Letterpress Wood Invitations : Luke + Margaret

Hey ya’ll. I’m back from my North Carolina/South Carolina trip and enjoying (?) the rainy New York weather. I traveled down to photograph Luke and Margaret’s wedding and it was possibly the most unique event I’ve been to yet. If anyone wants to upstage them feel free (as long as I get to photograph it!) but you have your work cut out for you. Let’s start with their wedding invitations. I could hardly narrow down the adjectives to describe these invitations in the title and that is because they are so jam packed full of details.

Margaret took on the task of designing, printing, paper-making, and assembling them with some help from amazing friends along the way. Having designed my own wedding invitations as well I know how daunting the task can be… and I don’t think I even pushed myself to the level Margaret did.

As an artist working in letterpress it was obviously where she would start. The unique imprint of letterpress added to the tactile and natural qualities that were present throughout the wedding day. One of the best decisions she made (in my opinion) was to use birch veneer for the “paper” of the main invitation. As you will notice, they were also married in a state park so what better than a wood invitation to allude to what’s to come. Text was hand lettered by Margaret’s good friend and the floral pattern was taken from a vintage plate design. Both were scanned in and made into plates that Margaret printed with using the Vandercook #4.

When you opened the envelope, you immediately noticed the envelope liner which was of course made by Margaret from a roll of vintage wallpaper and a handy Martha Stewart punch.

a small insert printed on handmade paper (yep, by Margaret) introduced you to L+M’s day with an excerpt from Sheldon Vanauken’s A Severe Mercy.

After turning over the invitation you found the reply card tucked in to handmade photo corners.

I loved the custom stamps they had made from one of their fav engagement images!

The reply card was in mad-lib form and gave guests the freedom to share their joy with L+M and were cataloged in an album and on display at the wedding. With these invitations it was all about the custom details. I always love to see something different and not only was this invitation different but it fit the wedding perfectly. Now I know you’re all dying to see the pictures, so maybe if you check back later today you’ll see a preview :)