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).
Saturday, December 11
by Karen Robert
A lot of people are using the “American Gothic” painting as inspiration for all sorts of things; holiday cards, wedding portraits, ads, and just for fun. There were so many images to choose from ,this is just a smattering of what’s out there. but I chose these to show you because they seemed a good cross section of different styes and ideas of how to mimic this historic painting.
This is the original American Gothic Painting By Grant Woods
Classic black and white image by Gordon Parks of Ella Watson is a parodying the American Gothic Painting.
The Beverley Hillbilly’s pose like the American Gothic Painting. This was perhaps a precursor to the whole fad?
American Gothic Christmas Card done by Brian Bowker, in the book “Merry Christmas From…150 cards you wish you’d received”.
See it at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bowkerhouse/2088605125/
This photo is taken by photographer, Tristan Spinski of his parents in an American Gothic pose for their Christmas card
This is a very well done photoshop job. Found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mjameshall/371493809
A fun couple photoshopped themselves as the American Gothic Painting
Found here: http://oddguyart.wordpress.com/
Fun photoshopped portrait of kids posing American Gothic style
Created by Theresa Thompson at http://www.flickr.com/photos/theresasthompson/2210407036
Dog’s even get into the action in this American Gothic parody.
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/katydaly/311448055/
Great picture of a couple posing American Gothic style.
Shot by Jackie Good at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakig/2651077624
Posted by jessica toney photography at
http://www.hallmarkhipsters.net/hallmark/hipsters/archive/2008_01_01_archive.html
This card is strangely similar to the Brain Bowker one above.
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/15318056@N07/4457002279/
Beautiful bLack and white photo of a couple posing in American Gothic Style
http://www.flickr.com/photos/godkinphoto/4097491878/
Or you can use the American Gothic theme for a wedding portrait as shown at Utah Bride.
Also at Utah Bride : http://www.utahbrideblog.com/?p=2323
This bride also used the American Gothic pose for her wedding Portrait.
Shot by Dave Robbins http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/etsy-finds-my-american-gothic-wedding-4288/
If you don’t have the photoshopping skills to make a photo like htis yourslef, you can cheat and get a costume with a frame, get it at :
http://www.costumecraze.com/HUMR153.html
Or you can have an image made for you with yor faces like this at findgift.com. What a fun present that would make to give your loved one for Christmas.
Go to: http://www.findgift.com/gift-ideas/pid-64670/
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….
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.
Thursday, June 17
by Karen Robert
I am on a wedding kick right now since I have been designing Save-the-Date-Cards. Since I’ve been poking around so many wedding sites, I started coming across lots of funny and off-beat wedding portraits. I know wedding portraits don’t necessarily have much to do with cards. Funny portraits have more to do with my love of wacky and wonderful pictures. My thought is that maybe somebody would do take portrait like one of these below and make them into thank you notes for all of those amazing wedding presents people sent them. I love when people take a traditional concept and turn it around into something clever and fun. Everyone responds to people who take the initiative to be clever and fun. Right?
A deadpan wedding couple taken by Whitney Lee Photography
A bride and groom letting loose, taken by Whitney Lee Photography
Also by Whitney Lee Photography
Another fun wedding portrait by Whitney Lee Photography
This one is a bit odd. I guess I like odd.
This one is by White Rabbit Studios I think, I love it.
I belive this one I found at White Rabbit Studios, but I am not 100% sure, I can’t figure out where I found it. Sorry to the photographer!
White Rabbit Studios? Sorry, I can’t remember where it came from.
This one is a bit much, but funny.
This was taken by Superpirate who can be found on Flickr. They were imitating their wedding topper.
A bride and a groom take a break on their wedidng. Picture taken by CarbonSilver (gbenz) on Flickr
PIcture of a bride secretly wearing tennis shoes taken by Talking Tree on Flickr.
Fun couple acting goofy on their wedding day taken by Superpirate on Flickr.
A bride pretends to have put her groom in jail. Taken by Katherine (KAS photography) on Flickr.
If you have a fun portrait you took on your wedding day, please send it to me, I would be happy to include it on another posting.
Tuesday, May 25
by Karen Robert
Since I do not make wedding invites at the moment, I thought it would be a good idea to pass on some of my favorite high end designers here in New York City. The best custom designers print with letterpress, which is done by using plates and impressing them onto the paper. Letterpress is considered the highest quality of printing, but it is also the most expensive. Designers of letterpress invites understandably need to be of the highest caliber, because each card can cost upwards of $3. What I like about the following designers is that they are classic, yet innovative. A good invitation designer will steer you in the right direction for correct wording, but they will also help you break the rules… just a little bit. As Dorothy Parker once said, “A little bad taste is like a dash of paprika.” Now, I’m not looking for bad taste…just a little something different, unique and special.
The first company is called Ceci New York. They are VERY high end and their prices are…extreme. But the quality is the absolute top. They often add layers of elements, like this wedding invitation with a bird cage theme. 
The envelope opened to reveal the bright purple birdcage sleeve containing the invitation. Guests opened the door to see the orange bird underneath. Both the birdcage sleeve and band were lasercut out of paper. Yummy.
For the next invitation Ceci New York combined many printing techniques and materials – from multi-level blind embossing, letterpress, plexi glass, foil stamping and hand painted watercolor to create this amazing wedding invitation for a destination wedding in Guatemala. The save the date cards are made to look like tickets.
This next invitation for a wedding in Hawaii combines surf’s up sensibility with chic execution – from the bamboo belly band that wraps around to the personalized pirate map on the back of the invitation. The anchor logo had a rustic charm while the color combination of warm red and olive kept the fun spirit alive. All graphics were inspired from vintage tiki Hawaiian fabrics, old surf posters and pirate maps.
For this wedding invitation in Cuba, classic Cuban chic meets modern style. This invitation was designed for Bride & Bloom magazine. It was sent in a custom made cigar box which was laying in a bed of cigars with matching cigar labels with the the bride’s and groom’s names and wedding date. Menus and escort cards were made to match. This is such over-the-top wedding invitation. I can only imagine how extravagant the wedding must have been. You can imagine the excitement of a guest receiving this in the mail.
Another designer I am keen on is Nicola Darrach who owns Lettuce Paper. I found her through my friend Tanya Mallott, who is a very high end destination wedding photographer. I was looking for help with designing some cards, so I thought, who better than Tanya knows the best designers out there. Nicola very kindly agreed to design a few cards for my site, lucky me, because I have found that she has impeccable taste. Her cards are more simple and understated than Ceci New York’s are, yet she shows an amazing attention to details, like in this invitation. In the liner of the envelope in a yummy orange she has added a silhouette of the bride and groom. You can’t see it very well here, but these invitations are on very thick paper and edged in turquoise. When you hold them, they feel incredibly chic. I also love her choice of calligraphy, each card looks as if it were hand written…very refined.
This next wedding invitation has a nautical theme. I love the mussels. Who knew that the lowly mussel could look so chic when on letterpress paper? Notice the stamps which all look nautical, but almost as if it were by accident. And also notice the gold wax stamp which holds the belly band together and lifts the darkness of the black color. I love the fact that they chose black for wedding invitations. It’s surprising which is what makes them so wonderful. It’s like what I said about “a little dash of paprika..” Breaking the rules can be a good thing sometimes. 
On this last invitation, I love how Nicola combined two completely different patterns. This wedding invitation is bold, yet still subtle and tasteful. And the saying is wonderful. Nicola loves doing custom work and is reluctant to come up with a line of cards, preferring to do all of her work custom for her clients. Designing is “the fun part” she says. She doesn’t stop until her clients are satisfied, often giving them many different designs to choose from. I love that she has not sacrificed custom work to become more commercial like so many other card designers have done.
Finally, my last top wedding invitation designer is Bella Figura. Not only does this company have beautiful and interesting letterpress designs, but they are also green. Their shop is wind-powered, carbon neutral, and they donate 1% of sales to environmental causes. Also, they print each custom wedding invitation only on 100% tree free paper. Since no trees used to make your invitation, you can relax and feel eco-frendly about sending out 200 save the date cards, invites and thank you cards. (As long as growing cotton doesn’t affect the environment).
The other good news is that Bella Figura also has invitations with great graphic designs like this one in a bold orange color. And look how thick the paper is.
The pictures of these invites show how letterpress actually presses into the paper and indents it as it lays on the color. The quality of the printing and the pattern make me drool.
I lied, I have one more company to show you. While this company is not a New York based company, I couldn’t resist adding them in to this posting since this wedding invitation with peacocks caught my fancy. It is called Paper Olive and it is based out of Los Angeles (that other coast). 
I love the addition of the peacock feather, it is delightful. The colors of peacock would be the colors I would choose at my next wedding. Er…not that there WILL be another wedding. I just realized that these are the colors I have decorated my house in, so I ‘ll just settle for that. If any of you young brides-to-be are lucky enough to hire one of these designers for your wedding, please let me know. I’d LOVE to see what they designed for you.
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
Jeremy Pedron
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremypedron
Friday, January 8
Friday, January 8
