Oh, letterpressed wedding invitations, once again. My sister Emmy’s were such a huge project so much fun, Missy and I decided to take on another suite for Dave’s sister! Though unable to help with the actual printing (because of first-trimester fume avoidance) I did get to take large part in designing these invites. 

Over my extended Holiday break in Utah, soon after Sarah was engaged, we sat down and spent a couple hours fiddling with typeface and arrangements. I adore this huge scrolling script called Butterfly, that I downloaded for free. It really set the tone for the affair. Elegant, but simple. Formal, but not stuffy. We used Optima for the information, in all caps, which was easy to read when pressed, unlike some other more complicated looking typefaces.

After several re-designs and edits and emails back and forth, Sarah came up with the idea of adding some sort of botanical to the design, as her reception will be held at a greenhouse and nursery. Missy and I spotted a free download of this awesome sketched rose on Briarpress and it fit the space beautifully. It was originally intended to be a blind impression, but wasn’t quite decipherable as a rose without the small amount of light gray ink that Missy chose. 

Didn’t they turn out beautifully?

And, just a note on letterpressing while pregnant. I googled and came up with little, but per my MD (yours might say something different,) it is a good idea to avoid all chemical fumes in the first trimester. After that, letterpress, even with ink, should be okay in a well ventilated area, but the use of solvent chemicals (like the paint thinner used to clean up the press) should be avoided throughout the entire pregnancy.

Yay! So, I’m going to press on:)