Trish and Dave's Save the Dates

You may remember Trish. I worked with her back when I did her business cards. Well, get used to seeing this lady, because she has a wedding coming up later this year and I've been working on several fun projects for it.

First up are her Save the Dates. Trish basically wanted something very simple over a super sweet picture of her and her fiancé. I think we accomplished this mission.

I LOVE the picture Trish ended up using. Trish is an avid lover of all things Detroit and so when it came time for the proposal, her fiancé planned to do it downtown at Hart Plaza. The picture we used is one that his friend snapped right as Dave was bringing out his guitar to sing a song to Trish before he proposed.

Fonts are (in the order they appear):

BD Hanover
CAC Champagne
Railway Thin
Novecento Wide

(I got a little crazy up in hurrrr with the fonts.)

I love that the save the date is simple so it doesn't take away from the picture.

Trisha used the loveliest color for her envelopes - Envelopment's persimmon, a nice coral-y color.

We are so not done with Trish and Dave yet. A shower invite, their wedding invite, and some wedding extras will all be showing up in the months to come. 

And please, go read the whole story behind Dave's proposal here on Trish's Kitty Haw Vintage blog and check out Kitty Haw Vintage here on Etsy.

Emily and Joseph's Mackinac Island Save the Dates

Well, hello, faithful blog readers! I just want to take a quick second today to show you some Save the Dates that I am pretty smitten with.

I met with Emily a month or so ago and we talked all about her gorgeous Mackinac Island wedding (for those of you who aren't Michiganders, it's pronounced Mac-eh-naw). After picking out the card stock she would use for her invitations, Emily took a few of the same pieces and decided to use them for her Save the Dates.

Emily really liked the idea of a ferry ticket Save the Date (not to be confused with a fairy Save the Date - I was telling my sister-in-law about Emily's wedding last week and she thought they were having a Tinkerbell wedding :)). In order to get to Mackinaw Island, you have to take a ferry, so the ferry ticket style seemed to fit. 

Here's what we came up with.

The patterned paper you can see is actually the back of the Save the Date - like, when you turn it over, that's what you see. I got to play around with so many different fonts for this one - Allura, Rosewood Std, Clarendon Bold Condensed, Currency Regular, and League Gothic.

I also just really had the urge to put a bike on the Save the Date. A common thing to do on the island is to bike around it, so it seemed like the right thing to add on. I was so thankful that when Emily saw the design for the first time, she commented on how bike riding was one of her and Joseph's favorite things to do on Mackinac Island. 

Envelopments' patterned papers are absolutely gorgeous. Check out this close-up.

I'm loving this color combo - perfect for a summer wedding on an island.

So consider this your sneak peak of Emily's wedding invitations. I think she picked out beautiful colors and I can't wait to see how it all comes together once everything is completed.

On Thursday I'm going to start a series of frequently asked questions - first up is how to figure out tricky wording on your wedding invitations.

See you then!

Want to hear more about the value of custom invitations? Check out this post. 

Janine and Cory's Save the Dates

When my husband and I first started dating about six and a half years ago, he invited me to one of his flag football games to meet his friends. He played with about a dozen other guys, so I figured there would be quite a few people that I'd meet at one time, which was mildly overwhelming for me since after college I decided I was a little less social than I had always thought.  After knowing Luke for a couple of months before officially dating, I knew that he was extremely outgoing, so I figured that in addition to his teammates, he might bring a few other friends to meet me.

I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.

I remember the evening like this:

I arrived at the game early (for me, most likely three minutes after the game started) and I brought reinforcements. My brother and a good friend of mine accompanied me.  Luke's sister was there, whom I knew from our youth group days. I felt better having them with me; they could be a buffer if things went wrong (I don't know what "going wrong" would have looked like, but it was important to me to guard against it).

We entered the arena and I just remember walking straight over to the bleachers and sitting down. I noticed that there was a large group of people in the bleachers to the left of me, but I didn't think anything of it. I figured that group was comprised of several different player's family members and friends that came to cheer them on.

Oh, no. I was wrong.

Those bleachers were filled with Luke's friends. Luke's friends took up a set of bleachers all by themselves. I had literally brought every person I could think of as reinforcements and that totaled two people. Luke had friends that weren't able to make it and he still had a bleacher full of people.

As I sat with my people, I began to notice that something was happening in the bleachers to the left. People began to realize that I was the girlfriend. Heads began to turn my way. I felt like I was on display. As I type this, I'm getting anxious just thinking about it.

Thankfully, the following took place.

I remember that three girls came out of the crowd. As they moved towards me, I recognized them as girls that Luke had been friends with for a while. They must have taken pity on me, seeing as my bleacher of friends was nothing in comparison to the size of Luke's (of course, this is not to minimize the quality of my bleacher :)).

These girls came over, introduced themselves, and sat down with me. I don't remember what we talked about, but I remember that they immediately made me feel at ease. They asked questions and showed a genuine interest in my life. It was my first impression of Luke's friends and it was welcoming and comforting.  I've told this story several times throughout the years because it meant something to me. It was such a small gesture to walk over and say hi, but it had a lasting impact.

Janine was one of those girls. She has known Luke since elementary school and they're still good friends to this day. She and her fiancé live in Chicago and we've been able to visit them a couple of times over the past few years. When they got engaged last year, Janine contacted me to do Save the Dates for them.

I love the way they turned out.

Janine and Cory are getting married in Cancun in April. Janine really wanted the Save the Date to have a beach-y feel to it. We went with starfish and I think they worked out perfectly.

Luke and I are big fans of the destination wedding. Forcing us to take a vacation? If we have to...

I'm overly excited to introduce a new font. Dear Joe is what we used for the names.  It's free. Context Reprise Light (my fav) was used for the rest of the wording.

We used a beautiful aqua color for the backing of the invitation and a coral color for the envelopes. They fit together so well.

Since I shared my first impression of Janine, I feel led to end with my first impression of Cory.

We were at a mutual friend's wedding and Luke and I were chatting with Cory. The song 'I'm Sexy and I Know It' came on. Cory looks at us and says, "I'm sorry...I have to get out on the dance floor. This is my song."

I knew I liked him right then and there.

Congratulations, Janine and Cory!

Want to hear more about the value of custom invitations? Check out this post. 

Jaime's Save the Dates

Jaime is another one you might see frequenting the blog this upcoming wedding season. She came to me about a month ago looking for someone to help her with not only her wedding invitations, but Save the Dates and even a little special extra for her lake side wedding ceremony.  She is so easy to work with and has such great style. I can't wait to reveal more of it to you over the next few months!

Jaime sent me a file of her inspiration pictures for her wedding. After taking a look at some of the pictures she sent me (which I've kept myself from sharing here even though they are so incredibly creative and beautiful...privacy issues, you know), I started to come up with a design that I felt fit her day. Luckily, she felt the same way. We had a few tweaks here and there and then we were all set.

I have to say that the picture her and her fiancé wanted to use for this Save the Date is the cutest thing. When we met together and they showed it to me, I remember just staring at it thinking it was adorable and then I realized that I hadn't spoken on account of the staring. Embarrassing, and yet they still decided to use me. :)

The Save the Dates are just a cute little 4x5 card:

We used three fonts (just call us crazy): Halo Handletter, Centabel Book, and Riddle. All are free, obviously. :)

You'll see more of Jaime and Dan in a few months when we really get going on their wedding invitations. I can't wait!

Can I just show one more thing to you though?

I was probably more excited than a wife should be to give a card to my husband this year for Valentine's Day. He's not necessarily a card person at all, but his wife loves her some paper products, so he will have to deal. :)

This was my inspiration. I saw this card on a website that I absolutely adore, Oh So Beautiful Paper.

If you're wondering...

I loved the "We Go Together Like..." thing, though it wouldn't have had any significance to keep Bob Ross and his happy little trees on there (no offense to any Bob Ross lovers out there).

So I started to think about couples that were somewhat significant to Luke and me, from a TV show we watch or a book we've both read or a song of theirs that we (maybe...) have rapped together. Then I put this little card together. I loved it and I'm happy to report that he did, too.

(Any HIMYM fans...I know, I know...Barney and Robin are not currently together. But it's SO going to happen.)

My favorite was at the bottom..."The horse in War Horse and his boy". The movie War Horse is in no way significant to us, except for the fact that we saw it together on Christmas day with family. For days after, I had to listen to Luke go on and on about how attached the boy was to the horse and how abnormal that was. So you know it had to go on the card. We both started cracking up when he read it. We're not super sappy, but if we can share a good laugh, we're happy.

Happy (slightly late) Valentine's Day!

Want to hear more about the value of custom invitations? Check out this post. 

Save the Date

I wanted to sneak one last blog post in here for 2011 and I decided to go out with a bang (or at least, I think so). 

It's a Save the Date that I absolutely love. I have a few specific reasons for loving it so, but I think it's pretty self explanatory just by looking at it. 

Didn't I tell you? It's great, isn't it?

First, I love the picture. This is a bride-to-be and her fiancé from Chicago who will be getting married here in Michigan. They had their pictures done in Chicago and she selected this one to be on the Save the Date. I love her red dress and how adds a pop to the Save the Date. And the city and the water and how cute they are together...I love it all. 

Second, I love the font. Before I did this Save the Date, I didn't even know this font existed and now I ask myself how I ever lived without it. It's Estilo and though it is not free (who doesn't love a free font?), it was pretty darn inexpensive. 

So there are still some other projects to share from 2011, but those are going to have to wait until after the New Year. For now, I leave you with this Save the Date and with a promise that I will show you all of the other fun things we're designing for this wedding later in 2012. 

Until then, Happy New Year!