We have a lot to say about the postal service

Nothing strikes more fear into us when we hand over the invitations to a client and we tell them to go weigh them. Why you might ask?  Because the United States Postal Service seems to have inconsistent practices between post offices even in neighboring town when it comes to determining the proper weight of an envelope. Once a client who lives in Tenafly, New Jersey but works in Englewood, New Jeresy which are neighboring towns had her invitations weighed in Englewood but mailed them out from Tenafly.  What happened? They were all returned for insuffucient postage! Not only did this cause unnecessary delays but it ruined envelopes and invitations inside that she paid a lot of money for.  Of course we calligraphed her envelopes again  for her at no charge but why should she have had such an unnecesarry delay and inconveniece just because of inconsistent practices amongst post offices? We always suggest to our clients to add an ounce just to be on the safe side.

We also suggest to our clients to hand cancel their invitations. Hand canceling means your invitations will be processed by hand and should bypass the automated processing machines, avoiding damage. Wedding invitations are often thick, oddly shaped or oddly sized as a result of their enclosures or accessories, and run the risk of getting caught or damaged in these machines. You can also minimize the amount of automated printing and stamping the post office adds to your mailings (bar codes, for example), by requesting your invitations be hand canceled at a local Post Office. This is usually done at no extra cost - but our advice works only in an idyllic world! There are issues with hand canceling and one bride writes about  her hand cancelling experience. I think her fustration sums it up very well !  http://www.brides.com/forums/all-the-style-details/thread.jspa?threadID=44534 




Brian Lawerence, vp of Marketing at Encore Studios, sums up the fustration of hand cancelling on his blog http://weddingwiseguy.wordpress.com/   and writes about a solution:

 "Some post offices won’t hand cancel, others allow customers to come in by appointment and do it themselves which gives you most the control over the situation, others say they will and do it, and unfortunately some postal officials that said they would do it, did not follow through properly and the invitation were were machine processed. .........I (contacted) the Postmaster General, make him aware of this widespread problem and make a suggestion. I would suggest they establish a standardized policy that would make every branch mandated to do hand canceling. The most feasible way to do that would be to impose a charge for the service per invitation, just as if it were any other enhanced service the post office would provide such as accelerated shipping. The customer would be given a receipt reflective of the additional charge for hand canceling. If the post office did not fulfill the paid service, liability would be limited to a refund of the hand canceling charge and the postage for the quantity of invitations they were given to hand cancel as opposed to being vulnerable to be liable for the cost of the invitations."
He feels that everyone in the industry should write similar letters so that there might be a postive change:

John E Potter
Postmaster General
475 L’Enfant Plaza
Washington DC 20260

Telephone (202) 268 – 2000

The postal industry relies on a large part of its revenue from the invitation industry - you would think that they would cater to us!

When an envelope is not just an envelope

There are two camps when it comes to envelopes when I am designing an invitation for clients. There are those who feel that it gets thrown in the garbage immediately and  don't care what it looks like and refuse to put their budgeted dollars towards it.  Then there are those clients that feel that the envelope is everything because it's the first thing guests see! Lately I have been seeing more people who fall into the latter group rather than the former. I actually feel like there has been a lot of envelope talk going on at Paper Works and Events lately.

I do not view the purpose of the envelope as just a vehicle in which an invitation is delivered. It is the first impression. It hold endless possibility within. There isn't anything more exciting to get your mail and see something pop out of the bills and junk  that is clearly an invitation. Who is it from? For what kind of event will it be? What will the invitation look like?  My kids know that when I see an invitation arrive in the mailbox  (especially when it is not one that I have done!) I get first dibs on opening it even if it is addressed to them!

Before opening the envelope the tone is set for the event. Large colored envelopes which might be hand calligraphed make quite an inital impression and lets the recipient envision an invitation within to a very special event.

Envelopes come in a wide array of forms, colors, sizes and textures. Color and shape is the perfect way to make an invitation jump right out of the mail pile. We usually design the invitation based on the finished dimensions of available envelopes.  Many times when the right envelope is not found we design them ourselves and custom convert for a perfect fit!

We are a dealer of envelopments paper  http://www.envelopments.com/  where there are endless design ideas that we can come up with.  Even if we sell an invitation from one vendor we very often buy an envelopments color envelope to match rather than using the standard white or creme envelope it is sold with.  We usually give the  vendor what we want the finished size of the invitation to be so that it will be a perfect fit for the envelope.

Below are perfect examples of invitations that we have done that were non-traditional and mailed in a tube rather than an envelope making quite a statement upon delivery!

This is one of my favorite samples of an invitation I did for a client that was packaged for delivery - and it was not even mailed!
This was a black tie event with a "jewelry" theme for the Bat Mitzvah girl. We mounted the invitation which was engraved in 2 colors to the padding inside the red jewelry box.  All the inserts went under the pad.  We tucked "pearls" behind the padding so that they would lie on top of the invitation. The red jewelry box was put inside of the white box which was tied with a pearl borded ribbon. The guest's name (no address) was printed on white card stock with a black border and adhered to the box. The white box was placed in gold tissue which went inside a custom foil stamped bag with the Bat Mitzvah girl's name.  The invitations were placed on a gold tray and someone dressed as a "butler" hand delivered each one. This invitation as well as the method of delivery made quite an impression!

We are currently working with a client who choose a pink and white leather invitation which will be silk screened in white on the pink side. The invitation already comes in its own white leather envelope but she couldn't decide how she would mail them.  She already put most of her budget towards the invitation and did not want to spend on a custom white box - but she still wanted that "wow" effect when it was delivered. We originally thought that a white tuck box filled with crinkle would be a cost effective way to mail it. But she did not love that idea.

So we then came up with an idea that she said was "awesome": tie the white leather envelope with a ribbon which will have a tag hanging which will be printed with the guests name. This will go in clear box which we will then put two labels on the top of the clear box. The bottom custom label will be flooded in a pink pms color to match the invitation which will also match the ribbon. The top label will be white and printed in the same ink color as the bottom label. A truley unique invitation and a quite a different "envelope."

For as much time as you spend designing the invitation don't forget how much impact the envelope can have!

The Color Purple

Although I love the movie The Color Purple - this posting is not about the movie but the actual color purple! We love everything purple at Paper Works and Events. Our colors are now purple and grey and our new business cards and logo has incorporated the color purple. Recently Alison and I painted a wall in our studio a shade of purple called chambourd from Benjamin Moore's Aura collection - that's how much we love the color! I thought it would take 30 minutes and one small quart of paint to do a small wall - it took a couple of hours and 2 runs to the paint store to buy additional paint to cover a very small wall!

Pantone, the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries, announced that purple is top 10 colors in the PANTONE® Fashion Color Report Fall 2009. From lilac to lavender and violet to plum, purple is coloring the world of fashion. This regal hue is making a splash everywhere from runways and Hollywood premiers to city streets and DEFINITELY invitations!













Purple is associated with both nobility and spirituality. Purple has a special, almost sacred place in nature: lavender, orchid, lilac, and violet flowers are often delicate and considered precious. Because purple is derived from the mixing of a strong warm and strong cool color it has both warm and cool properties.


Here are a few fun tidpits on the color purple:
Purple is the color of mourning for widows in Thailand.
Purple was the favorite color of Egypt's Cleopatra.
It has been traditionally associated with royalty in many cultures.
Purple dyes made from mollusks were so rare in Ancient Rome that only the very rich could afford them.
Purple robes have historically been worn by royalty and people of authority or high rank.
The Purple Heart is a prestigious U.S. Military decoration awarded to soldiers wounded or killed in action.
Purple was even a very popular color among hippies and was the favorite color of Jimi Hendrix who even named a song after it - purple haze.

And of course any loyal follower of the show Desperate Housewives knows that it takes place on Wisteria lane - named after a vine with beautiful purple flowers!


















What ever shade of purple lights the passion inside of you: Violet, plum, lavender, lilac, thistle, orchid, mauve, royal, amethyst, wine, eggplant, mulberry - we definitely recommend incorporating it into your event!

How I got started with Custom Invitation Design

Women are always asking my advice on how to start a business of their own. I always reply: do what you love, believe that you are the best, stay focused on it and you will succeed. Then this summer one of my face book friends posted the following quote from Will Rogers which said what I say even better: "If you want to be successful, it's just this simple: Know what you're doing. Love what you're doing. And believe in what you're doing."
I started my business 6 months after my daughter Daniela was born in 1992. Don't ask me how I came up with the idea, but I started designing birth announcements of my own and handing pregnant women in Central Park my business cards. Every birth announcement was printed in my apartment,layered, hand embellished and bowed. My husband pointed out at the rate I was going I was probably making 25 cents an hour. As much as I hated to admit it - he was right. So I stopped doing the work myself and I started selling other companies stationery and invitations. My business grew at the same rate my family did. After my fourth child Gabriela was born in 2002, it was getting harder to work out of my home studio. One night I was watching an episode of "The Apprentice" and Donald Trump fired a Harvard graduate just because he said he did not like to take risks. In that moment I decided it was time to take a risk and I open a small 350 sq ft. store front. My business grew within that first year beyond what I expected and I moved to my present studio which is 1000 square feet.
All these years I have been relentless in focusing on growing my business - loving what I do all the way. A natural extension to selling invitations was event planning, so that became a part of my business as well. I have taken many risks along the way and they have paid off. I now have a full time graphic designer extraordinaire on staff, Alison Leibowitz, which allows me to have full control of the design process for our clients from their invitations to their centerpieces! I have come full circle now and although I still sell invitations from over 60 companies I would say that 90% of my invitations are completely custom just like I was doing back in 1992 - the only difference is that I now hire someone to layer the papers and tie the bows!!