USPS Releases New Spring Wedding Stamps for 2013

If you were married last year sometime after February, your invitations and reply cards were probably adorned with the LOVE stamps, designed by one of my favorite designers, Louise Fili, and illustrated by the charming and talented, Ms. Jessica Hische. I enjoyed using these last year, especially for bills. I'm pretty sure the love stamp helped get our taxes done faster...seriously.

The USPS just unveiled the new wedding stamp for 2013, designed by Michael Osborne Design. You might not recognize his name, but you definitely know his design, especially if you shop at Target. Ever been tempted to buy an Archer Farms product because the packaging is so nice? me too...we have Michael Osborne to thank for that one. He has also designed Cocktails by Jen, branding for Gymboree, Janie and Jack, the list goes on. We now have Michael Osborne to thank for the new wedding stamp.

Unlike the LOVE stamp, this one is definitely geared more for weddings. Its nice and springy and sure beats the boring wedding cake or white rose stamp. To be honest, I still love the LOVE stamp from last year, but I have to appreciate the USPS using professional designers to design their stamps.

On a side note, I'm also excited to finally see a new option for a postcard stamp!! Good lord, I can't tell you how annoying it is to design beautiful RSVP postcards, only to slap a hawaiian shirt on it. So, here it is, the new postcard stamp---------------------->

Look, its better than a hawaiian shirt, okay?

What do you think of these options? Of course, if none of the USPS stamps work for you, you can always design your own.

Wedding Invitation Wording 101

Many brides that I work with are not quite sure where to start when it comes to writing their wedding invitations. To help future brides-to-be, I have put together a handy, no-nonsense guide to give you a starting point.

The guides below will provide you a basic structure for your wedding invites. They will make sure you put the most important content in the right order according to your hosting situation. From here on out, you can add to it and make it as formal or informal as you'd like. If you're going the informal route (which seems to be most popular nowadays) start with these base structures and then add your own personal style to the writing, add local color or adjectives that will set the expectations for the big day.

Scroll to the bottom for copy and paste templates.

Bride’s parents are hosting
{bride’s parents}
{request}
{bride’s relationship to host} 
{bride’s first & middle name}
to
{groom’s full name (first middle last}
{day of the week}, {month} {day}, {year}
at {time} in the {time of day}.

Bride’s parents are hosting,
 plus a mention of the groom's parents
{bride’s parents}
{request}
{bride’s relationship to host} 
{bride’s first & middle name}
to
{groom’s full name (first middle last}
son of
{groom’s parents names}
{day of the week}, {month} {day}, {year}
at {time} in the {time of day}.

Groom’s parents are hosting
{groom’s parents}
{request}
{bride’s full name}
to their son
{groom’s first & middle name}
{day of the week}, {month} {day}, {year}
at {time} in the {time of day}

Bride & Groom’S parents are both hosting
{bride’s parents}
and
{groom’s parents}
{request}
{relationship of host and b&g}
{bride’s first & middle name}
to
{groom’s first & middle name}
{day of the week}, {month} {day}, {year}
at {time} in the {time of day}

Bride & groom are hosting
{bride’s full name}
and
{groom’s full name}
{request}
{day of the week}, {month} {day}, {year}
at {time} in the {time of day}

Bride’s divorced parents host
{mother of the bride}
and
{father of the bride}
{request}
{relationship of hosts and b&g}
{bride’s full name}
to
{groom’s full name}
{day of the week}, {month} {day}, {year}
at {time} in the {time of day}

Bride’s divorced and remarried parents host
{mother of the bride & her husband}
and
{father of the bride & his wife}
{request}
{relationship of hosts and b&g}
{bride’s full name}
to
{groom’s full name}
{day of the week}, {month} {day}, {year}
at {time} in the {time of day}

You are viewing this hearty rustic wedding through the lens of Michigan native, Caryn Taylor of  Caryn Taylor Photography.  I will always appreciate a rustic themed wedding, so you can imagine my excitement when I saw this set of photos. I particularly love all the wooden details. In fact, just the other day I was checking out those wooden rings on etsy! So beautiful! As a DIY fanatic, I love the dessert table stands. What a fun and easy way to bring a new twist to a oh-so-popular desert table. The fingerprint tree is really well done, and will end up being a great keepsake for the couple that isn't cheesy (which can be hard to do!). My favorite thing, of course, are the cake ball toppers! What a good idea, I mean, it can get pretty annoying to hold onto traditional cake toppers as a keepsake, so I love the idea of making something edible. The couple from this wedding really considered what wedding day items they could live with forever, and I admire that.

Caryn works collaboratively with clients from her studio based in Maryland. To contact her for a project or to see more of her work, visit her FB page here.

I thought I would share one of my favorite wedding invitation projects that I did a while back. The bride and groom were looking for something totally customized to fit their purple, midsummer nights dream theme. The theme of the invites were pulled through to the ceremony decorations, creating a unified look for the wedding. The vines and lettering appeared on escort cards, table numbers, and even the cigar labels at their custom cigar bar. To see more wedding invitations, visit the Moving Beauty website.

The year you get married can be filled with all kinds of stress, don't forget to take advantage of the romantic holidays to tell your sweetheart how much you love them. If you are out of ideas, don't worry, we will be filling the shop with plenty of ways to say I love you.

This fun project was another case of "Hey, can you make this weird random thing, I need it tomorrow" YES! yes, I can. Meet Mike, DJ and creator of the infamous Soul Deep dance parties that frequent the Detroit area. He plays soul records ONLY, hence the name, and needed a way to respond to requests like Hotel California...I mean come on people...

He decided he wanted a little scroll sign where he could flip something or untie it and it would roll-out to reveal, "No Requests" in a fancy script lettering. I loved the idea, to me it was 70% silent movie throwback and 30% Warner brothers cartoon...so I was all in. I had to get it done asap, so Mike delivered the material and I decided to paint it given the time frame. I found out that I really love painting on slightly patterned fabric, so perhaps this will inspire other projects.

All in all, it was a fun project and Mike got the ultimate satisfaction when he got to use it while DJing at a 12.21.12 Soul Deep party. The world didn't end that day, but I'm glad he was able to use it just in case it did.

During a recent visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame last September, I was mesmerized by the beautiful hand drawn engravings on some of the older hockey trophies. It was difficult to get a good pic of them since they were all behind glass and far away, but this one gives a good idea of what you'll find there. So beautiful and inspiring! I'd love to see this technique applied to a pair of champagne flutes or a beautiful picture frame. The lettering style would also translate really well for super fancy wedding invitations. I love the personal touch that the hand engraving brings (vs. machine engraved). Engravings this beautiful stand the test of time which is a key element to a great wedding gift.