Traces of Heaven, Inc. + Giftbandit

Ecru is just another word for Ivory Paper. White is sort of, in paint terms, likened to soft white (or eggshell white) and bright white is exactly what it says: brighter than white! Many times we will see bright whites used in cards rather than folded invitations for a stronger impact or statement. We are definately seeing Ecru/Ivory used for second weddings, brides over thirty-five and of course for 50th (fiftieth wedding anniversary) invitations.  However, with the introduction of new inks like Mocha, Chocolate, Deep Navy and Taupe, Ecru/Ivory is making a great deal of headway in the wedding invitation world! Many new invitation styles are boasting Ecru today more than ever, especially in the higher end invitations like Elite, Chase or Jansson Invitations. It lends to a more elegant or rich feel, especially when used with combinations of Chocolate/Ivory satin ribbons.  If all else fails, go color!

www.giftbandit.com

If a guest receives your save-the-date and is unable to attend, and they offer regrets far in advance, should you still send a wedding invitation ?

Yes!  As a common courtesy, it is important you send one anyway to announce your big day. Keep in mind, circumstances may change for your guest or at the very least, it is nice to share your invitation selection and to them know you were thinking of them. You may also include a personal stationery note in their invitation.

Source:   www.theknot.com  

Where to Start

Q. Do we have to send a save-the-date?
As destination weddings and three-day weekends have become more standard, so have save-the-dates. And if you're marrying during high-travel times like a holiday weekend or summer in a beach town, a save-the-date is an expected courtesy. Of course, you don't have to send one if you don't want, but it will give guests the heads up about your wedding plans. Between travel arrangements and busy schedules, sending a save-the-date will increase guests' chances of attending your celebration. And that's the goal, right?

If someone receives a save-the-date and will be unable to attend, they are likely to offer regrets far in advance. You still need to send a wedding invitation as a common courtesy.

Q. When do you send them?
As a general rule, it's best to start spreading the news at around six months prior to the ceremony (eight months for a faraway destination). This gives wedding guests plenty of time to book their travel, save a bit of cash, and ask for days off from work. Any earlier, and they may toss the notice aside. Any later, and it might as well be an invitation.

Q. Do we have to send save-the-dates to everyone?
Just to the people that you want to come to your wedding. Even if you've already received confirmations from certain guests, you still need to send them a save-the-date (bridesmaids, siblings, and parents). But remember: Only send to those that you definitely want to attend. Once these are in the mail, there's really no turning back.

Sticky Situations

Q. Do we need to add "and guest," or can that wait for the invitations?
It's best to be clear about who's invited to the wedding, even this far in advance. Always call your best friend's boyfriend by his nickname? Now's the time to find out what's on his birth certificate. By including the actual names of every intended guest on the envelope, you're less likely to have any assumed invitees (like your third cousin's new boyfriend), or general confusion (is your seven-year-old niece invited?). Being up front about who's invited also gives families with uninvited kids ample time to plan for child care, and out-of-towners time to figure out hotel room shares.

Q. What if we send save-the-dates and then change the date or location?
This scenario is very unlikely, since no couple should send out formal wedding information before setting the plans in stone -- but stranger things have happened. In the event of an unexpected change of plans, your best bet is to update your wedding website, pick up the phone, and start spreading the word. You do have the option of sending out another mailing that explains the dilemma -- but a personal, verbal notice is the best way to avoid confusion. If your guest list is a bit overwhelming, enlist the help of your bridal party. 

Engagement announcements, bridal showers, save-the-dates and rehearsal dinners can be joyfully communicated with elegant stationery. Depending on the formality of the occasion, each stationery piece has a purpose and flavor all its own.

Engagement Announcements/Engagement Party:

The purpose of this type of announcement is to convey the wonderful news of an upcoming wedding.  Parents and friends may also want to share the delight by throwing an engagement party, either by formal dinner, cocktail, or a laid back BBQ.

Save -the-Date:

Once you've set a location, place and time, it's becoming commonplace to send save-the-date cards. Out-of-town guests find these quite helpful in giving them ample time to prepare for the big event. Today's Bride and groom are free to get creative with their save-the-dates to set the tone for their upcoming wedding.

Bridal Shower:

Relatives and friends of the bride often host a shower in keeping with the tradition of "showering" the bride (and groom) with gifts that assist in building their lives together. Bridal Shower stationery can be casual to semi-formal, often designed with a feminine or elegantly classic theme.

Rehearsal Dinner:

Tradition dictates that the groom's parents host this event.  Whether or not this is a formal dinner, the evening before the wedding, it is more than appropriate to send an invitation to all you wish to attend, beginning with your bridal party, as well as spouses, close family members as well as out-of-town guests.  Whom to invite depends on the traditions of the family. Stationery for this event is often classic and simple and often stands apart from the wedding invitation. 

SSDeCarlo/M Fredericks

7.1.10

The Wedding Season is in full swing, as well as Spring and Summer Parties are on the minds of many  brides and customers.  They are in a flurry to get their invitations and other stationery printed in time for their special event.  Where should the bride and groom, mom or dad, or customer turn for their stationery needs? A commercial print shop or to GiftBandit?

Print shops offer high-end printing technology, a variety of cardstocks and have designers on staff, but what may often lack is the extra personal touch. Print shops are great at what they do--printing. Print shops are busy places and leave little time for free consultations. Rarely, if ever, is there a stationery designer consultant on hand.

Gift Bandit offers the advantage of providing friendly, personal guidance their clients need.  With over thirty years experience and access to multiple paper vendors, Gift Bandit helps the client create the perfect invitation ensemble.  You're not a project waiting to be "gotten" through the door. 

At GiftBandit the time with the customer is spent collaborating, consulting and dreaming. They excel at special orders and making tailoring the ensemble to the customer's one of a kind taste.  They use quality digital printing, thermography, glazing  and flat printing techniques, depending upon the look desired or paper selected.

Personal attention and guidance, years of experience, design and print services, great customer service and a quality product—are some of the advantages Gift Bandit offers over a print shop.

GiftBandit works by personal and private appointments. Feel free to call to set up a meeting to discuss your invitation, stationery and calligraphy needs: 847.255.4708 or email sales@giftbandit.com. You may visit their website as well to see the quality of products and services offered:  www.giftbandit.com

Pantone has announced that the color of the year is Turquoise, a luminous blue-green.  The splash of Turquoise is refreshing to the mind and spirit, evoking the relaxing tropical waters of retreats or the atmosphere of a spa.  Many cultures regard it as a color of compassion and healing.  Universally flattering, turquoise translates well for casual or elegant parties.  With both cool and warm undertones, Turquoise pairs nicely any color in the spectrum.  Turquoise and yellow-green looks especially summery and trend-setting.

Try turquoise an accent color for your next celebration.  Perhaps turquoise card stock or turquoise ink accenting your?  A touch of turquoise mixed in with the favors, decorations or even the bridesmaids' dresses can add that extra pop to your celebration.

At GiftBandit.com, they can design or help you create a beautiful invitation featuring Turquoise…or many other colors you enjoy!

More and more brides are D.I.Y-ing it today! Why attempt to Do-It-Yourself?  The process of allows the inner spirit and personality to shine, creating an invitation set that's unique, truly personal and memorable.  The D.I.Y approach is budget-friendly, allowing you to be as extravagant or as simple according to your budget.  A bride can control the cost, as they order exactly what they need or embellishing to their heart's content with ribbons, sashes and pockets!

The GiftBandit team has helped customers create D.I.Y. custom invitations for over thirty years! With their D.I.Y. PRO™ approach, they provide personal, customized invitations at an affordable price.  The bride provides input and personal style and GiftBandit does the rest!  With a professional touch and the collaboration with the customer, the team is able to create a beautifully unique product that just may surprise you.  Their website, they has plenty of examples to inspire any bride!

GiftBandit's 3 easy steps to D.I.Y success: purchase stock and supplies, set up a time to drop it off at GiftBandit and orders can be ready to pick up in as little as five to seven business days!  

For private appointments, contact GiftBandit at 847.255.4708.  They'd love to partner with you in helping your D.I.Y invite dreams come true!

For inspiration, check out:

www.giftbandit.com

www.weddingbee.com

www.diybride.com

The History of Calligraphy

Calligraphy.  The very word evokes images of elegant, looping script sweeping upon white cardstock.  It may be a medieval script on an illuminated manuscript, or a single Chinese character, masterfully painted with the thick swash of an inked brush. 

It is the art of graphing beautiful letters in a skillful manner and its very name is combined from the Greek words kallos "beauty" + graphẽ "writing." No doubt calligraphy adds a classic, beautiful touch to any invitation. But have you ever wondered how it came to be?   Calligraphy has no one inventor, but can be traced back to cave paintings.  Written alphabets did not exist and things could be much more easily depicted through visual representations. In time these "cave pictures" were refined into visual symbols by various cultures.  Then we went to the hieroglyphics of the Ancient Egyptians or Simple glyphs drawn by the Chinese to communicate ideas, to the sea-faring Phoenicians, who later developed one of the first alphabets and writing system, which was later adapted by the Greeks, and in turn, the Romans.  The Romans adapted this alphabet to suit their Latin language.  Then came the Middle Ages monks (and nuns) were faced with the intimidating task of copying hundreds of ancient and religious texts into decorative manuscripts for the nobility and high-ranking church officials.  Paper was expensive, so monks developed a narrow script to allow more words to fit per line of their manuscripts—aka the Gothic script was born.  Johannes Gutenberg later used this script to become the first typeface for his printing press!   Come the Renaissance period, calligraphy flourished. 

And with today's bride, beautiful scripts is still in demand for everyday letters, invitations and formal correspondence.  The advent of engraved copperplates in the 17th century threatened calligraphy.  The once-clunky printing press could now reproduce the fine lines attuned to italic script.  Later, fountain pens and steel pens made calligraphy more difficult to write, discouraging its practice. However, British poet William Morris helped to revive calligraphy in the mid-1800s, when he reintroduced the flat-edged pen, elevating the art to its former glory.

Today there are myriads of calligraphy fonts to digitally re-create the work once so often done by hand.  Despite the invention of the computer and digital text, it cannot capture the meditation and heart a master calligrapher pours into their art.  The Chinese consider calligraphy one of their most respected art forms and artist Timothy R. Botts is one of today's noted calligraphers. www.timbotts.com

Next time you need a beautiful typeface for your stationery, consider hand-written or digital calligraphy and take part in the rich history of script. Consider GiftBandit, with over 32 years professional experience working hand and computerized calligraphy services. Experts in their field, they offer

More and more brides are opting to hire out for our Hand or Computerized Calligraphy services. This was not the case ten, or even 5 years ago. Today, brides are doing all the tasks themselves. The grooms are seeing them overwhelmed and are pitching in.  This is an excellent sign of their future marriage!  The trend is that bridesmaids that helped "in the olden days" – are rare or non-existent.  These bridesmaids live all over the nation and are not readily available to the bride.  Mom's are pitching in but they too are not computer savvy.

Bottom line, brides are busier, overwhelmed and are working at Mach II speed and simply do not have the time or realize they do not have the expertise to meet their own high standards. 

They quickly realize that the hours and tedious work involved with hand and computerized Calligraphy involves something they just don't want to tackle it in the midst of all of the other wedding details. We take it off their shoulders so they can tend to more pressing or important details.

Another reason, we find, customers comes to us is simply because they need the professional touch!  We offer stunning results, matching fonts (to invitations) and a matching theme, motif or monograms carried throughout the stationery ensemble. 

When a bride hires us to do their Calligraphy Envelopes, they find that we also do Place Cards, Thank You Notes, Custom Motifs or Monogram Stationery, and Wedding Programs.  All of these items fall under the Custom or Do It Yourself arena – so we offer what we call, Do It Yourself Pro ~ DIY Professional Assistance:  Customer buys stock, bring it to us to either begin the custom design phase or we move right into print stage.  We do it in less time with lots less hassle for the customer, which is a big stress reliever.  Matching fonts is also a plus for the customer, especially when they wish to carry the theme throughout the wedding process as mentioned before.  We might begin with Save the Dates and move all the way through to the final day with custom Menus, Table Number Cards and Wedding Programs as mentioned before.  We also offer hand Calligraphy onto wedding gifts or family projects like matte frames.

Most of our customers are operating on a limited budget so we like to offer a special incentive to them for their loyalty.  When any customer orders Wedding Invitations or Any Occasion Invitations from us, we offer them our standard 15% off Calligraphy Services. This helps them justify the cost, which also alleviates the worry of how to font match to other printed stationery, or envelopes jamming, color ink matching, monogram creation, ruining envelopes and having to re-order, or carrying the theme through to other items. We handle it all for them with a smile in a one-stop shop atmosphere!  

Written and Published by: Mariette Fredericks, Arlington Heights resident and owner of GiftBandit - an invitation and stationery store that offers customers a variety of invitations for any occasion, personalized stationery, and calligraphy services - as well as party favors and gifts.  GiftBandit does custom work as well and owner, Mariette has over 30 years experience in the bridal industry.

Unique, dazzling designs, Bridal Style Quiz and Personality Favors™ make it easy for you to be a the trendsetting bride - ahead of the crowd! You're on your way with Mix-and-Match favors. 

Take Bridal Style Quiz below by clicking on the image:

Go ahead and be different! Mixing and Matching Party Favors is in!

Trends usually begin with one person deciding she wants to do something dynamic, exciting and innovative to improve on a time-honored tradition. When her simple act of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary creates some great buzz, a trend is born. Wedding favors—or any favors for that matter—are no different, and they're due for a sensational new trend.  Our unique, dazzling designs, Bridal Style Quiz and Personality Favors™ make it easy for you to be a trendsetter! You're on your way with Mix-and-Match favors! Check out these favors to find your way to mixing and matching! 

What are you waiting for?  ......start mixing and matching and the trend will be catching!