Ahoy! It's a boy!

I love creating wedding and party stationery for others. When it comes down to create stationery for an event I am hosting, I go a bit overboard. I usually use these opportunities to create something I haven't done yet. When my good friend from high school announced she was pregnant, I knew her baby shower was going to be paper-tastic. A native of the Annapolis area, it was only fitting to have a sailing themed baby boy shower. 

I wanted a centralized motif to carry through all the stationery.  I did a simple pattern inside the sailboat mast to give it that extra pop. I tied up the invitations with bakers twine and a tag (not shown) listing her registry information. 

I loved the idea (props to the co-host for telling me about it!) of writing a note to baby with your hopes and aspirations for him. 

And of course, no shower is complete without gift bingo! The winner won a stack of preppy notecards (I told you I went a bit overboard on paper!) with the sailboat theme.

Here are some snapshots of the actual shower.

Classic Yellow and Grey

Earlier this year, Nicole contacted the Preppy Paperie to create custom Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations. She sent me a few very diverse inspiration images to get the designs started. All of her inspiration images had strong typography (which I love!) and geometric design patterns. After studying her inspirations, I started my custom design process. I usually do my custom work on Saturday mornings armed with a Skinny Vanilla Latte.  For some reason, this combination gets the creative juices going! I loved each piece I created for Nicole and Nick, but the ones she chose were my absolute favorite.

In designing the Save the Dates, I wanted to incorporate the scenery for the nuptials-the city of Boston. I created a Save the Date with a clean typography focus and the Boston Skyline. 

For the invitations I wanted to bring together a few diverse clean patterns. I started with a basic thick stripe for the invitation. I used a very basic sans-serif font with a justified look. I wanted the invitation to look as clean and simple as possible. 

Nicole also wanted a custom map displaying the city and the location of the events. I went with a very thin stripe in the same pattern as the invitation. 

The map marker design tied back to the main invitation- a very small detail that most may not have picked up on.

Nicole really loved chevron stripe. So I wanted to incorporate a contrasting design in the RSVP postcard. She also loved entree symbols for the responses. So I added a carrot (for vegetarian), fish, and a cow. This has definitely been a growing trend in RSVP response options!

When layered, this invitation set had such texture and depth. I absolutely loved it!

Nicole also had me design some reception details that carried the invitation theme through. I designed table cards, place cards, and programs that maintained the "pattern" theme we created in the invitations. 

Nicole's photographer grabbed some great shots of my stationery in action. I always recommend my brides give their invitation to their photographer to snap some shots at the wedding. It makes a great introduction to wedding albums and scrapbooks! Thanks to Casey Durgin Photography for the images (www.caseydurginphotography.com) 

(c) Casey Durgin Photography

(c) Casey Durgin Photography

(c) Casey Durgin Photography

(c) Casey Durgin Photography

(c) Casey Durgin Photography

To purchase Nicole's wedding suite, follow this link to our Etsy store!

Cross Country Chic

This winter season has been much busier than I expected.  As you can see, I have been a bit absent since my last post. This winter (December-now) we did a record number of Christmas cards, party invitations, and wedding invitations for the upcoming spring nuptials.  I even had to shutdown the store for a few days while we caught up on the orders.  But, I am not complaining! During this crazy time, I got to work with some amazing brides with fabulous visions for their weddings.  So in the next few weeks, I would like to get you caught up on what we've been doing here at the Paperie.  

First up is Christine and Habib. Christine is originally from California and Habib is originally from New York.  They met and currently live in Chicago and their wedding is going to be in San Francisco. I wanted to incorporate their cross country romance into their invitations.  

The bride and groom were going for a very soft muted romantic palette.  They wanted to incorporate stripes and a little bit of whimsy into their invitations.  So, I did a very light two weighted border around the edge of the invitation with a very romantic font for their names.  I outlined the US and put a small heart over San Francisco (where they are tying the knot).  

I did a striped RSVP enclosure to match.  We even added a space for their guests to request a song to be played at the reception (love it!). 

To finish up the look, we did a striped envelope liner that brought in a little bit of a grey touch for contrast.  Lastly, we tied everything up with candy pink and white bakers twine to give that final touch.

More Nautical Love

Jenny contacted me this fall after finding me on  Facebook.  Her and her fiance loved one of the first invitations sets I sold on Etsy! I was excited to recreate the suite and add some new elements. They wanted a few enclosures as well as matching Save the Dates for their spring nuptials.

I first designed the Save the Dates.  I wanted to highlight main design elements from the invitations as well as making it distinct enough to stand out as a separate piece of stationery.  I paired these with matching envelopes that contained the same dotted line as the invitation.

Once I completed the Save the Date, I started to re-design the invitation and the fun enclosures. The invitation remained similar to the one designed last year, but this time I paired it to a matching envelope the picked up the stripes from the RSVP card.

I try to shy away enclosures that are too match-y.  Mixing up portions of wedding suites gives depth to the entire package.  

I love creating RSVP postcards! And they are a real cost savings to a bride (especially when mailing!).