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Letterpress printing is not an inexpensive process, but for good reason. It’s a very labour intensive, hand-crafted art form that originated in the 1400′s! Letterpress printing offers a special kind of beauty & craftsmanship over other printing techniques. It truly adds an exceptionally gorgeous, unique touch to any wedding. Definitely worth every penny!

Top Left – Ruby’s Tuesday Bottom Right – Studio on Fire Bottom Right Inset – The Hungry Workshop

The printing is priced by how many colours are in your design. If you’re on a tight budget, stick to one colour. If you can afford to splurge, we recommend 1-2 colours. Now, I don’t want to imply that a one colour print is bad, because if done right, it looks stunning! (See my black on black letterpress invitation )

If you’re really on a tight budget, I suggest sticking to letterpress for the invites only. The rest of the pieces can be done by offset or digital which will be easier on your budget.

They say by doing good for others you feel better, and this goes double for couples. So as you plan your wedding events, consider making a difference in Edmonton and beyond! Here are a few ways:

Wedding shower

• Instead of gifts, you can ask guests to bring canned goods for the Edmonton Food Bank
• Shower games can be fun, but you could also spend time together making soul food at Edmonton Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers

Event Location

• Rent space from a non-profit here in town. You’ll get an interesting backdrop to your wedding, and the site fee will support a local museum or historic site. For example, the Old Timer’s Cabin has become a popular spot, but there are many other neat places to choose from!

Table Favours, Flowers, and Food

• The Stollery Children’s Hospital is a great example of creating a “wedding with a difference”. Instead of table favours, you can make a donation to its Foundation. With the $500 Diamond Package, you get 20 customizable table cards, five certificates, and a prepared toast for your MC to read during the reception.
• Contact a nursing home, hospital, or similar place in your neighbourhood to see if you can drop off your flowers. Your blooms could brighten someone else’s day once your big one is done!
• Ask your caterer if untouched leftovers can be donated to a local charity.

Wedding Party Thank You Gifts

• If you’ve got a bunch of bridesmaids or groomsmen you’d like to thank, consider buying items where a portion of each sale goes to charity. Or get a great deal on the items and donate the rest of your gift budget to charity!

Wedding Gifts

• If you don’t need a toaster, invite guests to donate to worthy causes in your name. The Stollery will provide wedding invitation inserts, or you could do a search of CanadaHelps.org to choose one (or more) of 500 registered charities here in Edmonton.
• If you get gifts you know you’ll never use, consider donating them to a local charity or selling them off. Then you can give the proceeds to your favourite cause.
• Donated wedding and bridesmaids dresses as well as accessories can make a graduating teen’s day. Organizations like Cinderella’s Closet have drop-off sites at bridal and formal dress stores around town, so if you want to give your gown to someone in need, check them out!

Honeymoon

• Some call them ‘Humanitarian Honeymoons’ – you and your new spouse volunteer on your vacation. These can be a week-long build for Habitat for Humanity , or a shorter commitment that still leaves plenty of time for sightseeing and sipping Mai Tais. A quick internet search will turn up websites and blogs devoted to the idea of giving back while you backpack.

Do you remember the days of handwritten letters to your classmates? I always loved the notes with the fun hand lettering on the white space that was left after writing about our weekends, and the boys we thought were cute. That love has now grown into an appreciation for beautiful, unique hand lettering. Much like the lost art of hand painted signs, hand lettering is making a huge come back.

What brides and grooms need to know is that there is a difference between lettering and fonts. Hand lettering is a skill and the examples you see below are all custom created for each client. This is a great way to incorporate your personality into your wedding stationery.

1 – Molly Jacques Illustration
2 – Berin Made
3 – Molly Jacques Illustration
4 – Jessica Hische
5 – Mary Kate McDevitt
6 – Leighwells Calligraphy
7 – Berin Made
8 – Jessica Hische

Ah, summer, when love is in the air.

Maybe it’s because you and your honey are seeing other blissed-out couples tying the knot. Maybe you’re just on a sunshine high after all those months of darkness.

Whatever it is, people seem to get engaged in the summer. And after that proposal or ‘what the hey, let’s get hitched’ moment in Banff, your thoughts soon turn to planning.

What will you wear? What flowers will you use? What will the tables look like?
What’s central to all these things? Colour.

And while you might have just gotten engaged, I encourage you to start thinking about your colours now.
Invitations are a great place to start as they set the stage for your entire wedding. Are you a flashy type? Minimalist? Do you have a signature colour?

Here are a couple 2014 trends to get you thinking:

With the launch of the Great Gatsby movie, everything 1920s-inspired is going to be big. Think art deco and over-the-top glam in gold, black, and champagne.

Bright colours will still be huge, as will patterns, and a chevron or damask pattern gives you a chic way to incorporate all those blues, purples, and yellows into your colour palette.

Colour Me Rad!

On the topic of colour, I just did the Color me Rad 5km race in support of the Stollery Children’s Hospital here in Edmonton! I’m always on the lookout for inspiration, and what better way than getting pelted by color bombs while running for a good cause? I also just found out that you can support the Stollery through your wedding. To find out how, click here .