Welcome Sponsor: Storkie.com

I'm super excited to welcome Marry You Me's first sponsor, Storkie.com! Storkie is a fabulous online resource for all things wedding and bridal stationery - from bridal shower invitations to save the dates, rehearsal dinner invitations, wedding invitations and thank you notes. One of the things I love most about Storkie.com is the amazing turnaround time - just 1-2 days! In addition to a fabulous selection of contemporary designs, Storkie also has some gorgeous classic options, featuring thermography or foil printing, as well as ribbons and bows, embossed elements, shimmer cardstock, pockets and wraps, and a lot more!  

Here are some of the other fab features Storkie.com offers:

• High Quality Cardstock (with eco-friendly recycled paper options!)
• Raised, Digital, and Foil Printing Options
• Exclusive Designs
• Super Fast Shipping (most orders print and ship within 1-2 days)
• Low Price Guarantee
• Great Customer Service
• Free Digital Proofing
• Safe Online Shopping
• Since 1990 – over 20 years of invitations with style 

 Here are links to a few of my favorite invites here, here and here. One of the many very cool features of Storkie.com is their dynamic design capability which allows you to mix and match color combinations and design elements in real-time to create truly unique invitations. Make sure to check them out!

Inspiration Baord: Parisian Grammar School

Joyeux 14 juillet! (They don't actually call it 'Bastille Day' in La Belle France... that's a US thing). In honor of the day, I thought it was fitting to share another one of the inspiration boards I collaborated with Cambria Evans of J.Bartyn Design for Minted, this one is based around her fabulous 'Parisian Grammar School' invitation that was inspired by "grammar school badges, grid notebooks and cafés of Paris." And fittingly, it's in an all blue, white and red scheme.

Tres chic, non? Do you lovelies have any French inspired plans for the day? I made fresh macarons aux framboises last night and am going to make a souper ala Julia Child or from my new fave cooking show, French Food at Home. This will inspire me for this coming Saturday when I am taking an all day cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu in Portland called "Celebration of French Cuisine" - so excited.

Sources: From top left - bridesmaids photo via Flickr, bride photo by Justin & Mary, tablesetting from Real Simple, 'Parisian Grammar School' invitation by J.Bartyn Design on Minted, blue macaron photo by Red Ribbon Studio via Style Me Pretty, french milk bottles from Dibor, Eiffel Tower photo via We Heart It, heart macarons from Two Hearts Bakery, french notebooks via Sweet Fuzz, mirror menu from Country Living.

Inspiration Board: Sundance Wildflowers

During my trip to New York in April, I collaborated with invitation designer Cambria Evans of J.Bartyn Design to come up with inspiration boards based around the wedding invitations she has for sale on Minted.com. I'd been dying to share them but couldn't until Minted posted them on their blog first, so I'm super excited that they have and I can finally share them with you!

The theme of this board is 'Sundance Wildflowers' based on this little beauty of an invitation (which also comes in Peony pink and Light Aqua). Cambria got her inspiration for the hand-watercolored invitation from taking late summer drives to Sundance, Utah. We wanted a rustic yet sophisticated feel for the board, with tones of buttery golden yellow and soft greys.

More of the inspiration boards I worked on for Minted coming up this week!

Sources: From top left - cake photo by Stephanie Williams Photography, shoes from J.Crew, bridesmaid photo via The Loveliest Day, 'Sundance Wildflowers' invitation by J.Bartyn on Minted, limonata bottles photo by Myrtle and Marjoram, flowers by La Partie Events and photo by Stephanie Williams Photography, bride and groom photo by Amelia Lyon Photography

Invitations + Eco-Friendly by David's Bridal

We all know David's Bridal has dresses, shoes and accessories, but you may not have known that they also have a line of wedding invitations. I'm loving the exclusive designs they have that come in so many different colorways, letting you customize them to make them work with your colors! They also have a pretty fab collection of eco-friendly invitations. The words "eco-friendly" and "wedding invitation" don't always go hand in hand, but David's Bridal has some amazingly modern and unique eco-friendly invitation options. How green are the invitations? They use a digital printing process which eliminates waste used in traditional printing, the paper used is 100% Post Consumer Waste Recycled Content and Green Seal Certified, and the paper was made using Green-E Certified electricity generated by renewable, non-polluting wind power.

Here's some of my favorite invitations:

"Blooming" eco-friendly invitation and response card in Tangerine

"Fanciful Crest" photo save-the-date in Pool

"Love Birds" eco-friendly invitation and enclosure card in Pool

"Bloom" invitation and response card in Petal

"Burst of Love" eco-friendly invitation and response card in Mermaid

"Romance" invitation and response card in Guava

*This is a sponsored post

Marry You Me Exclusive Free Download: Garden Stripes Invitation Suite

I'm super excited to share the amazingly fabulous + free downloadable invitation suite that I gave you a sneak peek of earlier in the week, designed by Cambria Evans for J.Bartyn Design and Manufacturing to commemorate the first anniversary of Marry You Me. Inspired by this apple green and black inspiration board, Cambria designed the hippest garden stripes invitation suite exclusively for Marry You Me, and made it available in four color combinations. Oh, and did I mention these were free?!

The Garden Stripe Invitation Suite
Download the entire {free} suite here!

5 X 7 Invitation or Menu Card

4 X 6 Blank Card for Enclousures, Response Cards, Thank You Notes, Etc.

2 X 3.5 Favor Tags or Escort Cards

4 X 4 Table Number Cards

And also included is a bonus 8.5 X 11 page of the stripe pattern to use for belly bands or any extra wedding crafting you want to do!

The Garden Stripe Invitation Suite is also available for download in these three colors:

Grapefruit and Poppy

Limon and Gingersnap
Robin's Egg and Slate

All of the downloadable files are set up for 8.5 X 11 ink jet or laser printing, so all you have to do is add your own text! Custom set typography is available from Cambria, to get a quote email jbartyn@me.com. Prices vary (depending on complexity) from $65 - 125.

Invitations: Paper Source

I spent some time at Paper Source this weekend (aka paper heaven) browsing and checking out new items. I became a Paper Source addict when living in Bellevue, Washington where a store was right across the street from my work, and it was an invaluable source for paper goods and inspiration during my wedding planning process.

They are known for their different colored/sized papers great for wedding DIY projects, but they also have an amazing line of custom print invitations, some new for 2010. They are available in both the more economical flat printing method or the pricier but timeless letterpress printing method.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Vintage Marquis - Marielle & Edward

2. Playbill - Joanna & Alexander

3. Cottage Blooms - Ellen & Jonathan

4. Carnival - Jane & Paul

5. Faux Bois - Shannon & Jordan

Invitations: Becky and Tyler

When I featured Becky and Tyler's super cute picnic wedding the other day, I knew you guys would love it as much as I did. Today I get to share with you the incredible invitations for the wedding that the bride Becky designed herself - super impressive! It was a process she loved doing so much, that she is now offering her invitation/save the date design services to other brides via her Etsy store for an amazing rate!

From Becky: "One of my favorite parts of planning the wedding was designing the invitation. It was so fulfilling to sketch it out, draw it up on Illustrator and send it to the printer. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I was insistent that the corners needed to be rounded and the finish was matte. Can you blame a girl for knowing what she wants?"

"I was so happy with how the prints turned out and they were a great price too. Check out the printer I used at www.smartlevels.com."

"Of course I decided that I wanted to hand address the envelopes myself and I searched high and low for the exact white pen that I needed that would be bright enough on the red envelopes (I finally found it at Paper Source). Since I had overestimated my ability to hand address all 350 invitations myself, my amazing family and dear friend did most of them for me (hehe thanks guys!)."

"I also spent several afternoons driving to various post offices to find the stamps that I liked. I put three stamps on each envelope for a little added character."

Thanks so much for sharing Becky!!

Invitations: Martha Stewart for Crane

I spent Sunday morning browsing Martha Stewart's new line of wedding invitations for Crane and Co., and I have to say that if I had a bigger stationery budget and this beauty of a paper collection was around when I was planning my wedding, I just might had to have gone with Martha. This collection proves that color can be formal and that a little design never hurt anyone!

Here's some of the highlights of the goodies in the line -

Calligraphy Bird:

Save The Date, From $207 for 25
Invitation Suite, From $228 for 25
Menu Card, From $197 for 25

Scalloped Framed Sea Mist (and the ones I'm loving):

Save the Date, From $205 for 25
Invitation Suite, From $217 for 25

Cartouche (shown in Aqua but comes in White and Espresso):

Save the Date, From $179 for 25
Invitation Suite, From $191 for 25

Birds Nesting:

Invitation Suite, From $150 for 25

Digital Love by Hello! Lucky

Love the look of letterpress invites but can't afford the hefty pricetag? Hello! Lucky press has started digitally printing versions of their famous letterpress invitations.
What's the difference between digital printing and letterpress? Letterpress is a "hand-crafted printing method dating from the 1400's that results in stationery of exceptional beauty with each ink color indented into the paper" - usually on a high quality cotton paper, and is usally quite spendy due to the labor intensive process. Digital printing is "fast, affordable, modern printing technology that results in stationery with a flat surface and vivid, beautiful colors" so you can still get the great designs without the cost of letterpress. Here's a few of my favorite digital invitations by Hello! Lucky...

"Vintage Rose" For instance, on this Vintage Rose invitation, 50 of these in letter press would set you back $373.75 - or you could have 100 digitally printed for $240!

"Chandelier"


"Regency"
All photos on Hello! Lucky
I'd say almost none of your guests (unless you are friends with an invitation designer) will even know what letterpress is, but everyone can agree that the digitally printed invites are every bit as lovely!
More Hello! Lucky to come...

So Inviting!

Photos from The Bride's Guide
Lily Pulitzer is coming out with a new line of stationery and wedding invitations. As always, her colors are so vibrant and cheery and her signature use of patterns has translated so well to a paper line. I didn't think it could get any better until I saw the lemon wedding invitation suite! (Anyone who knows me probably knows I have a thing for lemons). Since my wedding is over and I did not go with a lemon theme - though I did think about it, I'll have to "settle" for some of the adorable lemon correspondence cards for myself.