Weddingbee PRO
Hello! I hope you had a fun, long weekend. While I did get some relaxation in with a little camping trip, I spent a lot of the weekend printing. The wedding invitations I am printing are for friends. They were interested in seeing the letterpress process, so I took a few photos and decided to share them with you!
I mix of all of my inks by hand using the Pantone Matching System {PMS}. This specific blue is PMS7459 which actually corresponds with Paper Source's Lake.
Hello! I do say I have been very fortunate to work on some seriously lovely designs as of late. The bride, Heidi, is a wind power analyst {awesome!} and her fiance is a helicopter pilot. They wanted a design evocative of a rustic vineyard in the Blue Ridge Mountains during Autumn. The wedding is taking place outdoors where they would be surrounded by the bright yellows, oranges, and reds of the changing leaves. We decided instead of going for the obvious vineyard theme {grapes} or Autumn colors {yellow, orange, & red}, we would go for rustic florals in a cool, mono-toned palette of deep navy blue. Being eco-friendly was important for the couple so the invitations were gocco screenprinted on 100% cotton Lettra paper in pearl and the envelopes were 100% recycled brown kraft paper. I love the little floral detail of the return address on the envelope! The RSVPs were a double-sided postcard. The front of the RSVP came out beautifully with the full floral design. I am happy Heidi liked using the little motifs for the meal choices. It adds a bit of whimsy the elegant design.
{Images by Snapshots by Clare}
Even though it is tradition for the Best Man to give the toast, I like the idea of the Maid of Honor speaking as well {provided she wants to}. The Best Man for our wedding is one of Rich's oldest friends from high school and my maid of honor is my sister, Jess. Deb, Rich's sister, is essentially the “Best Woman” so we hope all three will want to give a toast at our wedding. My sister and her husband, Jay, had two best men and I was the maid of honor. Each of us spoke before dinner. I read the poem, Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog, by Taylor Mali at their wedding. I kept my introduction brief and on the silly side {I am not one for sap}. We are a family of dog-lovers, having three different golden retrievers growing up. My sister now has two dogs, and my parents and I each have one. I found this poem and knew it was perfect.
Falling in Love is Like Owning a Dog, by Taylor Mali
This particular invitation does not have an rsvp. Instead, the couple opted for adding their website on the invitation directing people to rsvp online. This may not be the way for everyone, but it certainly is an eco-friendly option. For an added bit of fun, I designed a matching pattern for the envelope liners and gocco printed those as well. From the bride's description of the wedding it sounds like it is going to be a perfectly easy, breezy wedding afternoon full of family & friends. Birds swirling around in a field of wildflowers. Sounds like a lovely setting for a wedding to me!
Happy first of September! Let's talk about palm trees, shall we? Marisa, the bride, was a fan of Miss Bruschetta's rehearsal dinner invitations, so I began the design from there. Marisa was inspired by vintage postcards of palm trees on the beach, so I used a vintage palm tree image on the invitation. Her colors are orange, yellow, and green, but we decided to use just orange and green on creamy Lettra paper in pearl. The invitations are square and were gocco printed.
I really love that couples are interested in sending invitations for their rehearsal dinners and not just as an after-thought. Rehearsal dinners are often an integral part of what is now becoming the “wedding weekend.” Carrying your theme throughout all of paper pieces for your wedding keeps the look of your wedding cohesive and consistent {did I ever mention my background is in marketing…? 
}. Until tomorrow…
Last week was a busy, but great week. Despite having a mid-week birthday celebration, I printed four wedding invitation suites, two of which were letterpress. These invitations are off to the happy couple in Canada. They are getting married at a ski resort this autumn and wanted something casual and fun for their invitation. They love vintage travel posters {me too!} especially this one designed by Gruppe Gut for the Cortina Ski Resort in Italy. I created a new custom illustration to better reflect the silhouettes of the couple, made their gloves into hands, and gave them shoes instead of ski boots {since the wedding is in Autumn and there will be no snow}. I loved the bride's idea behind having a chairlift on her invitation. She believes it represents her and her fiance as they embark on a new journey in life together. Very sweet. These invitations were letterpress printed in two colors on coasters. The front side featured the illustration in navy ink with a bold orange border which also features their names and wedding date. On the backside is the text inviting people to the wedding. They chose not to have an RSVP and asked people to email them instead. Each coaster will be tucked inside a square envelope with their return address printed on the back flap.
This invitation gets me excited for snowboarding…sort of. I love Autumn! Once my birthday has come and gone I am always okay for the weather to start getting a bit cooler and for the leaves to start changing! Enjoy your week!
Studio Choo completely inspires me. Every time a new photo of a gorgeous arrangement is posted on their flickr I get so excited. Their bouquets are sweetly composed and have a perfect homemade, I-just-picked-these-in-a-field feeling, which I love. They often use vintage vessels for their arrangements such as mason jars and milk bottles. Flowers that are often seen in their arrangements and bouquets include ranunculus, poppies, peonies, cosmos, zinnias, dahlias, and Queen Anne's lace. Swoon!
A summer wedding in Oregon Vineyard. Can you taste the wine now? These invitations came out lovely…just lovely! Sometimes I print an invitation suite and run into a few bumps, others print perfectly. These printed perfectly. I think it was a reflection of the whole process. Maggie is a book designer {& cook!}, and we decided early on in the design process that I would provide her with the imagery & feedback {& of course, the printing} while she would do the typesetting and layout. Included in the suite was an invitation, rsvp, map of the area, and an invitation to the rehearsal dinner. Everything was printed with a deep navy ink on the lovely textured luxe cream stock with luxe frost envelopes. I do enjoy these types of collaborations so much. Thanks, Maggie!
I recently had the great opportunity to collaborate with Jen of Swallowfield on wedding invitations for her cousin. I am a huge fan of Jen's work and own a few of her prints {this is one of my favorites}, so I was quite honored to work with her. The wedding is taking place this Fall in Newburyport, Massachusetts, a little town on the Merrimack River near the Atlantic. Mary, the bride, wanted a design inspired by Fall, community, and the sea. Jen's drawing is full of amazing details including little houses, flowers, and a sailboat. I want to live in one of those houses!
Once Jen completed the drawing she turned it over to me. I used the entire drawing on the invitation and set the type. I extracted a few details from the drawing for the other pieces in the suite. I used a single flower on the RSVP and two little houses on a flower for the return address, which was on the backside of the RSVP to make it a postcard & the back flap of the envelope. I really love that Mary went for the orange & gray palette, instead of blue as one may assume for seaside wedding. I hope she uses love stamps!
{Images by Snapshots By Clare}
Oh the sweetness that was Jess and Jay's candy buffet! Jess spent months finding the perfect apothecary jars and glass vessels to hold all of the candy. She found this article very helpful in creating her candy buffet and sourcing bulk candy. She purchased all of the candy during the winter and early spring to avoid shipping candy in the warmer weather. The chocolate lighthouses and chocolate covered pretzels were homemade by my sister, mom and aunt. Jess did the entire set-up herself the day before their wedding {like I have said before, the girl has a knack for working with all things sweet}.
I design the candy labels to coordinate with their invitations and coasters. We attached the labels with some cute pink and green grosgrain ribbon. I also designed a little sign that invited people to enjoy the candy buffet. I created a PDF template of each that is free for you to download! Just click the links below.
- Candy Labels with Text
- Blank Candy Labels
- Candy Buffet Sign {this is 5 x 7 with crop marks to help you cut}
As you might imagine, the candy buffet was a huge hit! By the end of the night everyone was carrying around their own pink or green takeout container filled to the brim with sweet treats.
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Sarah Parrott, Rhode Island
Vendor: Invitation Designer
Website: Parrott Design Studio
About Me: I am the designer & printer behind Parrott Design Studio, specializing in custom letterpress and screen printed wedding and event invitations, stationery, and paper goods. With a background in non-profit marketing & art history, I began the studio in 2006 in my small apartment in Providence, RI. Since then I have moved to a studio built my fiancé, acquired a Golding Jobber letterpress, & have been happily printing ever since. I grew up in Portland, Maine, and I have always had an affinity for the ocean, mountains, birds, gardening, & the simple life. When I am not printing, I can be found somewhere outside with my fiancé & playful pup.
