Posts Tagged ‘Weddings’

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Customize Your Wedding Guestbook
Video Webcams and Tech Savvy Weddings

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Part of the fun of blogging about weddings, letterpress invitation designs and DIY ideas, is finding out the latest news in the wedding world. I stumbled upon something today that was so amazingly simple, yet creatively genius, I couldn’t help myself but tell everyone about it.

Thrilled for You Video Guestbook is a software program that allows your guests to record their very own personalized messages for you during your wedding celebration. At their leisure your wedding guests can come to the computer, type in their names, record, preview, re-record if needed and save their loving message.

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Your video/faces will show up in the white space when recording

The program is available with several different themes and colors and at only $99 the amount of fun your wedding guests will have with this service it is well worth it. While traditional guest books are typically a little less, they are not nearly as entertaining during the wedding or as amusing to watch later.

Overall, this is probably one of the coolest tech inventions for weddings I have ever seen. Enjoy the webcam-ing!

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

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New Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design
Matching Venue Themes and Coastal Scenes:
Say Hello to Rachelle!

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Our team of professional designers has been working very hard this fall season. Spring weddings are right around the corner, which means us letterpress wedding invitation printers need to be ready with new designs.

When I first saw Rachelle, the newest addition to our already elegant gallery of invitation sets, I was impressed by the quality of thought and consideration that the bride put into designing this work of art.

New Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design <br/ > Matching Venue Themes and Coastal Scenes: <br/ > Say Hello to Rachelle! Photo

This bride’s wedding was held at a venue where the grounds were filled with agave plants. So very appropriately, the theme of her invitation set mirrored this natural environment. She spent a great deal of time searching for an invitation featuring this elegant plant. When she contacted us, she had nearly given up on using this motif. However, we were able to use a photograph she provided, and with a little fancy footwork in Illustrator, we created an image we could letterpress:

New Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design <br/ > Matching Venue Themes and Coastal Scenes: <br/ > Say Hello to Rachelle! Photo

The day after the official ceremony there was a day cruise for the guests on Lake Travis. Hoping to extend the wedding events to the invitation set even further, we printed a wonderful shoreline setting for the day after event card.

New Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design <br/ > Matching Venue Themes and Coastal Scenes: <br/ > Say Hello to Rachelle! Photo

While your wedding venue or intended theme may be different than agave plants or this weeks featured new design Rachelle, it is possible to custom create a formal wedding invitation that matches your dreams, wedding venue or themes. Click here to request free samples

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

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Dream Wedding Planning

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Monica and Gary Tam are the creators of Blueprint for Love Wedding Planning.  They are the first husband and wife team of Certified Wedding Planners across Canada. They are firm believers that couple’s love stories are different, unique, and have their very own personalities. Therefore, they are willing to go above and beyond to make sure that couple’s once-in-a-lifetime celebrations are the most extraordinary events that reflect both the couple’s styles and personalities.

Dream Wedding Planning Photo

Monica and Gary are a natural match for a dream wedding planning team.  Monica is a very organized lady with a brilliant and artistic mind of beauty and fashion; whereas, Gary is the mastermind behind all the logistics and program execution. Monica’s interests are composing music and writing lyrics, planning weddings, learning interior and fashion design, and tasting good food and wine. She has a strong business administration, event planning and wedding planning background. For Gary, he has been involved in many roles in many of the weddings he’s attended. Therefore, he understands what it takes to build great wedding programs for couples and for their guests.  He ensures that the weddings he plans are smooth and hassle-free.

Dream Wedding Planning Photo

As Monica and Gary went through the long, yet fruitful, wedding planning process, they share and understand those feelings which engaged couples go through. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to have a married couple who truly understand the mentality of the bride and groom to assist them in making their dream wedding a reality.  In their wedding planning journey, they have witnessed many couples walking down the aisle and celebrating their big day with great memories and blessings. If you want to see some beautiful weddings they have planned, please visit their website at www.blueprintforlove.ca and go to their blog to leave some comments.

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Picking Professional Vendors to
Service Your Wedding Needs

Friday, July 17th, 2009

Brides to be, I understand your lives are busy. Whether your wedding is 5 days or 5 months away, it is important to manage your time wisely to prevent stress and anxiety that typically surrounds the wedding planning process.

As you may or may not have already discovered, there are several easy steps that any bride can take to ease their wedding planning worries.

My first suggestion would be to enlist the help of your closest friends, relatives and family members that are willing or have the time to help. Working with people whose company you enjoy, and whose ideas and suggestions you can trust, makes the task seem less daunting.

The second, less obvious recommendation involves the vendors you will be working with. While costs, convenience and availability typically dictate wedding planning decisions, don’t forget about the importance of quality professionals in the field.

At one of my cousin’s engagement parties a few years ago, she hired a less expensive, semi-pro photographer that unfortunately exemplified the term “semi.” While the photographer had an expensive, professional quality camera, she did not know how to use the settings properly and many of the most important pictures came out fuzzy. Luckily this did not happen at the wedding, but that experience made me realize that when it comes to your wedding, lower costs should not always be the deciding factor. You only have one chance to say “I do” and you cannot pose twice for that epic entire family dance floor experience.

To have fun, get the job done right the first time, and make the process as easy as possible, it is always wise to work with professionals. As Sindhu recently commented after receiving her completed invitation set, “Trish has been the most pleasant individual I have had to work with during this entire wedding planning process. There is no way I would have done it any other way.”

Sindhu Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Sindhu Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Working with internet-only invitation printers may be slightly cheaper, but the quality, value and service that professionally trained and experienced individuals brings to your wedding invitation is priceless.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

Coming up next:  Plan Your Wedding From Your iPhone The Mobile Bride Finds Her Freedom

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Wedding Traditions From Around
The World and Throughout History

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

What Exactly Does “Tying The Knot” Mean?

I was thinking about this question the other day when I was in a pensive mood. Where does this term originate from geographically, and what types of knots were being tied to finalize marriage? Who does the tying and what did it signify? Of course, as with most things, there are several different cultural meanings that may or may not be related.

After a couple searches on Google, I found that the first place this term was used was in ancient Rome. Brides from this era typically wore plain cotton gowns that would be held up by an intricate and ornately tied knot that was meant to both tease the groom and test his patience on the wedding night. Tying the knot around the wedding gown signified the final act a maiden would perform before her marriage.

A couple miles to the west in the Celtic region, tying newly married couples hands to each other with ribbon was seen as a completion of the wedding contract. During roughly the 15-18th centuries, this practice was known as “handfasting” and officially ended the nuptial process for most marriages in the region. Couples around the world sometimes still engage in this cultural tradition, though the “binding” legal nature of this practice no longer stands. Now we sign a piece of paper.

Where ever you are and no matter what your traditions are, weddings should be a celebration of mutual commitment and love.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

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What You Want, When You Want It
Letterpress Wedding Invitations For You

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

We work hard. Folding flyers, cutting paper, running presses, designing works of art as well as business pieces, suffice to say we have our hands full. As you have probably experienced at your own jobs, whenever one project ends another seems to be due tomorrow. It is not so bad though, we keep busy and enjoy each other’s company so I never really have a chance to be bored.

Sometimes when a job is running in the press room I can hear the inks spinning on the rollers. Maybe because I have been in the industry a while, but I can usually tell when more ink has been applied simply by the way it sounds. I enjoy seeing each successive color being added too.

What You Want, When You Want It <br> Letterpress Wedding Invitations For You Photo

I was mixing ink the other day when I stopped and realized something. We are very lucky to be working in the industry. In a world of digital copies, emails and the internet, we still make original artisan quality letterpress wedding invitations. The paper we use is thick, vibrant and carries an almost antique feel to it. We are using some of the same printing methods that our grandfathers would have used.

Some people forget their roots, but the letterpresses we use were all made before the 1950’s. There is a character and emotion that these letterpresses produce that cannot be matched. I feel proud when we complete an invitation set because there is a very immediate visual display of a job well done.

What You Want, When You Want It <br> Letterpress Wedding Invitations For You Photo

Working together as a team of designers and printers, we will get you what you want when you want it. We can help you create the invitation set you have been imagining.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

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Choosing The Right Colors For Your
Letterpress Wedding Invitation Font and Design

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

I love colors. I try to surround myself in a variety of contrasting and complementing colors. At home, at work and even with the clothes I wear, I am enthralled by unique and spirited colors. Colors with names like floral white or Alice blue make me laugh and I even have this design book where you can flip through different home scenes and move different color swatches back and fourth to see what it could look like with a different combination. Suffice to say, I think the more color the better.

In the world of letterpress printing, color combinations are limitless. This bride and groom decided to go with two different color schemes for their invitation set.

Choosing The Right Colors For Your <br> Letterpress Wedding Invitation Font and Design Photo

The original looked good, but there was so much potential. By adding a second color this piece moved from a delightful presentation to a beautiful and welcoming invitation set.

Choosing The Right Colors For Your <br> Letterpress Wedding Invitation Font and Design Photo

This version contrasts the blue of the palm tree and names with the rest of the text. It is a well rounded design that can only be achieved with two colors.

Likewise it is possible to print your RSVP card in the contrasting color of the invitation. By altering these small details you can easily expand your realm of possibilities.

Choosing The Right Colors For Your <br> Letterpress Wedding Invitation Font and Design Photo

Adding color is an easy way to spice up your invitation set. Think about complimentary and contrasting ideas. Also how and where you include the second colors makes a big difference, find whatever works for you.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

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Bi-Lingual Letterpress Wedding Invitation Translation

Monday, June 29th, 2009

We are living in a very diverse world. The last wedding I attended was for a good friend whose celebration was rich with “non-western” cultural traditions. There were different types of music, food, formal wear, dancing, celebrations and of course, alcohols. At one point the whole dance floor joined in a circle and started some dance routine that I had never seen before and had a blast trying to learn.

During the celebration I was approached by a couple older members of the family who immediately started speaking to me in a foreign language. As politely as I could, I indicated that I could only speak English, which sadly then ended each conversation.

This interaction made me realize that there are more people living in the United States that prefer their native language or do not know how to speak English than we realize. I believe in equal opportunity and personal choice, so more power to them.

If you have wedding guests that cannot read English, or are more comfortable reading their native language, you may want to consider creating two editions of your invitation. Special phrases, emotions or traditions that do not translate directly should not be forgotten on your wedding day.

By working closely with you, we can help to design and translate custom invitations with any language or cultural tradition. Don’t let those non-English speaking guests of yours suffer, impress your wedding party with your thoughtfulness and creativity by having either bilingual or multiple versions of your wedding invitations.

Atlantica Bilingual Wedding Invitation

Allison Wedding Invitation - English

Allison Wedding Invitation - Spanish

Remember, you do not have to stop at your invitation sets. Think bi-lingual menus or wedding programs.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

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DIY Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Do It Yourself or “DIY” is a movement that has been picking up participants for the past several years. From the eco-chic mothers who craft their children’s clothes, to the economically burdened designer who know how to make the thriftyist artistic pieces. Doing things on your own feels good and brings a distinct feeling of satisfaction.

Many brides are bringing this trend into their weddings in interesting and unique ways. From wedding favors, dresses, cakes and music, the list of possible DIY projects is endless. With the availability of professional design software, now there is a new arena for the DIY savvy bride.

Here’s a few examples of some DIY designs:

DIY Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design Photo DIY Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design Photo

If you design your wedding invitation, we can take it straight to the letterpress. Because of the ease and accessibility of programs such as Photoshop, InDesign, or Illustrator, all it takes is a rudimentary understanding of design procedures to custom craft an artisan style invitation.

For those brides who are feeling the financial crunch but do not want to wait any longer, DIY design is the way to go. You design it, we print it, you love it. It’s that easy.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

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Bold Red Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Red is my favorite color. It represents passion, love, romance and is rumored to jump start your appetite too! Sometimes it is used to signify danger, probably because of its close resemblance to fire and our natural fear attached to that. Whatever the reason and whether it is painted on walls, dyed in fabrics or printed in ink, red catches our eye.

When I first saw this design I was struck by the impartial nature of the font. I was trying to define it but its classification eluded me. Was it Gothic or cartoon-like? Whimsical or from the work of Hunter S. Thompson? Its style is remarkably unique yet the real eye opener is the bold red ink.

Combining the textured feel of letterpress and an elegant contrast between a romantic red and a crisp black soy-ink combo, Chopin is a versatile invitation set that can be used for a formal or informal wedding:

Bold Red Letterpress Wedding Invitation Design Photo

Anything is customizable. Think foil lettering with ink accents or carry these monogrammed letters through to your program, menu or place cards.

Written by Nick

Invitations by Ajalon
View our letterpress wedding invitation gallery.

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