Weddings Redefined

We mailed our wedding invitations to our domestic guests on Tuesday, our international guests last week.  Our wedding is officially 63 days away!  I literally can't wait to see the responses.

Typically wedding invitations are mailed about 6-8 weeks before the wedding, requesting a response within 2-4 weeks.  I get a lot of questions about invitation etiquette and keep a stack of former clients' invitations on hand to show current clients various styles, inspirations and printing methods.

What I like about the invitation (and save the date cards) is that it can be part of a cohesive theme that is carried throughout your wedding stationery - on the ceremony program, escort cards, table name signs, menus and so on.  The save the date and invitation can be part of the process of teasing your guests as to what they may expect on your wedding day.  Enjoy these invitation resources!

The Wedding Workroom had a great blog post this week about invitation printing methods and they broke it down easily and logically, so check that out here.  I'd add, however that high quality digital laser (flat) printing often replaces lithograph printing for more contemporary invitation styles.

Want something completely custom and hand-drawn?  Check out the stunning work of Pier Gustafson.  Yes, he can just address your envelopes but he can also hand-draw a map and entire invitation suite.  Or you can have something custom and personalized cooked up by my favorite designer, J Sherman Studio.

Some couples are looking to green their wedding invitations and I'd recommend that you start with Twisted Limb Paperworks.  We had green wedding invitations but because ours were printed on 100% recycled cotton paper from a fantastic Etsy designer.

If it's easier for you to shop online than in a store, my favorite sites are Wedding Paper Divas, Oslo Press and Papeterie Store.

Many couples don't know what kind of wording to use - I love how the folks at GayWeddings.com (who also sell invitations) have tons of verses to look through.  So do the folks at Invitation Consultants.

Once the invitations are in hand, what's the process for assembling, addressing and mailing them?  This WedAlert.com article is great!

A few quick notes on my most commonly asked etiquette questions:

• yes, many couples are skipping the inner envelope to save paper, money and keep the vibe less formal;
• yes, it's OK if you use (preferably clear) address labels rather than handwriting or hiring a calligrapher (as long as you are prepared for the backlash from the more traditional members of your guest list);
• and yes, it's OK to invite single people without a date (though if they are in a serious relationship, even if not living together, their partner should be invited).

Did I miss anything?  I hope this helps!  Have a great weekend!

Hi, it's Jen, Bernadette's fiancee and creative partner in It's About Time.  This is my first post and I'm excited and a little nervous!  I'm so not a blogger and don't even read blogs so you probably won't be hearing much from me.  Right now, I'm working full time, helping Bernadette out with weddings and finishing up floral design school.  I've been taking home a bunch of cool projects and designing floral elements for some of It's About Time's smaller weddings and elopements. 

In honor of Sunday's expected dreary weather and a client's wedding on Sunday, I wanted to post a little tribute to umbrellas.  At one of my very first weddings, the photographer told me that he advises his clients to buy a few large golf umbrellas to ward off rain...but if it does rain, they make for some great photos...and rain is supposedly good luck.

Photo credits, top to bottom: Jacco Vink, Mim Adkins, Sweet Smile

Continuing with my thoughts on tablescapes from a post last week...

I saw some inspiration this morning from Courtney, owner of Flush Designs, a wedding and event design company in California.  You can read about her inspiration on her blog.  Black and white with pink for whimsy and romance is very popular this season.  She really nails it.  I love the stack of records and pink dinner plates contrasted with the white chargers!

Check out this beautiful tabletop she created:

First of all, why use lighting design for your wedding?  It creates a mood.  It can be virtually any color to match your theme.  It can hide ugly walls.  It creates ambiance and intimacy.  It is not very expensive anymore.  It's romantic.  It can save you money in other areas (flowers, perhaps).

I had a fantastic meeting last night with Paul, the owner of Boston Uplights.  He's really on the cutting edge of wireless lighting design.  He has a few innovations I'd like to share with you:

1) Wireless LED uplights.  He has a few different sizes to achieve a variety of lighting experiences.  But basically, these are lightweight, wireless and can easily placed around the room (and later moved if necessary).  He uses a single remote control to maneuver the color and strength of each of the wireless uplights.  It was amazing being in his studio seeing the room swiftly change color from his remote.


3) Paper lanterns.  Boston Uplights has a terrific innovative system for hanging paper lanterns in a tent or any venue that has a drop ceiling.  His system allows for swift setup (less $$) and amazing ease of adjusting the lantern heights.



These are terrific innovations for the industry.  Imagine taking a boring hotel ballroom and having candles dropping from the ceiling at varying heights.  So romantic, so intimate and warm.  And his price point is great.  The basic wireless LED system starts at $995, including staff for a night.  Because his technology is wireless and because he has intelligently thought about ways to make setup a snap, he can save clients a ton of money on the labor costs currently charged by other lighting companies, most of whom start at at least $1500.

And if the space doesn't have a drop ceiling (like our wedding venue), then we'll just have the standard uplights and the centerpiece uplights, though I'm confident Boston Uplights will think about ways to easily hang lanterns and candles from those venues in the future as well. I'll be recommending Boston Uplights to all my clients.

with lighting design. I will be encouraging all of my clients to utilize lighting as a means of transforming their space into a very dreamy, intimate, lux environment. It's amazing what professional lighting can do. Starting at $1,000, it's a great value for clients - and allows you to have fun with your theme, your colors and maybe even save a few bucks on floral design or other design elements you might otherwise use to hide ugly architectural elements.

Jen and I are hiring Paul at Boston Uplights for our gay wedding in Boston and are very excited. Our wedding is happening in a rather plain room with a pretty amazing view. But the walls are grey and white and frankly a little dull (though I would still recommend our venue to anyone).

During the ceremony (in front of a huge window with view) Paul at Boston Uplights is lighting the walls around the room with blue, more heavily concentrated towards the ceremony space. Behind us, he'll put a ton of candles of varying heights on pedestals to finish off the dramatic effect and draw everyone's eyes towards that part of the room. The cool thing is that he does this using completely wireless LED uplights - easily moved with remote color changing.

During the reception, the lighting design is quickly changed to a different setup - the lights less concentrated, a different color. It's amazing how the room will be transformed.

The bottom line is that proper lighting can take your wedding from boring to bold, from frumpy to fabulous! And my clients always look fabulous.