tess + adam
Tess and her lovely antique wedding dress have been showing up on a few of my favorite blogs lately. Tess lives in Seattle and asked me a few months ago to help design her wedding invitation (she was married a few weeks ago to a lucky young man named Adam).
To get a feel for what Tess was planning on doing for her wedding, my friend Beth (Tess' mother) came over to share some inspiration. The palette was cream and linen, with mossy greens and a touch of pale pink. Tess is a mycologist (lover of mushrooms and other fungi) so she wanted to incorporate mushrooms and other natural elements like moss and wood into the theme as well.
I first thought about incorporating faux bois into the invite, maybe with a nod to mushroom prints (which I adore). But I kept going back to that dress. Tess' dress is an antique gown she bought years and years ago at a vintage clothing store in New York. I love everything about it, especially the patterns in the lace.
I decided to use the overlapping circles from the front of her dress as the motif for the invitation. I love the symbolism of linked circles for a wedding invitation, linking a couple together, two families together. We letterpressed the invitations on Crane's thick Lettra paper in two colors, with gray for the type and a slight cream for the lace design. (Letterpress printing by Bjorn Press, who did a lovely job)
The inserts for the invitation also used designs I pulled from the lace on Tess' dress. The top card (below) uses the pattern from the lace at the neckline of the dress. The bottom card has a simple dotted circle, gathering in family and friends for the wedding.
The thank you cards (shown below) have a leaf design pulled from the lace on the back of the dress. The small cards (which were attached to favor boxes) have a simple scalloped design inspired by the dress' hem.
You can see more details of Tess' dress here, and details of Tess and Adam's beautiful wedding (with terrariums, ferns and a mushroom cake) here. (photos of Tess taken by photographer Rachel Thurston and used with her permission)
Congratulations Tess and Adam! Now go live a happy life!
06.7.2009
Reader Comments (33)
beautiful! excellent work!
I love your interpretation of Tess's dress into an invitation - beautiful work. That dress, oh, that dress....simply stunning!
Such a pretty bride! (and the invitation is nice too...)
Vivi
completely inspiring.
Amazing work. I really like how you pulled out all of the details of the dress to make it all work together, and the colors on those invites are just gorgeous.
Wow you do amazing work. Beautiful! Makes me want to renew my vows and have you design us something :) ... we've only been married 1.5 years ... too early for a vow renewal? haha.
oh, i'm so thrilled to find out it was you, as i love love loved these invites when i saw them. i'm especially crazy for the linked circles + the color. beautiful!
i absolutely love every piece you designed! it leaves me wishing my wedding had more of a personal touch like this. great job!
i love the last line in this post. :)
here's to living happy lives with the people you love!
Brooke, this is simplicity at it's best. Love, love, love it!
one word - wow.
Beautiful. Thoughtful. Class. Those words come to mind viewing the Bridal Stationary you've designed.
How refressing to see someone approach their wedding with thought and dignity, and not a three ringed circus. I'd bet these folks have a long marriage ahead of them. Best wishes.
Brooke--yours is one of my favorite design-esque blogs, and I especially love your weekly reads. I am a childhood friend of Adam from Ithaca NY and when I got their invitation, I about dropped to the floor. It was totally stunning--then imagine my cheer and surprise when I read that you created them. Tess + Adam are such a wonderful couple, and Adam is a gem. His family too. Anyway, this world is very small indeed. Thanks for sharing your beautiful talents with so many of us. Cheers, Nora
Lovely, lovely invitations! You are so talented. The bride's dress is absolutely gorgeous! I was surprised to note that I know the parents of the groom from when my husband and I lived in Ithaca, NY, while he attended grad school. What a small world!
beautiful work. the soft colors are so nice, and its really great how you pulled in so many details from her dress. each one is unique, but works well together.
Hello Brooke!
Thanks again for the great stationary designs. I love them. It was wonderful to work with you. I'm glad you and my mom are friends, thanks for the way you helped and supported her.
And thanks to everyone else who loved our wedding :)
-Tess
amazing. all of it.
absolutely beautiful! What a great idea to take inspiration from the beautiful dress!
gorgeous, it is all just lovely. (don't know if you remember me, i was in your ward in park slope for all of ten minutes a few years ago!)
xoxo
beautiful!