Many of my clients and friends come to me and ask the same things, so I thought I would share a little behind the scenes about our custom design process here at Blush Paper Co.

The only thing standing in your way of you and your dream stationery is a complimentary consultation.  In fact, this is exactly where I learn all about you, your wedding, your likes and your dislikes, and your design aesthetic for your wedding.  You might think it isn’t important to share with me that you want to have a cotton candy bar at your reception, but I disagree.  This is how I know that you’re a laid back, whimsical couple versus a couple that’s having a black tie affair with a five course plated dinner.  It plays a huge role in how we design your stationery, so there’s no topic off limits at our consults!

 

Do you hand paint each invitation?
This is our second most asked question, and the answer is nope!  We have a huge library of stock clip art, but also have a watercolorist on our team.  She’s responsible for anything custom natured, like watercolor crests, requests for hand-drawn invitations, watercolor maps and more.  Our watercolor designs can take anywhere from 2-6 hours depending on the complexity of the design.

We also have a calligrapher on our team that we love working with.  She does our spot calligraphy and our addressing, if couples don’t want us to pre-print the guest addresses for them.

 

Then what’s your process look like?
While I don’t hand-paint every element, I do create each custom piece myself!   My process is always the same for each couple:

Once a #blushbride sends us an inquiry, we meet for a consultation and I get to know all about her, the little details about her wedding, but also her love story, where they plan to live after they’re married, what their favorite date night is, and their design goals for the wedding.  I seriously love getting to know all about them (insert all the heart eyes here!) not only because I love hearing their love stories, but because all these little details help me personalize their invitation suite.  Like I said, you might not think the cotton candy bar is worth mentioning, but believe me it is!

 

After I’ve gathered all their information, I present them with a formal estimate and a timeline.  If my sweet couple decides to join the Blush Family, then the really fun part begins:  the design stage!

This is where I’ll create a custom look book that’s unique to each of my clients.  It contains wording and font suggestions, a mood board and suggested color palette, and layout options for their invitation.  I always include photos of items that are the main focal point and inspiration for their suite — like the florals my bride is considering in her bouquet, a decadent cake with texture, bridesmaid dresses that have just the right shade of blue, and so on.

The last page of the book has a digital copy of her wedding suite.  Look Books are a lovely way to view the suite as a whole.  It’s one thing to be able to view the pages individually, but it’s great to see each piece side by side and truly visualize what your ensemble will look like together!

Having a look book is also a great way to watch the suite evolve.  I also provide my clients with a PDF of their wedding suite and addressing along with the look book in each round of proofs.  During our consultation, my groom really liked some of our watercolor crests but my bride didn’t.  So, we compromised and I incorporated the crest into their return address and into their accommodation card.  While I personally in love with this particular design, it didn’t make the cut — but this did inspired us to add a belly band incorporating their crest, and you’ll see the crest re-appear on their wedding menus, too!

I’ll be exploring more of our frequently asked questions later, but today I wanted to share our custom design process with you all!

If you’re interested in being a #blushbride, we’d love to hear more about you and your wedding!  Please contact us and we’ll be in touch shortly.  We want you to la-la-la your invites as much as we do!