Note This!

Thank-you notes can be time consuming, but if you were lucky enough to have been showered by family and friends with lots of great gifts, they are a necessity and a great way to show your appreciation. Here are a few ideas to get you started after you’ve stretched your writing hand and have gotten yourself a snack. This website also has a lot of additional information on ways to thank your delivery nurse, doctor and pizza delivery person.

• Super-cute key words:

Adorable

Unique

Fabulous

Generous

Much appreciated

Sweet

Thoughtful

• Key phrases:

I know the baby will look adorable in it!

Thanks for taking the time to come out and celebrate!

You know me so well!

It's priceless, thank you!

• Closing:

Thanks again,

With love,

Hugs and kisses,

Thank YOU for checking us out,

Megan @ L.V.

The Birth of a Color Ring

We would love to welcome the newest edition to our Luscious Verde family: our 2010 color ring! We are really excited about our fresh new inks and paper colors and are really looking forward to seeing all of the great new designs being created. What does it take to make a color ring, you ask? Here’s the lowdown:

- 24,800 sheets of paper were cut and printed
- 390 labor hours (not so much the pushing and screaming but the collating and printing)
- 99,600 individual print runs

So be kind to your color ring and let us know if you have any questions!

-- Megan @ L.V.

There's Just Something About a Paper Invitation

You may be wondering if it's ever okay to e-mail an invitation to a party, as opposed to going through the time and expense of mailing a paper invitation. I believe that in order to answer this question, you have to ask yourself two questions: "How important is it to me that people attend my event?" and, "How important is it to me that invitees respond to my invitation?"  If you can answer, "Not important at all" to either of those questions, than an e-vite is perfectly acceptable.

I know, I may be the co-owner of a couture custom invitation company, but sending out an "e-vite" for your wedding, or for any major life event that you are fortunate enough to experience, is just tacky. Not just is it tacky, but it diminishes the importance of your event to the point where, I believe, a response from y0ur invitees is optional. Do you want to go through months of planning a wedding only to have your friends and loved ones ignore your request that they attend? If so, send an e-vite.  This bride did.

And like I said, there is no more sure fire way to get ignored than if you extend your invitation into someone's already overcrowded e-mail inbox. So send your baby shower invitations, bridal shower invitations, anniversary party invitations and fundraising event invitations into the ethernet. See what happens.

-- Wendy @ L.V.

Those Crazy Aussies

Check out this wedding reception where the bride and groom surprised their guests with a Michael Jackson impersonator who also taught a few willing guests a dance routine of Thriller. The scary zombies really make the cake stand out and I love the bride shimming-a-way in back. Thanks to Polka Dot Bride for the photo!

Groom Gloom?

So, you’ve thrown rose petals on the ground, got on one knee and finally asked your girl to marry you. While she’s crying, flailing up and down, dangerously close to giving you a concussion, you ask yourself….now what?

Enter Staggered, a site dedicated to the men out there who are just a little bit lost in the whirlwind of wedding planning. This site offers great tips strictly for men including how to write the perfect speech, how to solve that sunburn emergency when you wake up on your lawn after the bachelor party, and tons more. There are contests to win free champagne and other goodies and you can talk to real live husbands who have lived through their wedding planning instead of your best man who is constantly telling you to run away. Check it out!

Staggered offers a unique look on the male’s perspective for wedding invitations. While, some of his points are valid in the April 26 post, I have to disagree on some of his content. The husband-to-be has a strict bottom line of “the wording doesn’t matter. No one will remember your invites. No one ever does.”

Yes, if you choose a boring white or cream cardstock with plain text and a plain, unlined envelope, no one will remember the custom wedding invitation set that you spent weeks creating by yourself or with a stationer.

Are you really that traditional of a groom? Have you gone the way of mass marketing your wedding so your invitation does not truly represent you and your fiancé? Get the white wedding invitation with white envelope then!

The real question is why spend weeks designing something that people will not remember? If you chose a truly custom Luscious Verde wedding invitation you certainly will be remembered. Always. Couture invitations from Luscious Verde set the tone of the wedding. Is it going to be a black tie event and a posh downtown hotel?  One held in an airplane hangar? A country barn setting? What about a carnival theme? Only your invitation can let your guests know what kind of fabulous wedding event to expect. You (well, probably not you, but your fiance at least) are spending all of that time, energy and money meticulously planning out the perfect wedding for yourselves and your loved ones.  Sure, elements of white and cream are appropriate, but don’t be shy! Jazz up your invitation set, express your unique personalities and let your wedding invitation set the tone of your wedding ahead of time.

I also enjoyed the earlier April 13 post where the author is calm and collected about his wedding invitations, offering useful advice. But I do I feel that he kind of cracked under the pressure of painstakingly doing his own invitations.  Find a local stationer (preferably one that carries Luscious Verde products) and have them fuss over your set so you can relax!