Natural & Rustic Letterpress Wedding Invitations

 Hello Letterpress Lovers!

And just like that, it's November! This year really feels like it is speeding along, doesn't it? Yesterday I saw my first Christmas TV commercial and when I ran to the store today the Halloween leftovers were being packed up to make space for Christmas decorations and other holiday items. We also just had our first frost this morning, so it seems winter is on its way.

The photos in today's post are from letterpress wedding invitations we designed and letterpress printed (in-house on our cast iron printing presses from the late 1800s and early 1900s) for Alberta couple Emily and Allen. The couple married in July 2013 in Glacier National Park in beautiful Montana, USA.

The wedding ceremony took place at historic Lake McDonald Lodge, which at the time of building in 1913 was one of the largest timber frame buildings in North America. The couple spends much of their time at Glacier National Park and in the outdoors, and wanted to incorporate the woodsy, outdoor, and rustic feel of the park and their midsummer's wedding into their stationery suite.

The flower arrangements and bridal bouquets/corsages for the wedding party were made solely of lavender from a local Montana lavender farm, and so the silhouette of the couple's favourite flower was also incorporated into the pieces.

The invitation is printed on Crane Lettra's luxurious 110 lb. cover, and the envelopes are a rustic 32 lb. kraft stock. We included a wood grain pattern on the invitation cards and envelopes, and you can see in the photos that the impression from the letterpress print provides a timeless, tactile quality that other printing methods cannot.

Our family was thrilled to be invited to this wedding and we had a wonderful time. We took a week off and drove from the burbs of Vancouver through Washington, Idaho and then on to Montana. Although the long drive was challenging at times (with two kids under 4); we had a lot of fun. I drove the whole way and back (partly because my husband cannot drive due to health issues, and partly because I bore easily on long car trips so I prefer to drive) and we saw some really beautiful sights along the way. We also had a few pit stops for some tasty Southern BBQ, sampled world-famous Montana huckleberry ice cream and pie, and my husband loaded up on excellent whiskey at the Glacier Distilling Whiskey Barn.

Before visiting Montana I always imagined it a certain way – rocky, cold, grey...I'm not sure why. It was really none of those things, and I was amazed by summer heat, the rolling hills and the beautiful sky. I get the whole "Big Sky Country" thing now. I think part of the reason why Montana's landscape is so impressive is because for the most part (on our drive), there were few points of reference in terms of scale; no large buildings, and in some places nothing on the road for many, many miles. The speed limit in Montana is quite a bit higher than at home, so when you combine this with no sense of scale, everything feels huge in comparison to yourself.

The photo below is from a rest stop where I found some telephone poles against the landscape, to give some perspective.

 

The above photo was taken from Lake McDonald beach where the wedding was held – such a beautiful spot to exchange vows!

This week we are finishing off the ordering guide for our Ready-to-Wear letterpress notecards (just in time to order for that special someone for the holidays!) and we will be printing a limited run of letterpress holiday greeting cards as soon as the magnesium plates come in. Visit the blog again soon for photos and ordering information.