{images shown via Mr. Boddington’s Studio; photographed by Charlotte Jenks Lewis Photography}

{image shown belongs to Parrott Design Studio}

{images shown via 100 Layer Cake; photography by Studio Castillero}

Thank goodness it’s Friday!  I’ve been working twice as hard this past week because most likely I will absent from this space (and from doing any letterpress work) for most of next week.  My amazing cousin and dear friend, Caitlin, is getting married next week (next week! my little cousin!) and we’re having well over 30 people for Thanksgiving because of it.  Between cleaning, baking, and cooking for turkey day, plus all of the prep for the wedding and the nupitals themselves (I’m a co-maid of honor), I think I will actually be more busy not working!

However, make sure to check this space on Monday as I will be posting a special “Black Friday special”!

Have a wonderful weekend!
-Colleen

{image shown via my iPhone; a sneak peek at some more holiday letterpress items}

{for more of my letterpress work, check out my Flickr}

{image shown belongs to Li Ward & Fat Orange Cat Studio}

{images shown belong to Amy Merrick & An Apple a Day}

For the design and color of the invitation, I was inspired by vintage book covers along with the colors of autumn.  For favors, the maid of honor suggested we do custom bookmarks, so I found the perfect tea & book lovers quote from C.S. Lewis and created an illustration of a stack of books with a tea pot and a tea cup.

The menu was put together by the bride’s mother and the bridesmaids: an autumn butternut squash soup, various tea sandwiches, tea bread, scones (homemade with all the accompaniments), and finger desserts.  For serving, the entire extended family went through their fine china and everyone brought tea pots, tea cups, platters, and the like.  For anything that we couldn’t find or share, we rented from a local company called Fancy That Tea Boutique.  I recently visited their retail space and it is gorgeous!  They have the most amazing collection of vintage china & glassware and the pieces we used made the tea party extra special.

For decorations, I collected vintage books from a local library (and a few special ones from Ebay) and bought tea pots from thrift stores to hold the floral centerpieces that we put together ourselves.  The bride’s sister-in-law (and fellow bridesmaid) put together paper flowers made from book pages, handmade thank you notes for Caitlin, and two gorgeous boxes that looked like books to have as memory keepsakes.

It was a lot of planning but the women in the family really all came together, and you could tell how much love everyone put into the event.  Now I’m very much looking forward to Caitlin & Alex’s wedding next month!

{for more of my perfect parties images, check out my Flickr}

The reception site was fantastic; the bar area for the cocktail hour was very old school, full of leather seats, lots of dark wood detailing and bottles of vintage hard liquor.  Very masculine.  My husband got swept up in the atmosphere and had to have a scotch on the rocks (if there was ever a place to do so, it was there).  If you’re looking for a place with lots of character & charm from days gone past and you’re in the New England area, definitely check out the Squantum Association.

Lots of love and best wishes to Colleen & Paul!  What a wonderful wedding. xo

As someone who really swoons for a balanced color scheme, the right typefaces, and the perfect illustrated border, I was thrilled that Caitlin wanted to finish the suite with calligraphy and vintage stamps.  We found a mix of vintage and contemporary postage stamps to compliment the design, and the talented Li Ward of Fat Orange Cat Studio did the calligraphy on the outer envelopes.  I have never been so excited to receive an envelope in the mail!

(*Yes, there was a full address written on this envelope, and I assure you, it is beautiful!  I just didn’t want to leave my full address.  My apologies for not being able to show you all of Li’s work!)

I’ve already told Caitlin this: I not only did I enjoy working on this particular invitation suite tremendously, but I think I love how it turned out more so than my own wedding invitations!

{for more of my letterpress work, check out my Flickr}