Nole Garey, editor and publisher of Oh So Beautiful Paper, gave this fantastic invitation set first place in our design contest! Nole loved the texture and the playful yet elegant mix of patterns for this wedding invitation set, and we couldn’t agree more – it’s simply stunning!

Danielle from Creative Touch Party Design in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida always sends us gorgeous designs, and this set is no exception. Much of the inspiration for this design was pulled from Smock’s Dawson suite, sleeve and all. Layers of dynamically designed pieces in this suite really bring it to life, and the colors of pewter and merlot give the playful patterns a little sophistication.

Danielle gave us the scoop on the inspiration behind these invitations. “The wedding colors are shades of wine and berry with silver.  The wine color comes from her Lulu Kate bridesmaid dresses, which are just beautiful.  These were the inspiration for the border color. The gray picks up the silver throughout the wedding decor. And the men are wearing gray tuxedos, which is reflective in the pocket she chose.  The linens are a modern lace pattern which is reminiscent of the quilting in the invitation itself.”

We loved this set — congratulations, Danielle! And a huge thanks to Nole for judging the contest!

Customization = letterpress inks: merlot + pewter | fonts: carrington + smock clermont | paper color: white | paper size: s-7 for sleeve | envelope liner: ashford reversed in pewter | sleeve: custom design in pewter letterpress

This design won first place in our Smock design competition for the first half of 2012. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.

Our second place design contest winner comes to us from Shelley at /di’zain/ loft limited in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, a recent addition to the Smock family. The couple chose a dreamy color palette of dusty pinks and greys for their wedding, so invitations in pewter and shell inks on our white bamboo paper fit their theme perfectly and created a soft, sweet feel. The invitation design was modeled after a vintage, “fashionably chic” handwritten love letter, which seems perfectly fitting for Clare-Ann and Joshua as they have had to experience the challenges of an overseas relationship. Shell envelope liners and a pretty script font reminiscent of elegant cursive handwriting complete the look of the invitations.

The couple strove for a sense of romanticism with their invitations, and we definitely think they’ve achieved it! We fell in love – and so did our contest judge, Nole, at Oh So Beautiful Paper, who selected the design as the 2nd place winner. She writes, “The invitation has a clean and modern layout, and I love the use of script and serif fonts that keep the design from looking too fussy.  Sweet and simple.”

Congratulations Shelley, and best wishes to the happy couple!

Congratulations again to Di’zain Loft Limited for taking 2^nd place in our design contest. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.

We featured these stunning letterpress invitations back in October and are thrilled to show them off one more time as a design contest honoree! This sophisticated set was sent to us by Darcy at Pearl Beach Paperie in Orlando, Florida, and features charming vintage airplanes and a rich color combination of cherry and black inks. The swirls and flourished fonts set a whimsical tone which balances the chic gold stripes printed on the folios and envelope liners. Congratulations and thank you to Pearl Beach Paperie for sending us such a lovely invitation set!

ink: cherry + black | fonts: custom| paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | folio exterior: custom pattern in cherry | folio interior: custom pattern in gold | liner: custom pattern in gold |invite size: 5.125 x 7.75 |

This design won an honorable mention in our Smock design competition for the first half of 2012. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.

It’s that time of year again – the Smock Design Contest is back! Twice a year, we search through our customer jobs in search of the most beautiful, most inspired customizations submitted by our lovely retailers all across the country. We think you are really going to be impressed – the designs we found blew us all away! Check back daily for new posts; we’ll announce the winner of the contest, chosen by the lovely Nole at Oh So Beautiful Paper, next week! For now, let’s ooh and ahh at the first honoree!

We fell in love with these trendy Dawson wedding invitations submitted by our wonderful friend Liz at Union Street Papery in San Francisco, California. It easily shows off simple beauty, with the grass ink perfectly contrasting the cheery apricot folio!  This set has the most subtle elements, keeping it looking fresh and fun.  With its clean lines and beautiful color combo, this minimalistic invitation is what’s happening!  A huge CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU go out to Union Street Papery!

ink: grass | fonts: smock harrison + percy | paper 1-ply white | printing: letterpress | die cut: chesapeake | custom sleeve: page pattern; custom cartouche in apricot |invite size: 5.4375 x 8.0625

We printed these lovely wedding invitations for our friends at Dandelion Patch – Vienna. The letterpress eggplant and lavender inks make this an elegant suite that they will remember for the rest of their lives. This Chasseral design was letterpress printed on ivory bamboo 2-ply paper. Its wrapped up neatly in a Smock pocketfold to give that new age look to a classic design.

inks: eggplant + lavender  | fonts: graham + tally | paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | invite size: S-8 Folio

If you’re looking for a traditional wedding invitation suite – then look no further!  We’re head over heels for this simple and sweet letterpressed set submitted to us by our friends at The Dandelion Patch in Reston, Virginia.  Letterpressed in black ink with gorgeous mulberry edge paint that acts as the perfect accent to this one color set – we can’t help but swoon!  After looking at photos of the The Ritz Carlton in McLean Virginia, where the fabulous wedding was held – we see what a fanciful and lavish venue the couple chose for their special day.  Of course we believe tossing our mulberry ink into the mix helps keep this set looking romantic, but this set also encourages the feeling of the winter months.  The three letter monogram on both the invitation and letterpress belly band adds another touch of elegance to this striking set!

ink: black | font: smock spencerian | paper: 1-ply white | printing: letterpress | edge paint in mulberry | liner: the champlain pattern in mulberry | letterpress belly band | invite size: S6

Seeing an order become a design is great. Seeing a design become a letterpress printed invitation is better. But when we get to see photos of our invitations in the hands of the happy couple and shots of their important day…well that just reminds us how much the hard work can pay off. Thanks so much to Michele at the Wedding Company in Hong Kong and well done to Adam Sjöberg for Ira Lippke Studios for the amazing camera work! The reception looked gorgeous and we are very honored to have played some small role in making that day special. Read our previous post about the letterpress wedding invitations.

inks: taupe + pearl + whisper | fonts: cameron + carrington | paper: 1-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | size: s8 | 3-color, bilingual invitations |

We printed these lovely pieces for the ultimate take-two wedding. The couples first attempt was thwarted by a hurricane, but, these newlyweds weren’t going to let a little weather ruin their special day. We went back to the drawing board with our friends at Judy Paulen Designs and whipped up these awesome Part II pieces. They combine beautiful offset and letterpress printing in our Navy ink. We were thrilled to be able to help them with their special day, even if the weather wasn’t going to cooperate.

ink: navy | fonts: smock spencerian + graham | paper: 1-ply white + 2-ply white | printing: letterpress + offset

This vintage inspired customization of our Chasseral design was submitted to us by our great friends at LS Amster Company in Scarsdale, New York.  We think our eggplant and saffron inks were the perfect pairing for an autumn wedding.  The rich colors of the season are seen throughout- so much that it’s easy to see the leaves changing color! The iznik pattern envelope lining in saffron gives off the perfect amount of charm!  Complete with direction cards printed on both front and back- these cards tell guests everything they need to know about getting to the celebration!  The couple also chose letterpress thank you cards and we cannot think of a better way to show all of your guests your gratitude for being such an important part of your special day.  Vintage inspired + autumn color palette = ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING!

inks: eggplant + saffron| fonts: graham + tally| paper: 2-ply ivory bamboo | printing: letterpress | edge painting in eggplant |back patterning: sinclair in eggplant |liner: the iznik pattern in saffron | invite size: S8SQ

It’s time to say thanks to the fantastic editors who have featured Smock’s letterpress wedding invitations, greeting cards, gift-wrap, and more in their magazines and on their blogs over the past few months. Our first feature is from Brides magazine, which showed our Palmer letterpress wedding invitations in their White Hot! section of their November edition — they were digging the die-cut shape and the fact that our invitations are eco-friendly!

Well Wed Hamptons Fall/Winter 2011 edition featured this set of stunning letterpress wedding invitation suite and one of our amazing retailers — Claudia Hanlin of The Wedding Library!

Eco Beautiful Weddings, an online magazine, recently featured Smock wedding invitations in their winter 2012 edition in “Green Is” — a section that helps brides track down eco-friendly goods for their weddings, and MODBlog also featured a variety of Smock wedding invitations this fall! Read the rest of this entry »