Wedding Blog
“Girl in Heart House” Source
We want interesting invitations. I mean, who doesn’t? I kind of feel that since Mr. P and I are into arty stuff, have artsy friends, and love cool paper and texture… we should find something novel. The criteria are that we: 1) don’t want to pay an arm and a leg, and b) would like something handmade (on some level). I would like a bit of TEXTURE. I looove texture. And ORIGINAL ARTWORK.
Letterpress is a natural texture choice (but good lawwwwwd, it’s pricey!):
Letterpress note card Source
Also, there’s the lesser used/known art of papercutting. There is a long and amazing world history of papercutting… it’s really a Chinese art form that got adopted by the western world… and is still seen today in Jewish stationery. 
Traditional “Phoenix” iconography. Source
It’s quite magnificent. And extremely time consuming, as the artist basically uses a knife or scissors to cut tiny, intricate and exacting incisions in to paper to create designs. In contemporary art and design, it can become three dimensional. Tord Boontje and Elsa Mora are paper cutting artists who create the most exquisite work! I would love for them to do our invitations (as if… but a girl can dream, can’t she?).
“Utensils” Source
“Boy and Girl” Source
Above: Tord Boontje screen and “Midsummer” light. Paper cutting technique… industrialized. Source
We’d like to enlist the help of our friends and friends of friends, or anyone who knows how to draw and work Adobe Creative Suite 4, since my hands are made of thumbs. All thumbs. Ten thumbs! We have a graphic designer friend who is (waaay too busy for her shirt and) supposed to come up with some ideas on the design. We have another friend who is a gallerist and expert printer. So hopefully something will come together. But I’m also trolling the nets, especially Etsy, to find starving paper artists and/or something that will jump out at me and say, Hey I’m handmade, kind of quirky, and slightly, subliminally, subtly chic(…ish).
How are you planning to make your invitations uniquely you?
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Share this post: I Want Texture. Letterpress. Papercutting. Something Artful.
Check out glidwellpress.com for affordable letterpress. He does an awesome job for waaaaay cheaper than most other letterpress printers.
Yeah, I’ve been bitten by the letterpress bug, too, and NEED to see my invites happen in letterpress — but at an affordable cost! 
We’ve found a local poster artist who does amazing woodblock type work. He is creating some files for us, and giving them to us to create the invitation suite.
The stuff you’ve shown here is beautiful!
I like to fancy myself a budding graphic designer, so I’ve designed all of our paper pieces. One of our groomsmen’s dads runs a print shop, so he’s doing the printing for us. While I drool over letterpress, you can’t beat the price and personal touch of having a friend work on your invitations! Good luck, and I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
birdandbanner.com designed my daughter’s wedding invitiations and all sorts of other wedding day items everything from table numbers to signs we needed even designed the napkins. You can go to pictage.com to see pictures of the invites and other items. Search Hamblen Blodgett–the even key is laura.
Really beautiful inspiration!!!!
I have been obsessed with doilies and silhouettes for our reception decor, and am struggling to make sure that the doily inspired items look modern and mesh with the other items. I am starting with the table numbers and will hopefully be able to share soon!
You should totally take a look at the artist Robert Ryan - he does amazing paper cuts that are very similar. I did a post a while back on my blog
all about him.
The first image in the post is from a wedding invitation he did!
enjoy.
I went on Etsy and used the “Alchemy” feature..I put in a description of what I wanted (which was pretty vague, since I was open to anything..it was basically just our colors, season and that the ceremony may be outside)
I got back over 35 “bids” from designers…all with different ideas, visions, images..I found a woman who is making invitations that I’m in LOVE with.
I definitely recommend putting in an Alchemy request and seeing who comes to you!
It would be lovely having a paper-cut page laid directly on top of an invitation instead of the sheer paper that is usually placed there.
I have taken on the huge task of DIYing our invites. I know my way around illustrator, so I will be creating our own one-of-a-kind design. The problem is, I don’t know what I like! I’ve designed about 10 mockups, and none of them seem like the ONE!
Thanks, everyone for your leads and advice on this! Good luck to those who are doing their own!
@Firefly062: I’m DEFINITELY going to try that! THANKS!
Very cool! I can’t wait to see what you end up going with!!
You’re so lucky to have such talented frendors!
On another note - you know what I bet has never been done for wedding invitations? Dinosaurs. Cute little dinosaurs rawrr-ing the announcement of your wedding. I probably won’t tap this well of 2nd-grade creativity, but you’ve got to admit that invitations with smoochy dino-love is anything but over-done!
I second the Alchemy request on Etsy - AMAZING!!! (and you’ll get much cheaper prices going through Alchemy instead of just finding something listed on Etsy that you like)
I am making our invitations myself using a favorite old hobby - embossing! It gives a lovely raised texture, and you can find stamps of almost anything!
Now, after months of creating and practicing, we just have to settle on a design!
I too heart paper cuts! Our wedding actually uses a papercutting theme (Jewish + Chinese!), so stay tuned for our invites. 
Those cut outs are sooo cute, I do think letterpress is really pretty also.
I don’t really care too much about our invitations, I’m sure most will be thrown out after the wedding. They are the right color blue, but paisley, and we’re going to add a black ribbon with a pretty font. I also have a wedding bell embossing stamp I’ll try to incorporate. But for my invitations (response card and envelopes) and thank you cards for 120 people, I paid $40!! Clearance at Michael’s, gotta love it.
I found a new graphic designer on Etsy. She is great! RationalJarofHoney is her shop name. She’s doing the design and we are doing the printing, thanks to Gocco.
I’ve been obsessed with papercutting since I saw some really detailed ones in China! And I read Elsa’s blog constantly. What a source of inspiration. We also hired Bird and Banner and told them of our love of papercuts and they managed to elegantly yet super creatively incorporate them into our invitations as well. If you’re looking for a great designer, Bird and Banner won’t disappoint!
I put an alchemy request up and also got a ton of bids and a ton of different visions, all from very talented people. I had actually given up on letterpress, and was just looknig for design and planning to print them myself, but found a guy that is doing the design AND letterpressing everything for about what I would have spent on just printing. I LOVE alchemy.
Also, I saw these papercut invitations and thought about you. Since they aren’t hand-cut, they are a little more affordable. http://www.einvite.com/product/OSV-AII-DENS/?Cobrand=CJ&Site=eInvite&vk=889644398
@PrettyKitty: @Mrs. Canary: Thanks, ladies…will check these out!
@elizabeth: Thanks for thinking of me. That looks nice. I put up an Alchemy request at your and firefly’s advice!
A creative way to give you textures is to incorpate fabric into your invites. I am using muslin cloth and copper wire to make a bely band around the invite. Also, if you like paper cutting try these cupcake wrappers. GORGEOUS!! http://www.estiloweddings.com/CUPCAKE-WRAPPER-/-LINER—PASSION-AND-SPICE/cart.php?m=product_detail&c=76&p=746
[...] some deliberation, I zoned in on papercutting, which is, as Miss Perfume pointed out in an earlier post, an art form that is shared by both the Jewish and Chinese cultures. Luckily, last summer, when [...]
[...] from Fray Check for my ring pillow, to figuring out a better florist situation, to ideas on invitation designers (you readers are the reason for my [...]
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Mrs. Perfume, DC
Age and Occupation: 36, Consultant (and Part-Time Professor)
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 41, Consultant
Engagement Date: May 13, 2008
Wedding Date: May, 2009
Venue: The Homestead, Hot Springs, Virginia
About Me: I'd like to think that I'm a modern day Little Edie Beale. Only not as..."talented". More realistically, I'm a foodie who can't bake; a dancer and dilettente; an art collector with a penchant for the whimsical and subversive. I live in the city and adore the country, but not much in between. I like smart design, great craftmanship and good value. Most of all, I love the new vintage aesthetic: classic, sweet, delicate, bespoke. If I had to do it all over again, I'd go for a culinary arts degree rather than a PhD; but wouldn't trade Mr. P for the world.
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