Signature Style
Leave your personal imprint on your wedding
from
the save-the-date card to the thank-you.
by Leslie Hoffman | Photography by Megan Wylie
Lehman loves how the bold polka-dot scheme works on a small scale with this custom program and invitation. Lehman loves how the bold polka-dot scheme works on a small scale with this custom program and invitation.
Shopping for stationery of any kind makes us happy: We love the heft of a cotton linen invitation, the unexpected flash of color under an envelope flap, a surprising rhinestone here or there. So, we happily set out on an excursion to discover what some of the region’s most design-savvy stationers are designing for the most style-conscious weddings. We found that stationery sets the scene for ceremony, and all of the paper pieces associated with your wedding establish and suggest your theme, your style, and even give guests a hint of what your union will be like through the years. In addition to save-the-date cards, invitations, and thank-you cards, these creative stationers are designing memorable wedding programs, destination maps, menus, escort cards, favor labels, gift bag tags, and .... even monogrammed packages of tissues! They’re for when you cry for joy when you see the beautiful, never-ending stationery options available to you.
< Lehman designed this invitation for an Indian-themed wedding.
Hot Trends
- Postcard save-the-dates
- The color plum
- Crystals used to code the dinner menu
- Satin-boxed invitations
- Labels for favors: wine bottles, honey pots, tissue packets, travel-sized board games
- Envelope Icing — labels that wrap around the envelope
- Shimmer paper
- Ribbons
- Invitations with pockets
Anne Lehman Designs
Anne Lehman is a graphic designer who works out of her Cranberry home; she meets her clients at a nearby Starbucks or Panera to discuss their stationery needs. A graphic designer by training, she began designing wedding invitations and all of the accompanying stationery when she herself got married almost 11 years ago and could not find what she wanted. (She went with rose-petal studded paper). Lehman offers exclusively custom design. When she consults with couples, she asks them about how they met, as well as locations, themes, and colors that are important to them. “Most of them think that they have little to no creative contribution, but once we get started, they are very creative,” Lehman says. A touch throughout many of the designer’s save-the-dates, invitations, and programs? Famous sentimental quotes about love. The winner among brides, though the author is unknown? “Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairytale.” Says Lehman, “Every bride wants a fairytale wedding.” Anne Lehman Designs, 724.272.0513.
< Lehman designed this invitation for an Indian-themed wedding.
Custom silk boxes are a sensual, memorable way to frame the invitations.
Nicole DiMarco, Barbara Johnson
More Than Words Fine Papers
This Mt. Lebanon store on Washington Road’s main drag does not belie its expansive reaches: More Than Words is huge. The front of the cheerfully lit store is stocked with note cards, albums, and seasonal merchandise. As you amble toward the back, also filled with great gift ideas and wrapping necessities, the wall of colored papers and books of invitation options quickly catches the eye. Four worktables in the back are where store owner Barbara Johnson, and her “right-hand girl” Nicole DiMarco work with couples to design all of the stationery they need to leave a uniquely personalized imprint on their wedding. More Than Words offers albums from designers such as Arabella, Dauphine, and Spark, but Johnson also custom designs stationery. Often, couples will select aspects of their invitation from a book, but then carry over elements of the invitation design to custom wedding programs, escort cards, menus, favors, and thank-you cards. DiMarco called on Johnson’s services for her own wedding last year, a destination wedding in Maine, with the colors chocolate and turquoise. DiMarco says that Johnson has an uncanny ability to capture brides’ essence in their wedding stationery. “She knew what I liked, she knew the feel that I wanted, and she just created this for me,” she says. The two say that there are never any duplicate designs among brides. “Everybody is so different, there’s rarely the case that two brides like the same thing,” DiMarco says. “It’s unique going through the process with them. It never gets boring.” More Than Words Fine Papers, 660 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon. 412.343.9673.
Custom-designed menus and escort cards by More Than Words.
The rhinestones indicate which entrée the guest will have.
Wedding Stationery Timeline
- 6-8 months
before the wedding, consult with the designer. - 6 months
before the wedding, mail the save-the-date. - 6-8 weeks
before the wedding, mail the invitations. - 2-4 weeks
before the wedding, finalize stationery for the wedding and reception, such as the program, menus, and escort cards. - The week
of the wedding, pick up the additional stationery. - 3 Months to One year
mail your thank-you notes.
This stationery set is custom designed by More Than Words.
Amy Bass, Evvy Diamond
Nota Bene
In 2008, Evvy Diamond and Amy Bass opened Nota Bene, a darling stationery shop located along Aspinwall’s charming Brilliant Avenue. At Nota Bene, it’s true that good things come in small packages. The store is artfully arranged to accommodate an array of stationery for men, women, and children, to commemorate all occasions. The books of invitations by William Arthur, Crane’s, Kate Spade, Martha Stewart, Vera Wang, and hot new collection Luscious Verde (they specialize in beautiful paper cutouts) line the back wall. Bass and Diamond keep flexible hours and often meet with brides after hours at a table in the back of the store. They can adapt to a wide range of client needs. “We offer all different price points,” Diamond says. “Everyone right now is looking for a way to save. We even offer paper for the bride who wants to print her own invitations.” However, for the couple who want to go all-out, that’s available, as well. At Nota Bene, you could even order all of your gifts for your bridal party: monogrammed glass paperweights by Preppy Cards, little glass trays découpaged with botanical prints by Ben’s Garden, and retro-chic keychains and clutch purses by Kate Spade are some of the adorable items any bridesmaid would keep as remembrances. On a weekday morning, I run into Susan Farber, the Fox Chapel-based handbag designer whose luxe creations have been the envy of everyone from brides to red carpet trendsetters such as Eva Longoria and Jennifer Love Hewitt. “It’s a destination, it really is,” she says. “People here didn’t realize what they had been missing until Amy and Evvy opened Nota Bene. The service is really amazing, and you’re always going to find something in addition to what you came in for.” Nota Bene, 9 Brilliant Ave., Aspinwall. 412.782.6300.
Luscious Verde uses sophisticated paper cutouts to distinguish their modern invitations.
“We offer all different price points. Everyone right now is looking for a way to save. We even offer paper for the bride who wants to print her own invitations.” — Evvy Diamond
Martha Stewart Stationery incorporates whimsical, retro-style prints.
Luscious Verde stationery.