things are better with a parrott: A New York Fête

Hello! Happy Friday! I was without the internet for most of the day & I have been waiting to post these invitations. As some of you may have guessed, I had the great honor of printing the lettering of the ever-talented Betsy Dunlap. I tell you, I get quite a thrill out of printing hand-drawn artwork & hand lettering! But let us start from the beginning of this design process.

Rae, the super creative Art Historian & bride, initially contacted me to do her save the dates {okay, so that is the only pic I took of them, but they kind of looked like these}. Once those were complete she sent me a folder full of wonderful & inspiring photos including arrangements by Saipua, work of her favorite artists, & one image entitled "calligraphy." I took one look & knew it was Betsy's lettering. After viewing Rae's images I could see she was going for a very organic, flowing look, & I knew she had to work with Betsy. And she did!

The invitations were a true collaborative effort for all three of us. Betsy did the lettering for Rae & her fiance, Noah's, names along with their return address, the RSVP address, & the words "RSVP", & "Directions." Once that was complete I set the remainder of the type for the invitation, RSVP, & directions. Before printing I hand-lined the back of the invitations & direction cards with some wonderful paper Rae sourced. This surprise element brought color & pattern to the entire suite. The invitation was letterpress printed on super thick 220 lb. cotton Lettra paper in Pearl. The RSVP & direction card were screen printed on coordinating 110 lb. paper. The envelopes were coordinating lettra paper & I had a rubber stamp made of their return address so Rae could do those herself. Betsy hand-lettered each of the envelopes & Rae was so kind as to have Betsy do one for me!

I loved working on this wedding invitation suite as it was quite decadent, but there were a few creative ways we minimized paper & costs. I believe many couples feel letterpress is out of reach & while sometimes it is, there are ways to still have it by only letterpress printing the invitation. It is the main piece of the suite & the piece most guests are likely to keep. Printing in only one color helps keep the cost down as well. I recommend adding color by lining the back of the invitation, the inside of the envelope, or having a colored envelope. The RSVP & direction card were screen printed in one color which is less expensive than letterpress. The RSVP was also a postcard, cutting out the extra cost & paper of the envelope. Instead of me printing the return address on the main envelope, I had a rubber stamp made for Rae & she stamped away!

Well, can you tell 1. I am excited about these; 2. I hope I can letterpress more like these; 3. Would you like me to print you some like these?; 4. Why yes, I would love to; & 5. Yay, weekend!

Catch you next week!