Now through the end of November, TGK is offering

FREE Thank You Notes

with all pocket invitation orders! Your note cards will be customized and personalized to match your invitations! Simply add “Free Matching Thank You Notes” to your order (under the “Design Options” tab), and our design team will take care of the rest!

The samples pictured here match the Floral Decor Claire Pocket.

Don’t need thank you notes? You can substitute Free Gift Tags or Free Place Cards instead!!!

Hurry! This offer ends November 30, 2008!

We are excited to announce that TGK has 2 invitations in the “You’re Invited” Editorial Feature of Inside Weddings Fall 2008 issue!

Both our Madison and Kate Wedding Invitations were pictured as part of the “Metallica” theme in this issue. The Autumn season is a great time to work in these rich shades of bronze, chocolate and gold – although – our design team feels that these hues add sparkle and depth to weddings in any season!

The Madison was pictured with a custom envelope liner in soft gold shimmer. A great way to dress up this invitation theme with a classic monogram watermark. Looking to save a little, the Madison has a DIY option (meaning you glue the invitation onto the base layer) which can save you $1.10 for each invitation!

Stay tuned, the Kate, already clean and modern in style, will be getting some exciting new updates to its design in the next couple of weeks!

We were just discussing a question we have heard a lot lately – is it okay to put “Adult Reception only” on our wedding invitation? Well . . . that depends who you ask. While adult-only receptions are not a new trend, it can still be difficult to ask your guests to leave the little loved ones at home.

Traditionally, the names written on the inner envelope indicate who is invited to the the wedding and reception. For instance, want to invite Aunt Jane and Uncle Arthur, but not your three little cousins (age 2 – 9)? Simply leave their names off the inner envelope. Have you heard stories from your friends that this little trick didn’t work for members of their family, and want to do something more proactive? Something we encourage our brides to do is to use the phrase,

‘Number of adults attending ___’

on the rsvp card. This way, you do not give guests an option to rsvp for children, and it is a much more subtle way than printing ‘Adults Only’ on your wedding invitation.

Unfortunately, for those small number of invitees who probably would ignore your request even if you wrote in giant letters, “Please do not bring Rick, Jr. to the wedding!”, there may not be much more you can do!

I’m a sucker for the cartoon It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and LOVE to watch it every year. (or a few times through out the year!)

It always makes me laugh – especially the part when Sally threatens to sue Linus because she realizes that she has missed tricks-or-treats. Love is so complicated . . . Speaking of love, Halloween is definitely a surprise day to get engaged. Check out this Halloween engagement video on YouTube.

My favorite idea for a Halloween engagement was found on The Knot:

“This past Halloween, a bunch of friends got together for a barbecue at our friend’s house. Toward the end of the night, they told us we were going to have a pumpkin carving contest, boys against girls. Once we were done carving them, my friend told us to go stand at the end of the driveway to see the pumpkins. When the pumpkins lit up, they read: ‘Will U Marry Me.’ Right then Craig got on his knee and proposed. All I really remember saying was, ‘I’m getting engaged in an Afro wig!’ It was great!” —Alaryce, Overland Park, KS

The Knot also has some great Stylish Ideas for a Halloween wedding if you are considering it . . .

Haven’t watched The Great Pumpkin? You can order a copy at Amazon.com. Happy Halloween!!

Brrrrrr! What a chilly morning! I’m still hung up on the fall weather and thought I would share some fall inspired wedding stationery that we recently designed.

Check out more in our Fall and Autumn Wedding Invitation Gallery!

Last weekend, I went to visit my parents, who live in Asheville, North Carolina. As I was passing by the exit to the Biltmore Estate, I thought about how wonderful it would be to be married there in the fall. The leaves around Asheville are stunning this time of year and the mountain air made me want to skip! (actually I DID skip across my mom’s front lawn – which I caught a few looks for . . .)

(Copyright 2005 The Biltmore Company – All Rights Reserved)

We created wedding stationery for a few brides this year who were married at the Biltmore Estate (Real Wedding features coming soon!) and it is one of our favorite places. If you have never been, you should check it out – www.biltmore.com. If I could suggest a season . . . it would definitely be fall! There are the leaves, the pumpkins, the apples, the food – and did I mention the wine? Check out this online video www.biltmore.com/visit/calendar/fall.asp

Hey Ladies (and the occasional gentleman)! Things at The Green Kangaroo have been rocking and rolling, and unfortunately, yours truly has been slacking on the blog updates. We have been working feverishly to make ordering on our website even easier for future brides and have been on a “design binge”. We are super excited about our new design ideas. Here two new concepts that have been a hit already – The Swirls Wedding Invitation

and the Citrus Wedding Invitation

We have also launched a brand new line of personalized holiday cards. Just got married this year? Why not show off your new status by sending out a personalized holiday card to all of your friends and family. Start a tradition that will last a lifetime!

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!!

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!!

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…