Lose your heart in San Francisco with these recently printed custom letterpress wedding invitations designed by Lindsy Aragona, who is just one of our many wonderful in-house designers.  This ultramodern and whimsical set was submitted to us by our great friends at Union Street Papery in San Francisco, California (would you have even guessed?).  The San Francisco Bay Bridge is letterpressed in our lovely coral ink and the bubbly persona is carried through onto all pieces.  They say people go crazy for a great city like San Francisco-and we’re just as crazy for this imaginative set!

inks: coral + peacock | fonts: clementine and stockton | paper: 1-ply ivory bamboo | printing: letterpress | invite size: S8

In San Fransisco, we had the chance to stop by a few more Smock retailers – first up: Paperwhirl. We spoke with Kitty, one of the owners of the trendy Union Square stationery shop.

What cause do your store support?

Paperwhirl tries to support local artists whenever possible – a lot of the cards and merchandise that we keep in the store comes from local artists in the Bay area.

What about your store are you most proud of?

We’re probably one of  the only independent businesses on Union Square – it’s mostly chains, and we’re one of the few small, privately owned shops in this area. We’re also proud of the fact that we’ve been in business for almost 30 years.

If someone is visiting your store, what’s another essential stop in your neighborhood?

I love this shop called Downtown – it’s got some really edgy, organic clothing.

What’s the hottest color palette out there right now?

We’ve been seeing lots of bright, happy colors lately – oranges, corals, and pinks have been really popular for summer.

Our next stop was to Cherish – a sweet shop with lots of paper love. They had a great studio set up that’s perfect for parties – we got to see one getting started during our visit! This particular party was a birthday and scrap-booking event, and looked like so much fun! There were tons of beautiful papers to be found throughout the shop – we couldn’t get enough.

Ryan from Cherish filled us in on the shop – check out our interview with him!

What cause does your store believe in? How does this impact the store?

We give lots of donations to auctions that benefit local schools throughout the city – we tend to do a lot of gift certificates for parties and studio space usage, so we donate a lot of our services.

What about your store are you most proud of? What makes you unique?

We’ve narrowed down our store image to be more about local artists – we have a lot of items in the shop that are made locally, and some we make ourselves. It’s a win-win – we love offering a selection of local goods, and it provides an opportunity for the artists to get exposure, too.

What do you predict will be the biggest wedding or stationery trend for 2012?

I’ve noticed lately that  a lot of brides are more mindful about the environment when it comes to their wedding stationery, and I think that trend is going to grow even more in 2012. They’re scaling back, trying to waste less paper, and making their selections extra special – choosing quality over quantity.

Thanks so much to Paperwhirl and Cherish for welcoming us with open arms! Be sure to stop in to these fabulous shops if you’re in the San Francisco Bay area!

We cannot wait to venture out to the West coast this week to host a trunk show event with our friends at Union Street Papery in San Francisco! The event will be held on Sunday, June 12 from 2pm-4pm, and we are so excited to show off all the fabulous letterpress invitation designs from the amazing new Smock wedding album.  In addition to some fantastic promotions (we’re offering 25 free letterpress invitation sets when you buy 75 or more!), you’ll get the chance to chat with Smock design experts to dream up the most gorgeous wedding invitations for your big day.  So come join us — we’d really love to meet you!