Is it Wrong to Want a Yarmulke for Christmas?

Holiday greeting cards are often most closely associated with Christmas. While this may have been true in decades of the past, the fact is that now holiday cards come for just about any winter holiday or festival you can think of. With a range of options including both religious and pop-culture influence, there’s a holiday card for absolutely everyone.

The Perfect Holiday Card

There’s no denying a certain religious bent to many different holiday cards. From Hanukkah to Christmas with plenty of room for Kwanzaa, Diwali and other winter holidays. Although Christian and Jewish holidays may be well known, other religions hold end of the year celebrations. In order to reflect each of these holidays we offer a wide selection of card and letterpress designs which play on both the religious and cultural themes associated with them. These days of observance stretch beyond traditional organized religion and also play into cultural and even astronomical occurrences. Winter brings with it the Winter Solstice, which has been celebrated by ancient cultures and is still celebrated by people today.

But in order to remain truly modern and relevant, cards have also grown to encompass pop-culture holidays, including the infamous Festivus. Originally introduced on Seinfeld in 1997, the anti-holiday was adopted almost instantly by Seinfeld fans and has since grown into a worldwide movement. Card makers routinely offer special Festivus cards in spite of the holiday’s tongue in cheek rules regarding the trappings of typical holidays.

Show You Care with the Right Holiday Card

Holidays aside, cards have simply opened themselves up as a way to embrace the feeling of the entire holiday season. The holidays have come to mean more than any one specific day. As the calender begins to come to its end, we all get that urge to stop and move a little slower, to be a little nicer and to, in short, get into the holiday spirit, whatever that means to us personally. The holidays have expanded and evolved to be more inclusive and holiday greeting cards have followed suit. Even for those who simply want to celebrate the season as a whole, holiday cards have it covered. Cards that celebrate the season as whole make it even easier for people to stay in touch and the levity they bring to the season adds a bit of humor, which is welcomed anywhere.
Society has embraced Christmas as more than just a religious holiday. No other holiday enjoys the secular crossover Christmas does and, as a result, the entire holiday season takes on a warm and unifying glow. The end of the year brings out a surge of nostalgia in all of us and it’s natural to want to reach out and make contact with our family and friends. Luckily, holiday cards have evolved and adapted to meet the need while lightening the mood. So, get in the spirit and share your love of Yuletide Christmas Festival Sweater Day on December 22^nd and Wren Day on the 26^th, in addition to the more traditional holidays. (Insert your grandmother’s voice here…) Would it kill you to send a card?

Tags: Christmas, Christmas cards, greeting cards, Hanukkah cards, holiday cards, winter holiday cards
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Celebrity Wedding Planners

Thanks, in large part, to the Royal Wedding in 2011, wedding trends took a glamorous turn in 2012. With thoughtful themes and extreme attention to detail, there have been some seriously stunning weddings this year. From sparkly accents and faux fur shrugs to chic candle holders and big and lush bouquets, 2012 took back the extravagant wedding. And, it should be taken into consideration the brilliant people and teams who came up with the grandest designs and plans behind this year’s most luxurious weddings.

Designing and Creating a Luxury Wedding

While DIY weddings are quickly becoming a trend of their own, there’s still something amazing to be said for the professionally planned, classic, elegant ceremony and reception. It takes a creative mind to come up with the perfect wedding theme to unite and fit a couple’s specific tastes and needs and on such a special day, quality should not be compromised. But, it may not be so easy to find the perfect wedding planner to create the luxury wedding of your dreams.

It is important to do the research before you set out on the perfect wedding planner search. Hiring a wedding planner with in depth knowledge of the latest luxury wedding styles and trends will help guarantee you get your dream wedding. If it is a luxury wedding you’re after, you will want only the best in the industry; don’t take the chance and settle for an inexperienced wedding planner that promises great things, you may end up disappointed. Be sure to take a look at their portfolio and decide if what they offer is right for you.

The Best Wedding Planners

This year’s most sought after wedding planners have gone above and beyond in uniqueness and creativity, designing and delivering awe inspiring and gorgeous gowns, centerpieces, venues, invitations and events. They are considered among the most up to date on the industry’s latest trends and will no doubt enter 2013 with envelope-pushing wedding ideas that will start new fashion and design trends.

While there are many wedding planners who are making a name for themselves in Washington DC and beyond, there are a handful who excel in the luxury wedding category. Listed below is a short list of some of the most creative and best in the luxury and celebrity wedding and event planning industry. These stylists, designers and party planners offer unique and forward-thinking concepts that will wow guests and make any bride and groom feel like royalty. Each website provides an extensive portfolio or photo gallery displaying the real weddings the planners have pulled off. Their innovation and creativity shows they are not afraid to take risks, which ultimately produces the most stunning and memorable weddings. If you want your wedding to be the event of the year, your first step should be consulting with a luxury wedding planner like the ones listed here.

Colin Cowie Weddings

Todd Events

Marcy Blum

Mindy Weiss

Ed Libby & Company

Sharon Sacks Productions

David Beahm

Tags: luxury wedding cakes, luxury wedding centerpieces, luxury wedding receptions, real luxury weddings
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Black Wedding Invitations

Black Wedding Invitations

Black wedding invitations with white foil stamping feature a poster style layout and a square shape for a cool and modern wedding. For these invitations we used a super-smooth and super-black paper, mounted to a 220lb white cotton backer. An unmistakably elegant and formal look for these black and white invitations. Accessory pieces were letterpress printed in black on white 110lb paper, and mailed in white cotton envelopes.

Unique invitations

Our clients came to us looking for something unique and different for their evening wedding at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC. They wanted something formal for their fall wedding but not the usual white invitations. We selected a modern font in a poster-style grid layout, combined with using white printing on black wedding invitations as a twist on wedding invitation tradition. The whole look stayed formal and elegant, especially by making the whole piece very thick with the addition of a 2-ply cotton backer. By using letterpress for the accessory pieces, there was no mistaking this was going to be a formal wedding!

The Beauty of Foil Stamping

Using foil stamping makes possible some effects that are usually not possible with other print methods. It is often not possible to get a light color print on a dark paper, but for these black wedding invitations a fabulous white foil stamp applied to black paper gave a dramatic black and white look. Other color combinations are also deeper and more vibrant, like a true black on silver paper. The most frequent use of foil stamping is to get a shiny metallic look, such as gold or silver printing on wedding invitations.

Posted in Custom Letterpress Designs, Elegant Wedding Invitations, Foil Stamp Designs, Sample Designs | No Comments »