Real Weddings - Jean & Ken

(above photo taken by paperwhites press of our damask letterpress wedding invitation)
photos below by brett winter lemon

A Mountain Wedding to Remember...

I don't know why, but Leah and Chris have always stuck with me. There was just something very special about them. I did this invitation almost two years ago, but I thought it would be a nice time to dig it out of the archives and do a post about it! Recently we have done invitations for a few other mountain weddings. To me, the mountains are just magical, God's country. They just touch my soul.

Leah and Chris were one of our "custom" couples. In our initial meeting I learned that the bride would be wearing a blush pink gown. The groom would be in chocolate brown. They wanted brown and green in their invitations, but also wanted blush pink into it somewhere. The following is the result.

We did 7x7 pocket invitations in French Roast tied with hemp. The invitation mats are blush pink and wasabi green. There were several outdoor design elements that were all tied in to the invitation and again repeated on the wedding day. We worked with "foryourparty.com" for the napkins. They were able to take our custom artwork and make the napkins and matches. Enjoy!








these napkins summarize this couple, just plain great to work with, we created the custom artwork that went on the napkins...

A Valentines Day Wedding!

I am so excited for Gerard & Lisa as they say their vows and get married on Valentines Day! They were a joy to work with on both their wedding invitations and wedding day stationery.

Jessica & Anthony 10 04 08

Jessica is a stunning bride - photos from this wedding are just total eye candy! It looks like the wedding day was a spectacular affair. Thanks to Kevin Milz Photography for use of the wedding day photos (he didn't take the invitation ones, that was me - as if its not obvious - LOL). We designed a monogram for Jessica & Anthony and I am just as giddy as can be seeing it projected on the floor.





I also love seeing the scrollwork from the invitation on the cake! How amazing...







Some invitation details...

Jennifer & Chris 10 12 08

I just ran across these photos from Jennifer and Chris's wedding on October 12th. Jennifer ordered our "adria" wedding invitation and it was backed in black linen and assembled in an ivory linen pocketfold. It looks like the wedding was beautiful.

Silhouette Invitation

With the state fair just around the corner, I thought I would post about Kyra and Robert's awesome silhouette invitation for their upcoming wedding. At last year's NC state fair, renowned silhouette artist, Karl Johnson - cutarts.com was cutting silhouettes. We were able to scan and digitally trace their silhouette cut outs and put them on their wedding invitation and seating cards. The results were awesome, classic black and white paired with a tiffany blue envelope. Karl is quite amazing and has been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings among others. We cannot wait to do another silhouette invitation again!

Check out a VIDEO of Karl cutting a silhouette LIVE!

UPDATE: Yay! Karl will be at the NC State Fair again this year from October 16-26th (look for him in the village of yesteryear).

Katrina & Brandon 9 13 08

Katrina is no ordinary bride and was a joy to work with. I am so happy to post some photos from her wedding day. The amazing photographs are by adam barnes fine art photography in Lynchburg, VA. The wedding and reception took place in Williamsburg, Virginia in the Sir Christopher Wren Chapel on the campus of the College of William and Mary. Katrina wore a blush pink dress with a bubble skirt...need I say more? Her invitation was our pink peony, better known as "peony love" with rich chocolate type and pink envelopes to match - the peony design was also on her wedding day programs. We wish you all the best Katrina and Brandon.

Oh Charleston!

So I am trying to give anyone reading our blog - is anyone out there (we LOVE comments) a better snapshot into what we do everyday. August is a bit slower for us so I have actually had some time to breathe this past week. I have been spending way more time reading other blogs and trend-shopping then I should be, but I digress. I wanted to share some photos of a set we did for a delightful bride, Sara. I could tell Sara had an artistic side upon meeting her the first time. She has a great sense of style. At any rate, she is getting married in Charleston this fall and is using a rich palette and we had the task of coming up with a design just for her. What follows is our heavy ivory stock, printed with a matte metallic coppery/gold ink. The backer card is a deep purple (which is hard to see in the shot). This purple is just gorgeous. The envelopes are a metallic rich, champagne/gold color.

Pushing the Envelope & Naming the Blog

One of the things I love *most* about letterpress is the design work I can put on envelopes. So to follow, are some of the latest envelope designs. We have been tossing around lots of ideas for the naming of this blog - hoping to kick it up a notch as time allows. And, it got me to thinking that "pushing the envelope" is what paperwhites press is all about. I started this little company wanting to bring a touch of big city style to the south, so in essence we are "pushing the envelope" everyday.

Sarah + Kevin : July 12th

I had the pleasure of doing the invitations for Sarah and Kevin and also attending as a guest. It was a beautiful affair. Interesting note, on the invitation - it was worded "a fine affair to follow" and fine it was!

My friend Andrew Bryant captured the magic as the photographer! Read about it on his blog

Sarah is such a warm and special person. When I was asked at the wedding how I knew the couple, I told them I designed the wedding invitations. The response was - "they were so Sarah."

So what did the invitations look like? They were 7x7 squares, letterpress printed with a blind hit of a peony flower, meaning there was no ink laid into the paper. The type was done in a soft steely gray-blue script.

The wedding was at Sarah & Kevin's home and even the paint on her walls was that steely blue color! When I walked into her home, which is decorated with such amazing taste, I could put all the pieces together and smiled and thought, they are so Sarah.

I hope to post some invite photos of Sarah's set here very soon, but for now enjoy the digital file.

Contemporary Vineyard Wedding

This is an invitation proof that has been mocked up for one of my brides, LeAnne. It is a contemporary take on a vineyard wedding. This will be printed on a white paper and layered with a celedon and darker mossy green card. It is going to be really neat! I sympathize with brides who have an idea like wanting grapes, but don't want their invitations to look too much like clip art or cheesy.

Some wedding photos..

Here are some of the pieces we did for Lora & Andrew for their wedding day.

Charcoal Gray and Silver, the perfect combination

Charcoal Gray and Silver A9 Invitation on Crane's Lettra Pearl White, Reply with Letterpress-printed envelope and letterpressed stardream silver bellyband hand addressed to guest


letterpressed gray ink on stardream silver envelope




envelope front hand addressed




careful use of type

Callie & James

Many of you have met or will meet Callie at the studio or the shows. Callie is getting married on March 1st! We just got her gorgeous letterpress printed invitation set back. It is a wonderful fresh green color printed on Crane's Lettra pearl white with letterpress-printed envelopes in ivory. Callie designed these wonderful Spring garden invitations - something I hope she always remembers and can tell her grandchildren.