Monday, January 10
by Karen Robert
I thought I would finally get away from showing Holiday cards since it’s well past Christmas. It’s time to talk about weddings. Not the season you say? Au contraire. I was inspired by a posting at eastsidebride.com to think about winter weddings. A bride wrote in this week asking about what sort of dress she should wear for a winter wedding in Chicago. It got me thinking about how I would do a winter wedding. Where would it be, what I would wear, what HE wear? What would be the theme, the look, the cake and finally about what sort of invitation would I send? Here is where my musings took me.
First of all I would start with the classic winter wedding at a castle, this one is in England, but what having a wedding in Scotland or Sweden? Oooh, what about Moscow, that way we would be sure to have snow.
Photo by Digitally Different
Then maybe I could get married in a Russian Orthodox Church, and I could wear a crown and get married in Russia.
photo by travel webshots
If I had a Russian style wedding I could use an invitation like this, purple could be a fun color to add in with red for a wedding.
Card by Hohumcards.com
Here is a bride who chose to have bridesmaids in purple. Purple looks great against the snow.
But alas, I am not Russian Orthodox and I have no connection to Russia. I think I would just choose somewhere snowy in the countryside or mountains at a place like this. Yes, that’s more me, having a beautiful winter wedding at a chapel in the countryside in the mountains.
Since that’s the case then I would definitely want to keep warm, so I would need gloves and a coat….
Photo By Mary Dougherty
…and I would absolutely incorporate white fur into my wedding outfit. While we’re at it, I would get fur for the bridesmaids as well because I don’t want them to be cold either
Photo from Frosty Weddings, photo by Michelle Wells
But I think I like a shorter stole for my fur coat, like this one below. Maybe I would have red flowers like her as well? But then I would need accents of red everywhere…hmmm. I’m not sure about that yet. I DO know that I don’t want my groom to wear a red knit cap, although, I am liking the fact that he is looking a bit casual and different…
Photo Found at Frosty Weddings
I would definitely want it to be snowing so I could get a cool shot like this one… the umbrella is great in this picture though maybe it is not that practical for the groom. I DO know that I want my groom to be looking at me this way though when he sees me.
Photo found at Frosty Weddings; Photo by Alison Conklin
I like the idea of train tracks for a photo, but I’m not sure how that works into the wedding itself.
Photo by Alysse Gafkjen
But I like the relaxed way the groom above is dressed in casual black tie, he looks cool. And I also like how, below, the groom looks like quite a dandy wearing an old-fashioned looking version of black tie in very long tails and a bowler. I wonder if my groom would go for it? I still like the idea of having a SLIGHTLY Russian wedding look by wearing a long jacket like this bride’s below over my wedding dress.
Found at OffbeatBride.com photographed by Anna Kovaleva
Or maybe my groom has a bit of Scottish blood and would go for wearing a kilt ?
Photo by David Lowerson
I love the fact that the bride is wearing boots here, but I would prefer fur boots for my wedding outfit like these below. So I guess that leaves the kilt idea out, my fantasy winter wedding is seeming more snowy and wintery, less Scottish.
Photo by Charlotte Geary
And I’m still wondering if my bridesmaids should wear red…or burgandy maybe? Hmmm, while I like the photo below, I’m starting to think that the strong colors are not really me.
Photo by Jennifer Alder
But I do want some sort of sense of fun, maybe a winter activity would be a good idea to add to the day’s events (and what a great photo-op as well). We could all play hockey after the wedding ceremony….
Photo by one2one photography
or maybe ski….
Photo by Axel Photo
…but I really would not want to be in a ski outfit…too unflattering! Fur it is!
And of course I would have to hire a my friend, Tanya Malott, NY wedding photographer, so I can have amazing pictures like this…
Photo by Tanya Malott
But I would be wearing this fur coat in the countryside instead of underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.
I finally decided about the red. I realized as soon as I saw this cake that I would want my accents to be blue, or silvery, and I would have a cake like this:
image by Media-cake central
In fact, here is the mood board I would use for my wedding….more or less. I love the cheese board, and the blue and silver accents. I like lots of silver ornaments in fact mixed in with the pinecones and other natural elements.
…I love the cashmere sweater over the wedding dress, but I don’t want to give up on the white fur idea.
So, finally for this magical, silver and blue winter wonderland wedding in the snow, what would I do for a wedding invitation? If I were going for a very classic kind of winter wedding invitation I may choose this:
Personalize it at http://hohumcards.com
Or, if I were going for a modern winter wedding invitation maybe I would choose something like this:
Personlizable at here at hohumcards.com
or this
Or if I were going for a groovy 1950′s sort of invitation I may select this one:
Personlalize it at http://hohumcards.com
But I think my wedding is more of a country casual winter wedding, so I would choose to send out an invitation like this one printed on extra heavy cotton card stock:
Personalize it at here at hohumcards.com
Or maybe this one would be a better color?
And then my winter wedding save the date card could be something like this. If I were tight for cash, maybe I would opt to send it as an e-card, and then I have even more money left over for hot buttered rums as my guests get as they arrive at the reception hall.
Save the date card at Http:/hohumcards.com
Then, after the reception, off we would ride in our sleigh together and we live happily ever after.
(But the driver would be wearing blue).
Wednesday, October 6
by Karen Robert
Turquoise, Aqua, Robin’s Egg blue, whatever name you want to call it, it is my favorite color. Hands down. It is a color half way between blue and green, both of which are very peaceful and soothing colors in their own right. But when combined they make the wonderful color turquoise which is, in my mind, is the most soothing color of all. The color of the Caribbean, swimming pools and robin’s eggs, how could it be anything else but tranquil? Whenever I design invitations, I seem to always tend towards this pale greenish-blue color. I almost need to force myself to design invitations in other colors. Here are some of my favorite invitations we have designed in this yummy color.
This invitation I designed for a beach party as you can guess.
The above invitation is in a bold and graphic pattern an aqua color.
I had fun with this one, it’s an invitation for a children’s or an adult magic party with a rabbit in a top hat on a turquoise background.
This Baby Shower party invitation has a nostalgic feel with an old photo I found of a 1950′s baby shower. It couldn’t be against any other background color than this aqua turquoise color. It gives it the right vintage feel. 
Here is another baby shower invitation, maybe this color is more blue than aqua now that I look at it. This is for a boy baby shower. (It also comes in pink of course).
Above is another baby shower invitation showing a nest with a robin’s egg…in robin’s egg blue of course. 
An awning striped invitation in, you guessed it, turquoise.
Winter invitation with a snowflake pattern in winter aqua blue.
And I love this one of a plane pulling a banner against a pale blue sky
I’ve posted this invitation in yellow before of a 1950′s style vintage style bathing Beauty. But I like this one in turquoise blue as well.
A sweet turquoise Invitation with pink butterflies. Good for an anniversary or engagement party?
This invitation would also be good for an engagement with two lovebirds in a cage.
And finally, here is an aqua or turquoise blue invitation which would be good for a Christening, engagement or wedding.
I told you I was obsessed by this color. And here I’ve only shown you the invitations….
Thursday, September 9
by Karen Robert
I know I just said that my next posting would be on turquoise invitations, but I got waylaid by a posting I just saw at YoungHouseLove.com showing an idea for a room interior in yellow and grey. From Fashion styles to interior design schemes it seems that yellow and grey is the fresh new color combination. I thought that maybe some of you are planning a party around that pretty new yellow dress you just bought or the sunny living room you just designed. In case you are, I thought I’d share a few invitations I’ve designed in the yellow and grey color scheme.
This one is a twenties style floral, it’s great for a Save the Date card:
This one is a bit more modern in yellow awning stripes. I was inspired by a room I saw a while ago featured in cherishtoronto.blogspot.com showing a room done in yellow awning stripes.
But I couldn’t decide if it should have that white box, so I just designed another one with the same wide yellow stripes but without the white box. It’s amazing how changing the font makes the card have a completely different feel. On my site you will be able to change the font yourself.
This yellow floral invitation is one of my favorites. I love how fresh and modern it looks:
This invitation is quite modern as well, using a bamboo pattern which I love. It is not actually yellow and grey, but you could choose to have the font in grey or black which would look great.
And here is another yellow and grey invitation with a more graphic pattern:
And finally here is a card which is a greeting card rather than an invitation. I thought would be nice just to send to someone who needs a lift. To make someone happy, yellow is the color to do it:
Friday, September 3
by Karen Robert
My apologies for being away for so long…I started my break when my son went unexpectedly into the hospital. But what started as a good excuse became vacation-itus I’m afraid. Anyway, while I was gone, my friend Jill Sorensen at LiveLikeYou.com did a blog posting showing lots of yummy purple interiors. One of the images I like most on this posting is of an interior by another friend, decorator Amanda Nisbit. The room is quite neutral except for purple curtains in crunchy linen; it looks so sophisticated. It got me thinking about my 7 year old daughter’s new bedroom, we decided that we will design it with dark purple/ aubergine walls, with a pink fur headboard and white furniture. Pretty snazzy for a 7 year old. My daughter loves the book “Purplicious”, about a girl who loves only the color purple. Like many 7 year olds, my daughter has switched from liking pink and moved on to purple just like the character in the book. Suddenly I realized I am becoming as purplicious as my daughter. I realize that purple is wonderful in that it can be girly and feminine, yet modern and bold at the same time. In fact it can be extremely dramatic. I looked through all of the cards that I’d designed and realized that I hadn’t designed many purple cards at all. Impossible. So, I am suddenly on a craze designing a series of bold, fun, dramatic purple cards. Here is what I’ve come up with so far.
This bright purple design is for a save the date card hoping that there are brides out there designing a wedding around yummy purple. In fact, it could also be a wedding invitation as well.
And I also did this save the date card.
I know this isn’t just purple, but I couldn’t resist putting the Purple elephant against a Turquoise Background. And since this color combination was making me so happy, I made this purple and turquoise invitation with a Dragonfly. Of course this could be for any type of party, this particular one I pretended was a rehearsal dinner. (I am in love with this font which looks like it is handwritten).
And since I was toying with color combinations with purple, I made this one with a purple and red pattern for a rehearsal dinner:
Since I hadn’t been to many purple themed weddings, I thought it may be interesting to see if anyone else had thought of it. I googled “purple weddings” to see what I could find. In fact, there are quite a few amazing images of exotic and dramatic purple weddings. Here is a design board I found at bridalbuds.com.
So, now I needed to design a wedding invitation.
And an invitaton for a wedding shower:
But weddings aren’t the only potential purple parties. I found this image of a purple party which I love. How exotic and dramatic is this?
So I designed this invitation for a party. I imagined that it could be used for an opening of a store or chic event. I love the graphic hexagonal pattern, I think it’s quite cool looking.
But I didn’t want to do just serious parties. My great friend asked me to do her 50th birthday party invitation, and she isn’t serious at all. But she is sophisticated; she wanted it purple. This is what we came up with.
But sometimes one needs to have a party celebrating babies as well. And since I was thinking of babies and children it got me thinking about one of my son’s favorite books when he was little, “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. With that in my head I came up with this.
I also did a version of this for a baby announcement.
So now I’ve come full circle in my musings, I started out thinking of one children’s book and I’ve ended up with another one. I guess my purple musings are at a close…turquoise may be next.
Wednesday, May 5
by Karen Robert
Ok, I’ve done a few postings of great save the date cards. For the fun of it, I thought I’d show you some of the NOT so great save the date cards. In fact , these are some downright BAD save the date cards. Sometimes, trying too hard to be artistic backfires.
Here are my favorites…er…least favorite photos of people announcing their engagement.
OK, this just looks dangerous, or as if he is about to push her off the bridge or something.
And this is just gross, did they really think we wanted to see their tongues?
This guy looks like he’s trying to get away from her. Fast.
Why does this girl want everyone to think she’s a gold digger? The mother in law must have loved this.
This photographer thought she was doing something kind of cool and different, but this just looks like he’s trying to limber his girlfriend up. 
Oh, placing the girl in between his legs is just so wrong on so many levels. 
It looks like she loves the pole more than him.
She looks like a monkey, not a bride to be.
I know this seemed like a good idea at the time. Fun idea for your facebook page, but for a save the date card maybe not.
Oooh, what a cheesy way to announce your nuptials.
Did it really not occur to her or the photographer what this looked like? 
And she looks like she’s doing the same thing as the girl above. 
It probably seemed artsy at the time, but instead she just looks like she has enormous feet.
Scary lighting, it looks like they are going to a funeral, not a wedding. 
Really, do couples really not realize they are getting wet when they are THIS in love.
It looks like she is going to crush him, poor guy.
Artistic or just weird?
And did the car actually hit them, or was it a prop?
I know many of the photos of the Save the Date posting before were unique and different. It seems like the photographers of these cards were also looking to be unique and different. There is a fine line between what works , and what doesn’t work.
Monday, January 11
by Karen Robert
Alas, it is time. The wedding season is upon us! Soon, thousand upon thousands of grooms will be popping the question, if they haven’t already. Soon we will have thousands upon thousands of happy , ecstatic brides looking for the perfect wedding venue, wedding cake, wedding gown, party planner, and all of those thousand little perfect details right up to the moment when they need to choose the perfect bride and groom for the top of the cake . But, brides, first things first, what about the save the date card? If you are going to have the perfect wedding in some far away place, you will need to warn people that you’re getting married. You need to inform your guests that they are to plan NOTHING else for that summer weekend 6 months from now. Hurry! Get it out SOON! You don’t want that old boyfriend of yours to make plans to travel to Indonesia the weekend you want him to be in the Hamptons watching you walk down the aisle. You need him there at the perfect white chapel drooling after your beauty and kicking himself for having been so stupid as to let you get away. The pressure is on….but what kind of save the date card should you send? Even though you have the perfect venue, what should you send if you haven’t even settled on your wedding photographer yet, or the colors or the theme….
Don’t panic, the beauty of save the date cards are that they can be funny, or just imaginative and clever. Nobody expects them to be anything near as polished as the invitation. In fact, people expect them to be quite lighthearted. To help stir your creative juices I thought I’d show you a few of my favorite wedding announcements. Take this one: 
What a clever idea this save the date card is, all you have to do is draw on your faces and take a picture. …then hope you used a washable pen.
Here is another great idea having to do with writing on yourself.
I suppose to do this, you will need to enlist the help of someone else to write it and take the picture for you. I love how the ‘H’ is divided between their feet. If you sent me this card, I would be so looking forward to your wedding! I would look forward to this one as well:
I’m not sure whether this was a save the date card, but it could well have been, and if it wasn’t , it would be a great idea to use for your wedding announcement. It could also be a great Valentines day card, but more on that in my next posting.
The following card is one of may absolute favorite save the date cards, what a fun and creative way to announce a wedding. 
Photo by Kate Bowie www.katebowie.blogspot.com
What I love about this card is that the information sneaks up on you. It takes a while to notice the couple inside the truck kissing, and the tailgate, bumper stickers and the license plate with more information about the upcoming wedding. I absolutely love when people make such an effort for a card. This wedding announcement has it all, it is clever, creative and beautifully executed. It is obvious that whomever took this photo they knew what they were doing. They also probably knew photoshop or they had a spare pick-up truck handy that they could add the bumper stickers and words to the back.
If you have already found your wedding photographer, maybe you can use them to help create your save the date card. This card was obviously made with the help of a professional photographer:
Photo by Jeremy Pedron
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremypedron
This is such a charming save the date card, and I love the type they to put on top of the card.
In fact, if you have already found your wedding photographer, the possibilities are endless for your save the date card. Here is one which was most likely done with the aid of the photographer who ended up shooting the wedding.
If you want to see more cards I’ve found go to the card gallery. I will be posting more shortly, so stay tuned. If you have already done a clever and creative save the date card and want to share it with us please do! I will try to include it in my next posting on wedding announcements.
I hope this helped brides, have a blast planning your weddings and …..CONGRATULATIONS!
Friday, January 8
Friday, January 8
Friday, January 8
Friday, January 8
