Art Museum Garden Wedding Invitations

October 19, 2010

The chill of autumn may be here in the Eastern US, but these gorgeous gatefold garden wedding invitations by Parrott Design Studio allow me to almost smell the late summer blooms in the air. These custom invites were created for Lisa and David, who were married earlier this year at the Nassau County Museum of Art, and the museum’s gardens served as inspiration for their lovely, floral invites.

I’m loving all of the small details – a buzzing bee here, a rosebud there – that make these garden-inspired invitations truly special, and the bright green and pink color palette gives the design a vibrance that is wonderful for any season of the year. Calligraphy for the envelopes is by Li Ward of Fat Orange Cat Studio, who created a new style just for the couple. See more details, and find out more about these lovely invitations, over at the Parrott Design Studio blog.

image source: Parrott Design Studio

Rodeo Themed Custom Birth Announcements

October 18, 2010

These custom letterpress birth announcements for baby Grace are so much fun! Matt and Claire, Grace’s parents, encouraged Slow Industries to think out of the box with this custom design, and the result is a super neato, rodeo-themed letterpress tri-fold announcement that features a cutie patootie linocut illustration of the baby on a rocking horse, as well as linocut starbursts and wood and metal type, which give the announcement a great, old school feel. Such a clever concept!

image source: Slow Industries

Nautical Wedding Invitations by Bird & Banner

October 18, 2010

Nautical wedding themes are so popular right now, and I’m love, love, loving Bird & Banner’s take on the theme. These incredible nautical flag inspired invites were featured in the recent Destinations special issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, and I’m completely aswoon over the unique shape, rope details, flag-shaped canvas covers, and ultra modern typography.

image from Bird & Banner / Martha Stewart Weddings

Ultra Elegant Black and White Typographic Wedding Invitations

October 14, 2010

Oh, how I’m crushing on these ultra elegant, black and white letterpress wedding invitations, printed by Cleanwash Letterpress and designed by Chick Invitations for Leeron and Matthew. The classically beautiful type in bold black against a luxe white background truly makes these invites a standout, and I love the little lovebird graphic on the reply card. So sweet and unexpected, and they give the invitations just a touch of whimsy.

image source: Cleanwash Letterpress

Black and White Wedding Invites : Bespoke Press

October 14, 2010

Black and white wedding invitations make such a bold statement, and I’m absolutely loving the pattern and typography on these black and white letterpress invitations for Kerry and Thomas by Brisbane, Australia’s Bespoke Press. The couple wanted their invites to have a relaxed, yet sophisticated design inspired by tropical beach living, and I love that black and white were the chosen colors because it’s so unexpected for a beach wedding.

The patterned background was inspired by beach cane furniture, and the intricate, geometric shapes are modern and give the entire suite wonderful visual impact. The modern pattern is echoed in reverse in the envelope liners.

image source: Bespoke Press

Unique Halloween Invitation Inspiration

October 13, 2010

If you’re looking for inspiration in creating your own unique Halloween party invites, then look no further than Brooklyn Limestone, where you may find yourself screaming with delight at these unique custom invitations from this year and last. Last year’s invite was mind-blowingly cool; the Creature Survival Kit invitations featured ghoulishly gorgeous booklet invitations, as well as a kit with a stake, holy water, and silver bullets so you can fight your way through the monsters to make it to the party.

And this year’s invites, which were just revealed, were inspired by turn of the century circus sideshows. A little creepy, but Ernesto and Anselmo, the jarred Siamese twins that come along with the invites, are also a little cute.

image source: Brooklyn Limestone

Cute Bat Party Invites

October 12, 2010

Oh. My. Goodness. How freakin’ adorable are these bat party invitations by Sara Westbrook?! The idea to add a photo of your little one to the top of the card is absolutely brilliant, and the Dracula stamps on the envelopes are the cherry on top. You can pick up some tips for making your own batty invites over at One Charming Party.

photo by Sara Westbrook

Custom Handkerchief Wedding Invitations

October 11, 2010

It was crush at first sight when I spotted these lovely, custom handkerchief wedding invites over at design*sponge last week. The wonderfully unique wedding invitations were designed for the wedding of Youngna and Jacob, who worked with designer Kelli Anderson to create these fantastic “handkermap” (aka, handkerchief map) invitations for their wedding in the mountains. The illustrations on the handkerchief point out visual landmarks that invited guests can use to find the remote location. I just love the juxtaposition of the mid-century modern illustration and typography on a delicate fabric backdrop. And Kelli takes us through the entire creation process on her blog post, Making the Handkermap. Check it out!

image source: Kelli Anderson

Thomas the Train Inspired Birthday Party Invites

October 11, 2010

Themed children’s birthday party invitations often feature licensed imagery of popular cartoons and can be found at grocery stores, craft stores, and card stores, pretty much all over the place. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with this, but because these mass market invites often carry exactly the same themes and imagery, they’re not very original.

On the other hand, I love it when a designer takes inspiration from these same cartoons and characters and creates a custom invitation that’s not just great looking and original — it’s also an invite that the birthday girl or boy will enjoy and immediately identify with the cartoon. Rachel from Pencil Shavings has done just that in these custom birthday party invites for Wyatt, and she took her inspiration from Thomas the Train, a show that Wyatt is “madly in love” with. I love the bold red and blue palette, and the train ticket-like invite, which is so clever!

image source: Pencil Shavings

Sweet Handmade Bridal Shower Invitations

October 07, 2010

I spotted these sweet and lovely handmade bridal shower invitations by Kelli Murray (who also made the irresistibly cute baby sprinkle invites that I featured a little while back) over at Mint and was instantly enamored. I just love the cross-stitch font and accents, and the floral illustrations are oh so sweet.

Kelli stocked up on paper from Paper Source and several paper punches to create all of the pieces in the invitation suite, which includes the main invite, a registry card, and cute scalloped note cards for all of the guests to write their favorite recipes on so they can be gathered together to create a little recipe book for the bride-to-be.

You can find out more and see the inspiration board that Kelli used over at Mint, or at Kelli’s blog.

photos by Sean and Brianne Walker; image source: Mint