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!
'Tis the season...of holiday parties. Brian and Carol's Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party is a project we look forward to as the year comes to a close. They first came to us in 2008 for an invitation design for the second annual party. Last year the area received over 20 inches of snow the night of the event, so this year it seemed appropriate to make a joke out of the weather. 
Since we're posting fun Save the Dates, here is a new one. Shannon and Dave played miniature golf on their first date. They chose the same date of July 19th for their 2011 wedding, which falls in the middle of the week. We decided to emphasize the 7-19-11 date in their scorecard. They were good sports about having such terrible scores.
Having a studio less than a mile from the ocean means we are regularly asked to create designs for beach-themed weddings. We are constantly trying to reinvent the theme, often making the design super-personal to the clients and the location. This is just one of the ways that we use original illustration to tell the story of the bride and groom.
A few weeks ago we were asked to assist former bride Julia Gargano and her employers, photographers Justin and Mary Marantz, with stationery items for a Nashville wedding workshop. The shoot was featured today on Style Me Pretty! Thank you to Justin, Mary, & Julia for the opportunity and the pictures.
