WEDDING BLOG

Best Invitations of 2012 From Junebug Member Invitation Designers!

December 10, 2012 | editorial team

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!

Garden Wedding at Bella Luna Farms, From Michèle M. Waite Photography and Chambers and Co. – Morgan and Matt

December 7, 2012 | editorial team

Morgan and Matt celebrated last summer at one of our favorite places here in Washington, Bella Luna Farms. Complete with organic gardens, a glass-roofed grapehouse, and stone buildings surrounded by the sweetest farm animals, the working farm manages something that most such places do not – it is stunningly beautiful! Michèle M. Waite’s pretty images captured the gorgeous setting and the perfectly executed garden wedding that Chambers and Company created with the happy couple!

The Goals: We wanted the wedding to be warm and intimate. This started with the guest list. When I walked down the aisle, I wanted to know that everyone watching us was someone who loves us and whom we love. The venue, flowers, and signage all embodied warmth and intimacy. We also really wanted to treat our guests to great food and drinks. We worked hard to make the menu special and fun. Speaking of fun, that was also a priority! We wanted the event to be interactive – guests traveled to the first food station in groups after finding their names and destinations on flags; rather than asking guests to sign a guest book we asked that they fingerprint a leaf on a tree using a stamp pad; and a large group of the ladies choreographed (weeks before the wedding) a super-secret Flashmob!

The Vision: We wanted it to be classy but fun and un-stuffy! Our stationery and signage was fun and whimsical, and Bella Luna did an amazing job keeping the flowers consistent with the theme. We were optimistic about the weather and wanted to highlight the beauty of the farm and the Pacific Northwest. The food was intended to be fun and interesting and…delicious! We wanted something different than a traditional cake, so in keeping with the idea of allowing our guests to be part of the wedding rather than just observers, we offered a make-your-own ice cream sandwich bar.

The Look: I wanted my dress to be simple and sophisticated. I wore diamond studs that we rented through our jeweler. My hair was in a messy updo with flowers from the farm and my shoes were a fun navy shade that matched Matts tie. I think we both wanted to be comfortable and still feel like ourselves, but our best selves!

The Moments: I had a few favorite parts of the day. My dads speech was killer – everyone was in awe. I loved seeing him up there. I later asked him how long the speech took him to prepare and he said 15 years. It was sweet. Also, Matt and I found a little time to steal away in the middle of the wedding. We ended up in the apartment above the barn toasting and taking a shot of whiskey together. It was a very special moment. And the most fun time was the flashmob! It was really an amazing scene and one Ill never forget. Getting the ladies up there having so much fun really set the mood for the rest of the wedding. I didnt even stop dancing long enough to eat an ice cream sandwich and I have a serious sweet tooth!

I feel like all our planning was a success. We had the dream team! Our planner, Lisa Chambers; Pam and Suzie at Bella Luna; Austin Beaver, our DJ; our photographer Michèle M. Waite; Lisa Dupar and her catering team; Sheryl Bracken of Paper Moxie…they all blew us away! We gave Pam at Bella Luna a ton of artistic freedom with the flowers and Im glad we did – we knew her vision would far surpass anything we could suggest.

The Pros: Please visit Morgan and Matt’s page in our Real Wedding Library for more information on their dream team!

Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful day with us Morgan and Matt. It was the perfect antidote to winter. A huge congrats to you!

Anniversary Photo Shoot of Junebug’s Own Emily and Ryan – by Ryan Ray Photography

December 6, 2012 | editorial team

I love anniversary photo shoots – they’re such a sweet way to celebrate your marriage and relationship as it grows and changes over the years. Today we have an absolutely darling one, that is especially close to our hearts, because the darling, beaming, stylish gal you see in these photos is our very own Junebug Membership Administrator, Emily. She and her husband Ryan Flynn (a talented wedding photographer and Junebug member himself) celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary with this wonderful set of photos by Ryan Ray Photography which capture their personalities and spirit perfectly. Emily is an absolutely invaluable member of our Junebug team and a joy to be around. She keeps us organized, on-track, and laughing like crazy – a great combination! I simply don’t know what we would do without her, so I am over-the-moon to get to share these beautiful and meaningful photos here on What Junebug Loves!

From Emily: When our photos were taken at our wedding 3 years ago, never could I image the joy, endless laughter and immense love that would deepen over the years for my husband, Ryan.

They say your wedding is the happiest day of your life. It is, but in my opinion I think the days, months and years that follow take that particular prize. You study, grow and learn more about your spouse. You take comfort in knowing that they will love you unconditionally and aren’t going anywhere, whether you have a good day or a bad day. You begin to understand more clearly why this person was placed in your life, why you chose to do life together. Without Ryan, I am not complete. He is my other half. He inspires me. He challenges me. He makes me want to be better. We are connected.

My sweet husband decided to surprise me with a photo shoot for our third anniversary with one of the kindest film photographers we know, Ryan Ray. As my husband is a photographer as well, he was really looking forward to seeing someone else’s photographic vision. We were already headed to Texas for Ryan’s little sister’s wedding, so it was the perfect opportunity.

About the surprise. Ryan is not the best at holding in surprises because he just gets too darn excited and can’t wait to spill every last bean. He also wisely knew that I’d want time to plan my outfits before the shoot. So, one night a couple weeks before we left, he came down the stairs and sat next to me on the couch, put his arm around me and said he knew that I’d been wanting recent pictures of us, and that we hadn’t had any taken since our wedding, so SURPRISE he planned a photo shoot for us for our anniversary. I was thrilled, and, to be honest, a bit nervous, since I am kind of shy in front of a camera.

Ryan Ray brought his sweet wife, Cary, along and we got to cuddle with their huge Mastiff that we so badly wanted to put in our suitcase and take home. We all felt like instant friends, and we absolutely loved the photos. It was perfect getting to find a photographer who we connected with in an artistic and a personal way.

From photographer Ryan Ray: Ryan and Emily quickly became two of my favorite people – kindred spirits. My wife and I talked about how much we wished they lived closer to us. Ryan is such an incredible photographer – it was an honor to photograph him. And Emily couldn’t be any sweeter. They shared so much joy, and Emily’s smile could light up any room. I could photograph them all day, any day. It was definitely an afternoon I will not soon forget. Happy anniversary, Ryan and Emily. It is such a blessing to know you.