Thanks to OBT member Ellabean for both finding and sharing this super creative cake topper from Bee Mine Designs…

Ellabean sez:

"We wanted to have our son represented on the cake topper with us, because we believe this is as much his day as it is ours. I asked the lady who made the [cake topper] we liked and asked her to make a Little Swirl toddler."

What a super [chunky] cute way of repping your little one on the cake topper! And I love that the designer totally took on the challenge and came up with the cutest little swirly jar kid EVAR. I just wanna eat 'em up.

Also check out Bee Mine Designs on Etsy for more creative cake toppers AND ho'ma'gawd adorable invitations…

I'm kind of a stationary nerd, so I had WAY too much fun looking through all wedding invitations from the aptly named Modern Girl Invitations.

We've profiled Modern Girl before and now they're back with more designs (using the same environmentally friendly paper and printing, of course), even more budget friendly AND a special OBB discount. Also, lookit all the pritty colors!

The current pricing for 100 super colorful wedding invitations and response cards is just $269, which includes free shipping! And you guys can get up to 10% off when you add items to the invite & response card package. And that's not even including the special OBB discount listed below…

Continue reading "Colorful and modern wedding invitations from Modern Girl Invitations" →

I have to send a great big 'ol shout-out to OBB reader Nancy for ushering us in the direction of a super (and may I even add "duper?") custom wedding invitation by Anna Rummey who shows us all a thing or two about how to make an awesome wedding invitation when you're "visibly up the duff"…

From Anna's blog:

I drew the birds months ago when I was at my folks, just after we arrived back from London. I had no idea that I was pregnant at the time or about to get married. The invite was a bit cheeky but didn't cause too much of a stir, although I'm pretty sure my dad wrote something completely different when he translated it for our relatives in Poland…

To read more and see her equally incredible "Order of Service" creation click over to Anna's website.

You've seen Seattle comic artist Ellen Forney's work before — I featured her Zombie wedding invitation last fall, and if you've visited Offbeat Mama, she's the creator of the three little characters all over the site.

Ellen's also a dear friend of mine (she's Sassafras's dogmother!), and I was talking to her recently about her favorite kind of custom wedding invitations to illustrate.

"I love doing portraits that combine words and pictures using a familiar context –- stuff like mock travel postcards, movie posters, magazine covers, cereal boxes," she told me. "I wish I got more invitation work like that, but most people aren't into that kind of thing."

"But der, Ellen," I said. "Offbeat Brides aren't 'most people!' Offbeat Brides love custom wedding comics!"

Ellen sighed at me…

Continue reading "A conversation with Seattle comic artist Ellen Forney" →

OBT member Ragani had her "Old Hollywood" style gala wedding last May in Oakland, CA. It was pretty spectacular, and I should know, because I was there.

Instead of sending out paper invitations she sent them via email — and they were quite cool. Here's her guest post about her experiences and advice on emailing wedding invitations. -Megan

In May of last year I launched our Wedding e-Promotion Campaign. Or at least, that is what it felt like. At the same time, we were launching an email self-promotion campaign a work, and the steps have been very similar.

Starting with that fact that about 95% of our guests have email accounts and use the internet enough to know how to use an online form, plus adding to it the expense of printing and stamping over 100 invites (with stamped RSVP cards too), and you get a good incentive to find a cheaper alternative using email. There are a bunch of online wedding related services (like "The Knot") out there that offer the ability to email your guest list, but after playing around with them, I found that they were rather clunky and limited in the ability to alter the designs to fit our more offbeat theme.

The thing is, I had already spent some time working on a fancy Save-the-date card, that turned into the invite (when I took too long fussing with it, to be honest), that was driving the entire design of the website and other potential printed materials, and wanted to still keep it a part of the invitation, even if it turned into electronic version (frankly, it looks better on screen than print anyway). You see, I work as a designer, so "branding" and "marketing" are a part of my every day life. Aesthetically, I like using the theme as much as possible, and the invites are a good way to introduce our guests to the nature of this offbeat wedding. I confess, I was attached to our "branding" and did not want to have a template drive the look of our email invites.

As it happens, my job was also looking for a way to announce our new blog and emailing our colleagues seemed the most targeting approach. Which is how I ended up learning about the variety of email services that are available online that assist you to send HTML email campaigns. And here is how I made our online invitations:

Continue reading "Creating email invites can save money, be eco-friendly, and still be personal" →