Forever entwined

It has been a busy day. Before 9AM this morning, I had already attended a wedding – well, I was virtually there, along with millions of other people, watching as Leigh and Nick became the 10th couple to be married on the Today Show. As Meredith Viera said during her toast to the couple, Leigh and Nick “exemplify what these events are all about – that’s love, joy and grace.” Of course, that’s what we hope for every couple and for every wedding.

For the ceremony, the plaza at Rockefeller Center was decorated to look like a vineyard. Why a vineyard? There’s something about a vineyard that puts people into a romantic mood. We explored this idea just about one year ago when we had the opportunity to create a framed keepsake collage of a vineyard-themed invitation. Take a look at the finished product and note the happy comments of both the gift giver and the bride.

So Mr. and Mrs. Nick Cordes, if you’re listening, we know you had a fabulous time today, and you have the videotape (and internet slideshow) to prove it. But wouldn’t you like something to help preserve your memories that doesn’t involve technology? We think you would, so we would like to offer you a wedding gift: Purple Raincoat will be happy to create a one-of-a-kind framed keepsake for you. It can be an invitation, a photograph, the passage that the minister read from the Bible - you select the focal point, and we will build a work of art around it that will stir your emotions and bring back cherished memories of your special day. It’s the perfect way to make sure you don’t forget about your memories.

Give us a call when you get back from your honeymoon in Australia and we’ll get started making something beautiful for you. Because we believe that 2009 is a “vintage” year for you, and that like a good wine, you will get better with age.

Calling all brides, present and past

You’ve heard of Martha Stewart, maybe? You know Martha Stewart has a thing for weddings, right? Well, Martha has completely updated and revised her the “weddings” portion of her website, in cooperation with Wedding Wire. There are two routes to this resource: you can get there from MarthaStewart.com (click on the “weddings tab”) or from Wedding Wire. You’ll find free planning tools, a community where you can ask questions and share experiences, and the opportunity to set up a website for your own wedding. And of course, on Martha’s wedding site, you can get ideas on everything that’s wedding related – how to choose your wedding cake or a color scheme, for example.

This is a fabulous resource for wedding-related vendors from all over the country. You can search by geographic area to find vendors who are close to you – you can browse multiple geographic areas to find vendors such as Purple Raincoat, who service the entire country. The vendor websites offer you a chance to learn about providers and services that might be useful to you.

Wedding Wire also is the place for engaged couples and the recently married to review their vendors, helping those with upcoming weddings to benefit from your experience. So if you have ordered or received a Purple Raincoat framed wedding invitation keepsake, you will be invited to post a review of Purple Raincoat on the website. And don’t stop with Purple Raincoat if you’re a recently married couple - anyone who posts reviews of five vendors gets a gift card from Martha Stewart, so why not let those with upcoming weddings benefit from your experience?

Purple Raincoat is proud to be affiliated with Martha Stewart and Wedding Wire. You can find Purple Raincoat’s listing in the Boston geographic area under these categories: Unique Services, Flowers and Décor, and Invitations and Favors. The “unique services” category includes everything from fancy porta-potties to horse-and-carriage rentals to pole dancing parties…things you didn't know you needed!

Still working on your invitations? Martha Stewart has a beautifully illustrated article on different invitation styles. If you’re looking for creative ways to combine wording and design for an invitation that completely reflects your style and personality, check out these samples. Here’s one new and creative idea: a letterpress invitation made from the bride’s handwriting (see the sample “Loaded with Laid-Back Charm”).

Once you have your invitations, be sure to give Purple Raincoat the opportunity to turn it into a one-of-a-kind keepsake that will bring back the memories of your special day (and all the hard work that went into it). After the wedding is over, the invitation is one of the few tangible “things” you have left – it makes a wonderful keepsake, but not when it is stuck in a drawer. Purple Raincoat will showcase your invitation as a unique work of art that is not only meaningful but also beautiful in its own right. Contact us – or ask someone special to order one for you. Cheers!

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 III: Wording

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



Don’t let this happen to you.
Most people work hard to get just the right wording that sets the tone for your event and makes your guests feel welcome. The wrestling over wording can get intense even under the best of circumstances. This "invitation" is an example of someone’s imagination running wild. I have to admit that I like the combination of script and block fonts – it’s quite elegant, actually. Looks can be deceiving, can’t they?

Etiquette books (and websites) suggest appropriate invitation wordings for almost every occasion, and every variant of that occasion – bar/bat mitzvahs for twins, weddings where the parents have divorced and remarried, and so on. You will also find many examples in the invitation books. If you don’t see one that feels right, create your own.

There are (almost) no rules (although it is generally accepted that you should not say “request the honor of your presence” unless a ceremony of some kind is being held in a house of worship).

At a minimum, you should make sure that your wording includes the name/s of those whose occasion is being celebrated, along with the time, place, and date of the event.

On more formal invitations, it is customary to use words rather than numbers for dates and times:

Saturday, the sixth of November
Two thousand and four
at eleven o’clock in the morning

But if you’re pressed for space on your invitation you may want to consolidate:

at 11:00AM on Saturday, November 6, 2004

Other things you may want to include either on the invitation or on a separate reception card:

• An opening “invitation” – “Please join us as we celebrate a special day in our family’s life…” or “We request the honor of your presence at the marriage of …”

• An indication of who is hosting the event: Join us as we celebrate our marriage” for a couple hosting their own wedding; “Sylvia Smith and John Jones cordially invite you to attend the wedding of our daughter…”. You can choose to use “Mr. and Mrs. Jones” or Sylvia and John Smith-Jones – use whatever feels right to you and is the custom in your community (again, ask your dealer for help).

• A statement regarding the formality of the occasion: “Black tie” to indicate that formal wear is required; “Business Casual” if khakis and boat shoes are acceptable; “Flip flops welcomed” for a seaside event. (By the way, I believe that an event should be Black Tie or not – the “black tie optional” option is almost guaranteed to make some people feel underdressed and some overdressed – but that’s just my opinion. I am fond of the “Creative Black Tie” option, as well as “Party Attire.)

• An indication of the length of the event: “Join us for dinner and dancing from seven until ten o’clock in the evening” – this is particularly helpful for events where parents may be required to pick up their children at the end of an afternoon or evening event.

If you follow these suggestions, you will be able to create "an invitation to remember" - one that captures the spirit of your event. Which of course you will want to preserve as a framed keepsake of your wedding, which Purple Raincoat will be happy to create for you. See our newest samples of wedding invitation framed keepsakes and bar/bat mitzvah invitation framed keepsakes on our website, www.purpleraincoat.com.

When your friends ask what you want for a gift, be sure to send them to our ordering page so they will get all the information they need to select the perfect gift for you.

What’s cream and black and red all over?

Happy Valentine’s Day! Because this is the day when roses and the color “red” rule the world, I thought I would share a collage that takes a simple cream and black invitation and kicks it up several notches by adding red roses.

When I was gathering papers for this collage, I came across some gorgeous red rose printed paper by Stemma. The roses on the paper are so vivid you can almost smell them.

Previously, I had worked with white, pink, and yellow rose paper, but I had never seen red rose paper, and I was drawn to it immediately. The dark tones of this paper just seemed to complement this invitation, so I decided to be bold and "go red" with this keepsake.



Along with the red rose paper (see it in the lower left corner), textured paper in various shades of cream, red, and black are incorporated into the design. Texture and dimension are added by the unusual "fabric" paper with the red, black and gold floral print, the beaded cream paper, black ribbon, satin flowers, and gold and black skeleton leaves.

Sometimes, people tell me they don’t want to have Purple Raincoat create a collage because they receive an invitation that they think is “too simple” or even “ugly.” I say that just as all babies are beautiful in their own way, all invitations have “inner beauty” that doesn’t always shine through until put into the right context. And that’s what Purple Raincoat can do, no matter what the invitation looks like.

And here's something I learned today about St. Valentine: "He is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, young people." According to the same source, "saints are not supposed to rest in peace; they're expected to keep busy: to perform miracles, to intercede. Being in jail or dead is no excuse for non-performance of the supernatural." So if you need a miracle in any of these areas, now you know who to ask.

On MSNBC, Keith Olberman just mentioned the beekeepers and as he noted, maybe that's why we call each other "honey". Have a sweet day.

Purple Raincoat collages make any day a sweet day. Visit us at www.purpleraincoat.com to see samples of our unique collages, which make the most memorable gifts.

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.