor wedding invitation suite, there’s sure to be a invitation design out there that will rock your world.

Watercolor

Love them or hate them, watercolors were white hot in 2011, and I think that watercolor elements will continue to be a massive trend in both invitations and stationery in 2012. This multifaceted element can add an ethereal touch to a straightforward, typographic design, or it can set the tone for the whole suite. Watercolors can be splashy or soft, dainty or bold, and they can work equally well as small, complimentary details or as the base for entire pieces.

Painterly style, on the whole, seems to be making a comeback as designers are taking time away from the computer and breaking out their art supplies to create designs that have a more organic, hand created feel. Be on the lookout for more gouache and acrylic elements in the future, too.

Above, Top Row : watercolor bunting wedding invitations (Bird & Banner); vivid watercolor wedding invites (Jeremy & Kathleen); watercolor calligraphy wedding invitations (Swiss Cottage Designs & Love, Jenna Calligraphy)

Above, Bottom Row : seersucker watercolor + letterpress invitations (The Aerialist Press); splattered watercolor + letterpress wedding invites (Printerette Press); chevron watercolor wedding invitations (Wiley Valentine & Joanna Goss)

Foil Stamping

A little bit of luster goes a long way, and even a touch of foil stamping can make the difference between an invitation that’s “meh” and one that’s “wowsa”. I’m not just talking silver, gold, and bronze (thought I love them all dearly), either. Fuchsia, brilliant blue, teal – companies like Bella Figura, who recently unveiled a foil stamping filled wedding invitation collection, offer a range of swoon-worthy, metallic hues.

Above, Top Row : silver foil stamped wedding invitations (Good Job Creative); gold foil stamped save the dates (Kate Allen & Plurabelle Calligraphy); fuchsia foil stamped invitations (Akimbo)

Above, Bottom Row : Glamorous Blooms (Kamal), Overlook (Lindsy Aragona), and Fugue (Kamal) foil stamped wedding invitations at Bella Figura

Laser and Die Cutting

Laser and die cut details are making an appearance in a growing number of clean, modern wedding invitation designs, and this is most definitely a good thing. Both have always played well with traditional/ornate designs, and it’s great to see these techniques getting more play in unexpected, non-traditional ways. Ornate, laser cut belly bands and wraps will always be breathtaking, but a sleek, laser cut serif face can be just as magnificent.

Above, Top Row : woodsy laser cut booklet wedding invites (Seven Swans); woodland passport wedding invitation suite (Lilah Paper); modern laser cut wood invitations (Fourth Year Studio)

Above, Bottom Row : Roses and Lace wedding invitations (Two Paperdolls); papel picado laser cut wedding invites (Avie Designs); Alyssa wedding invitations (Spark Impress)

image source: various