100 Layer Cake

Hello!
I am Erin Jang from The Indigo Bunting and I am so happy to be guest blogging this week.

I work as an art director at a magazine but on the side I design custom wedding invitations. I specialize in creating one-of-a-kind invitations that are tailored for the couples I work with.

What makes a great custom wedding invitation are the details. Through the format, shape, color, wording and illustrations on an invitation you can convey a lot about yourself and your wedding. I always want to find that one special detail or memorable nugget about a couple or their wedding that could inspire the entire look of their invitations.

The inspiration for this invitation came from an amazing pair of Vivienne Westwood heart-adorned heels that the bride wore on her wedding day. The reception venue was a red velvet room in a restaurant, and that shaped the color palette too.

For this invitation suite, the couple mentioned their love for vintage ephemera and passing secret notes and letters to each other, and that was the inspiration for folding up a small invitation inside the mini envelope.

Sometimes the venue can really inspire the look of the invitation. The outside of this invitation was inspired by the exterior design work on the old chapel where the ceremony was held. The inside featured illustrations of specific vintage chandeliers that hung in their reception space.

Other times, a couple’s story inspires the imagery on an invitation. This couple met as colleagues in a science lab. She baked cupcakes and would bring them to work; he fell in love, and they got married!

More than anything, I love when a couple has put a lot of consideration into the wording and content for their invitation. It makes the act of reading it that much more fun and personal. This couple decided to have a map of Manhattan annotated with their favorite spots. They let guests know that “food, drinks, dancing and ridiculous amounts of joy” would follow the ceremony, and they selected three untraditional, evocative quotes about love and New York for the backside of the invitation.

Hopefully these examples will inspire you to consider what kinds of lovely details you can share with your guests on your wedding invitations.

xo, Erin

Hi there! This is Sarah from Truly Smitten and I am so thrilled to be a part of 100 Layer Cake for this week. Here’s a little something about me: I am a graphic designer and have my own wedding + custom design studio, Truly Smitten, which I launched back in 2007 after quitting my boring cubicle job. I discovered that I absolutely love working with brides of all sorts and getting to know their story of how they met makes me want to fall in love all over again! The most rewarding part when I am designing for a client is when I am able to interpret their ideas and visions in an unexpected and whimsical way.

I also wanted to give you readers a peek into my temporary workspace. I say temporary because my husband and I will be moving at least 2 more times within the next 2 years for his fellowship residency and post-residency job. This is where all the brainstorming, phone chat meetings, 10-hour blog reading, designing, and bantering happens. Welcome!

I’ll be back tomorrow sharing a sweet little DIY project.

xo, Sarah

Being a designer, one of the most important elements to me about our wedding is the stationery and paper goods. One of the benefits of owning my own little letterpress shop, Postal Press, is that we’ll be able to print our invitations! I’ve been teaching DLB to print as well and he’s excited to be able to help.

{Image c/o Neither Snow}

Since our inspiration for our wedding is based loosely on natural medical and science related things, we knew we wanted our invitations to carry on this theme. We began our inspiration by browsing antique botanical books, old pharmacy labels and vintage calligraphy samples.  we came across a wonderful book from the late 1800’s filled with ferns that beautifully matched our theme.

{Images c/o Vintage Portland Map, Snippet & Ink, Ferns of Great Britain & Ireland, Ampersand, love potion bottle, vintage pharmacy labels, vintage specimen}

Aside from our design being nature inspired, we’ve  also been collecting vintage postage stamps for a few months now. We’ve found some amazing butterflies, trees, acorns and even lab glass stamps that we’re planning to don our envelopes with.

{Images c/o Paper is Lovely, dsbrennan, Vintage Postcard, Kraft tag, Butterfly Specimen}

I’m not sure about you, but I’m slightly obsessed with fonts. I’ve got hundreds on my computer and even more bookmarked away for future purchases. Combined with custom calligraphy and archive fonts, we’re planning on our invites have a truly old world/vintage feel with true aspects of our personalities shining through.

{Images c/o vintage post card,  Mr. Boddington, Emilie Friday, Tara Jones, Neither Snow}

So that’s it! I want to thank the ladies of 100 Layer Cake for having me here and letting me talk about wedding stuff for a whole week! Be sure to check in with Unruly Things to see the outcome of our July.