Garden Party Wedding

I wish I could tell you all what I REALLY think of this wedding suite, but it's just not possible with words (I know, it's sounds crazy to tell you I can't explain it in words...in a blog). Instead, I want you to imagine a child walking into the largest candy store in the world. Envision the sparkle in the eye, and the drool at the corner of the mouth. Add in some mild twitching, the inability to move a single step forward, backward, or in any direction entirely and hands sort of hanging there, like a monkey. Yeah, that might give you an idea.

When my good friend, Liz, came to me to help her design and press her garden-party wedding invitations, I almost fell over when she gave me free reign. I immediately thought of the book I found at an old book store that had detailed drawings of flowers from a botanist in the 1500's and compiled the florals in a fresh and flirty design. Hey-- remember these florals from their first debut? They are one in the same! Now, I have to be honest, these wedding invitations actually came first, but were held back from the blogging world until now for the mear reason that I wasn't happy with my blog design before and wanted these babies to REALLY pop.

Everything was letterpress printed in 220lb duplex Pearl White Crane Lettra paper (it's the thickest paper I have ever seen, really, and takes an impression like you would.not.believe). The navy ink... was a challenge. As I mentioned in a previous post, Lettra soaks up more ink than the most absorbent sponge in the world; I also didn't account for the fact that this design is huge- plain and simple. The 5x7 invitations had just about 1/3 of sheet covered in florals which essentially means that much more ink being soaked up. I actually ended up printing everything twice because the colors just weren't right. Note to self, don't do that again with the 220lb paper. The silver ink was added on a whim in a quick chat between Liz and I on gmail chat-- and the best decision we could have ever made. It really makes these invitations stand out!

Do you want to see one of my favorite pieces-- the rsvp. It's a 6x4 post card with the florals on one side, and the goodies on the back. It's beautiful, and I almost wish we could include 2 in each invitation package so folks could keep these forever. Everything will be packaged in a calligraphied navy inner envelope and an opalescent pink outer envelope. Hello, gorgeous. Just like the bride, Liz, who practically keeps JCrew in business.

You had better believe I will be hiding out in the bushes for this beautiful wedding. Liz is one of the smartest and funniest girls I know- and has some SERIOUS design taste. I couldn't be more happy for her and her Fiance, Joel!!