Fabulous Cake Stand

This petite cake stand is just too cute. And with Easter and Mother’s Day coming up, it’d be perfect for breakfasts and brunches.  Plus, it’s only $28! Buy it at Catching Fireflies 

St. Patty’s Day Float

Saw this in “Aunt Martha’s” magazine and am dying to give it a try- Guinness Floats. 1 bottle of Guinness and 1 pint of vanilla ice cream = 2 servings. Both are good things on their own, and I’ve had Guinness ice cream before (Amy’s Ice Cream makes it occasionally) so I don’t see why this wouldn’t. Perhaps I’ll pick some ice cream up on my way home from Movie Madness tonight…

Organized Shop

It is so nice to have all the supplies and materials organized. Shannon and I worked really hard on getting everything organized in a nice, logical manner. And it works: we don’t ask each other where something is, we’re able to just get up and grab it. It’s very satisfying!

-ashley

Honey-Pear Sparkler

For New Year’s Eve, I served Honey-Pear Sparklers.

The recipe comes from an InStyle magazine (12/2006): In a glass pitcher combine 2 cans (12 oz. each) pear nectar and 1/4 cup honey. Divide the mixture among 20 flutes, and top with chilled champagne (3 bottles for 20 drinks).

I wouldn’t call this a *great* drink, but it was good. I’d drink it again, but probably not serve at a holiday party.

-ashley

Photo of Job #1

Working on Job #1

Yesterday we printed the return address on the envelopes. I’m guessing that was the easiest printing part of the job. The rest of the afternoon was spent fixing the invite form, and then printing those. A few sorts shifted during printing, so many are unusable, but the practice is welcome, so I’m okay with that. (Or rather I’m telling myself that I’m okay with that. Honestly, I’m quite disappointed that I didn’t catch the shift before printing a stack of them… But, now I know!)

The shipment from Crane arrived when I was on holiday so we definitely have enough supplies to play with. Ordered a pack of Lettra in Pearl White. It looks really nice and I’m happy with the way it prints as well.

Next weekend the goal is to finish printing the invitations, start on the reply cards (and possibly finish those too!), and clean/organize a little more because our second Kluge and stone will be arriving on Saturday! It will be a big and dirty weekend.I’m loving that Lava Orange Pumice soap- really takes the ink/oil/machine build-up off!

* I forgot to share that when we went to start creating the forms, the list of fonts we have didn’t match up to the actual inventory. What was labeled “Lydian Cursive” was not a cursive at all, so we had to find some similar fonts…

Children at the Wedding

A question that I was asked this month is, “We don’t want kids at the wedding. How do we express that on the invitation?”

As it’s considered rude to put “No children please” on the wedding invitation, the only thing you can do is when addressing the envelopes, address it to “Mr. and Mrs. <name>” and not “The <Names>.” It should be understood that if someone’s name is not on the invitation, they are not invited. Also, you have to be consistent. You can’t allow for some people to bring their kids while telling others that they must get a sitter; that’s how feelings get *really* hurt. Make no exceptions: all kids or no kids. And if you choose not to invite kids, I would make it known to close family members, so that should an aunt or cousin ask them if their kids will be welcome, the family member can say accurately “yes” or “no.” (If you’re afraid you’ll feel like a scrooge not inviting the kids, feel free to use the excuses “financial reasons” or “we’re afraid they’ll be so bored.”)

Job #1, on it’s way

Well, our first job is wedding invitations for friends who are getting married in March. It’s to be an informal occasion so we’re doing a one-color invitation, and a postcard reply. The design’s been approved by bride and groom so we’re ready to get started! As inviting hasn’t purchased the boxcar base yet, we’re setting the type by hand. Decided on Garamond and Lydian Cursive. Tomorrow we start creating the form, and the next weekend, or whenever the paper arrives, we’ll start production. 

–ashley 

Out of town wedding guests

Recently I was asked, “Are the bride’s parents to pay for their out of town family’s traveling expenses?”

I knew that wasn’t right but to confirm, I went straight to Emily Post. 

“Guests who come from a distance pay their own transportation and lodging expenses. The parents of the bride or groom should assist their relatives and friends by making reservations or sending them hotel/motel information, and may offer to pay any expenses they wish to assume, but are not at all required to do so. They may also accept the offers of local friends and relatives to provide accommo- dations for out-of-town guests in their homes.”

Hello world! Intro and update…

Hi there!

Well, things are coming along with the shop. Two of the three presses are in, and Shannon and I (Ashley) have started working with the C&P (the smaller press). It’s very exciting. There’s still much cleaning and organizing to do, but it’s happening. (Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/inviting/ )

 And our first printing job has begun as well. Some friends are getting married so we’re doing their invitations. Am waiting for a response from the couple on their design. More on that project another time.

Logo’s still in a rough state; the bubbles and text will be adjusted. The concept is great though. I’m totally digging it, and the colors look great. Makes me happy just looking at it.

So, here on this blog, Shannon and I will be sharing all sorts of random yet related things. She’s really in to cooking so will probably have many posts on that (I enjoy baking and making hors d’oeuvres and will probably have some posts as well), as well as cocktails we’ve tried and loved. I am a huge etiquette nerd (on my upcoming trip I’m bringing Emily Post’s Etiquette as my reading material) so will post answers to questions I’ve been asked (please send me more, I love answering these). We also enjoy decorating for parties so will post ideas and pictures. And because a big part of inviting is letterpress printing, we plan on posting parts of the process, ideas, roughs, and some final pieces.

That’s about it for now. Check back often.

–ashley