All this talk about letterpress wedding invitation designs has got me hungry! So today I decided it would be a great time to talk about another very important aspect of your wedding (as much as I try to tell myself otherwise, there is more to a wedding than amazing letterpress invitations), the cake!

Actually, I wanted to talk more about the alternatives to the traditional cake. Many brides in 2010 are steering away from the conventional layered cake style weddings. In fact one of the fastest growing trends in the wedding industry is finding, designing and ordering amazingly decadent and uniquely personalized wedding cake replacements.

I am talking about organic vegan cupcakes and individually glazed donuts that will melt in your mouth. Cheesecake lollipops, heart shaped fudge brownies, or hand crafted biscotti all arranged in a artful and elegant manner.

If you want to make your wedding celebration a little extra special, try integrating your favorite desert into the celebration.

Not that there is anything wrong with cake or the newlywed couple cake cutting tradition, but for those that want to do something a little different, the wedding dessert arena is a delicious place to start!

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

It’s wedding season again! Which means it is time to show off our new South Asian and Indian letterpress wedding invitation card designs. This week we are unveiling Rana 2, the newest addition to our ever growing South Asian and Indian letterpress design gallery.

This festive yet formal design is complete with a whimsical design that carries over from the invitation to the RSVP and reception cards. It is a beautiful two color design that is available with letterpress or digital printing (shown).

Click here to request free samples

One of the most striking elements of the Rana 2 invitation set is the shimmer and shine that the Petallics Beargrass paper provides. Move this invitation through the light and your eyes will see a soft, yet distinctive brilliance that few other papers can provide.

Whether you are planning a South Asian or Indian themed wedding celebration or simply love the cultural appeal, the Rana 2 wedding invitation set is sure to impress your guests!

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

It’s the wedding planning season and time to prepare for your wedding celebration. For those of us without a wedding planner, I have decided to create a quick month by month check list of all the major things that need to be planned. Everything from venues to wedding invitations:

1 Year Before Your Wedding Ceremony

If you haven’t done this already, picking a day, place and time is probably the first thing you should do. Make sure to reserve the wedding venue for both the ceremony and celebration, because these places tend to be reserved well in advance and dictate a lot of the future planning details.

5-9 Months

It’s now the time to start looking for the other elements of your wedding celebration. Caterers, photographers, DJ’s (or decide on an Ipod w/ a stellar play list ), florists and wedding gowns should all be picked by this time.

3-5 months

Now is the time to start thinking about wedding invitations. Whether your wedding invitations are going to be letterpress, offset or digital, picking the design and printing style that you want is important. Think of matching the venue, season or wedding theme with your invitation set. Also, if you haven’t picked your wedding rings yet, now is the time to do it.

2-4 months

Get the final headcount for your guest list and mail out your invitations. The optimal advance notice to give your guests is 12 weeks, so aim for as close to that as possible.

2-4 weeks

Check to see who has not returned their RSVP and contact them to get a better idea of exactly how many guests will be coming. See if your wedding rings are ready yet and order your wedding programs, menus, table markers and placecards now.

0-2 weeks

Get the final guest count and pass this information along to the caterers. Make sure everyone in the wedding ceremony has their proper clothes and finalize your vows (make sure he does too…).

The Day Before

Do Not Panic! Tomorrow will be the most wonderful day.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

The Dessy Group, a wedding and bridesmaid dress manufacturer, recently partnered with the folks at Pantone Inc. to produce the first ever Pantone Wedding™ Color Guide. It is a beautiful array of new 2010 wedding color selections that are conveniently arranged by color tone.

Photo courtesy of The Dessy Group

This wedding wheel of colors is an essential tool for brides that want to match the colors of their gowns, bridesmaid dresses, flowers, table linens and, most importantly, their letterpress invitation sets! You can order from Dessy individual swatches for $10 or the whole book for the very reasonable price of $35.

When you stop to think of how much time, thought and consideration goes into planning the color schemes for most wedding celebrations, everything from invitation designs to corsage selections, having one book that you can quickly reference and make notes in can be a lifesaver.

I am so excited that this wedding color guide is finally available. I cannot wait to start integrating the unique color schemes and combinations into our new letterpress wedding invitation designs for our brides. Dresses, flower selections, wedding decorations, paper, ink and invitations will never be the same!

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

For the creative bride to be, paper selection for your wedding invitations can be a very important job. If you are like me and like a lot of options, then you will enjoy this display of eco chic, environmentally themed papers from Gmund.

Gmund has developed this paper with the extraordinary tree like texture in a wide variety of colors and it can be printed with both letterpress or standard offset presses.

This amazing style of paper is perfect for any ‘down to earth’ wedding celebration, and will certainly be a hit among your guests. If you are planning on any type of natural themed wedding celebration, this paper is a must have.

In the never ending quest to express your true self, especially by finding and creating personalized pieces for your wedding celebration, this paper is a great choice.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

Variations of paisley patterns, also known as boteh or mankolam, have a history that is centuries old in Persia, India and throughout South Asia. Following in this tradition, Devi ties together the classical paisley charm with a modern floral design.

Our team of professional designers have done it again! They created a timeless invitation set that allows the deep letterpress impression to stand out while at the same time Devi remains a soft, exquisite wedding invitation set.

We used an artful tint varnish with this design to give it a subtle, yet distinctive appeal that carries through the paisley motif, from invitation to RSVP.

Perfect for a wedding celebration as well as an informal event, Devi has a sweet splendor that can fit any occasion. We liked this design so much we decided to spice things up a bit and recreate the entire invitation set using a chocolate brown paper with silver metallic ink. The difference was amazing!

Both invitation sets provide a warmth and unique beauty that is special even among letterpress invitations.  While at the same time they are each incredible and offer a different characteristic of the paisley pattern.  Click here to request free samples of our Devi design.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.