The perfect beach wedding card box

Picture this... you're having a Seaside Wedding; dress is ready, reception is booked, your perfect beach influenced invitations are sent out. As the date comes closer, you begin to finalize your reception details. You start to think about the little details like the gift box, also known as the card box. You know, the box you usually see at past attended weddings made from cardboard and wrapped with wedding gift wrap where all of the guests insert their cards. Now that doesn't sound beach influenced at all! For the following wedding, we needed to create something beach-like for our bride and groom, Helen & EJ's Seaside Wedding.

There are numerous things that can be used for a card box that doesn't necessarily need to be an actual box, and for us, it was time to think outside the box:) Their colors were navy blue and hot pink and she wanted something beach-like to flow with their wedding theme. After some research we decided on a crate. A wooden crate with a clasp-able lid that, with a little finess, would be turned into a one of a kind card box. We painted the crate navy blue, creating a bold and definitely recognizable gift box which if it could talk it would say, "CARDS HERE, PLEASE". Next we filled the slots in the crate with decorative fish netting and decorated it with seashells. We used the same fonts used on their matching wedding invitations and printed their "H&E" monogram, which has been a staple design throughout this process, and presto a card crate is created. 

To see the invitation behind this inspiration see our past blog post below:

http://invitationsbythisandthat.blogspot.com/2012/04/endless-summer.html

For more information and pricing on our card crates and other gift box ideas email us at:

invitationsbythisandthat@live.com

 

www.invitationsbythisandthat.com

 

Fall Inspiration Board IV ~ The Harvest

 Most of us capable of reading this blog will agree with the fact that back in the day many colors combinations were just not allowed and almost frowned upon. How about the legendary, don't mix black with brown? Yes, this was a passion filled fashion ewwww and quite the unconceivable fusion of colors. Well, combining the oh so uncombineable and oh so saturated black and brown black colors was nothing short of exhilerating! Sorry if we get so excited by the small things, but come on people, we all know this was a major " NO, NO" back in the day. Well good riddens to old thoughts and helllooooo to an open minded untraditional world of new and modern design. Can we say Fall elegance?

Walking down the aisle in the Jim Hjelm beauty will leave your guests breathless, until it's time for cake that is:) The simple yet, artfilled wedding cake design of Fall tree branches cascading down the tree is in a class of it's own. And don't forgot the purrrrty nails to finish off this classy look.

Now for what we've all been waiting for the invitation that breaks all the rules...description please:

Our chic, yet rustic, Autumn wedding invitation, The Harvest, was printed on a chocolate brown cardstock (paying special attention to the formatting of the wording). We bordered this invitation with a strong black card, only showing the border on the top and bottom of the invitation. We finished this Fall invitation by wrapping a hemp rope around  the mid section of the invitation.



Check out our other Fall Inspiration boards:

...inspired by the Shoreline Wedding Invitation:

http://invitationsbythisandthat.blogspot.com/2012/09/fall-inspiration-ii-shoreline.html

...inspired by the Sunflower Wedding Invitation:

http://invitationsbythisandthat.blogspot.com/2012/09/fall-wedding-inspirations-1-sunflower.html

...inspired by the "Fall"ing in Love Wedding Invitation:

http://invitationsbythisandthat.blogspot.com/2012/09/fall-inspiration-iii-falling-in-love.html

For more information and ideas please contact us:

invitationsbythisandthat@live.com

www.invitationsbythisandthat.com

Featured Couple: Kendra & Matt Pilson

Kendra & Matt Pilson

April 26th 2008
The Tradewinds Hotel

St. Petersburg, Florida

Wedding Theme: Beach and Natural Elements

Colors: Brown and Aqua

Location: The Tradewinds Hotel Oceanfront 
 St. Petersburg Beach, Florida

When Kendra first inquired about wedding invitations, she seemed very easy going and had no specific design in mind. She casually explained her love for the colors blue and brown and described the laid back tone of their beach chic wedding. Soooo...this is what we came up with when we combined the two samples we created for one of our favorite couples.

Wanting to include natures best qualities, we used handmade paper, hemp and sand to create this beach invitation that's in a class by itself. Starting with a hand torn brown mulberry pocket fold we literally tied everything together with hemp. The invite is printed on a natural card stock, backed with a aqua blue shimmer card stock and both are tied to the pocket fold with hemp knots. Instilling a beach influence into this wedding invitation didn't stop at the love knots. We created a wave of sand on the side of this gorgeous seashore invitation. Inside the custom designed hemp pocket we placed the matching enclosure cards printed on the same natural card stock. The reply card is also backed in the turquoise shimmer card stock possessing it's own hemp tie. After everything is tucked into this handmade pocket, it is then folded and wrapped with hemp rope and a matching tag showcasing Kendra and Matt's name with a simple starfish image.

We know it's a shocker, BUT, we didn't just stop with this unique wedding invitation. We carried over the same theme having starfish menus,  place cards tied to finger large star fish favors and match book style programs.

For more information on beach style weddings please contact:

www.invitationsbythisandthat.com

invitationsbythisandthat@live.com

To see how Kenda & Matt's invitation evolved on our previous blog,
"the inspiration behind... and how we customize":

http://invitationsbythisandthat.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-inspiration-behindand-how-we.html

The inspiration behind...and how we customize

When Kendra and Matt first contacted us about invitations, they seemed very easy going and had no specific design in mind. With them living in Florida, and us being in Maryland, you would think our phone consultation would be nothing less than a full description of their wedding inspiration. Let's face it, we've had brides send color swatches by mail with blueprint-like details of their expectations of what we will eventually design for them. And while we welcome instructions and appreciate details, we were extremely surprised at the relaxed tone of the 3 way convo we had with Kendra. 

She casually explained their love for the colors blue and brown and described their pursuit for a laid back,  beach chic wedding. Allow us to walk you through our design process and development of the two samples that will ultimately be combined into wedding invitations for one of our favorite couples from the Sunshine State.

The 1st sample was printed on a bright white card stock while using a rich chocolate brown card stock with a weave texture to border it. In between those two layers we placed a piece of blue handmade paper with a "swiss cheese" effect which shows the brown paper through the holes. The three layers of this rectangular shaped invitation are secured with a chocolate brown wraffia knot on the very top. And to top it all off, well - that would be to bottom it all off - we added sand on the very bottom of this invitation for perfect beach touch.

On the 2nd sample, we used brown handmade paper to make a custom pocketfold. The invitation is printed on an ivory card stock and backed with an aqua shimmer card. To incorporate the beach into this invitation we designed starfish and printed them cascading down the side of the information cards. We used a natural hemp rope to attach the pocket and also as a wrap to enclose the invitation.

Kendra and Matt were ecstatic to see their samples. They loved them both but, still wanted some changes...so this is what we came up with - keep the sand from sample 1 and the style from sample 2 and voila!!! This, friends, is what we call custom:)

We took the sand from sample #1 and the overall style of sample #2,  and combined them together to create Kendra & Matt's out of this world beach invitation. We removed the starfish from the original sample and added it to the outer tag of the invitation. We also included the starfish on the guest's dinner menus. To take it up a notch the custom printed place cards were attached to a finger star fish.

BUT WAIT......we are not done with how we customize :) Let's take a look how another one of our couples were inspired by Kendra and Matt's custom beach wedding invitation. With making just a few changes to customize this invite to accommodate Helen and EJ's wedding color scheme, we were able to use the same style and make a whole new beautiful invitation. From brown and aqua to navy and hot pink this invite will WOW your guest.

See the full details of our Endless Summer invitation below

http://invitationsbythisandthat.blogspot.com/2012/04/endless-summer.html

Want another alternative to the place card?!?!
Check out our Starfish seating board that matches this wedding set?

http://invitationsbythisandthat.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-seating-board.html