For Stephanie's shower, her bridal party and mother decided upon lottery tickets as a fun wishing well gift idea. We thought it would be amusing to make the insert look like a NJ Lottery ticket and found the right patterned paper to give a similar feel to the actual tickets.
The very spirited Annie and Paul were wed a couple of weeks ago. Their personalities and enthusiasm (for not only getting married, but also for this part of the nuptial planning), showed through in this map/parody invitation set. Both Annie and Paul are fans of Broadway, so we designed a logo for their very own show/Playbill cover. A hand-cut cupcake functioned as a reception card, and we used the cupcake icon again on the map, with "Han Solo" and "Princess Leia" cake toppers.
Today is our fifth anniversary! Thank you to our clients for all of the creative projects over the last five years. We'd especially like to express our gratitude to the loyal folks who return to us event after event, and who choose to share their significant milestones with us.
Over the past few years, the Asbury Park beach and boardwalk have become very popular for wedding ceremonies and receptions. Laura and Mike wanted to accentuate the two iconic Asbury Park wedding venues on their invitations, so we created these line illustrations of McLoone's and Convention Hall. Metallic paper stocks and thermography (raised printing) were used to dress up this non-traditional invitation design. "Tillie" is an icon of the city, and we used the graphic on direction cards as well as these signature drink tents.
Here are pictures from the second Spread the Love Tour stop for which we provided paper pieces: Toronto. The theme this time was "Alice in Wonderland," and what an amazing job Justin and Mary did making it happen! We tend to work in a vacuum preparing things to send for the shoots, so seeing how our pieces are presented with the props, models, and scenery is always rewarding. Credit must also go assistant Julia Gargano, with whom we work to get the details just right, from Mad Hatter seating card tags & hats, to hand-lettered "Wrong Way" signs and "Drink Me/Eat Me Tags" to timepiece signs and tags.
While not invitation or wedding related, this was an out of the ordinary illustration opportunity from the spring we felt worth posting. We thoroughly enjoyed working with our friend Lauren of Porter Design Co. to create a rendering of this beautiful room she designed. We were given fabric swatches and pictures of the furnishings, as well as a general room layout. While it was challenging to create an accurate rendering without seeing the finished room, it was amply rewarding when Lauren sent us photographs of how the room came together.
When it comes to living at the shore, an outdoor shower is an indispensable summertime perk. We liked using the pun approach for Jamie's bridal shower invitation, and including an original portrait of her (created for her wedding invitation) made the design even more tailored to the event.
Since summer is upon us, we thought this design was the right one to post to ring in the season! Michele and her friends are sure to have a great time celebrating and enjoying the beautiful Vermont scenery.
Clients Katie and Kevin just celebrated their one year anniversary and generously shared pictures of our work from their wedding reception. It was fun to see how the Dancing Shoes buckets looked filled with flip flops. Seating cards and starfish-embellished menus were also nice to see in context. We really enjoyed seeing the photo of Katie's wedding present to her father (an original "Father of the Bride" painting of the two of them) next to the DVD. Photographs courtesy of Thérese Marie Wagner Photography.
In the summer, it is not unusual to see groups of friends gathered in small (or large) circles on NJ beaches. Michele and her friends and family have enjoyed many summer memories this way, so we wanted to bring this concept to life for her bridal shower invitation. We tried to present the text of this piece in a different way than we had ever seen or done before. By using characters and dialogue, the message is conveyed in a fun and unique way.
Save the Date announcements are an opportunity to have a good time: for us as designers and also for our clients. We often do a fun Save the Date followed by a much more formal wedding invitation. Original maps are perfect for such instances, such as this one for Jena and Gary.
This travel poster-inspired wedding gift was commissioned last fall along with the St. Lucia/Jamaica poster . The ceremony took place at Villa Zorayda in St. Augustine, Florida. The architecture of the building was a gorgeous backdrop for the couple.
Patty and Kris's letterpress wedding invitations were at the top of our list for favorites to design last year. The playful type, vintage art elements, and subdued color scheme made for a lovely addition to our portfolio. We were even happier when Patty returned to commission a map as a wedding gift for Kris. This is the first time a client requested a map to match the invitations, and we love how the pieces go together.
Megan and John's wedding invitation has been very popular in our studio. The original concept was more of a comic strip, which evolved into this format, telling their story in four panels. Jersey Shore area locals know D'Jai's well, and this couple's family and friends teased them mercilessly for meeting there. That's their real house, and their dog Cosmo was also a big part of their story. John's surprise proposal in the City of Light made for a nice visual as well. We are always happy when clients will let us go this far out of the box for their wedding invitation!
Winter snowstorms have us longing for sunnier destinations! From time to time new clients fall in love with existing designs or illustrations and request a version of their own. The original Key Largo poster was part of a wedding invitation set and was created using watercolors. The Saint Lucia/Jamaica poster was a digital recreation commissioned as a wedding gift by a mother of the bride. In a crazy turn of events, St. Lucia airport was shut down due to Hurricane Tomas the weekend of the scheduled nuptials, and the entire wedding had to be replanned on the spot (in the airport!). The wedding party and their guests rerouted to Jamaica, and the story had a happy ending!