Wedding Invitations: Tanya & Oscar

Tanya initially contacted me in May. She had discovered my work indirectly through the Los Angeles boards on theKnot.com. When we had our first initial consultation, she described her wedding as a modern-day fiesta. She and her fiance Oscar wanted very much to honor their Mexican heritage. She had selected persimmon, red, orange, yellow, espresso, gold and ivory as her wedding colors.

She sent me the following images for inspiration:

Snippet and Ink Board #135

Invitation featured on Martha Stewart

Wedding Venue - the Los Angeles River Center and Gardens -
photo by Gavin Photography

For design purposes, I used only the red, orange, yellow, and espresso in her color palette. Tanya's other requests were that I use vellum in a manner similar to my own wedding invitations and that I design versions of the invitations in both English and Spanish.

Here's what I created:

Custom Wrap-around label on Tangerine Vellum Envelope




Red Petalfold Enclosure with Vellum Bellyband


Initial Pattern Vellum Overlay

English Invitation


Spanish Invitation (text provided by client)


Directions


RSVP cards in English and Spanish (text provided by client) with matching envelope

Wedding Invitations: Lorrie & Justin

Lorrie was referred to by her coordinator Carina McLaughlin of Tealight Wedding and Events. Lorrie had initially contacted me to discuss Rehearsal Dinner invitations and other wedding paper accessories. Unfortunately, she ran into problems with the invitations she had ordered from another company. Instead of continuing our discussion of work for smaller jobs, Lorrie asked me to design her invitations, but there was a catch. She needed a 1.5 week turnaround. {YIKES!} Ordinarily, I don't take jobs on such short notice with that kind of turnaround. It's a logistical and creative nightmare. However, Lorrie's coordinator, Carina, had written such a nice letter introducing herself a few weeks before that I squeezed her into my schedule. {Goes to show you that a good coordinator can really save you.}

So, Lorrie sent me these images and we were on our way.

from Wedding Paper Divas

Unknown Source

from Wedding Paper Divas

Thankfully, Lorrie's wedding was at a venue that I had previously made a map for. This saved us some time. She had already purchased the pocketfolds and envelopes necessary for the job, which was another time saver. After many emails and losing lots of sleep, this is what I designed for her.

Business Cards: Darvie

I met Darvie through theknot.com in the Fall of 2007. She was a bride who almost hired the same horrible wedding coordinator that I did. Luckily, she changed her mind and went with Amanda Auer instead. {Smart move on her part}. The invitation designer she had originally contacted was unavailable. So, she asked me to design her invitations for her. I started working on them. Then, her original designer came available. She politely told me that she was going to go back to working with him. I was tad relieved because I was still working my day job. At the time, I had not even considered designing invitations professionally. Invitations were something I just did "for fun". I credit Darvie for getting me to consider making invitations for people that I'm not related to.

Darvie and her husband Kevin ended up having a gorgeous wedding. She and I kept in touch through facebook. This past spring, Darvie decided she wanted to sell Shure Pet products. She wanted atypical business cards. She sent me these images for inspiration.

From Zazzle.com

She also added she wanted something fun and whimsical. After a few short rounds of revision, this is what I came up with. Darvie had them printed through a local printer.

Darvie also sent me a few samples of Shure Pets Pet Shampoo. It's awesome. You should definitely check out her site.

http://socalpetpaw-ty.shopshurepets.com

Wedding Paper Accessories: Rhea & Joe

I enjoyed working with Rhea immensely. As a bride on the East Coast, she received my emails as she got ready for work and I got ready for bed. {I'm an incorrigible night owl.} This made for interesting email exchanges. I designed and assembled her invitations, but she wanted to try her hand at DIY. She decided that she wanted to make her own programs, table numbers and escort cards. I obliged her by designing printable PDFs. She bought the Gartner line of wedding paper products and went to work. I think she did a remarkable job.

Here are some photos of my design work coupled with photos of Rhea's handiwork.

Table Names/Numbers
Rhea wanted to incorporate Joe's love of beer and microbrews. Each of their tables are named after Joe's favorite brews.

{photo from Rhea & Joe's Website}




{photo from Rhea & Joe's Website}

Escort Cards
These were printed on a beautiful Ivory tent cards that had a subtle champagne border. Sadly, there are no photos of the finished product.

Monogram
This was used to seal their invitations. Rhea also found other uses for it such as their out-of-town bags.

{photo from Rhea & Joe's Website}

Program
This was also printed on an Ivory cardstock that had a champagne border. These along with the rest of Rhea and Joe's gorgeous wedding can be seen on their Wedding Highlight video.

Rhea & Joseph Wedding from david joe on Vimeo.

Wedding Paper Accessories: Nina & Jared

I have been working with Nina and Jared throughout their wedding planning process. I designed their Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations. To ensure a more cohesive look, the asked me to design some additional items.

One is their wedding program.

Cover


Title Page




Back Page

They also requested monograms. I provided two different styles for them.

Nina went on a DIY spree towards the end of her planning. The monogram I designed is featured on the menu cards and favor tags she created. Their cake and customized gobo also features their monograms.

Photo by Christine Farah Photography

Lastly, I made vellum candle wraps. When the tealights are lit, they have make beautiful luminarias. {They are the pink cylinders pictured above.}

Thank You Cards: Khurram

The outpouring of love and support that my family and most notably my cousin-in-law Khurram has received since my cousin Melanie died has been overwhelming. Khurram and his daughter Aalia have received so many gifts and acts of kindness. Although etiquette does not require him to write Thank You notes for Sympathy gifts, Khurram decided he wanted to send everyone a Thank You note. Everyone is a group that is comprised of 400+ people. He was going to buy generic cards, but I offered to create something that was more personal.

This was a daunting, yet cathartic task. I combed through both Melanie and Khurram's facebook pages for just the right photos. I found this photo of Melanie from their Spain vacation and thought that it was perfect. Khurram wished to include this poem which they displayed at their wedding. Melanie had selected it to honor her father who had passed away a few months before their wedding.

She is Gone
You can shed tears that she is gone
Or you can smile because she has lived
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her
Or you can be full of the love that you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday
You can remember her and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.
-David Harkins

Here is what I designed.

It is simple, but much more personal.

Prior to Melanie's death, I had planned on designing baby announcements as my gift. Since circumstances had changed, I created Thank You cards for Aalia that were based on my original design.

Thank You Cards & Monograms: Mychel & Connor

As with many of my clients, Mychel & Connor requested monograms and Thank You cards that coordinated with their wedding invitations.

Since the Oak Tree was an important wedding motif, I included it in one of their monograms.

For their Thank You cards, I used an Oak Tree that was similar, but had a slight variation.

Samantha & Greg: Wedding Invitations

I constantly say that my clients find me or vice-versa through roundabout means. However, it is true. Perhaps, I need to adjust my marketing strategy or broaden it just a tad. Samantha is a prime example. She discovered my work through her co-worker Janice. Janice is an old friend from high school that I recently reconnected with via Facebook. {Did you follow that?}. Either way, I'm glad she contacted me.

She sent me these images for inspiration.

photos of their wedding venue Arterra Restaurant

her chic bridesmaid dresses

From Snippet & Ink Blog
Board # 358 Playful Minimalism

Board # 314: Not Black Tie

I created for them a simple, yet modern light gold, black and white invitation suite.

Wedding Paper Accessories: Ruby & Jereco

When Ruby hired me to design their wedding invitations, she also requested I create coordinating wedding templates for the rest of her wedding paper accessories. Her original intention was to print and assemble her programs, table numbers, escort cards and menus herself. As her wedding drew closer, she opted to have her wedding coordinator, Amanda Auer of In the Now Weddings complete them for her. This allowed Amanda and me to collaborate. She had a lot of great ideas and am quite pleased with how the overall look turned out. Kudos to Amanda for flawless execution of our ideas while working with a tight deadline.

Here are some photos of our collaboration. All photos are courtesy of Amanda Auer of In the Now Weddings

Programs

For simplicity, I designed a single-fold program.
This allowed the design to really standout on the cover.

Escort Cards



Originally, I was going to create tent cards, but Amanda suggested square cards that can be pinned to a board. These turned out better than I imagined. The Ruby-colored pins are also a nice touch.

Menu

For more a glimpse of Ruby & Jereco's wedding, head over to Amanda's blog for her post recapping this gorgeous wedding.