things are better with a parrott: Vintage-Inspired Wedding at The Athenaeum

Dina & Tai are getting married in October at The Athenaeum in Pasadena, California. The location is absolutely gorgeous & the main inspiration behind the invitation suite. Reminiscent of a Renaissance villa, The Athenaeum has beautiful columns & archways, brick walkways, & an open courtyard. Potted plans sit under the arches, vines cascade off the eaves, & there are rows of olive trees.

Dina is incorporating so many thoughtful, vintage touches throughout the wedding: vintage milk glass vases for the centerpieces, vintage handkerchiefs for the ladies, & displaying photos of their parents on their wedding days. She is using some lace from her mother's wedding gown to create a custom bracelet & flower for her dress. To honor her late father she is placing a two photos of him in her grandmother's (his mother's) locket & wearing it around her bouquet.

For their invitation design, Dina wanted something that was delicate, beautifully romantic, & reminiscent of vintage lace. Dina had her eye on a previous invitation design I did & we thought it would be perfect. The pattern was intricate & when printed as a blind deboss {no ink}, it gives the feeling of delicate lace. I comissioned Grace Edmands to calligraph various words for the suite. Their colors are slate gray & blush pink. I used the gray for the text on the invitation, as well as the RSVP postcard & web card. The blush pink was used for their names, the location, & the envelope color. I repeated the same pattern from the invitation on the RSVP & added a bit of whimsy with the silhouette images of the meal choices. The suite included a small web card with a coordinating pattern.

The invitation & RSVP postcard were letterpress printed with a blind deboss, slate gray, & blush pink inks. The invitation actually went through the press three times! The web card was gocco screenprinted in a coordinating gray. The paper stock was 140lb., 100% cotton in a soft white.

I cannot wait to see photos of Dina & Tai's wedding. I know it is going to be beautiful!