I love all of the creative ways people display their escort and seating cards. Like a ribbon board (how cute are all the buttons scattered at the bottom?), via Snippet & Ink.

I’ve seen several hanging from branches, but this one on Style Me Pretty has some really cool, unique little hangers.

These are actually favors, but I really wanted to do this for seating cards — until I realized how many of my guests would be traveling. Via MSW.

This would be perfect for a summer wedding. And that calligraphered mini-scroll? Love that. Via Snippet & Ink.

How fun to do some on black paper and others on white. From Kristina, with calligraphy by the wonderful Jenna Hein.

Another Snippet & Ink find. This would be fun with an ecclectic mix of playing cards from multiple decks too.

Something like this, with the names attached, would be a great way to combine sweet treats and escort cards. Via MSW.

The classic favor seating card never goes out of style. Also via MSW.

I really, really, really adore this. But of course I do, seeing as I have a deep affinity for cards. Found on Oh So Beautiful Paper, and designed by one of my most admired letterpress shops, the Lettered Olive.

One of my all-time favorite ideas: using fabric swatches. The best part about this is that the fabric swatch matched the napkins on that table. From Details Details.

I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to do a magnet or pin board. A pin board I could make out of cork and cover with fabric (like the one above), or I could make a magnet board with magnetic paint. In either case, I could frame it — either by finding a cool frame or making one out of moulding from the hardware store. Something like the ones in Shabby Vintage Mom’s shop.

I could attach the escort cards with a variety of bird magnets, to tie into our “fly away with us” quasi-theme. Kikkerland makes two sets (I know this because I have some from each set); one is sold at Anthropologie, the other I can get through the Arbor in Salem. These would double as favors, or I could keep them and cover every square inch of my fridge after the wedding.

And then the board itself would go on display on a metal floor easel. I’m sure I could find a place for this in my house after the wedding, no?

We aren’t doing a served dinner, but I think there’s a certain amount of comfort in knowing where you’re going to sit. There’s none of that “cool kids table” awkwardness, and you can seat people together who have never met but would enjoy each other’s company. And I know that I, for one, would love to have a calligraphered escort or seating card for my memories box.

Our save-the-date cards are mailed and delivered (at least to the west coast), so I can finally blog about them. I was so excited last Thursday when I dropped them in the post office mail slot, I could hardly contain myself. Seventy-four in all, out into the world. Even though I enjoyed the process (for the most part), I’m so relieved to have them done and mailed.

When I started out, I intended to take step-by-step photos as I went along. But most of the nights I was working on these, it was about 3 a.m. and the photos just didn’t happen.

In any case, the first step was to tear the paper down. The letterpressed invitations will be printed on the most luxurious handmade paper I have ever seen — I told Rebecca that I could practically wrap myself in it — but it’s exclusive to Studio Olivine. So I had to find something letterpress quality (because I’m a paper fiend) that I could use for the save-the-dates, thank-you cards and programs that I’m flat printing. I found Arturo at Oblation and decided to order it in bulk from Paper Papers. They have the tea length paper for the other stationary pieces, but the save-the-dates needed to be 4.25″x6.25″, and the closest size they offer is 4.53″x6.69″. So thus ensued the evening of tearing:

Some of them were torn like that, with the metal ruler, but I was getting inconsistent results, so I switched to scoring with an x-acto knife, folding the paper over a few times, and then tearing without the ruler. Of course, I then knicked myself with the blade and promptly bled all over the cutting board. Two band-aids later, I finished the paper and printed the information on one side. I revised the design slightly from version 1 and used our wedding colors (blue and gray) instead of the basic black.

For the reverse side, I attached one of our engagement photos. That was by far the simplest part of the process. I picked three photos, printed through Shutterfly, and attached them to the cards with mono-adhesive.

Next, I wanted to do a little wrap piece with the date of the wedding printed on it. I wanted a modern twist on the belly band — something that would wrap around the left edge of the card and overlap on the backside by half an inch or so. I thought Moo cards would be perfect, and the size was ideal, but when they arrived, the color was way off and the coated paper was too thick to wrap around the card. So I printed and trimmed the little wrap pieces, and I was surprisingly pleased with how they turned out. I was worried about quality, but it wasn’t too bad.

The last step was to trim magnet tape into 1″ sections and stick it to the back of the cards. I admit, I was anti-magnet when we started talking about save-the-dates — I wanted to do something more original, and I definitely didn’t want to print flat magnets through an online vendor. Just not my style. But I’m glad I found a way to make a magnet that fit my aesthetic, because it sounds like they’ve been a bit hit with the family. My mom has hers on a crafting cubbie unit in her stamp room:

Also worth mentioning are the envelopes (although I don’t have any photos… didn’t think my family and friends would appreciate it if I distributed their home addresses!). I wanted the envelopes for all the stationary to match, and the light blue Arturo envelopes don’t come in tea length, so I ordered Stardream envelopes in quartz. It looks a little pink online, but it’s a creamy ivory — lovely with the soft white Arturo paper. I flat printed the return address on the back with my trusty Canon inkjet, and then I did something that I know you aren’t supposed to do: I flat printed the mailing addresses on the front too.

I know etiquette dictates that they should be hand-addressed, but I have teeny tiny handwriting that really doesn’t feel invitation-worthy. And honestly, I was worried that writing 74 addresses by hand would delay mailing by another couple of weeks, and I wanted none of that. I used our stationary typefaces, Burgues and Garamond Premier Pro, to set the names and addresses, and I was thrilled with the results. I’m actually considering doing the same thing for the invitations, although that’s undoubtedly an even bigger etiquette faux pas.

I desperately wanted to order custom stamps, but I couldn’t justify the cost — double the price of a regular stamp — when the USPS had a love stamp available that was irresistible in its own right.

Naturally, I dropped them in the mail before I actually had our wedsite up and running, so mailing was immediately followed by a 12-hour design/copywriting intensive to get that going before our guests tried to check it out. Yikes.

And on an unrelated note, I found this on my mom’s craft table when I got into town tonight:

Hmmm… Is someone getting ready for an Ali-inspired grid layout?

I just put together a real, fully-assembled, in-my-hand paper mock-up of our save-the-date cards. No preview quite yet — the sample photo I printed is pixelated and watermarked (waiting for our engagement photos DVD) and the text needs some adjustments — but oh, I’m so excited!

The final product will include a bit of Pantone 535, a splash of Moo (minicards!), a dash of Shutterfly, a pinch of Stardream, and a hearty helping of Arturo. Oh, and possibly some quality time between me and my sewing machine.

I’ve gone back and forth about 20 times on out-of-town bags. On one hand, OOT bags are essentially another favor for our wedding, since nearly all of our guests are traveling in for the big day. But on the other hand, I love the idea of playing hostess, even in some small way, for all of our wonderful friends and family members. How lovely would it be to arrive at your hotel, tired from a day of travel, and find some nice goodies waiting for you?

So I decided that we would do OOT bags as long as they were simple and economical. If I had my druthers, the “bags” would be Container Store baskets or boxes filled to the brim with delectable treats, Oregon-themed momentos, and a letterpressed card. But I settled on a more realistic (and hopefully still thoughtful) plan: a simple bag with bottled water (with custom labels), a couple of treats (packaged by yours truly), and a Willamette Valley wine tasting guide (note to self: I need to start gathering these). There might be one other thing as well, but I’m still doing some research, so it’ll be a surprise if it turns out.

I was killing some time at Target this evening, and I found these fantastic bags:

They only had one package, and they don’t sell them online, but I’m going to swing by the other local Targets and see if I can find more. I think they’re fabulous. They’re an unexpected choice for me for a couple of reasons; I never use a typeface that’s similar but not exactly the same as the other members of a suite, and I’m often not into pre-printed items. But this typeface is remarkably similar to the one we’re using, it won’t be in company with the other printed goods, and the design is quite tasteful. Finish them off with some ribbon and a custom tag — perfect!

No one has to settle for envelopes that are anything less than fabulous. And with options starting below 10 cents per envelope, there’s something for every budget.

The always-reliable Paper Zone carries everything from scrapbooking supplies to specialty papers to office supplies. In addition to the Envelopments line, they have a nice selection of regular envelopes, and many of the paper lines they carry have coordinating envelopes — awesome for DIY invitations.

Along the same line, Paper Source has a nice selection of envelopes, papers and other goods. They also offer workshops and semi-custom invitations, for those who are so inclined.

In the last few weeks, I’ve become a big fan of Envelopper Inc. That’s where I discovered the Stardream line — envelopes with just the right touch of shimmer. They offer a variety of printing services and have paper, tags, labels and more, although I honestly just go there for the envelopes.

Today, Julie at Studio Olivine recommended Envelope Mall, and it really is the be-all, end-all of online envelope stores. You can shop their inventory of hundreds (thousands?) by type, color or size. Some of their envelopes only come in large quantities (100 per pack), but their prices are substantially better, in most cases, than any of the other three.

Are there any other fabulous envelope shops that should be on my short list?

I make a motion that there be a moratorium on new script typeface releases in the next six months. Burgues, Zaner, Compendium — oh my!