New bride Rebecca and LCI Paper owner & founder Larry Chase met through a Twitter conversation. Rebecca, a full-time designer at Integrated Network Technologies, had designed her own wedding invitations and used blank pochettes, cards, and envelopes that she purchased from LCI Paper. Larry encouraged her to submit her invitation to me so that I could share her design with you. And here it is!
Rebecca was kind enough to tell me about her decision to design her own wedding invitation. Here is that interview:
How did you decide to make your own invitations?
My decision to make my own was based on two points; I am a professional graphic designer and my friends and family pretty much expect to see me flex my creativity muscles. Also, my husband and I were pretty much paying for the majority of our wedding, so saving on costs was important.
You used LCI's Copper Ore 6 1/4" square pochettes, Copper Ore response
envelopes, and Wet Black Forest 6 1/2" envelopes. Did you end up using the 6x6 vellum overlays?
Yes, I did actually. Good catch.
Tell me about the two unique pieces on your envelope -- the return address sticker and the flower embellishment in the lower left corner.
I wanted to add a unique personal touch, part of my job as a designer is to be economical and creative. Since it was small run of 160, I added the personal touches by hand. I bought scrapbook handheld flower dye cuts from a local craft store, one for the corner of the envelope so the copper would show through and the other to create a sticker as envelope seal. For the sticker I found the exact paper used for the copper envelope. I bought sheets of double stick paper and order a custom stamp design with our last name initial and return address circling around. We hand address the envelopes with a copper marker. Yes, my hands were a little sore afterward, but it was worth it.
The beautiful folder with the flower stencil... Is that your wedding program? Please tell me about that piece.
The folder was a guide of all the information you need to know for the wedding; location, times, food choices, directions, website address, etc. That way the guests had it all in one and could use it as a guide at the wedding. The flower stencil was of a lotus, my uncle, also an artist, built a large sculpture for the a background piece in the ceremony (attached). I carried the lotus symbol through out the design.
What were your guests' reactions to your invitation?
I think they were impressed, but wouldn’t of expected anything less from me. One friend, Corrine Feld (You have spoken to her), I recommended your company when she started designing wedding invites for others.
Do you think you made the right decision to make your invitations yourself?
I definitely believe it was the right decision, it made it special and was very economical.
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Joshua Birch
josh@lcipaper.com
This week, I received an e-mail from Shawnna, an LCI customer based in Massachusetts. She wanted to share photos of her beautiful and unique wedding invitation. She and her fiance will be married in a small ceremony on the beach this May. Shawnna was responding to the 
I actually really liked the petal fold, so I just searched for the petal fold and you guys [lcipaper.com] came up with the perfect color and I liked the pearl, so that’s where I started. And then I just sort of added. The inserts were white with a silver trim so that’s how I picked the white ribbons and the silver tissue paper and then the white boxes.
Well, my mother and my grandmother cried and everybody’s just said that they’re the most beautiful invitations they’ve ever seen. I’ve got nothing but like really, like gasps, you know, because I watched a couple people open them and we hand gave them to some people and then I shipped a couple and they called me right away and just told me they were amazing and they’ve never seen anything like it, so...
Well, I was trying to figure out a way to share the invitations with other people because I got such a big response for them. And they weren’t overly... Your prices are great and getting the other components, if you do it right, it wasn’t overly expensive to have a really, like stunning invitation, and so I kind of wanted to figure out a way to share that with people. Because, you know, I was looking for a way to do it [myself], and thought other people might too. And so when I ordered your paper for my program, I saw that thing and I was like, “Oh, that’s a good way to share my design.”
Our Office Manager, Linda Geisin, is one of the people you're likely to speak to when you call our customer service line. She created the design in this article specifically for a customer who was putting together her baby announcement. Linda listened to the customer's needs and thoughts and suggested a custom solution that the customer was happy with.
The customer told Linda that she loves sunshine and her baby was born on a bright, sunny day. Within the invitation ensemble, she wanted to include a photo CD so that her guests could print her baby photos on their own. She also wanted to include actual photos for those less technically savvy. Linda suggested printing the photos on our 6 1/4 square radiant white invitation cards. The inclusion of photos printed on cards and a photo CD made the ensemble quite bulky, so Linda suggested wrapping it all in our crocum yellow pochette, which has a sunny and translucent finish. She embellished and secured it with our black chiffon ribbon. Her customer loved the look of the black ribbon with the yellow pochette. It reminded her of a Black-Eyed Susan.
Black has always been a popular color choice for formal wedding decor, from invitations to favors. It should come as no surprise, then, that brides today are daring to don a black gown for this occasion. Wearing black on your wedding day is certainly a personal choice, but there are other great reasons for choosing black. Black is formal for men's wedding attire, and elegant and slimming for women. It can also create a dramatic look, especially if the groom is in an all-white tuxedo or your bridesmaids wear white. 
A black dress is also a great choice for a themed wedding, such as a Las Vegas themed wedding, Gothic or Halloween wedding, or a Fantasy 40's retro-themed wedding. Black accents on a white dress are another striking style, thanks to Audrey Hepburn's classic choice for the movie Sabrina.
