We are so excited to share the collection we created for our friends at Magnificent Milestones. All the designs were made with Chicago in mind. We’ll let our designers take it from here to describe their inspiration behind the invitations below:
Revel
Revel Motor Row, a restored historic Chicago landmark, serves as an event space filled with industrial elegance. The large arched courtyard windows as well as the beautiful stained glass window that sits above the building’s entryway are embodied in the details throughout our Revel suite. The black and white theme adorned with touches of Tawny Shine also lends to this suite’s modern classic style.
Cabana
Pops of bright colors, modern patterns and playful motifs bring our Cabana design to life. Inspired by the Shore Club at North Avenue Beach in Chicago, this suite gives nothing but cool summer vibes. There is no better way to depict endless lake views than printing ombre letterpress in our Caribbean and Royal inks.
Ivy
It’s all in the details. The Ivy Room’s historic courtyard dripping in fairytale-like vines gives the ambiance of an enchanting European destination. The Ivy suite captures those details throughout with illustrated vines, an endearing formal script paired with a simple san serif bringing harmony and beauty.
Honeycomb
Honeycomb showcases two prominent landmarks within Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. The invitation features a sweet bee motif, playful typography, and a pattern inspired by the Education Pavillon, more commonly know as the “Chicago Honeycomb” for it’s honeycomb-like architectural design. The bee motif is carried throughout the set – you might even find some hiding in the details gatefold, a nod to the beautiful French doors at Café Brauer.
Blakeney and Sean worked with our friends at Salutations Home to create the perfect invitation suite for their wedding in Italy. We combined the olive branch motifs from Savona with the lemon motif from Limon to evoke the lushness of the Amalfi Coast. The suite is completed with deep blue edge painting, and a coordinating envelope liner.
letterpress ink: deep blue | paper: bella smooth cotton white 2ply + 1ply | fonts: diotima + daughter | envelope liner: custom pattern in deep blue | customization #59858
We worked with Nicole and Donald to create the invitation suite for their black tie Saratoga wedding. We customized our Roosevelt v.2 suite with a striking black invitation and reception card printed with white matte foil, and coordinating white enclosure cards and pocketfolder, printed in black letterpress. The black and white color palette perfectly set the stage for their gorgeous wedding party, dressed in black gowns and tuxedos. The decor matched perfectly, with black linens and dramatic white centerpieces.
Elizabeth and John worked with our friends at Cambridge Street Papers to bring their gorgeous invitation suite to life. The botanical elements from our Marseille suite were reimagined for a summer wedding. A silk ribbon bow perfectly compliments the foil stamped metallic liner to tie the suite together.
letterpress ink: stone | paper: bella smooth cotton ivory 2ply + 1 ply | fonts: mrs. eaves + miss le gates | calligraphy style: hayden by nicole black | envelope liner: marseille pattern in gold matte on aloe | envelope: bella cotton ivory pointed flap | customization #60727
Caitlin and Kelly worked with Colin at Pulp + Ink in Chicago to create their gorgeous wedding stationery. They customized our Everly v.2 design and updated it with crisp black letterpress. They carried the fonts and wreath motif through their day of pieces as well. The foil stamped and letterpressed menus were the perfect compliment to their stunning venue.
Rosie and Spencer worked with our friends at Lee’s Specialty to create these gorgeous floral wedding invitations. We customized our Thorley sample by using the florals from the reply card throughout the suite. This was paired with vine letterpress, and a matching liner to create a fresh, summery invitation suite.
letterpress ink: vine | digital ink: cmyk | fonts: freeland, quicksand | paper: bella smooth cotton white duplexed 2-ply, bella smooth cotton white 1-ply | envelope: bella cotton white pointed flap | liner: custom thorley pattern in cmyk + acadia 50% | customization #62453
Adding an unexpected shape is another great way to customize your wedding stationery. Die cut cards are cards with non-rectangular silhouettes. This process can add a unique touch to any piece, from invitations, to details cards, escort cards, menus and more!
We have several options in our library for matching shapes and sizes for invites, details cards, and reply cards as well as day-of pieces. In addition, we offer several die cut tag shapes to add an extra element to your invitation suite. We have a variety of die cut invitation suites and save the dates.
We also have a range of circles, leaves, and geometric shapes.
If we don’t have the shape to match your vision, we can also create custom dies for a fully unique shape to bring your vision to life through paper.
We offer many options for organizing your enclosure cards, to create a personalized invitation suite. It can be difficult to visualize the different options, so we’ve pulled them together here to make that easier!
Back Pockets
Back pockets are adhered to the reverse of the invitation card, holding all the enclosure cards. We have both horizontal and vertical back pockets for our invitation sizes in our library. We can also create a custom pocket, for a fully custom look.
Our Richmond suite features a horizontal back pocket
Belly Bands
We offer belly bands in any of our text weight papers. These can be printed with a pattern or text or plain. They come to you scored with adhesive to help you assemble your invitation suite once they are ready for mailing. Typically belly bands are 1.75”, though we can also create a taller belly band if you’d prefer.
We used a blue belly band printed in white digital in our Warehouse suiteA tall belly band creates drama on our Vianna suite
Folders
Folders are two panel folded pieces, with the invitation mounted to the interior, and a pocket on the opposite side. They can be be printed or unprinted, and made out of nearly any of our papers.
Our Neve suite features a folder with tawny shine foil stamping.
Gatefold Wraps
Gatefolds are a great way to add a pop of color to your invitation suite, while also adding a touch of drama. We can create a gatefold using any of our colored papers, including our metallic papers and vellum.
Our Ramsey suite is enclosed by a debossed gatefold, and wrapped with metallic threadOur Faye suite features a foil stamped diamond gatefold
Metallic Thread
Another option is adding metallic thread to subtly tie your pieces together. It can either be simply wrapped around the invitation card, or used to tie on a tag.
Vero features a vellum overlay, with metallic thread, while Aviva features a die cut tag and metallic thread
Mounted Belly Bands
Mounted belly bands are adhered to the back of the invitation card, with a separate unprinted card. They keep all of your enclosure cards contained, while keeping the front of the invitation clean. They can be printed or unprinted.
Our Hadaway design features a mounted belly band printed with cheerful florals
Pocketfolds
Pocketfolds are mini folders that include a pocket for your enclosure cards. Typically your invitation would be mounted on the pocketfold. We offer both horizontal and vertical pocketfolds for (all of the) our invitation sizes in our library. We can also create a custom pocketfold, for a fully personalized look!
Our Sibgha and Parrish designs feature printed pocketfolds
Pocket Cards
Pocket cards are separate from your invitation card, and hold your additional enclosures like details cards, itineraries, reply cards, and more.
Pocket panels can hold your invitation and additional pieces all together, or we can adhere the invitation onto the front of the panel before shipping it to you. The Tannis suite features a printed pocketpanel, with the invitation mounted on the front.
Our pocket panels are available with either round or square pockets
Ribbons
Another way to add romance and drama is by adding a silk ribbon your suite, either tied in a traditional bow or knot, or mounted to the back of the invite card to create a mounted belly band.
Modernity features a classic black silk ribbon bow
Bridget and Charles worked with our friends at Ink Papery to create this lovely suite. Deep blue letterpress and our shell motifs bring to life the seaside venue. The invitation is complimented with a subtly nautical liner; our dune pattern in deep blue.
letterpress ink: deep blue | paper: bella cotton white 1-ply | fonts: adelicia + adobe garamond | envelope liner: dune pattern in deep blue | envelope: bella cotton white | customization #60102
We worked with our friends at Prickly Pear Press to create these colorful and modern welcome party invitations. Our Briolette sample set the stage for the design inspiration. We updated the colors to Tawny Shine, Clover, Pastel Blue, and Whisper for a summery pop. The elegant ombre envelope liner is the perfect compliment to the invitation card!
foil stamping: tawny shine | digital printing: clover + pastel blue + whisper | paper: smooth cotton white 1-ply | fonts: gotham + neutra | envelope liner: elegant ombre in clover | envelope: white square flap | customization #61873
Debossing and Embossing are both great ways to add subtle design elements to your invitation suite, but they differ in process, look and cost.
Our Ivy design features the same motif debossed on the main invite card and embossed on the save the date
Debossing A debossed image is achieved by pressing into paper, and is essentially letterpressing without ink. We can also use debossing to create patterns printed under the other text in your suite, be it florals or geometric designs, to add an extra personal touch.
In our Bourne v.2 suite the liner pattern is echoed in the debossed back pattern on the save the date
We can also deboss a border on your pieces, for added interest. Debossing is better suited to detailed designs, compared to embossing.
The debossed border on our Arrebol invite brings the modern suite to life
Embossing
Unlike debossing, in which a printing plate is pushed into the paper, embossing uses two printing plates, pressure and heat to create a raised design.
We can use embossing as a border, duogram + wreath as shown on our Camber v.3 suite
Embossing adds a lush tactile element that pairs perfectly with letterpress and foil stamping. It is a higher cost than debossing, but can create a really show-stopping addition to your invitation suite.
Embossing can also be used to highlight large areas of text, or a prominent motifs
Our Iridian save the date features a bold embossed date
Embossing is best used for less detailed printing. Take a look at some of our samples featuring embossing here.
Lucy’s Bat Mitzvah celebration started with these bold, rainbow foil invitations designed with the help of our friends at First Impression in Leawood, Kansas. She chose a combination of our Caribbean, Bright Pink and Black papers and printed in Gold Shine and Rainbow Shine foil for an unforgettable invitation suite.
