Invitation keepsakes start with great invitations, Part IIIa: Be ready to answer your dealer's questions

A good dealer (see Invitation keepsakes start with great invitations, part II; selecting a dealer) will ask you lots of questions before you start – and you should be prepared to answer them. Key questions include the following:

• What is the occasion - for example, is it a wedding, engagement, bar/bat mitzvah, or milestone anniversary, baptism, retirement ceremony, or surprise birthday?

• What kind of party (or parties) you are having – for example, a country club reception following a church or synagogue wedding ceremony, a luncheon following a bar/bat mitzvah and a separate party for children?

• Is everyone invited to all parts of the event? For example, only out-of-town guests may be invited to a special brunch or dinner, and some children may not be invited to a rehearsal dinner.

• Is there a caterer who needs to know your guests’ choices of entrees? If so, you may want to include this information on your response card.

• Are there out-of-town guests who need to make hotel reservations and let you know what parts of an “event weekend” they will be attending?

• How are you going to address your invitations – for example, do you plan to do them yourself, hire a calligrapher, or have the invitation company print the guest addresses?

• Do you have any budget constraints when it comes to selecting your invitation? Most good dealers carry a wide variety of invitations at a wide range of prices. A dealer should have invitations available in your price range – if not, it’s time to find another dealer. Browse the invitations available through eInvite (get there from the Purple Raincoat homepage) to get ideas of what is available in various price ranges.

Your dealer also should be able to suggest ways to save money without compromising the quality of your invitation. For example, some invitations allow for more text than others, and so may eliminate the need for a reception card. Others may have room only for the essential information about a wedding ceremony or a bar/bat mitzvah service, making it necessary to include a reception card with the information about the celebration.

Working with your dealer, you should be able to create an invitation that is as unique and special as the people and occasion being celebrated. So don't hide that invitation in a drawer - display it proudly with a one-of-a-kind Purple Raincoat keepsake. You put a lot of thought into the invitation; we put a lot of thought into showcasing it as a unique work of art in a framed invitation keepsake. Great for any special occasion. No question about it!

Save that envelope! Save that stamp!

Personalized stamps, such as those made by PhotoStamps, are becoming increasingly popular for weddings, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, and other celebrations. The PhotoStamps website is a fountain of inspiration and information about personalizing your postage and ways to use these stamps. The stamps are a small indulgence, but remember that the price per sheet goes down the more sheets you order – that’s another reason to find lots of uses for them.

For weddings, for example, in addition to using them on your invitations and response cards, you can use them on save-the-date cards and thank you notes. Here’s another creative idea from PhotoStamps – take photos of your wedding party and turn them into customized stamps - give the stamps to your attendants as a token of appreciation for sharing your special day.

Once you start paying attention to these stamps, you’ll see them everywhere. My daughter was visiting her friend Sarah one recent afternoon. Sarah’s sister is having her Bat Mitzvah this year (along with many of her friends) so she is starting to get invitations to her friends’ celebrations. An envelope had arrived in the mail that day, and Sarah and her mother were trying to figure out who sent the invitation – they didn’t recognize the return address. But the envelope's stamp featured a photo of the guest of honor, which my sharp-eyed daughter noticed – she pointed it out and said, “you can see who it is.” Mystery solved!

Even if you don’t order custom postage, you may be able to find a stamp that fits your occasion. I’m working on a bar mitzvah invitation collage now for a boy who clearly cares a lot about baseball. The invitation has a personalized baseball-theme stamp with the date of the event. But for the response card, they are using the regular “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” stamp from the post office. So with a little detective work (find a post office that has a good selection of stamps and friendly clerks who don’t mind spending a few minutes while you browse the possibilities) you might find something that is almost the equivalent of custom postage, but without the custom cost.

Custom stamps make wonderful additions to Purple Raincoat invitation keepsake collages (see my earlier thoughts on this subject). Envelope linings also can be featured in the keepsakes - see my daughter's Silver invitation keepsake. There are more examples on the Purple Raincoat website (see Jill's Platinum keepsake in the Bat Mitzvah examples).

So when you get an invitation in the mail, don’t throw the envelope away – it might have something I can use it when I create a beautiful framed invitation keepsake for you. Have an invitation to an upcoming event? Ready to order? Hang onto that envelope, and contact us today – we can’t wait to get started on your one-of-a-kind gift.

Design on the vine

There’s something about vineyards…
For many people, vineyards are associated with romance – after all, wine is a traditional symbol of joy, while vines traditionally symbolize life, abundance, and fertility. And isn’t that what we would wish for any couple taking the leap of faith to join together in marriage? So it’s no wonder that a vineyard, full of fruited vines inseparably intertwined, offered the perfect setting for the engagement of one California couple. Their unusual green and brown contemporary wedding invitation featured leaves and curving vines in the design.

Our mission: expand on the “vineyard” theme in creating a keepsake collage as a gift for this couple.
The single-layer invitation is mounted on swirled white vellum, textured chartreuse paper and a green shimmer paper with printed swirls and miniature flowers in brown and maroon. Bronze metal square brads anchor the invitation on the vellum layer. The background paper is a bohemian print of green and brown with a white swirled accent. A brown and gold embossed leaf-print paper tops the background layer. Under the invitation, the horizontal strip includes shiny brown textured paper, olive striped vellum and a knotted olive ribbon. Pulling the entire design together is an unusual brown felt dimensional lace with a leaf-and-vine design. The warm maroon/brown frame (not shown in this scan) finishes this unique framed invitation keepsake.

Were we successful?
When Purple Raincoat collages are ordered as gifts, we send scans or photos to our clients so they can see the results. Here’s what our client had to say about the final product: "I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!!! I'm sure (the bride and groom) will love it, too. You really brought out all the features of the invitation.”

And here is what my client reported after the wedding: "The happy couple loved your design. Here is her comment:

I LOVE your gift!! Thanks sweetie, that is such a cool gift as a memory keepsake too!"


Our best wishes to the bride and groom – may their cup overflow and may their hearts be forever entwined.

What can we design for you?
At Purple Raincoat, we are dedicated to preserving invitations by showcasing them in unique framed collages. No matter what the occasion, no matter what the invitation looks like, no matter what your design request – Purple Raincoat will do everything we can to fulfill your requests and create a one-of-a-kind keepsake that will be cherished forever. Come on, challenge us – we’re up for it. Check out our wedding and anniversary keepsakes portfolio and get inspired. Then visit our contact page and give us a call or send an email. We can’t wait to get started making something beautiful for you.

Where have all the pressed flowers gone?

Although I would like to believe that Purple Raincoat invented the concept of framed invitation keepsakes, the truth is that people have been decorating and framing invitations for many years. One popular style, which has been around since at least the 1970s, involves using pressed flowers as decorations for invitations.

Crafting with pressed flowers first became popular during Victorian times. The creation of modern pressed flowers involves – no surprise here – the use of a flower press to flatten the flowers and remove all moisture. A pressed flower has a beauty all its own; for example, the pressed version may be richer in color, and have a different “geometry”, than the live version.

A beautiful dried pansy (in my favorite color, of course). You can see other examples of pressed flowers at the Pressed Flower Store.

Pressed flowers can be incorporated into invitations themselves – see how a pansy is used in this elegant invitation, one of a series of pressed flower invitations by Pressed Petals.


I think pressed flowers are beautiful and I think that many beautiful framed invitations have been made using pressed flowers. If that style appeals to you, that’s great. But it’s not my style. From my perspective, in many cases the floral designs are beautiful but it’s not always easy to see how the design are connected to the “tone” of the invitation.

One reason I started Purple Raincoat was my belief that each invitation uniquely reflects the personality of the person (or people) behind it. Consequently, each invitation keepsake should be uniquely designed to capture and preserve the spirit of that specific invitation. To achieve this, I use a broad range of materials including paper, ribbon, mesh, metal brads and eyelets, wire, buttons, skeleton leaves, and silk and fabric flowers. So far, no pressed flowers, but I promise to keep an open mind about incorporating them into my design should the right invitation come along.

I do love using flowers when they are appropriate to the spirit of the invitation. Here’s a recent Purple Raincoat wedding invitation keepsake that incorporates small pearl-centered silk flowers as well as a beautiful stephanotis floral accent.



The invitation itself has two layers of paper, white (with hunter ink) and navy. Beneath the invitation are a hunter green vellum, a textured glossy white paper, and an embossed navy paper. A subtle blue and green printed paper is used as the background, topped by a textured white vellum anchored by white metal accents. A vertical strip of textured green paper is accented with dark blue mesh. A double knotted piece of hunter green ribbon tops a horizontal strip of embossed white paper. White silk flowers with pearl centers decorate two corners of the invitation. The design of the framed invitation features a beautiful stephanotis bouquet as an accent. The washed blue frame softens and completes the design.

And take a look at the statement made by the large pink flower on the birth announcement featured on our homepage. Read more about this birth announcement and see many more examples of our work to get a better idea of what the Purple Raincoat style is all about.

The bottom line: Diffferent strokes for different folks
Just as some people like to listen to National Public Radio while others prefer oldies or current popular music, different styles of preserved invitations will appeal to different people. If you’re looking to preserve an invitation in a way that is unique, contemporary and timeless, and you’re not insistent on dried flowers, you’ve come to the right place – visit our ordering page to get started.

Please Mr. Postman, part II: "Deliver the letter, the sooner the better"

“How much is it going to cost to mail my invitations?”

That’s a question I often was asked when I designed and sold invitations. I always said, “there’s no way to know until you take a full invitation, complete with all inserts, to be weighed at the post office.” Unless you’re sending one folded piece of paper in a standard business (#10) envelope, determining the postage required for a mailing may be more of an art than a science. You’ve got to be persistent sometimes to get the “right answer” that will make sure your invitations reach their intended recipients in a timely manner.

One of my Purple Raincoat clients wanted to order personalized postage stamps for her daughter’s bat mitzvah invitations, so she took a “fully loaded” invitation to the local post office to find out how much postage was needed. The invitation fit into a standard invitation envelope but included several layers and multiple folds; the invitation also included a ribbon tied into a bow. The post office has different postage requirements for mail depending on its size, shape, thickness, and what is enclosed. My client was told that her invitation was “borderline,” meaning that it could qualify for one of two different postage requirements. A recommendation was made to go with the lower amount of postage and personalized stamps were ordered.

The invitations were mailed using the rate recommended by the post office. But a number of them were returned to the sender for “insufficient postage,” which meant considerable extra work for my client. Eventually, she negotiated a “compromise” with the post office – she added extra postage to mail going out of town, but the post office agreed to deliver the in-town invitations at no additional charge. That’s stress that no one needs during the preparation for any special occasion. All’s well that ends well, of course, and everyone told my client how much they loved the invitations, which were really beautiful. And she can laugh about it now. But it wasn’t much fun at the time.

Lessons learned:

• When in doubt, use the highest amount of postage recommended by your post office.

• Be aware that unusual shapes – even squares – usually require “extra” postage. But don’t let that stop you from ordering the invitation you have your heart set on – the cost of postage is literally “a drop in the bucket” of your event costs, and there are other ways to save money if you’re watching your pennies.

• Also, remember that not all post offices are created equal, so you might want to get a second opinion if your invitation is diagnosed as “borderline” postage. Many people have had poor experiences with customer service at our local post office, so we choose to visit the post office in a neighboring town. To make absolutely certain you’re getting the right price, it may be smart to get estimates from more than one post office.

If you’re working this hard on your invitations, or you receive one with personalized postage, you’ll want to be sure the design is preserved and showcased in a Purple Raincoat collage. It’s the perfect answer to the question, “what would be a good gift?” because it is completely personal and can be ordered at a variety of price points. Consider this your invitation to visit our galleries of bar/bat mitzvah invitation keepsakes, wedding and anniversary keepsakes, and special event keepsakes. No postage required!

Invitation keepsakes start with great invitations, Part II: Select a dealer

(One in an occasional series of tips for creating great invitations)



In this framed wedding invitation, sky blue was selected as the accent color for this elegant cream, black and gold invitation. This particular blue color was featured on an invitation for a shower given in honor of this bride. Pearls, satin flowers, black skeleton leaves and ornate teardrop frame complete the design. See more samples of framed wedding invitation keepsakes at www.purpleraincoat.com on the wedding/anniversary page

The variety of available invitations is astounding. There is something out there for every taste and budget. But how to find that right one? Your dealer can be your best friend when it comes to finding the right invitation. Start by using these tips to find the dealer that’s right for you:

You want a dealer who is known for great customer service.
Ask people who have hosted similar events for their recommendations – not only for good dealers, but also for dealers you should avoid. You want someone who has time to spend with you as you go through the invitation design process, will be available to answer your questions, pays attention to every detail, and can help you make decisions when you get stuck.

You want the dealer with the best selection of invitations for you, not necessarily the largest selection. Don’t assume that “more is better” and that having a larger selection of invitation books and companies is always helpful – sometimes, too many choices can be just as bad as too few choices. A local dealer may choose to carry a limited selection of books and companies, but if they know their customers that may be enough.

Other advantages of a local dealer:

• A local dealer is likely to be familiar with other people having the same kinds of events, so they can help make sure that your invitation is “original’ in your community.

• In addition, a local dealer is more likely to allow you to take invitation books home, which is a huge advantage when making your selection. It's great to be able to take your time and consult with your family - this isn't a process you want to rush.

But there are advantages to exploring invitations on the Internet. If you can’t find someone locally who can help you, there are lots of online options available. It also can be helpful to browse invitations on the Internet to get an idea of what different companies offer at various price points. Many offer the opportunity to order samples, which is important because "seeing" an invitation isn't the same as "feeling" it.

Start your online browsing at eInvite.com, where you’ll find invitations for all occasions from several companies, including our favorite company, Checkerboard. The website gives you the opportunity to see your invitation with your words in the font of your choice. It’s a great way to “try before you buy.”

Watch for Part III, coming soon, on getting ready to answer the questions your dealer will ask.

A framed invitation makes a wonderful keepsake for weddings, bat mitzvahs, bar mitzvahs, sweet 16s – even “grand openings”. Be sure to visit www.purpleraincoat.com to see samples of collages designed to showcase framed keepsake collages for all occasions.

Calligrapher to the stars – now available to you

The question of how to address invitation envelopes came up often when I was an invitation dealer. I told my clients they had several options:

• Address the invitations yourself by hand or using a computer. This generally is the least expensive option.
• Order invitations from a company that will deliver them with the guest addresses already printed on the envelopes – not the least expensive but probably the most very convenient.
• Hire a calligrapher, which is generally the most expensive option.

For my daughter’s bat mitzvah I considered yet another option (otherwise known as "a crazy idea"): learning calligraphy so I could address them myself. A friend who is an accomplished calligrapher assured me that it was a matter of tools and techniques that I could learn despite the fact that I have terrible handwriting. So I took a class and learned that there are some skills best left to the professionals. I gained a new respect for calligraphers, and began to evaluate the options for our own event.

This collage features my daughter's bat mitzvah invitation. I drew my inspiration from the orchid ink and the beautiful marble envelope lining, rich with shades of purple and gold. The linings from two envelopes were pieced together to create the first layer under the invitation.

Fortunately, we had ordered a Checkerboard invitation, and Checkerboard was just introducing its “EasyAddressing “envelope addressing service. I didn’t want to recommend this to my clients without proof that it worked, so I used myself as the guinea pig. Following instructions, I submitted the list online and waited for the invitations. I speak from experience when I tell you that it was fabulous to have the invitations arrive all addressed and ready to go.

Checkerboard offers more than 600 fonts, and you can use any of them for your guest addresses. So it offers one of the advantages of calligraphy – having your envelopes addressed in a beautiful font (whether or not it matches the font used on your invitation).

Now Checkerboard is making the advantages of calligraphy more widely available – and not just for addressing the invitations. They have a gorgeous new line of invitations created by world-famous calligrapher Maria Thomas. To create these spectacular invitations, “your names or monogram are personally penned by Maria Thomas to create a unique calligraphic piece of art. This hand-lettered art is combined with a custom font chosen by Maria to complete your design.” And of course, “matching motifs by Maria are available to embellish your envelopes.”

Wow. These are just jaw-droppingly beautiful. If you're in the market for a truly personalized wedding invitation, this is the place to go. And if you're on the receiving end of one of these invitations, you can be sure that turning it into a framed keepsake will be a unique gift that will be very much appreciated. Visit www.purpleraincoat.com and let us create something spectacular that will honor the invitation and be the perfect touchstone for memories of that special wedding day.

Maria’s bio notes that she has designed custom wedding invitations for the Trump family as well as for Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. So the same pen that creates invitations for celebrities is now available to create an invitation for you. How cool is that?

Do you have Educated Tastes?

At Purple Raincoat, we believe in giving back. There are so many wonderful organizations doing great work, and nothing feels better than being a part of a cause that’s close to your heart. That’s why I’m proud to be working with the Lexington Education Foundation (LEF), an organization dedicated to enhancing educational excellence for students and teachers in the Lexington, MA public schools.

Each year, LEF hosts the “Educated Tastes” (ET) fundraising gala, a festive evening that includes sampling food from local restaurants and caterers, plus live and silent auctions. Our auction committee works hard all year to gather unique and highly desirable auction items. You may not be able to sample the food in advance, but you don’t have to wait to check out the ET auction items: for the first time, all of the silent auction items are available for viewing online at www.educatedtastes.org. This would not be possible without the website design efforts of students and teachers at Lexington High School, who have done a magnificent job in helping us spread the word about our auction.

Please visit the website to browse the silent auction items – there’s something for nearly every taste and budget, from vacation homes to Red Sox tickets to cooking lessons to jewelry. Included among the auction items is a Platinum keepsake collage donated by Purple Raincoat – and as you know Purple Raincoat collages make great gifts for all occasions. You’ll find lots of other great gift ideas (Mother’s Day will be here before we know it) as well as gifts you may want to give yourself (clothes, makeovers, a night on the town…).

This year’s event will be held on March 2, 2008 at the Boston Marriott at Burlington. There’s plenty of time to develop a bidding strategy before March 2, and to check your calendar to see if the available dates for your favorite item fit your schedule. We’ll be adding the live items soon, to whet the appetite of those who will be there. It’s sure to be a wonderful evening, and we hope you can join us – you can still order tickets through the website.

Even if you can’t attend, you can bid on these exciting silent auction items. “Outside” bids will be accepted on these items by phone or email from Monday, February 25 through Friday, February 29th; bidding instructions are on the website. Good luck – you may be a winner!

Are you involved as a volunteer with a local charity? Here’s a great idea – if your organization is holding a major event, there’s probably an invitation associated with it. Are you honoring someone? If so, give them a framed keepsake by Purple Raincoat to help them remember the occasion. Have you been the chair of a successful event? A Purple Raincoat keepsake collage will bring back memories of that special day.

No matter what the special occasion, Purple Raincoat can create the perfect gift. Visit us at www.purpleraincoat.com and see what we can do for you. Then get in touch with us so we can get started.

It’s January 2008 – do you know where your Ketubah is?

My husband and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary on December 30, 2007. Everyone knows about the gifts that are “traditional” for some milestone anniversaries, such as silver for the 25th anniversary and gold for the 50th wedding anniversary. But you may not be aware that there are lists of traditional and modern gifts for nearly every wedding anniversary.

The traditional gift for the first wedding anniversary is paper, so a piece of paper-based art is a most appropriate gift. It’s a great time to frame your own wedding invitation, if you haven’t done so already. But for many couples, there is another piece of paper to frame and display as a wedding keepsake: a marriage contract.

As part of most Jewish wedding ceremonies, the husband gives his wife such a contract, known as a Ketubah. Ketubahs can be beautiful pieces of artwork - decorative statements celebrating a couple’s relationship and commitment.

The ketubah was designed as a practical document to protect a Jewish bride’s legal and financial rights in the event of their husband’s death or a divorce. But ketubahs aren’t just for Jewish weddings anymore. All kinds of couples have embraced the custom of creating a marriage celebration document or “contract”.

Ketubahs come in sizes, styles, language and price points to suit everyone – check out www.ketubah.com for some examples of what is available. These contracts may be signed as part of a wedding ceremony, when a couple renews their vows, or to mark a milestone anniversary.

In Jewish marriages, the safekeeping of the Ketubah traditionally is the bride’s responsibility. When my husband and I got married, our rabbi told me that I should always know where our ketubah is. Our wedding was arranged and held within two weeks (that’s a story for another time) and we never thought about what our Ketubah would look like – the rabbi said he would provide it. We signed it and had it witnessed and filed it away. I didn’t even really remember what it looked like; in fact, I remember thinking that I didn’t love it and wished we could have done something different.

But recently, a Purple Raincoat client asked us to create a collage based on her Ketubah as an anniversary gift for her husband (well after their first anniversary). Despite the fact that the Ketubah was in only fair condition – it was faded with many creases and ragged edges – the collage turned out to be beautiful. That got me thinking about our own Ketubah. Fortunately, I knew where it was. I used it in a collage which I gave to my husband for our anniversary. Now our framed ketubah is hanging in our bedroom and I have a whole new perspective on our Ketubah – I absolutely love it.



The ketubah is layered on violet, cream-and-gold flowered, silver, black and gold textured papers. The collage's background is the same grey parchment print as the background of the ketubah. Silver and gold ribbon, violet skeleton leaves, and gold mesh accent the design. A beautifully textured black frame completes the design.

So when you’re thinking about an anniversary gift, think about having Purple Raincoat create a beautiful showcase for your own marriage contract, if you have one. If you don’t, consider having one made for you and your significant other – it’s a great way to reaffirm your commitment and celebrate any anniversary.

Purple Raincoat is the expert at creating wonderful one-of-a-kind gifts for weddings, anniversaries, and other special occasions. See samples of our work and get inspired by visiting our portfolio.