I just read about Carmello Anthony & Lala Vazquez’s wedding that took place Friday nite here in Manhattan.  Their wedding invitations were designed by Lehr&Black.  You know I’m a sucker for paper, so I did some investigation and discovered these beautiful invitations designed by Lehr&Black.  I saw them and immediately, I said just like my 3 year old niece Jada would have, “OOOOOOOOOoooooh!”.  Enjoy.

[image courtesy of Lehr&Black]

Beth Cozzi:  First and foremost is the budget, and then next on the list is overall style (contemporary, traditional, pocket fold, etc) and then colors.

BC: Letterpress is a printing technique that uses a raised surface printing plate, indenting the ink and words into the paper.  Thermography is raised ink, and is a popular alternative to the traditional method of engraving.

WSKJ: Are you seeing any trends in wedding invitations today? Monograms? Logos or motifs?  Popular colors or themes?

BC: Pocket folders that hold all the pieces of the invitation ensemble are very popular.   Contemporary monograms have become more popular in the last couple of years, as are motifs such as birds and monochromatic florals.  We are seeing more use of yellow/black combination this season as well as lime and navy.

WSKJ: Is a “Save the Date” a must for all weddings or just destination weddings?

Save the Dates are used for all weddings now and have replaced engagement announcements.   People are excited to share their news and save the dates are a way to spread the word and also provides the opportunity to choose a less formal stationery piece.

WSKJ: What information is essential and must be included on a wedding invitation?  If someone is having a weekend of events, what is the best way to convey that information to guests?

BC: A wedding invitation must tell you who, when (date and time) and where.  The street address of “where” is still optional, although most people include (but no zip codes on formal invitations!).  Additional inserts would be used for events such as rehearsal dinners or farewell brunches.

WSKJ: Is it helpful for guests if bridal couples have a wedding website?

BC:  Wedding websites are a wonderful tool being used by engaged couples.  Websites can include lots of extra information that cannot or should not be included in a formal invitation.  For example, it is considered improper etiquette to include gift registry information in any part of your invitation ensemble, but it is OK to have links to registries from a wedding website.  Many couples opt to exclude the paper respond card in favor of RSVP by website or email only.

WSKJ: Is there a rule of thumb for addressing wedding invitations?

BC: While double envelopes are still the traditional way to go when mailing wedding invitations,  the single envelope has become much more commonplace over the last several years.  Reasons range from attempting to be green and use less paper, to the rise in popularity of pocket folders and custom envelopes.  However, addressing a single envelope often creates confusion with regard to etiquette.   Here is an example of how you would address a single envelope when you know the name of the date they will be bringing:

Ms. Bonnie Higgins
Mr. David Watson
1666 Orchard Lane
Vancouver, WA 98683

Hand written calligraphy is still the most upscale and elegant form of addressing an invitation.  However, computerized calligraphy is very popular and socially appropriate.  Computer calligraphy allows one to perfectly match the font used for the invitations to the guests addressing and is often more affordable than hiring a professional calligrapher.  Checkerboard does a fantastic job of guest addressing, incorporating the use of motifs along with the printed addresses.

One final tip for the budget conscious bride is to stay away from square or vertical envelopes.  They can drastically increase the amount of money you will spend on postage.

WSKJ: Can a wedding invitation or Save the Date set the tone for the wedding?

BC: Absolutely.  For example, a very  traditional ecru invitation presented by the parents of the bride sets a very different tone than an invitation with a photo of a couple dancing with lampshades on their heads, presented by the couple.

WSKJ: How far in advance should Save the Dates be mailed out? Invitations?

BC: Save the Dates should go out about 6 months before the wedding, or sooner if the date is set and guests may have to budget for travel.  Invitations should be sent 6 – 8 weeks before the wedding.

WSKJ: What percentage of the budget should be spent on wedding stationery (Save the Dates, invitations and thank you notes)?

BC: Most experts agree that stationery should be 2 – 5% of the overall budget.  So, if you have a $20,000 budget, you would spend between $400 and $1,000.

WSKJ: I’ve always heard that it’s inappropriate to include “gift registry cards” when mailing out wedding invitations.  Is this true?  If so, how do guests find out where the couple is registered?

BC: The traditional way is by word of mouth, but now couples often rely on wedding websites.  And it is appropriate to include registry information on shower invitations.

WSKJ: What do you think of the trend of electronic Save the Dates and wedding invitations?  Invitations?

BC: Personally, I am not a fan of electronic invitations, and not just because I am in the business of selling paper invitations.  As I get older, I cherish my keepsakes more and more.  And you can’t deny that there is something special about seeing personal correspondence and invitations in the mail.

For more information, unique wedding invitations and great wedding stationery etiquette tips, check out Beth’s website, www.invitationlane.com.

[images from Invitation Lane]

Wedding STYLE by Kalyn Johnson: What prompted you to go into the wedding invitation space?  How does this differ from your other work?

Jennifer Hill: We get asked if we do custom invitation design quite a bit. We started doing some Save the Dates that mimic our city prints, and then we started getting into full-on custom invitation work. This summer we are launching a small “off-the rack” wedding invitation line called “The Places We are Going” for those who want the “Places I Have Never Been” style – but who don’t want to pay the custom fee.

WSKJ: What’s the difference between custom wedding stationery and off-the rack or non-custom wedding stationery?

JH: Custom wedding is totally custom – we design a pattern and a invitation design based on the desires of the customer.  ”The Places We Are Going”, our so called “off-the rack line”, includes 2 collections to start. The Grafton collection is inspired by our Places I Have Never Been print designs with a romantic twist. The Topsfield collection is inspired by our country fair posters. Each collection will have a menu, an invite, an RSVP card and a Save the Date card. Maps and details cards will be coming this Summer!

WSKJ:What is the inspiration behind your wedding invitation series?

JH: The new series is inspired by vintage postcards and concert posters.

WSKJ: You’re recently married, did you design your own wedding invitations and stationery suite?

JH: I did! It was a lot of pressure because they were expected to be great! We were married in Costa Rica on the beach in a wee surf town, so I wanted it to be tropical but casual but still pretty. I took the flower from my  Fakahatchee Pattern and used that but in pinks and purples. Then my husband and I designed a print together inspired by the ocean in Playa Negra. I silk screened a print to go with each invitation. The print has a gradient of blue ocean with sparkly black for the sand (Playa Negra means black sand, which it does have).

WSKJ: What kind of bride will be attracted to your wedding invitations?  Who are you designing for?

JH: I think brides who are looking for something unique and something that is different from what is out there now. And of course, couples who love different places and unique stories!

WSKJ:  Can you give us a ballpark estimate of how much a JHill Design wedding stationery suite might cost?

JH: Our custom design pricing is dependant on the particulars of a project.  And believe it or not, we are still working on pricing for the non-custom line.

WSKJ: Can a wedding invitation or Save the Date help to set the tone for a wedding?

JH: Oh, definitely.  As a designer, I think the whole invitation suite – Save the Date, the actual invitation, places cards and table settings – should follow a theme. But, the theme doesn’t have to be stringent. Ours was all about travel and Costa Rica. For example, instead of a guest book we bought Costa Rican postcards and had people write us messages on the back. For our place cards, we made our own post cards complete with vintage Costa Rican stamps and wrote a personal message to each guest (easy to do since we only had 50 people).

WSKJ: How long does it take to have your invitations personalized for a particular bride? What sort of options does she have to choose from?

JH: Our custom line can take a month or two to create depending on how complex the suite and patterns are. The non-custom line will have 2 designs, each with 3 patterns and 4 colorways. There is an invite, Save the Date, menu and RSVP. Hopefully, we’ll be adding detail cards and thank you notes soon.

To learn more about Jennifer Hill, JHill Design and/or JHill Design’s wedding invitation line check out Jennifer’s website, www.jhilldesign.com.

p.s. BTW – My logos were designed by JHill Design; the silhouette is my favorite.

This is the first post in a series on wedding invitations.  I must confess, I LOVE paper!  I am the person who saved every wedding invitation I ever received as well as the collateral from the actual wedding.  When my husband and I began to plan our wedding, I made a special trip to our New Jersey storage unit, not to be confused with our New York storage unit (yes, we have storage units in New Jersey and New York – that’s life in the Big Apple!), to find my box of saved wedding invitations.

We got home and I neatly laid out each invitation along with the printed collateral from each wedding I’d attended so that he could begin to see all of our various options.  Most women spend lots of time day dreaming about their engagement rings and wedding dresses; my day dreams, as weird as it may seem, were about my wedding stationery suite.  From the time I was a little girl, I loved opening the heavy envelopes that arrived in our mailbox with our names in beautiful calligraphy on them announcing the marriage of this family friend or that relative.

Without a doubt, from the time I was very young, I knew that my wedding invitations would either be engraved or letterpressed.  But, about 8 months before we started planning our wedding we received an invitation to our friend V’s wedding.  Her invitations were absolutely stunning! Like nothing I’d ever seen before.  My world was turned upside down as I grappled with what I’d always thought I wanted and with what I knew I was going to have to have.

There are soooo many wedding invitations to choose from.  The task can be daunting if unlike me, you’ve never really focused on paper before.  I truly believe that your wedding stationery, from your Save the Dates forward can set the tone for your wedding.  To help simplify the wedding invitation process a bit, I sat down with two wedding invitation designers who agreed to share some of their insight on wedding invitation design.  In the upcoming weeks, we’ll be talking to Jennifer Hill of JHill Design and Vaishali Shah the creative force behind the bespoke wedding invitation line Ananya.

[image courtsey of Moira Events]

Ready to send your Save the Dates or invites out, but frustrated because you can only find 44 cent customized stamps online? The folks at Zazzle to the rescue!  Zazzle offers customized stamps in 8 different denominations:

• $0.28: postcards
• $0.44: First-class, 1 oz
• $0.64: 1 oz mailings, unusual shapes
• $0.61: 2 oz mailings
• $0.78: 3 oz mailings
• $0.95: 3.5 oz mailings
• $1.39: 4 oz mailings
• $4.95: upto 16 oz for Priority mailings

Customize your stamps with whatever your heart desires – a photo, your logo or motif, your monogram, your favorite flower, the options are endless and the end result is a lovely detail that will make your wedding stationery suite standout.

So, how much postage do you need?  If you’re sending a postcard, it’s kind of a no-brainer but for anything else — your Save the Dates and your actual invitations (the invitation, the RSVP card, directions and anything else being included in the invitation) — take the entire invitation with you to the Post Office to have it weighed so that you know exactly how much postage it requires.  Then, choose the design for your custom stamps and place your order.  When ordering customized stamps, make sure you choose stamps that are the right size for your envelope (small, medium or large as well as horizontal vs. vertical).  Zazzle does a fairly quick turn-around, but don’t wait until the last minute to order your stamps.  The downside of customized stamps is the cost.  A sheet of 20 LOVE stamps from the Post Office costs $8.80, a sheet of 20 customized stamps from Zazzle starts at $17.95.  You do the math and decide if the price of customization is worth the extra special detail to you.

So, when should all of these mailings take place?

• Save the Dates should be mailed 4 to 6 months before the wedding.
• Wedding Invitations 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding.
• Wedding Announcements should be sent out the day of the wedding.

For postage etiquette from A to Z on topics ranging from dealing with divorced parents, determining whose names should be on the invitation and all the other pertinent information to be included, how to address your envelopes, and how to properly stuff your wedding invitations check out the following websites: Invitation Advice and WedAlert.  And if you’re in New York, check out The Stationery Library at The Wedding Library or Kate’s Paperie for beautiful invites and everything you wanted to know about wedding stationery and then some.