Weddings | Kristin & Chris

“Beauty in Simplicity.”  If I had only one phrase to describe the wedding invitations we designed and printed for New York City couple, Kristin & Chris, who were married this past June in Rye, that would be the phrase.  Kristin & Chris had a gorgeous vision for a romantic, but very simple and clean set of invites for their wedding.  Their ceremony was held at Rye Presbyterian Church in upstate New York, and their reception was held at the Coveleigh Club shortly after.  Very rarely do I get to meet my clients in person when they are on the other side of the country, but I was very lucky to get to meet Kristin in person in New York City while I was attending the National Stationery Show in May.  I just love Kristin’s style and it was wonderful to get to see some of the photos from her wedding on her photographer’s website!

You can see their full invitation suite in the photo at the top of this post.  It included a traditional A7 size invitation printed in one ink color: a soft, warm, medium grey, a matching 4bar size reply card with corresponding envelope, a small 2.5″ square reception card and a set of inner/outer invitation envelopes.  The outer invitation envelope was simply printed with the couple’s return address on the back flap, and the inner envelope had no printing, but was lined with a stunning and bright, handmade, Japanese paper.

Check out this gorgeous invitation!  I just love how simple and beautiful it is.  Kristin and Chris wanted all of the emphasis of this design to be on the actual text of their invitation, with their names being the most prominent element.  We chose a contemporary, classy, all-caps, serif typeface for the main text of the invitation and then, to make their names really stand out, we chose a softer, lower-case script typeface and embellished each name with some flourishes.  To add a touch of softness to the whole package, we chose to round all of the corners of each of the main pieces (invite, reply card and reception card).  These invitations were printed on thick, 100% cotton, 220 lb. Crane Lettra Duplex Paper in Pearl White.  We paired the invitations with a matching set of inner and outer A7 pointed flap envelopes, also from Crane, and printed Kristin’s parent’s return address on the flap of the outer envelope in the same style and same grey ink.  To add a major splash of color to the suite, Kristin picked out a lovely multi-colored, striped, handmade Japanese paper that we used to hand-line each inner envelope.  You can see a close up of the inner and outer envelopes in the photo in the top right of the grouping above and you can see the whole thing in the photo at the top of the post!  Gorgeous, don’t you think?!?

To tie the suite together even more and to add a little bit of color to each individual piece, we edge painted Kristin and Chris’ invitation, reply card and reception card with a bright pink ink that matched some of the striping of her envelope.

I just love how edge painting adds a little color to an invitation without being over-the-top.  This bright pink was just the perfect touch to add to an otherwise, pretty monochromatic suite.  Check out the texture from the letterpress printing in the photo above too!  Love it!

Here is Kristin and Chris’ reply card on the left and reception card on the right.  I love how simple Kristin and Chris’ response card was.  It really goes well with her invitation and other pieces.  Sometimes reply cards can get overly busy, particularly if you have a lot of different events to have guests respond to for your wedding.  Kristin and Chris’, however, was pure simplicity.  It just tied in with everything else so perfectly.

Since they were having their reception at a different venue than their ceremony, Kristin and Chris chose to include a separate reception card with their invitations.  This small card is only 2.5″ square and featured rounded corners and edge-painting like the other pieces.  Again, I love the elegant use of lower-case script combined with the more formal all-caps serif font.  So lovely!

A few weeks before their wedding, well after the invitations had been mailed out, Kristin hired me to design and print a set of matching wedding programs as well.

Kristin and Chris’ wedding programs were a long, skinny #10 size (measuring 3.875″x9.25″ when folded) and were printed on our standard 110 lb. Crane Lettra 100% cotton pearl white paper.  The programs folded in half on the long side and featured a “cover” with Kristin & Chris’ names and their wedding day information on the front side.  The interior had information on their wedding party on the left-hand side and their actual ceremony information on the right.  We used the lower-case script font we’d been using throughout their stationery for the headers on the inside of the program, and the serif, all-caps font for the other program information.

My favorite part of Kristin & Chris’ programs though were the message they wrote to their family and friends that we printed on the back of each program.  You should be able to read it in the photo above.  It was just lovely.

So, are you ready to see some photos of their gorgeous event?!?  I was so excited to see these when Kristin sent them. These photos, as well as the portraits of Kristin and Chris closer to the top of this post were taken by Dreamscape Studio Photography in Southern Connecticut.  Check them out:

(Photos courtesy of Dreamscape Studio Photography)

I just love the old Presbyterian Church where Kristin and Chris were married in Rye.  We just don’t have churches quite like that on the west coast.  The architecture is so beautiful.  I also loved the photos that you can see above of Kristin and Chris with their bridesmaids and groomsmen.  I love that Kristin’s bridesmaid’s wore pink dresses just like the pink edge painting we did on her invitations, and the pink striped paper we used for her envelope liners.  I also just love all of the different colored roses they had in their bouquets!

(Photos courtesy of Dreamscape Studio Photography)

There’s some absolutely gorgeous photos of the couple in the grouping above!  Aren’t Kristin and Chris just gorgeous people?!?  You can see the Coveleigh Club, where they held their reception, in the photo on the bottom right.  Kristin just has the prettiest smile, and check out their gorgeous cake!  Those orchids are amazing!

Kristin and Chris were an absolutely wonderful couple to work with and I’m so glad I got to meet Kristin while I was visiting New York City!  Thanks so much again, you two, for working with us on your wedding invitations, and for sharing photos from your lovely event!  All the best to you!