Invitation keepsakes start with great invitations, Part I: Get Started

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

We are nearing the beginning of prime wedding season - May, June, July, and August - so it's time to think about wedding invitations. The most popular months for weddings to take place are, in this order:

* June
* August
* May
* July
* September
* October
* December
* November/April (tie)
* February
* March
* January

For some people, choosing the right invitation is a piece of cake – they scout online, find a dealer, look through a book or two, and make their selections. However, many people are overwhelmed when it comes to selecting, wording, and designing their invitations. I learned this first-hand during the years I spent selling invitations. For samples of my invitation design work, see the invitations framed as bar/bat keepsakes for Zoe, Dylan, Bethany, Ethan and Sarah, as well as the invitation for the small wedding collage.

Here is one of my favorite designs: a simple, elegant wedding invitation, which is distinguished by the elegant font as well as the very modern "debossed" paper. The paper gives you the look of layers without the weight or expense. For a closer look, visit www.purpleraincoat.com.

Fortunately, I found that there are some guiding principles that you can rely on to create invitations that make you happy and make a great impression on your guests. These are the invitations that people will compliment you on not only because they look great but also because they reflect who you are as well as the spirit of your event.

I’m happy to share what I have learned with you. You may think these tips go into ridiculous detail, which they do, but that is because the process of creating great invitations often involves choices where the details really matter.

It’s like building a house – if you’re starting from scratch, you are amazed at the level of detail involved – who knew that there were so many types of kitchen faucets, anyway? But you have to make those choices, so you might as well be informed before you get started.

And here is your first tip: Start Early

To make this process as stress-free as possible, start early – six months or more before your event. Some of my clients were only about three months away from their event…it can be done, but it’s not recommended. The important thing is to select the invitation itself. Deciding on the details, including the particular wording, font, color, and number to order, can be done later.

The most critical step in the whole invitation process is your approval of the proof. You have to allow time for mistakes to be made – they happen for lots of reasons, even with the best of companies. These days, invitation companies can turn an order around in days (after proof approval). Some companies let you see proofs online; some others will have to fax or email the proofs to you, which takes longer. So it is important to build in a “cushion” of time to reduce the stress on you (and on the dealer). So if you're planning a June wedding, I hope you are well along into the invitation ordering process.

Similarly, it is important to begin developing your guest list, with up-to-date addresses, as early as possible. This will help to ensure that you make the right decision about the number of invitations you need when you actually place your order.

Ready to get started? Take a look at the selection available through eInvite.

Stay tuned for Part 2, coming soon, with tips on selecting and ordering your invitations.

(Can't wait? Email me: info@purpleraincoat.com for the complete Purple Raincoat Guide to Creating Great Invitations.)

Once you've created that great invitation, be sure you preserve it with a Purple Raincoat collage. It's a great gift, so when someone asks, "what can we get for the bride and groom that is unique," you've got the answer. Just send them to the Purple Raincoat website and we will create something beautiful for you.

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?

It's all about fonts, for a change

Will the presidential nominees be decided by their choice of font?

One of the most important thing I learned in my years of designing and selling invitations is that the choice of font contributes enormously to the emotional impact of an invitation. As I always told my clients, “fonts have feelings.”

Using a font that looks like a ransom note, for example, may be appropriate on a surprise birthday invitation but probably wouldn’t be right for a wedding or a retirement party. Fonts that are straight up feel different than slanting fonts - look at the difference between regular Georgia (that's the font used on this blog) and Georgia in italic, for example. Similarly, an invitation in a very formal and intricate script-type font will have a different feeling than the same invitation with a newspaper-type block font.


This invitation successfully combines a block and script font. See more samples of bat mitzvah invitations at www.purpleraincoat.com

So what does this have to do with the presidential election?

The emotional connection that people make with fonts undoubtedly was considered by each of the major candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations in designing the graphics for their campaigns. A few days ago, the Boston Globe published an analysis of the candidates' logos to see which fonts were more effective in promoting the idea of “change,” something that has been embraced by so many of the candidates as a central theme of their campaigns. This fascinating assessment, written by Sam Berlow and Cyrus Highsmith of The Font Bureau, highlights the subtle and not-so-subtle influence of the chosen fonts on how voters decide which candidate to support.

The presidential race is evolving so rapidly that several of the candidates mentioned in the article are no longer in the running. Who knows what impact the fonts in their logos had on their lack of success in winning the nomination?

So on the eve of Super Tuesday, I thought it would be interesting to pass along their article, which draws an interesting conclusion: “If we were to predict the results based on typography and design, we would pick McCain and Obama.”

By Wednesday morning, we will have a great deal more evidence of how accurate their analysis is.

If you’re in a state with a primary election tomorrow, don’t forget to vote! And if you’re still undecided, maybe this information will help you make your choice.

Looking for a unique gift? Turn to Purple Raincoat, where we are experts at creating the gifts that people will be talking about. Visit us at www.purpleraincoat.com to see what we can do for you.