I have incredibly talented friends. That’s the best way to get through life is by surrounding yourself with great people, right? Many of the artists I know are in one family and Charles Pate, Jr. is one of them.

We commissioned him for two drawings for the printed pieces for our wedding. The first drawing is of my (soon to be our) home. As you already know, the site for part of the celebration. The other drawing will come later and will be of the church where we attend and the ceremony will take place.

Charles really outdid himself with this drawing. My mouth literally fell open when he sent it to us. It beautifully depicts our home. I love the small details of our house numbers on the curb and the wreaths that will hang on our doors for the reception. It is also simply a stunning graphic piece that embodies mid-century style which is perfect for our printed materials.

I decided to use the house on our Thank You cards and the Save the Date. I’ll use the church for the bulletin and RSVP cards.

As I said before, the details are the fun part for me. Paper has become really important to me in my business. I love the feel of different types of paper - either extremely smooth or more unfinished texture. I love the weight of good paper. I wanted the first impression that people have of our wedding to feel intentional and important. Probably no one thought that when they open the envelope, but I am hoping that subconsciously they did. ;)

I found a box of Crane’s Lettra 100% Rag Pearl White paper in my work closet when planning for the invitations. I was so excited to find it because it is exquisite paper. It is the perfect weight and texture. But it is also free! That saves us a lot of money on printing. We will letterpress our own invitations on a machine I have here, but that is for another day.

I used TruColor here in Greenville to print both our Thank You cards and the Save the Date cards. They did an outstanding job. I created the layouts and they did the rest. We used their cover stock for the Thank You cards and I love it too. Very different from the “fancier” paper, but a perfect weight.

I chose taupe colored envelopes for both cards. The girls bridesmaid dresses will be taupe, so it is a color I want to use throughout. I found the envelopes online at a store going out of business so they were very inexpensive as well.

Below are pictures of my house throughout this winter day. Thought you might want to see Charles’ muse.