INSPIRATION FILE // CHURCH BASEMENT WEDDING REDUX

This post started out as a year in review type post. I did a lot of interesting jobs and projects last year and wasn't the best about blogging them. The first work I chose to look at was this photo shoot revisiting the church basement reception popularized in the 1950's and 1960's. This shoot was originally produced for Hearten, the online magazine of the Independent Wedding Association.

I couldn't boil down my work on Hearten or this shoot to a couple images so I'm turning it into an Inspiration File post. There are just too many good ideas that would make for a quaint and personal wedding reception or rehearsal dinner. I adore this invitation suite and though it was created for this shoot, I am just dying for a couple to love it and have it for their wedding. I have highlighted my stationery work for this post, but go and see Hearten for the full spread with more great ideas from this and other shoots.

Credits:

Stationery: Armato Design & Press

Food: Chow Girls Killer Catering

Pie on a stick: Cocoa & Fig

Flowers: Ashley Fox Designs

Apron: Roycraft

Photography: Becca Dilley Photography, Sarah McGee Photography

Alternative Guest Book Ideas

{guests fill out what their recipe for love is and leave a note for the bride and groom}

Recipe Card Favors

Invitation Suite

Guest Book Cards, Recipe Card Favors and Food Tags

Alternative Layout for the Cover of the Hearten Spread

Church Basement Buffet

Minnesota Shaped Pie-on-a-Stick

Floral Centerpiece

IN THE STUDIO // S A L E !

I am offering customers 10% off of my customizable letterpress holiday photo cards through November 6th, 2011. These cards are letterpress printed on 100% cotton card stock with choice of color, font and greeting and include white envelopes and self-adhesive, beveled photo corners. Check out the entire selection here.

Wouldn't these make a great engagement announcement or first-Holiday-as-a-married-couple card? Letterpress is a wonderful match for the artful photography that couples get for their engagements and weddings. Those photos are so special, couples want to share them and a luscious letterpress holiday card is a great way to honor the beauty of such a special time in their life together.

I have also had a number of people use these as a combination baby announcement/holiday card. At such a busy yet exciting time it is a great idea to send one card for both occasions.

These cards are especially nice for two reasons: first, they're letterpress. In a sea of canned photo cards it is so lovely to pull a hand printed piece of cotton paper out of an envelope. It's the best way to express warm wishes, I think. Secondly, and more practically (especially for engagement/wedding and baby photos), the photo is removable for use past the holidays. No more holiday cards stuck on the refrigerator taking up too much space, just the photo. And in the case of the reverse mounted cards the photos are frame size. The sender is not only sending a card but a small photo gift.

To get this great deal order at my etsy shop and then use the coupon code FACEBOOK. If you need larger quantities than what is there feel free to contact me at amy{at}armatodesign{dot}com.

Photo mounted on reverse of card.

Wallet size photo mounted on front of card.

IN THE STUDIO // HEARTEN

Open publication - Free publishing - More minneapolis

I'm so thrilled to be able to introduce to you Hearten, the online magazine of the Independent Wedding Association! This has been a pet project of mine for some time now. We started talking about it last spring, did the photo shoots this summer and wrote, designed and edited it this fall and now it's here! Take a look, won't you?

Hearten {whose tag line is "Encouragement & Ideas for your Twin Cities Wedding"} was born out of a desire to provide Twin Cities couples with education, inspiration and comfort. We wanted a magazine that was more than just pretty pictures {though there are lots of them too}. We wanted real content for couples to go to when planning their wedding from vendors who are close to what they do and LOVE what they do. So while we do have two glorious photo shoots with great ideas AND gorgeous photos, we also have features like "Glossary" which, in this issue, defines the terms used in floral design. Do you know what a pomander is? You will after you read Hearten. There are other great features in this issue that you'll have to see for yourself and there will be even more in future issues.

I will be posting more photos of the stationery I designed for the two shoots in the coming days. I hope you enjoy Hearten as much as we enjoyed putting it together and bringing it to you.

IN THE STUDIO // AS SEEN IN... MINNESOTA BRIDE

There we are on page 34 of the Fall/Winter issue of Minnesota Bride! Our sunflower invitation, reply card and thank you. Oh goodness, I love seeing our designs on the glossy pages of a magazine. And check out the cover! I just love the design, the fashion, the great company we're in. Thanks so much to Minnesota Bride for continuously supporting the great wedding talent we have here.

Just in case you can't read what they had to say about us:

Flower Power

While this style and layout are predetermined, the wording, font and colors can be adapted for your celebration. At Armato Design & Press, even the printing method is customizable: choose from luxurious letterpress, mid-priced offset printing or a PDF file, allowing you to select your own printer. The sunflower design—one of designer Amy Armato’s favorites—mixes a modern mood with a nature motif, a perfect fit for a pastoral wedding setting.
Armato Design & Press, 612.387.4844, armatodesign.com

You can read more about the sunflower invitation here. And here's another feature in Minnesota Bride.

IN THE STUDIO // SUNFLOWER INVITATION

Introducing my new favorite invitation: The Sunflower. I especially love how it is a very modern take on a pretty rustic flower. This is a closely cropped bright yellow and chocolate brown sunflower letterpress printed on 100% cotton bright white paper with a bright yellow envelope that has a full bleed {runs off the end of the flap} cropped sunflower. Of course it can be printed in any color combination you wish {I would love to see it in a deep orange and charcoal gray}. This one was printed for Sharon's big 40th birthday blowout, but wouldn't it make a lovely invitation for a fall wedding?

IN THE STUDIO // UPTOWN MODERN

It was a pleasure to work with so many creative wedding professionals (many from the IWA) on this inspiration shoot for which I did the stationery. Though not the central focus, vendors were encouraged to be as eco-friendly as possible. With this in mind I created a stationery suite that minimizes paper use and maximizes smart design. This is most evident in the invitation which is printed on both sides and is divided in the middle by a perforation. The top of the invitation has all of the pertinent information for the wedding, the bottom has a reply post card. For the back of the stationery, the top of the invitation (the piece that the guest keeps) has directions to the event, the bottom (on the back of the reply) has a return address with postage affixed. This piece does minimize paper which makes the design of the piece that much more important. Great attention was paid to the design of the invitation as a whole keeping in mind what the pieces will look like when separated.
Other paper minimizing features include signs that replace individual place cards and a sweets menu sign. Another minimalistic consideration would be a menu sign. For this shoot, however, individual menus worked better for highlighting place settings.

Thanks to Katrina Hannemann of Studio Laguna for not only organizing the shoot but for taking the gorgeous photos.
It was also wonderful working with the following talented wedding vendors:
Grace Bridal Boutique (now available at Posh Bridal)
Five Event Center
BeEvents
Sassafras Floral Design
JWP Jewelry Design
Heimie’s Haberdashery
Fabulous Catering
Jessica’s Cakes

IN THE STUDIO // STYLE SHOT NUMBER 3

Here's the third of four style shots Erica Loeks and I did for an upcoming marketing project I'm putting together for Armato Design & Press. Read more about the invitation here.

IN THE STUDIO // STYLE SHOT NUMBER 2

Here's the second styled shot that Erica Loeks and I designed. The goal with this invitation was to make ginkgo leaves look winter-y. Mission accomplished. Charcoal gray will do that pretty well and the violet color is just cool enough without being predictable {a.k.a. blue}. Go here to read more about the invitation.

{A GIRL} YOU SHOULD KNOW // ROSANN KONIECZNY

I love letters. Their form, their design, their shape as an object, their way of conjuring complex emotions with their simplicity. When I get a new font specimen book in the mail I pour over it like it's a long awaited love letter. I. Love. Letters. I have always wanted to try my hand at calligraphy and, believe me, someday I will. But for now I will leave the beautiful art of hand lettering up to people like Rosann Konieczny.

Rosann began her career as a graphic designer specializing in hand lettering and type design. Then motherhood called and her career took a different path. She was able to pursue her passion for hand lettering and her desire to provide a unique and personal service. Rosann is a Minnesota based artist who has clients from around the nation. She specializes in wedding stationery, but also has clients like The American Institute of Architects, Minneapolis Saint Paul magazine, Twin Cities Business Monthly, Carlson Companies, and Fantasy Flight Games.

I am just waiting for a client to come to me wanting a letterpress hand lettered invitation or business logo. I know just where to go.

P.S. {A Girl} You Should Know is a new post category highlighting a Minnesota wedding professional. And yes, sometimes it will be {A Guy} You Should Know.

MINI SESSION REPOST // TELLING YOUR STORY

This post was originally inspired by a post I saw iDiY and I thought it was a perfect subject for my week of mini session reposts. Granted, I made up the story but it just serves to remind you of the little things in your life that may give you inspiration for your stationery. Loving pattern as much as I do, the entire post made me swoon. That's right, a security envelope made me swoon. MANY security envelopes made me swoon. Oh, the things we take for granted.

When starting the custom design process, I encourage my bridal clients to think about what inspires them, what is meaningful to them in their relationship as a couple and as individuals, what do they just plainly like to look at? I like to look at patterns like these {found here}:



So, to illustrate my point, I thought I would create a sketch of an invitation for a bride who was really taken with security envelope patterns. Maybe she's an artist and he's an accountant and they wrote love letters to each other, and all of his letters came in security envelopes written at and sent from work. Feeling too shy about writing love letters at work and sending them from work, he wrote quick and slipped each note into an envelope with patterns such as these on the inside. And now, because of him, she associates these patterns with the pattern of their love story {which is way better than thinking of bills when seeing these patterns, in her opinion}. She wants them on their wedding invitations but, with an artistic twist, she wants to see them in sunflower yellow an steel grey. And can you imagine the fun she will have with envelope liners?

See? This is how an invitation can take shape if you dig deep and think inside the envelope {if you'll allow the very appropriate pun}. Here's a closer look:

IN THE STUDIO // WEDDING BOOTCAMP

I am participating in the Independent Wedding Association's Something New wedding fair this Saturday. This is an organization I am so proud to be a part of and it's fair is top-notch. Always at the best locations, always the most creative wedding vendors the cities have to offer and always the best information a to-be-wed could want and need. This fair is offering a Wedding Boot Camp where vendors will speak on various topics like "Libations 101" and "Eco Chic Weddings".

I will be talking about branding your wedding. I will go over some of the questions I ask my clients to think about and answer when I'm trying to come up with a custom design for them. Things that couples wouldn't necessarily think about but questions that would help create an invitation that speaks to who they are as a couple. This also could be seen as a "how to communicate to your designer to get what you want" mini-session. And if a couple isn't interested in custom work thinking about these questions would help them find a pre-designed invitation easier.

INSPIRATION FILE // VERY FALL COLOR

Another 100 Layer Cake color board. Not only are the colors fabulous together but check out the dress, the eyes and especially the hand written stationery. Lovely.

INSPIRATION FILE // INVENTION

Sometimes, even in wedding planning {but certainly in the life of a creative}, one needs to heed the words above. This piece by Maira Kalman in Thursday's New York Times called And the Pursuit of Happines is a great reminder that creativity too must be invented {though I have a strong belief that it is just easier for some people than others}. So when you just don't know what you can do to make your wedding different from every other wedding out there, to make it yours and yours alone, go to these words and then "don't mope in your room, go invent something".

Incidently, this is a great piece for wedding stationery inspiration as well. Note the calligraphy above and dig these illustrations:

Now that's talent.

IN THE STUDIO // NEW MINI CARD DESIGNS

New mini card designs are now available at the Armato Design Etsy shop along with this and this design. Just let me know which one you want, what color, what font and what information and you're set with 100 cards for just $85 {plus shipping and sales taxes if you are in Minnesota}. All letterpress printed on 100% cotton paper measuring 2" x 2".

INSPIRATION FILE // THE PERFECT WEDDING FONT?

I'm thinking about fonts today and how they really are the first thing I go to for inspiration and guidance when designing a custom invitation. Nosing around My Fonts and Veer {find the link to the above font, Zanzibar, below} here are a few script fonts that may be perfect for a wedding invitation. None of them are traditional, per se, but have a classic feeling to them. In future font related posts I hope to show other font options, less classic, more artful. These are a great start.

Allyson

Avalanche Script

Fling

Gravura


Riva


Sudestada


Zanzibar


Feel Script