1. Take a look at these invitations from One Girl in Philadelphia. Aren't they so incredibly clean and crisp? We love that they are DIY, and, as sometimes crafters ourselves, we totally relate with the slight OCD that One Girl tapped into during the design process. Overall impressive work though, don't ya think?
2. Attention Philly area brides-to-be: Bloomingdale's at the King of Prussia Mall is hosting one of their "Pre-Wedding" Wedding parties next Thursday, May 20th. Maybe there are a couple Belles who went to one of their parties a few years back in Maryland, even though neither was engaged at the time. (Shhh...we went there on official wedding planning business). But we digress. Bloomie's really knows how to throw a classy event, so RSVP and stop by if you can. Added bonus: if you like eating at any of Stephen Starr's restaurants (El Vez, Pizzeria Stella, and Continental Midtown are all TWB faves), you'll surely enjoy the tasty bites being offered up by their catering division, Starr Events.
3. Check out these headline worthy additions to your table top: table runners and vases made from recycled newspapers and magazines. The newspaper ones could easily mesh with a black & white or neutral palette, and the magazine goods quickly pack a colorful punch. Links for the below, from left to right: SERRV table runner, Wishingfish vase, Earth Inspired Living table runner, Etsy seller toocraftyformyshirt vase.
4. One of the belles is working on a home office renovation right now. (New paint=renovation in our book) so office supplies are kind of on the brain. Not exactly the rubber bands, staples, and white-out type of supplies, but the pretty folders, agendas, and rolodexes sort.
Yup, rolodexes. Try to stay with us here. Just slightly hipper than grandma's version, and in an array of customizable colors and patterns, etsy seller cutthecakedesign's super cute alphabetized address boxes have us itching to hand write our current hodgepodge of electronically stored correspondence information. (at one point there was a spreadsheet, then gmail came along, and there's always whitepages.com... we didn't say it was pretty).
These are marketed as an alternative to a wedding guest book, but we see them working even more seamlessly at a bridal shower where the guests can take a minute, fill in their contact information, and dash off a sweet note of best wishes for the bride-to-be.
5. Basically everything else we discussed today has focused on paper, but the beauty of Paperless Post is the absence of paper. Paperless Post is e-vite's older, prettier, more sophisticated cousin from Connecticut. The site is completely custom gorgeous invitations and announcements that have the look of letterpress but are delivered via e-mail.
The site is completely user friendly - check out the screen shot, below of an invite we whipped up in about 10 minutes flat. There are tons of templates in every style and color imaginable, and the handy wording assistant offers text options for every occasion. Just fill in a few personal details like your name and the event information and you're ready to format away.
Did we mention there are envelope liners? Swoon.
Even though electronic invitations haven't exactly swept the wedding word by storm yet, we could really see these catching on. Many couples will appreciate the eco-friendly aspect, and they are much easier on the wallet than a standard stationary suite. Although they aren't free, the site works on a stamp system where each invitation sent cost one stamp. The price in dollars for 150 stamps? $10. Which will set you back about the same amount as a single custom printed letterpress invitation that isn't virtual.
