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Inviting
invitations
Brooklyn’s
experts reveal the latest trends in wedding invitations, save-the-date
announcements and RSVP cards
By
Erin Marie Daly
for
The Brooklyn Papers
As many brides and grooms are well aware, choosing wedding
invitations can be an arduous, hair-pulling process. So for
grooms who have been exposed to one-too-many gauze ribbons
and engraved curlicues, salvation is in the back office, where
Larry Levine of Court Street Office Supply hides a leather
couch for overwhelmed hubbies-to-be.
“I keep it here for the groom to sleep on, because he
usually does,” Levine told GO Brooklyn. “Choosing
the invitations is 99 percent a bride and her mother —
very rarely does the groom have a say in it.”
Over 20 years in the wedding invitation business has taught
Levine a few things about getting married. His advice to the
bride and groom?
“Elope,” he stated firmly. “But if not, I don’t
care how crazy you want your invitations to be, as long as
you do it with us.” To meet the needs of the contemporary
couple, Levine offers more than 50 books of wedding invitation
samples, embodying everything from ivory-and-gold elegance
to cartoonish flair.
Wedding invitations have come a long way from the modest,
refined cards of yesteryear. According to Levine, the formal
invitation — think cream-colored paper, script font,
ample borders and seals or stamps — is all but obsolete.
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Invitation
timeline
9
months to one year before your wedding:
Start thinking about the theme of your wedding, the
style of your party, and any special motifs that may
play into your choice of invitation. Check out potential
designers and stores.
Also begin to consider save-the-date cards. According
to Morris, the new trend is not to send them, but they’re
necessary if you’re having a destination wedding
or if your wedding date falls on a holiday weekend.
If you opt to send save-the-date cards, order them eight
to nine months before the big event.
6
to 8 months
Save-the-date cards should be mailed.
4 to 5 months
Time to order invitations! Things to keep in mind: printers
can take from four to six weeks to deliver printed invitations,
and letterpress and engraving take longer than thermography
or off-set printing styles. Hand calligraphers and in-store
addressing add to turn-around time. The more elaborate
your invitation, the more time you should allot for
ordering.
Consider, too, all the components and accessories you
may include in your order. According to Morris, most
invitations include response cards and envelopes for
their guests’ convenience. Additional items to
think about: reception cards, direction cards, programs,
menus, placecards and thank-you notes. You may want
to coordinate them all with the same motif.
6
to 8 weeks
Invitations should be mailed.
3
to 4 weeks
The deadline for RSVP cards to be returned by guests.
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Latest trends
Rather than simply announcing an event, today’s invitations
reflect the unique personalities of the couple and set the
stage for the tone of the affair. Weddings aren’t culturally
limited by formal restrictions anymore and neither are invitations.
The whimsical, the postmodern and the glamorously luxurious
are all fair game for the modern wedding invitation, and Brooklyn
boasts a potpourri of artists and printers to suit every couple’s
(or bride-and-mom’s) singular vision.
“There are a bazillion trillion different kinds of wedding
invitations,” estimated Melinda Morris of Park Slope’s
Lion In The Sun. “It can make people insane.” But
wedding invitations can be one of the most creative elements
of the event — even in this age of e-mail.
“It’s nice to hearken back to historical tradition
and step back from the modern age, because people rarely receive
formal things in the mail anymore,” said Morris.
But this doesn’t mean invitations can’t edge towards
the funky or even the downright hip. And couples are relying
less on wedding planners and more on their own expertise and
personal taste.
“I
buck the tide,” said Morris. “I tell clients what’s
historically correct in terms of etiquette, and then I let
them do whatever they want.”
Karen Van Every of Serimony in Carroll Gardens agreed that
couples these days are leaning away from formal invitations
while preserving elegance and style.
“Couples want to put more of their personalities into
their invitations,” said Van Every. “I try to sway
them to do something really unique.” Square invitations
and business-sized envelopes are rising in popularity, as
are avant-garde paper colors such as soft lime, metallic and
champagne.
According to Morris, the latest invitation trends merge the
artful and the convenient.
“Pocket folders are by far the most popular envelope
right now, because they’re sleek, neat and contemporary,”
Morris said. “Colored paper and bright ink are also trendy.”
This corporate-style slickness blended with splashes of color
is often softened by personalized motifs, such as baby pictures
of the bride and groom, quotes or illustrations, or symbols
significant to the couple.
“The Brooklyn Bridge comes up a lot,” said Morris.
“But it can be any simple element that ties it all together.”
Intimate,
personalized touches need not be overt. Morris’ own wedding
invitations, for example, were illustrated with gingko leaves
to symbolize her first date with her future husband at a restaurant
called The Gingko — a fact that was personally significant
to the couple but not necessarily common knowledge among the
guests.
One couple, who Morris worked with, met in Italy, so the borders
of their invitations were lined with hand-drawn skylines of
both Florence and New York. Another couple loved antiques,
so they created an invitation mimicking old postcards tied
together with twine and printed their envelopes on an aged
typewriter.
Inviting
a response
Perforated or “rip-off” reply cards have recently
become popular items (because it saves money to print on only
one piece of paper, according to Morris). And save-the-date
cards have morphed into magnets, pop-ups and lottery ticket-esque
“scratch-offs.”
Get off the couch, grooms — this stuff can be fun!
Multi-language invitations are becoming more frequent with
the rise of inter-ethnic marriages, particularly in the melting
pot of Brooklyn.
“Weddings are now more collaborative,” said Morris.
“The bride’s parents rarely pay for the whole affair
anymore, so it’s often the bride and groom together with
their families. And nobody has traditional families anymore.”
Morris said invitations in two or more languages are now common
requests she receives from her clients.
But is all this consideration somewhat pointless, given that
paper invitations often get thrown in the trash once the date
has been entered into the Blackberry?
“Most people probably don’t save invitations,”
admitted Van Every. “But if an invitation looks nice,
they’re more likely to save it. The invitation can serve
as a keepsake.”
Court Street
Office Supplies, Inc. is located at 44 Court St. at Joralemon
Street in Brooklyn Heights. For more information, contact
Larry Levine, printing manager, at (718) 625-5771 or e-mail
printing@courtstore.com.
Lion In The Sun [463 Fourth St. at Seventh Avenue in Park
Slope, (718) 369-4006, www.lioninthesunps.com]
hosts monthly, one-hour workshops on creating your own wedding
invitations and other topics.
Karen Van Every’s Serimony Invitations and Announcements
will open at 421 Court St. at Second Place in Carroll Gardens
by June 30. For more information, call (718) 797-0679 or visit
the Web site at www.serimony.com.
June
11, 2005 edition |. Read
more about Brooklyn Weddings
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