Thank You Notes

I'm happy to report that all of our 100+ thank you notes are finished! Mr. Bliss and I spent several Sunday afternoons working through our list and writing them.

While choosing the design of our thank you notes, I found inspiration in an unlikely place - our toasting flutes.


Belle Boulevard toasting flutes by kate spade.

The flutes were a gift from a bridesmaid and I just loved the design. As I was going through Crane's new wedding collections I discovered that kate spade had just introduced a new Belle Boulevard wedding suite. The correspondence cards in yellow were just right for our thank you notes.


kate spade for Crane & Co. Belle Boulevard correspondence cards.

Now what exactly were we to write in those pretty cards? According to Crane's Wedding Blue Book, there's a simple formula for a thank you note:

- Greet the giver.
- Express your thanks.
- Say something nice about the gift and how you will use it.
- Mention the past, allude to the future.
- Repeat your thanks.

Here's an example:

Dear Aunt Kay and Uncle Joe,

Thank you so much for lovely crystal cake plate. I'm looking forward to baking now that we have such a beautiful piece to display the goodies!

It was wonderful, as always, to see you both at the wedding. I especially enjoyed dancing to the oldies with Uncle Joe. We are looking forward to seeing you at Thanksgiving and telling you all about our adventures in Hawaii!

Thanks again for your generosity.

With love,

Mr. and Mrs. Bliss

Eyelet Invitations

A reader just wrote in asking for more invitation details so I thought I would share more with everyone. Check out these new beautiful shots of the Bliss wedding invitations.






photos by Daria Bishop Photography

The main invitation piece is a Crane 64lb white embassy card. The paper is 100 percent cotton and feels amazingly thick. The pretty eyelet design was blind debossed, which basically means that image was pressed into the paper (like letterpress without the ink). The debossing of the eyelet design combined with the thickness and the quality of the paper resulted in a beautiful, textured eyelet detail. For the lettering, we chose engraving, which is a highly skilled form of raised printing. Check out this video to see how exactly engraving works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6N2r7zUv9g. It's amazing how long a bride can agonize over fonts! After much deliberation, we went with Charter Roman and Colonial Script.


The corners on all of the invitation pieces are rounded. This is actually done by hand at Crane! It's a very smooth corner, not the result you would get when working with a punch corner rounder. The invitations are fairly formal, so I wanted the copy on the reception card to have a bit of whimsy. Instead of "Reception," we went with "dinner, dancing & happily ever after." The choices on the response card were "Will be there to celebrate" and "Sends best wishes and regrets."


Coming up: programs and how we incorporated the eyelet design into other wedding details. I also have more wedding photos!

How Inviting!

While I have been BFF with the FedEx man for a few months now, there was an afternoon when he brought me a box that was more special than any of the others. A box that I quickly carried to a quiet place and opened with care. As I peeled away the layers of tissue and pulled out the heavy cardstock, it struck me that while most of planning is around a wedding, these special pieces of paper were here to remind me that what we are really doing is creating a marriage.

I could almost feel the pride in the strong charter roman font featuring my parents' names. And seeing Mr. Bliss and my names engraved together in a lovely script was enough to make me stop for a moment and take it all in.

So without further adieu, the Bliss wedding invitations.

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Lessons in Calligraphy: Part III

So here is my last post on calligraphy, then we can get on to the invitations!

If you are working with a calligrapher, you'll be sending her your invitation list as well as your box of envelopes (be sure to include extras!). Do not underestimate the time it will take to get this list together! You'll think, "I already have my guest list, it's been made for months." However, in addition to names and addresses, you will need formal titles as well direction for the inner envelopes (if you are having them) for the calligrapher. It is best to be as specific as possible.

I consulted the Blue Book for most of my questions. There is also great information to be found here.

Here are the rules that I used the most when making my list...

Married Couple
Outside Envelope

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Cruise
Inside Envelope

Mr. and Mrs. Cruise
With Children Under the Age of 18 (if you are inviting children)

Mr. and Mrs. Cruise
Suri

Unmarried Couple Living Together
Outside Envelope

Ms. Angelina Jolie
Mr. Brad Pitt
Inside Envelope

Ms. Jolie
Mr. Pitt

Single Person Invited with a Guest
Outside Envelope

Ms. Cameron Diaz
Inside Envelope

Ms. Diaz and Guest

You will run into all sorts of situations when you making your list, whether it be addressing a doctor, a judge or a married woman who has kept her maiden name. I recommend having a reference book on hand and a lot of patience!

Lessons in Calligraphy: Part II

I first heard about Michele Clark calligraphy over on WeddingBee. The bees were raving about her gorgeous calligraphy that was extremely affordable. Every glowing review mentioned how prompt and responsive she was.

I immediately emailed her (she doesn't have a website) and she had one week available in our timeframe to do our invitations (I told you calligraphers book up early!).

Now here comes another lesson for brides - if you are doing calligraphy and still deciding on or designing your invitations, I suggest ordering your envelopes first. If you know the color and size of the invitations you are looking for, place the order for the outer envelopes. That way you will have plenty of time to get them to your calligrapher without stressing and frantically tracking UPS packages. I was so happy that I did this. It gave me more time to work on my invitation design and I was able to ship the envelopes and calligraphy list to Michele ahead of schedule (something that has rarely happened during all of this planning).

And here are the lovely results in Michele's fine-flourished script:

June Showers

Now that I'm back from the Stationery Show, I'm in a sea of to-do lists (of the wedding variety). But tasks aside, the fun is really beginning to start! This month we'll be taking a trip to Cape Cod with Mr. Bliss' family, I'll be attending my very own bridal shower and then I'm off to the shower of one of my bestest friends. Christa is getting married a few weeks before me in August and let me tell you, there is nothing better than sharing this crazy/wonderful time with a great friend. Our weekly phone calls minimally last an hour now as we dish about all of our details and to-dos. I am so grateful to be sharing this experience with a wonderful friend!

While we're keeping the details of Christa's shower under wraps, all of the guests have received their invitations so I can give you a peek. Since the bride loves to cook (she'd be a terrific fill-in for Giada on the Food Network should she ever choose to retire), we decided to ask each woman to bring a special recipe to share with Christa at the shower.

I found the cutest recipe cards from Etsy seller WinifredStudios.




Then I bought pretty imprintable invitations. I was on a short time frame so imprintables were perfect because I was able to print them at home and have them ready in a few days.



The two pieces paired together perfectly.



I wrapped it all up with a coordinating double-faced satin ribbon and they were ready to go.



Before I left for the stationery show, I made a quick trip to the post office and off the invites went. Now I just hope that guests remember to bring their recipe cards to the shower!

Day 2 from the Stationery Show

Yesterday was a blur of activity.

First, I started out the day bright and early with 2 essential things for stationery show survival: caffeine and flat shoes.

From retailers to the media, the booth was crowded throughout the day. One of the highlights was the visit from the Martha Stewart Weddings team. These stylemakers know their stationery!

Here's a shot of Martha Stewart Weddings Editorial Director Darcy Miller catching up with Crane Brand Director Megan Kuntze.

Wedding magic is definitely in the air at the stationery show, but there's another brand of magic that is also making a big impression at the Crane booth...

(the man behind the magic)

Crane and Disney have partnered to create the Walt Disney Signature line of stationery - paper celebrating Walt's own vision and creative spirit.

From my first movie theatre experience (Snow White) to my first spin on Alice's wild teacups at Disney World at age 4, Disney has provided me with the fondest of childhood memories. Needless to say, it has been a thrill to be involved in the partnership between Crane & Walt Disney.

After the show the Crane Insider and I headed over to the Mandarin Oriental for the official launch party of the Walt Disney Signature stationery collection.

Luisa Huang, Senior Manager of New Business Development for Disney Consumer Products next to the Sleeping Beauty display at the Mandarin

The collection includes stationery, as well as beautiful journals by Eccolo and pens by Monteverde.

It was great fun to meet all partners involved in the project at the launch party. And after a full day inside the Javits Center, we enjoyed quite a view...

Crane's historian Peter Hopkins and me

Stationery Show - Day 1

We had a busy first day at the show with of the biggest names in wedding blogging stopping by the booth to see what was new.

First we had the stylish Vane of Brooklyn Bride, fresh from her inspiring wedding and European honeymoon. We had fun designing correspondence cards featuring her new initials. Here she is with me in front of our kate spade display window. She'll be guest blogging about weddings at design*sponge this week, so be sure to pop over there and check it out.




Next was Anne Chertoff of From From "I Will" to "I Do" , the oh-so-helpful wedding blog on iVillage. Here she is with the Crane Insider choosing colors for her correspondence cards.



Stay tuned for much more later!

Greetings from the National Stationery Show!

I have so much updating to do to the blog! From honeymoon planning to creating invitations for one my best friend's bridal showers - it's been a busy few weeks! But now my focus is on the National Stationery Show, and I'm blogging live from the Javits Center in NYC.

As the National Stationery Show Girls reported on Thursday, the Crane booth was just beginning to be built.



Peter Hopkins captured the walk-through at the booth yesterday.

And today we are ready to go!

Save-the-Date Part II

Once we had the wonderful map from Laura in hand, we had to figure out what to do with it. I considered creating a postcard with the map, but I was afraid the pretty little thing would arrive scarred with stickers and postal bar codes. After consulting the designers at Crane, we decided on a classic z-fold design.

We worked with Laura on the save-the-date text (I love her whimsical calligraphy) and she created an icon for the front of the save-the-date. We then sent all the files to Crane to be printed on 100 percent cotton Museo paper.

A week later, the save-the-dates arrived and we loved the final result.

I wanted to wrap something around the z-fold for presentation, so it was the perfect opportunity to bring in our primary wedding color: butter yellow. Armed with Offray satin ribbon and glue dots, I created simple ribbon wraps for the save-the-date cards.

Ta-da!

I addressed the envelopes (more on that in another post), affixed the pretty boat stamp and they were ready for the Post Office!

Save-the-Date Part I

It took us quite a while to decide what to do for save-the-date cards. There are so many cute options out there, from fun to formal. Vintage post cards were considered, as were photos. But when I stumbled upon Laura Hooper's whimsical maps, I knew I had found the perfect thing.

Throughout the wedding planning process, I've learned that if you wait and research long enough, the right idea will come. I showed map examples to Mr. Bliss and he was sold. In addition to using the map as part of the save-the-date we are looking forward to having one matted and framed to hang at home.

I called Laura, who is such a gracious and talented gal, and we started immediately planning the map together. Mr. Bliss and I wanted the map to show our guests just what we loved about our Lake Placid wedding location. For Mr. Bliss this meant showcasing the river that he has spent many summers fly-fishing with his brother in, as well as the local Pub & Brewery which makes award-winning microbrews. I love walking down Main Street Lake Placid with its boutiques and quaint candy shops, and Mr. Bliss and I spent a day on Whiteface Mountain early in our relationship so both of those were my choice to be highlighted. We shared the important wedding locations with Laura and a week later, this delightful file was in my inbox:

We couldn't be happier with the map. Stay tuned for Part II: how we incorporated the map into the save-the-date.

Signed, Sealed & Delivered

Well our Save-the-Dates are in the trusty hands of the United States Postal Service now. I made sure to send one to my parents a few days before the rest of the family would receive theirs. My dad's response? "I got something in the mail today reminding me when you're getting married! Did ya think I'd forget the date?" You've got to love a father's reaction to all of the wedding planning details.

And when it comes to details, I can find a lot to obsess over. So when it came time to stamp the save-the-dates, the Liberty Bell stamp just wasn't what I was looking for (could be cute for a Philly wedding, though).

I was delighted to find these at my local Post Office (was not so delighted to spend my entire lunch break waiting in line to buy them):

Our wedding is in a quaint Adirondack lake town. A town where one of the main attractions is taking boat tours to view the great Adirondack camps, like this:

I thought the stamps were perfect. I'm thinking about finding some great vintage stamps for our invitations, but I'm not so sure I'm up to the task of collecting them. Stay tuned.