We are so excited to bring our first “real wedding” to the TGK blog! Though we LOVE stationery and feel that the wedding invitation is truly a “sneak peek” of your upcoming event, we know that pulling off that much dreamed about wedding day is an orchestration of a variety of wedding professionals.
We always feel very privileged when brides share photos of their big day, and our very first featured couple is Beth Borkon and David Potts. They had a great vision for their wedding – and it turned out beautifully! The colors they chose were Tiffany blue and black with hints of pink which made a great combination. Everything from the wedding invitations…
to the cake…
(designed by Sweet Memories Bakery)
to the place cards…
coordinated perfectly! The couple was married at Hillyer Memorial Christian Church in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. Both the bride and groom are graduates of North Carolina State University and held their reception at The State Club – which was a perfect choice!
We worked with Beth to create a custom dot motif. A combination of tiffany blue and black inks were used along with a complimentary font set; which gave the invitations a modern twist.
We were excited when Beth came to us again to design wedding day stationery that would carry on the theme of the invites. The resulting designs are some of our favorites! In fact, we now use a spin-off of Beth’s ceremony program we created for Beth and David as one of our anchor program designs!
In addition to the ceremony programs, we also created matching place cards, table cards, and menus to tie in with the beautifully decorated reception venue.
We appreciate Beth sending photos of her wedding! Neil Boyd Photography did a wonderful job of capturing every detail – we feel like we were there! It was great to work with such a creative couple – that’s what makes working at The Green Kangaroo so enjoyable! Best wishes to Mr. And Mrs. Potts!!
Melissa Windley
August 8th, 2008
We sometimes have brides tell us that they are just “in love” with our products but that our wedding invitations are priced outside of their budget. So we ask, “What specifically about our invitations do you love?” , and normally it is a graphic that they have never seen anywhere else, or a combination or fonts, or some other element of the design that just perfectly fits their personality or event. In most cases, they may have seen this design on one of our layered, or pocket wedding invitations, which come complete with several accessories that may not be in a bride’s budget. We then explain that you can get the same “look” by applying the design they love to a less expensive wedding invitation. For example, our Grace wedding invitation is $6.25 for a quantity of 100. It comes with a heavy matte bottom layer, shimmer top layer and topped off with a Swiss satin ribbon.
You can get this same classic look by ordering our Abby wedding invitation in black with a printed border and adding your own ribbon. This invite is $3.65 for a quantity of 100. See below.
Another example would be our Cari wedding invitation. The original Cari pattern was designed for a Claudia Clutch wedding invitation (a pocket style wedding invitation with no folds or flaps – super chic and popular!).
However, we had enough brides interested in the design who wanted to forgo the pocket, so it became its very own wedding invitation! (price comparison $4.75 for 100 verses $7.55 for 100). See below in chocolate and marigold.
With the economy a little sketchy right now, the Green Kangaroo Team definitely understands that brides are looking more than ever for ways to save (check out our 20 hot wedding invitations under $450). Like something that falls outside of your wedding budget? Don’t hesitate to ask us if there are ways to keep an upscale look without breaking the bank!
I was standing in the check out line at Pottery Barn over the weekend (after having grappled with myself over whether I should buy a table runner for my dining room) and was delighted to see a bold display set up in black, white and grass green – I LOVE this combination (oh to plan my wedding again – the things I would do . . .) They had black furniture with black and white patterned pillows and a really fun shade of bright green worked in. It reminded me of our new Josie wedding invitation – which we just designed in this color combination.
Here are some inspiring photos of weddings which used black, white and green. The floral designs are by one of our favorite florists, Fresh Affairs.
Photography by Azul Photograpy
Photography by Walters and Walters Photogrpahy
Based on the popularity of our Cari and Sophie wedding invitations, we decided to combine the best of these two invites and create the Josie – perfect for a country club or ballroom wedding! The Josie comes with a matching postcard reply, inner and outer envelopes, two complimentary proofs and, of course – your own personal consultant to help you with any design questions you may have about your wedding invitations or other wedding stationery!
Really take it up a notch by adding custom pattern printing and guest addressing on the outer envelope,
or even a custom map card!
If you haven’t heard of ‘trashing your dress” after the big day, here’s the skinny on it. “It is about creation, not destruction . . .” – that’s the motto of the website devoted to the growing trend of shooting artistic photos of brides “trashing” their wedding dresses. Mark Eric, a photographer from New Orleans was inspired to start trashthedress.com by Las Vegas based photographer John Michael Cooper – who supposedly started the trend (where else but Vegas, baby!). It has been a hit in larger cities, and seems to be slowly finding its way to less urban areas.
Here are some photos from Raleigh, NC based photographers, Azul Photography – (one of our favorites for their journalistic style!).
So really – what are you going to do with that dress anyway? Put it in your closet to collect dust for the next 30 years (like me)? Sell it on ebay? And the trend isn’t just for the newly married – what better way to show your husband of say, 5 or 10 years that he is still the only one by squeezing into your dress and having some creative shots taken? Now – THAT’S an anniversary gift!!
Melissa Windley
July 23rd, 2008
Well, my family and I made it back from the beach (had a GREAT time!) and things are busier than ever here at The Green Kangaroo. We are very excited to have expanded our exposure on TheKnot.com from a regional advertiser to a national advertiser and now appear on their Invitations Collections page.
This cool feature on The Knot allows you to search for wedding invitations by brand (like The Green Kangaroo!) or by color, by style (like traditional, modern or floral wedding invitations), or by physical characteristics (like layered wedding invitations or ones with ribbon). You can also find us on The Knot by clicking on one of our sassy banners.
Haven’t joined The Knot yet? Join here and start planning!
Let’s continue on MJO’s note of wine .
I can not tell you how many brides have asked us about vineyard themed wedding invitations.
Vineyard weddings are such festive and elegant celebrations! But you don’t have to have a Vineyard Wedding in order to incorporate wine (or the love of wine) into your invitation design. Some people have a rich family heritage in wine, and others (like myself) are just immensely fond of it! Wine is something that holds sentiment – in a variety of ways.
At TGK, we have an amazing team of people that sell, design, and produce our invitations. Despite the numerous requests for wine-oriented wedding invitations, it wasn’t until recently that we had a reason to design one. Lucky for us – and for all the brides who come after her – Michelle D. graciously helped pave the way to our new Vineyard Design Theme for her October Wedding.
Michelle told us that she was looking for something clean and contemporary, though not ultra modern. Her primary wedding color was Navy, but she wanted to bring in another color to accent. We discovered that her wedding reception was to be held in a grand cask room, and the walls were filled with towering wine barrels. The immediate accent color that came to mind was “sand” – an oaky color that is contemporary, yet organic. We combined an old-world script with a clean block font to further enhance the overall design of her invitation.
My favorite part of her invitation… her reply postcard!
Michelle decided on the Audrey Pocket invitation, and gave her guests the courtesy of written driving directions and a custom-designed map along with her reception card. She provided us great input and feedback, and allowed us the creative liberty to work our magic. The result – an invitation design that everyone loves!”
Among the wonderful things that come with the summer and fall season – sunshine, bbqs, and vacations – there comes the popularity of weddings at wineries. And I couldn’t be happier!
There is something very romantic about getting married at a winery – not to mention the wonderful abundance of wine that accompanies the event. I was fortunate enough to attend a good friend’s wedding last weekend at Castoro Cellers, a winery in Paso Robles, California and it was everything a wedding in wine country should be. Beautiful vineyard at sunset, delicious pairings with cheese-filled appetizers and a relaxed, rustic atmosphere.
Of course, in the midst of all the wine tasting, I was on the look out for the wedding stationery – programs, menus, place cards, etc. Her invitation was so beautiful (designed by a friend of ours Ilana Dashe who currently works privately on custom invitation designs) that I knew the rest of her paper would be equally spectacular. Her invitation and custom wine monogram was contemporary, yet still held vintage qualities that are perfect for vineyard weddings – such as a cork paper band with a richly-textured deep red pocket. Since they are a very fun and casual couple, they opted for some personality in their invitation by using a mad-libs style reply postcard – which they featured at the wedding as part of their guest book!
The couple also loves music, so it was no surprise that they gave away personalized CD’s as their wedding favors. Instead of using the typical plastic CD cases or printed paper CD jackets, they got creative and incorporated their favor with their program – one side held the CD and the other held their program booklet – complete with the vineyard motif and held together by the cork paper band.
They also carried their monogram and vineyard theme through to the placecards, which were held in wine corks and arranged on a wine barrel.
This wedding was a blast – and I now have a couple bottles of wine to remember it…
Melissa Windley
July 11th, 2008
Whew – we have had a slew of October brides calling and emailing in a panic to get their wedding invitations on order and out the door. I guess the “lazy days” of summer caused some of them to procrastinate just a little bit! Fortunately for them we have a wide range of fun fall inspired wedding invitations in a range of colors – browns (better known as chocolate!) and cranberry like this Abby wedding invitation,
or burgundy like this classic Jody Ann wedding invitation with satin ribbon accent.
Even oranges and marigolds like this modern Rachel wedding invitation.
The Rachel actually has a variety of fall leaves to choose from!
I am off to the beach, but check in with us next week to hear from guest bloggers Kristen Klett (lead graphic designer) and Melissa O’hara (aka Melissa #2) as they will be filling in for me while I’m catching some rays on the beach . . .
One of our favorite local wedding magazines, Southern Bride and Groom, recently featured the wedding of Mary Craven Hines and Christopher Burney Dawkins. The wedding was held at Duke Chapel in Durham, North Carolina. We were asked to incorporate a beautiful sketch of the Duke Chapel – see below.
On occasion, we do have brides ask us to incorporate college logos and images into their wedding stationery. We always explain to them that most of these images belong to the school, so we need permission to reproduce them. If you are looking to use an image from your college days, make sure that you have written permission before asking the company you are working with to incorporate these types of images.
Melissa Windley
July 7th, 2008
If you are anything like me, YOU can’t even read your handwriting, so why spend all that time finding the perfect wedding invitation only to scribble your guest names on the envelopes? I was fortunate that my future mother-in-law knew calligraphy, so I had beautifully addressed wedding invitations – for free! But if you are are not so lucky, what are your options?
1. Have your stationer address them for you! We offer guest addressing here at The Green Kangaroo and a large number of our brides elect to use this service. We provide you with an Excel template to fill out with your guest names and addresses and charge only $1.00 per envelope set (Yes, that’s is correct – $1.00 for the inner AND the outer envelope), plus a small set up fee of $25.00 to process your guest list. Another advantage is that the font used to print your guest names will be the EXACT font (or fonts) used on your wedding invitations. And, your wedding invitations arrive ready to stuff, stamp and mail – saving you time!
Under the “Design Extras” tab on each product page, you can add this option to your order.
2. Hire a calligrapher. This option is good if you are short on time (or have handwriting like mine) and have the money in your budget. Costs do vary depending on your location (average from around $1.50 to $3.00 per envelope). Many calligraphers fill their schedules quickly, so be sure to contact them several months before you need to mail out your invitations. Some calligraphers offer guest addressing that is more contemporary like Calligraphy by Carrie.
3. Print your guest names on your ink jet or laser printer at home. This can be really tricky depending on the size and weight of the envelopes and type of printer you have. Make sure that you order extra envelopes if you decide to go down this road (at least 25 for mess ups). Another hiccup with this option is matching the font to your invitations. Most likely you have no idea what the cool font(s) you chose for your wedding invitations are really called (and if you do know, they normally will not be installed on your computer). You can purchase fonts from a website like www.fonts.com or www.myfonts.com for around $20 or $30 per font.
4. Handwrite your guest names. If you have pretty handwriting (and lots of time) – and either want to save some money, or simply put your “stamp” on your wedding invitations, this is a great way to go. Purchasing a light box and a nice quick dry pen from your local Michaels store would make this job easier.
Melissa Windley
July 2nd, 2008
We just learned that one of our wedding invitations has been featured in the summer issue of Inside Weddings!
The featured invitation is our Couture Coastal Shimmer Ava, pictured on page 38.
Here are some additional photos of the Couture Coastal Ava. The first one has a bahama blue wrap with a white finger starfish as shown in Inside Weddings.
The second shows a champagne shimmer wrap with sand dollar accent.
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Check out all of the options for customizing the Couture Coastal Ava’s product page, and have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!
So, everyone knows that brown (also known as chocolate, mocha, latte, cocoa and coffee bean) is the new black. Our brown and pink, brown and blue, brown and green (chartreuse being our most popular shade of green at the moment) and brown and champagne wedding invitations are super popular right now! But . . . black and white will never go out of style. No matter how you do it, there is just something classic and refreshing about a black and white wedding (well, except for Billy Idol’s version – I’m not sure what category “White Wedding” falls into, but if you are feeling spunky, here’s a link to the video).
We recently added a “Black and White” gallery to our website. One of our most popular black and white wedding invitations is the Grace.
If you like the Grace, you can “Complete the Look” (see the bottom right section of every product page on our website for this feature) from the save-the-date to the wedding program).
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Looking for something black and white that is a little more edgy? Check out the Naomi.
Melissa Windley
June 30th, 2008
We do most of our business online through our website but have quite a number of local brides who choose to shop in our studio. This Saturday we talked with a bride who had been searching online for the perfect wedding invitation and had even ordered paper swatches from another online invitation store. Finally though, she decided that she was “not comfortable spending such a substantial amount of money or making such an important decision without sitting down and talking through every detail with someone”. Fortunately for her, she decided to come visit our studio! She brought in her paper samples and ideas and we were able to walk her through the entire process so that she felt completely at ease and can now mark off another item from her bridal to-do list.
It got me to thinking though about all the brides out there who probably feel like this bride – can I trust a website enough to order my wedding invitations? The answer is a definite, “Yes!” We have built (and are always improving) our website so that we can be as helpful to a bride in England as we can to one sitting across the table from us. We mail out samples of our wedding invitations everyday and often have brides give us a call while they are ordering to ask us questions large and small. Is it okay to put “adult reception only” on my invitation? How many extra wedding invitations should I get? Is it okay to use two script fonts together?
We strive everyday to help our online brides receive the same level of service as our local brides. We always include digital proofs with every order and won’t print anything until it’s “just right”. To some brides these days, ordering online (even if it is something as important as her wedding invitations), is just like tying your shoes – but to those leery of ordering from a “site unseen”, rest assured that invitations from The Green Kangaroo come with a free consultant to help you through the process!
