As some of you know, I was lucky enough to attend to the 2012 National Stationery Show in NYC a little while ago (part of my crazy week!). I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my favorite sights from the show, so this week I’ll be sharing my top five favorite paper picks!

Today’s pick is the new marriage certificates from Mr. Boddington’s Studio. The colorful design is super fun but still sophisticated. Better yet, because the calligraphy is hand-drawn but pre-printed (except for the personal details), they’re able to be really reasonably priced – just $30! I would totally snap one of these up for a wedding keepsake if I hadn’t already made our own marriage certificate. Pick one up here!

Photo on left by Cyn Kain

Several of you expressed interest in the marriage certificate I mentioned designing in this post. I finally had time to snap a photo of it this weekend, so I thought I would explain!

The first special (i.e. non-government issued!) marriage certificate to catch my eye was this one, by Orleans Paperie:

It just stuck in my head! I loved the quote, the layout, and most importantly the sentiment behind it, and quickly decided we would have one for our wedding. Like the one above, I would call ours a modern version of a Quaker marriage certificate. I am not a Quaker, but here is what I understand the symbolism and meaning of these documents to be in their community:

In the Quaker tradition, couples are married at a normal monthly meeting, not at a special service. There is no minister or leader (because Quakers don’t have clergy); Friends believe they are married by God, and declare their intentions before God and those gathered. They believe that the marriage is merely “witnessed” by those present. After, the couple signs a marriage certificate. At the close of worship, all those present at the meeting are also asked to sign the certificate as witnesses. This Wikipedia entry mentions that the certificate is usually hung prominently in the home of the couple as a reminder of the declarations they made, and of the people with whom they shared that moment of their lives.

John and I definitely believe that the guests at our wedding play an active role as witnesses of our promises, and we loved the idea of them physically signing their support to what they witnessed. I do think it will make a beautiful keepsake after the fact, too.

I created our certificate in Illustrator and had it printed at our local FedEx Office, which cost about $15. The finished size is 13 inches by 16 inches.

I mimicked our wedding invitation as much as possible, including the font choices (Burgues Script and IM Fell English, for those who might be wondering!). The calligraphy file with our names was also made for our invitation, by the supremely talented Moya Minns, so consider this a sneak peek!

In case you can’t read the text, here’s what it says:

On the fifteenth of September in the year two thousand twelve, at a ceremony held in the presence of their family, their dearest friends, and God, at the United States Coast Guard Memorial Chapel in New London, Connecticut Emily Armstrong and Mr. John Alexander Thomas declared their marriage vows.

There are spaces for the bride, groom, and officiant to sign, and then there are 100 lines on which our guests will sign. (We’re expecting a few more than 100 guests, but I figured that some might sign as a couple, some might miss it entirely, and most kids are not likely to sign.)

A last sneak peek: It’s kind of hard to see in this photo, but there’s a very light gray wreath illustration behind the signing lines. This was drawn by our invitation designer, Jess, and will feature prominently in our invite suite and other paper pieces!

What do you think?

[Note: I am offering a downloadable PDF of this invitation in my Etsy store!]

After getting inspired and nailing down a few details, it was time to whip up some invitations for my future sister in law’s bridal shower! After coming across this pin, I knew I had my jumping off point. I played around in Illustrator until I had a design I was happy with, and this is what I came up with!

The fonts I used were Brandon Grotesque (the sans serif) and Baskerville (the italic, the same one used by Kate Spade itself!).

I originally intended for the invitation to be two single-sided pieces of paper held together with a brad of some sort, but as I was formatting everything for printing, I realized it would be better (and cheaper!) to print it double-sided. I used UPrinting for the job and was very pleased with the results. I did have to do some fiddling around with my file to make sure everything was aligned correctly, so don’t be discouraged if you have to do the same! The card size is 4.25×6 inches, on 13 pt uncoated cardstock.

Let me tell you, it’s worth it to have things professionally printed just so you don’t have to cut each piece to size by hand!! With a double-sided project, that was an especial relief.

I jazzed the invitations up a little more by hand-gluing gold sequins to each one. I know that sounds time-consuming, but it really wasn’t! Here’s the side by side comparison:

I ordered raspberry A6 envelopes from Paper Presentation, and was so relieved when they were a perfect color match.

Initially, my thought was to punch a heart-shaped cut-out in the flap of every invite, glue a square of gold glitter paper to peek through, and then line the envelopes to make everything neat. Well, after buying and returning two separate heart punches from the store, neither of which could punch through the glitter paper, I gave up and cut out the hearts by hand. I still think I came pretty close to my inspiration, and I’m happy with how they turned out!

I also ended up sealing the envelopes with two strips of black and white striped washi tape, and I like the graphic pop they lent.

Happily, I had a gold paint pen already in my crafty stash, so once I penned the addresses, these babies were done! Here’s a look at the whole shebang:

What do you think – Kate Spade worthy?

Budget Breakdown:
Printing and shipping of 25 double-sided cards from UPrinting: $22.76
25 A6 envelopes from Paper Presentation: $6.25 (I got free shipping because I ordered several other items at the same time)
One sheet of gold glitter paper from Michaels: $1

The sequins, Elmer’s glue, gold pen, and washi tape were all already in my stash, so I’m not going to include them in my count. For me, then, these pretty packages worked out to $1.36 each – not bad, I’d say!

After a week of gift ideas for friends and family, I thought you might like to see a few things that are on my wish list this year…

1. A set of those tortoiseshell glasses from yesterday’s gift guide! ($10 each)

2. A pretty neutral ballet flat ($90)

3. A Southwest gift card. We will be doing a lot of traveling next year!

4. A large and in charge utensil crock ($30)

5. A soft throw for our couch ($30)

6. New “city sneakers.” I bought my current pair in seventh grade!! ($64)

7. The pretty birthday calendar from Wednesday’s round up! ($30)

What are you wishing for this year?

P.S. Don’t forget — today is the last day to enter my Minted giveaway!