I have such a treat in store for you today…straight from the designers themselves, the best wedding invitations of 2012! I recently contacted some of our member invitation designers and asked them to send me their favorite project from this past year. Oh, the pretty that flowed into my inbox! From classic and elegant, to mod and bright, industrial steampunk, and sweet country-inspired chickens; the variety, quality, and inspiration here are fantastic. Each designer also sent along a little background information about the couple, inspiration, and final product. Enjoy!

Anticipation: When Junebug asked us what our favorite invitation of the year was we had no idea how to choose! However, after careful consideration, our latest Deco suite from our exclusive Aerogram line won by a slight margin. Why? It’s everything an Anticipation invitation should be. It’s both vintage and modern, with a mix of elements. An over sized 7×10 fold out invitation layout, our exclusive die-cut mailer and screenprinted bag, a custom lined mailing box, not to mention an adorable monogram and hand drawn Seattle skyline, we had a winner. Also, who doesn’t love a flapper girl? Our prediction…2013 is going to be a Gatsby kind of year, and the roaring-twenties are here to stay!

Photo by Hannah D Photography

Chic Ink: Daniela and David’s invitations featured navy metallic pocketfolds with letterpress invitations and rhinestone accents. The lovely flourish in the corner was a real show-stopper.

Photo by Alante Photography

Flite: Lisa and Ron’s wedding invitations are one of our favorites this year! We used heavy cotton paper with gold foil printing. The envelope liners were elegant and sublime! They have an aqua blue and gold floral print that transports you to a mid-summer night’s dream. The invitation suite is held together with a delicate silk dupioni ribbon and two golden swans. This invitation evokes a sense of romanticism and luxury, while maintaining a timeless elegance, and that’s why it’s on our favorite list!

Ink Fancy: After several years of mostly vintage romantic stationery requests, I had a ball designing Sarah and Vanko’s pop modern invitation. Their personal aesthetic is simple and modern, almost precise. They wanted that reflected in their invitation, along with just a bit of boldness. In another move that I’m seeing more often, they requested we forgo all of the bells and whistles of multiples envelopes, response cards, maps and belly bands. Of course, who needs all that hoopla with an oversized, square invitation in bold colors, letterpress printed on luscious paper?

Izzy Girl: This was one of my favorite sets of 2012 because of the sweet playfulness and also because of the couple (they were SO fun to work with and funny!). The wedding was at the groom’s family home on Lake Washington. Rachel and Nate’s criteria: fun, not overly stuffy, and needs to include water! The end result was a beautiful letterpress set that was true to the couple.

Kerri Efendi Designs: Monochromatic reds set the stage for a country chic garden wedding. Country elegance, paired with whimsical text marked this letterpress invitation for Lindsey and Doug.

Laura Hooper Calligraphy: We’re so excited to share our twist on the immensely popular boarding pass invitation. While we’ve been offering full color passes for a while, we’ve started to do these in letterpress as well for a more elegant approach to this whimsical invitation style. Our sets include letterpressed invitation cards, custom sleeves to hold the sets, an rsvp postcard and matching envelope liners. I have more photos of others we’ve done if you’re interested but this is one in chocolate brown palm trees and gold foil lettering. We hope you love it as much as we do!

Nicole Mae Paper Design: There are a MILLION things I loved about Shannon and Toms wedding stationery. The bride is a wedding planner with impeccable taste and her vision for her own wedding was dreamy. Taupe and blush became our primary colors for the suite and we found perfect, thick envelopes to compliment. The fonts we chose and extra details made it incredibly special. The complete suite included a taupe invitation with white text, a custom striped envelope liner and bakers twine that held the cards together, finished with a fun shaped monogram tag.

Photo by Eliza Truitt Photography

Paper Fling: Creating a meaningful custom invitation is one of the favorite parts of my job! Lauren and Ross came to me looking for a vintage peach theme because Rosss parents own a peach farm. We created a peach themed wedding invitation ensemble that included a vintage peach crate designed save the date and corresponding pieces (such as rehearsal dinner invitations and gift bags) and then matched that fun design with a more subtle design on their invitation and reception stationery to carry the theme throughout their entire event.

Photo by Bradley Hanson

Paper Moxie: I am passionate for unusual materials and metal had my attention this past season for it’s sense of permanence, versatility and presence. When I had the opportunity to design without boundaries for Gianna and Brian’s event held at SoDo Park, it was a perfect match of taste. Their eclectic, somewhat steampunk styling was set off using clear shine graphics on rich matte paper, heavy copper plate invitations, cog details, and ticket-stub styled insert cards. They were inspired by vintage street signage, industrial architecture and most importantly, the mechanics and symbolism of the old safe on location at the SoDo venue which became a motif that carried through from Save the Date to day of items. I was thrilled to hear some friends had melted down the copper from the invite to create matching bracelets for the couple as a keepsake! Brilliant.

Paper Passionista: Hands down, my favorite invitation we worked on this year was this beautiful letterpress cherry wood invitation. Barb and Russ described wanting to have an invitation done with natural products to reflect the natural setting of Camp Korey where they were holding their wedding. Barb thought a wood invitation would be great because Russ has a hobby of wood working, and had made a beautiful custom wood box to hold her engagement ring when he proposed. We combined her favorite font, American Scribe, with a wood product, and with Real Card Studio we came up with this beautiful cherry wood design. We backed it with an espresso card stock that doubled as a pocket on the back of the invitation to hold all of their cherry enclosure cards. The cherry on top was the luscious botanical paper used for the envelope liner. This invitation is a visual and tactile delight!

Photo by Real Card Studio

Swash Letterpress: I love playing with unique shapes and putting a fun twist on traditional colors. With so much inspiration around the holiday season this invitation was a thrill to create. But the most important reason this is one of my favorites of 2012 is that it’s for one of my very best friends. Truly made with love.

Zenadia Design: For this rustic elegance invitation, I wanted to use wood, though not in the traditional “wood invitation” way. Instead, the invitation itself was housed in a custom made wooden frame. Every single frame was lovingly made by hand specifically for each invitation. The frames were then placed on a bed of faux fur in a bright red box. It’s a favorite of mine simply because it’s so outside the box and was an amazing piece to work on!

I’m completely in awe of our amazing Junebug members…so much talent, style, and creativity! And please check back Wednesday, when we do it all again with our florist members. They are sharing their favorite bouquets of 2012, and it is a whole lot of gorgeous!