Custom Letterpress Wedding Invitations

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Wedding invitation requests have started to trickle in which means wedding season is upon us. Brides! You gotta love 'em! (but in all seriousness I actually really do enjoy a feisty bride!) I mean I was a bride once, I know how it feels to want to have everything be so perfect and special for that once in a life time day. Just before graduating in graphic design Conor and I were engaged and I remember spending hours flipping through bridal magazines searching for all of the latest and greatest in wedding stationary suites to inspire my own invitation. I remember sitting at my computer at school and thinking to myself, "if someday someone that I don't even know asks me to do their wedding invitation and they pay me for it, I will know I have made it!" Haha! Design sure has taken me in a different direction, but I do still love taking on the occasional wedding invitation. There is something refreshing about hearing a couple's story, how they met, what their hopes are for the future and how they plan to celebrate the beginning of the rest of their lives with the people who matter most to them.

Since Chelsey and I teamed up for Fox and Anchor I have started to take on more wedding invitation requests. I used to send brides digital files of their design and refer them to printers but now I get to be involved in the whole process. It has been so fun and we are excited to take on more projects like this. Once we team up with a bride and groom we help them create a visual mood board for their day (if they haven't already done so). I'm not entirely sure you can actually call yourself a "bride-to-be" if you haven't created a Pinterest board solely dedicated to your big day. Anyway, we usually pull images from their Pinterest board and try to help couples really focus on the design elements that they love the most. We have been working with some pretty rad couples - the board for Melissa and John's recent Portland wedding (above) is proof enough right? After we establish a design direction we get to work making a mock up of their invitation, allowing them the chance to make revisions and changes to the design if they need to. Then Chelsey prints! I love that letterpress is such a hands on process. It really shows in the final product and makes each piece unique and beautiful. Once she is done we package up the paper with love and send it off to our couples with all of our best wishes!

P.S. Check out our feature on Paper Crave today. Thanks Kristen!

It's Wedding Season!

You can find my guest post on what to wear and what to give this wedding season over at Dotcoms For Moms.

I know it is wedding season when I start getting an absurd amount of requests for wedding invitation designs. The other day I caught myself complaining to my mom about how many wedding invitations I had on my Teux Deux list and she laughed and said, "but you LOOOOVE doing that!" and I just simply had to agree! I do love doing it. I love weddings and I love LOVE! I also started a wedding inspiration pin board on Pinterest for all my friends out there about to tie the knot. Follow along if you like! 

PS - I wish I could announce to everyone that I found a cure for Henry's non sleeping schedule, but unfortunately I can't. I think we have made progress and then the next night/day are just as terrible as before. I am so glad I have a mother who lovingly listens to my problems, commiserates with me and then reassures me that things will get better. I don't know that there really is "an answer" to Henry's sleeping problem but rather we will find out what works for Henry and what doesn't. All kids are different and I am learning that so well right now. Thank you to everyone who left kind and helpful comments on my last post. It really means a lot to me to know that people care and know what I am going through. 

Cinco De Mayo Wedding

My best friend's little sister is getting married on May 5th. Cinco de Mayo everybody! So excited for her! Congratulations Lauren! She asked me if I could design the wedding invitations and of course I am thrilled to do so! I thought it would be fun to put together a little mood board for a classy Cinco De Mayo wedding to get some ideas for the invite. I love that little ikat shift dress in the middle - I imagine the bride running off on her honeymoon wearing that and some strappy sandals.

Happy Anniversary Darling!

Dearest Conor, This year has been amazing. Thank you for everything and for being my best friend.September- We got married in the Portland Oregon Temple and started our lifelong journey together. We were sealed for time and all eternity in a small ceremony in front of our closest friends and family. The day was beautiful and memorable and everything we had hoped it would be. We enjoyed a simple honeymoon in Palm Springs and then quickly moved to Hawaii where we set up our first home together. I have the fondest memories of that month and sometimes wish I could relive it again and again.October- We started to make friends - good friends. It was exciting. For Halloween I cut my bangs way too short so I could be Audrey Hepburn and you were Buddy Holly. We surfed and ate a lot. We also started to show each other our true colors, which only made us fall more in love. November- November was exciting. I think we finally felt like we belonged in Hawaii and we were pretty comfortable living together. Thanksgiving was a treat! I loved getting into the holidays with you, you know it is my favorite time of year.December- Oh, our first Christmas together! SO much fun! I can't tell you how many times I imagined waking up next to my best friend on Christmas morning, making a yummy breakfast and opening gifts. I finally got what I always wanted!January- We spent a lot of time with friends and at the beach. I started a new job and you got in to another semester of school. We started talking about starting a family - it was scary but the best kind of scary. We also spent a lot of time hulled up in our room watching episodes of Prison Break. January was a good month. February- I jetted off to Las Vegas for work and left you for the first time since we had been married. We celebrated Valentines Day with friends, and I turned 26 years old! You organized a surprise party which I found out about before hand so we had to hide in our closet and surprise our guests instead. March- We survived the great Tsunami that was so devastating in Japan. We packed up our home and stayed in the hills all night waiting for disaster to strike. Luckily it didn't. You were so calm and made me feel safe. Not long after that we found out I was pregnant. That's when I sort of checked out for the next two months. April- April was difficult. I think I spent most of it in bed with you bringing me crackers and over the toilet while you held my hair back. I don't know how we managed to get that photo above. I was sick. Sicker than sick. I still remember paddling out and thinking, "what in the world am I doing in a dress on a surf board... and why is my husband catching every wave in this entire ocean?? I should be in bed or puking or something..." I watched more Law and Order in April than a lot of other people could watch in a lifetime. May- May was yet another difficult month. You handled it like a pro. Some of our good friends moved away and my grandma passed away. I was still very sick and spending lots of time in bed. I don't know how you managed to keep me so happy and content and the house so clean and still get all of your school work done. You are amazing. I can't thank you enough. June- We headed off the island for weddings and family time. Spending time at Bear Lake in your grandma's old home, eating milk shakes everyday and swinging on the big swing was the best way to recover from months of feeling like crap. Flying standby was a joke and we learned never to do that again. California was so much fun, I always feel at home when we are visiting your family.

July- We celebrated the 4th of July (still stuck in California). My tummy started to get bigger and we found out we were having a boy. You turned 25 years old and we spent the day in Waikiki surfing and eating. I officially got my appetite back and we went on some fun dates. August- We went on some fun picnics and made lots of dinners together. I left for about two weeks to visit my family and shop for baby things on the mainland. I couldn't believe how much I missed you. I didn't expect to get all sappy and run into your arms crying when I saw you at the airport. But Conor, you are just that great... I don't know why I don't do it every time I see you! We will be celebrating our first year of marriage tomorrow and I can't wait for our fun little get away that you have planned. You are my best friend and I love you. Thank you for the best year of my life.

Love Janey

To see more wedding photos click here and here, and here.

Je Promets

I have been meaning to blog about this for sometime and just haven't gotten around to it. I'm proud to say that the website I was putting together for some lovely sisters has been up and running for a few months now. Kendra and Krista contacted me with the idea of starting a wedding blog that focuses on modern style and high fashion. They had a really good idea of the direction they wanted to go in, so it was a dream to put this together for them. Along with customizing their wordpress blog, I also created their brand identity and collateral. Check out their site here to get some wedding inspiration.

Also, check out some of the other new projects I have up in my design portfolio. Ever since I got into my second trimester I feel like I have more energy than I know what to do with! It has been great. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Anthropologie's Wedding Line

Did anyone else get the email about Anthropologie's new wedding line BHLDN? I loved the colors and the small glimpses of styling that it presented. I am looking forward to seeing everything they have to offer on February 14th. But for now here are a few of my favorite styles so far. You can find more sneak peak images here.

Happy weekend!

We have lots to do this weekend. Sort of anxious to see if I can get it all done. I Thought I would leave you with some of the wedding shots that we never got a chance to share. We had Natalie take these the day before so that we could have more time on our actual wedding day to just enjoy being wedded.

Dress: J.crew
Suit: Custom made by Duchess
Shoes and Jewelry: Anthropologie
Flower in hair: Forever 21

Our DIY Wedding Details

Conor and I wanted to do everything ourselves or let close friends help us out. We wanted everything to mean something or be unique in some way. We spent the summer collecting vintage dishes and blue glass jars from antique stores. His grandmother embroidered our napkins, and they are now my prized possessions. I had a close friend do my hair. My sister (beautiful and talented) made our ring pillow and placed it in an old book for us. My mom's friend made the cake and our neighbor down the street offered to man our ice cream cart. The food was made by a close friend who also happens to be a professional chef. My mom spent her summer days making jars of homemade jam for each guest to take home and I stamped each tag with our initials. We also happen to be friends with Natalie Norton (which makes selecting a photographer EASY). There was not a single person involved in our day that we did not have a close connection to. It was beautiful.

CONOR & ERIN

The lovely and talented Natalie Norton put some of our wedding pictures up on her blog today. See more photos here.

If I were to do it again...

Sources: oncewed.com, martha stewart weddings, and wee wedding cakes

I guess I don't really miss planning a wedding, but I do wish I could get married again. (To the same person everyday, of course). If I were to do it all over again I think I would make it even more simple than my already simple backyard wedding. Conor would make the cake and we would have lots and lots of strawberries and raspberries to munch on.