Alice in Wonderland

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.

Cowboy Take Me Away

These stunning photographs are courtesy of the talented Justin & Mary based in Connecticut. We were fortunate enough to be a part of two of their stops on 2011's Spread the Love Tour.

These shots are from the Houston workshop, where the theme was "Cowboy Take Me Away." We love how they coordinated a Texas-style wedding. They are always gracious enough to provide us with photographs of our paper designs. For this stop we designed seed tags, an illustrated quilt board on which seating tags were pinned, as well as few dessert signs.

Interior Design Rendering

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.

Giant Watercolor Wave

Joey and Erika will be married on the beach this October. They came to us looking for something different for their wedding invitation. An original watercolor painting was created for the invitation, which included the moniker their friends have taken to calling them, "Joerika."

Bridal Shower Pun

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.

Summer Fun

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.

Katie and Kevin - June 12, 2010

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.

Phillies vs. Yankees

Kelly and Chris were married yesterday. She's a Phillies fan and he loves the Yankees. We created a wedding logo to parody MLB's recognizable brand and used it on the jersey-style table cards. Team Line Up cards served as seating assignments. For their own sweetheart table, the bride and groom used Bobby Abreu, No. 53, a former member of both teams.

Bridal Shower Conversation

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.

Illustrated Map Save the Date

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.

Sunrise Engagement Captured in Real Time

We met recently with Lyndsey to come up with a design for her Save the Date cards. When she showed us these pictures of her sunrise engagement on the beach, we knew we had a concept. Eric arranged to have his brother document the occasion from further up the beach. Lyndsey was not only unaware of Eric's grand plan, but also that she would be able to relive the moment for years to come through these photographs. We loved everything about the story.

Destination Travel Poster Villa Zorayda

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.

A Map to Match the Invitation

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.

From Sketch to Final

All original lettering and illustration solutions begin with a sketch. The lettering, especially, takes multiple sketches to get the desired look. Here is a new Save the Date design showing the process from beginning to end.

Megan, John & Cosmo

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!

Destination Wedding Travel Posters

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!

Merry Christmas from the Jersey Shore

Ugly Sweater Party

'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. 

Golf Scorecard Save the Date

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.

Cigar Band Save the Date

Justine and Frank plan to accent their Latin heritages throughout their summer 2011 wedding reception, and part of the plan involves providing hand-rolled cigars for interested guests. This was our first foray into cigar band design, and it was a blast.