Excellent Invites

Oh So Beautiful's editor Nole Garey shares her favorite wedding invitations

By Vané Broussard

When you become a blogger, you quickly begin to realize that you're a part of a very cool community of like-minded people.   Within the wedding industry, I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of the ladies I whose blogs I read on a daily basis, and Nole Garey is definitely one of the nicest!  She write a wonderful blog all about paper, and has found fabulously great wedding invitations, so who better to share her finds!  Take it away Nole!






Hi everyone!  My name is Nole and I'm thrilled to be filling in for Vané here on Bridal Buzz!  Normally you can find me over at my regular blog, Oh So Beautiful Paper, where I blog about all things paper-related, from wedding invitations, save the dates, and rsvp cards to artwork, business cards, and greeting cards.

When Vané first asked me to guest blog, I couldn't think of anything more fun than sharing some of my all-time favorite wedding invitations.  And since there are few things that I love more than a well-designed wedding invitation, you can just imagine how hard it is for me to narrow my list down to the handful of invitations below!  If you visit me over at Oh So Beautiful Paper, you'll see that I have a particular weakness for anything letterpress, but I really just love great design, whether letterpress, engraved, gocco, or digitally printed and whether printed on paper, fabric, or wood - and I've tried to gather a nice cross-section of wedding invitations for you today.  So let's get started!

First up, these gorgeous screen printed invitations from Two Trick Pony:

Folk art has been a huge source of inspiration for me over the past few months, and this invitation suite from the Two Trick Pony shindigs collection strikes the perfect balance between folk art and modern design.  I absolutely love the bright color palette and the beautiful floral pattern design.  And since the invitation is the first insight that most guests will get into what kind of wedding to expect - level of formality, themes, etc. - these invitations are a great way to let guests know to expect a rockin' good time. 

The next invitations on my list feature two more favorite design details - hand drawn illustrations and hand lettering:

These letterpress invitations were created by illustrator Julia Rothman for her own wedding in 2008.  As an illustrator, it was only natural that Julia would design her own invitations, but you might be surprised to learn that designers are often their own most difficult clients!  But even if hand drawn illustrations isn't part of your design vision for your invitations, think about working with a calligrapher for custom hand lettering for your names or the entire invitation wording - like these invitations from Brooklyn-based stationery studio Linda and Harriett featuring custom calligraphy from Paperfinger:

As you can see above, calligraphy looks absolutely amazing when letterpress printed and can often even stand alone as the primary design element for an elegant wedding invitation.

Next up, and proving that invitations don't have to be printed on paper, are these lovely fabric invitations from Bird and Banner:

The invitation suite was inspired by the wedding's French Flea Market theme and hand-printed onto vintage handkerchiefs, with post cards serving as the rsvp card and finished with a silk ribbon and monogram tag.  These invitations are wonderful inspiration for any vintage-inspired or outdoor garden wedding, and make a wonderful wedding keepsake for your guests.  I'm literally in love with the entire Bird and Banner custom portfolio and had difficulty picking just one design to feature here, so please do check out the rest of their designs here.

This intricate letterpress invitation by Lilah Paper is one of my all-time favorites:

The invitations were designed by Lilah Paper owner and lead designer Kalyn Denno for her own wedding in Vail, Colorado in 2007.  I love the entire design, from the inspired typography on the Save the Date to the ornate design elements.  I also love the way the design - inspired by that quintessential Vail feature, a ski lift - evokes the feeling of a winter wedding in a more subtle way through the use of a muted color palette.

This next invitation suite features another two recent design trends in wedding invitations - silhouettes and invitation booklets!

Silhouettes have been popular in weddings for a few years now, but I never get tired this particular wedding trend.  Silhouettes can often serve as a full-on wedding theme, from the invitations to hiring a silhouette artist to create custom silhouettes of your guests at your wedding (such a fun idea!).  At the same time, more and more couples are planning destination weddings or weddings where a majority of guests will be from out of town, and wedding invitation booklets allow couples to convey lots of information - from travel and accommodation information to weekend itineraries - to guests all at once while maintaining a cohesive design.  For the invitation above, Katie, the bride and a stationery designer, chose to personalize each invitation with a custom bookplate and handwritten note.  You can check out more of the invitation suite right here.

Last, but definitely not least, on my list are these absolutely amazing engraved wood veneer invitations from Oslo Press:

I just love the idea of wood veneer wedding invitations - can you imagine how your guests would feel to receive one of these amazing works of art in the mail?  I love the way these wood veneer invitations can work with any wedding style - from a formal wedding in a sophisticated ballroom or museum to a casual and modern wedding either indoors or on the beach.  The entire Oslo Press wedding invitation collection is just gorgeous, and you can check out more from their wedding collection right here.

That's it from me!  I hope I helped provide a teensy bit of invitation inspiration for your weddings - and I'm so grateful to Vané for giving me the opportunity to share a few of my favorite invitations with you.  For more wedding invitation inspiration, I hope you'll also check in with me over at my own blog, Oh So Beautiful Paper!