Dana and Joe's Purple Invitations

We do a lot of wedding invitation jobs here at Spilled Ink Press headquarters, but every once in a while a job stands out. Usually it's because I really dig Amanda's design, but in one case this summer, it was because we were lucky enough to make the wedding invitations of an NFL quarterback. I think I was more excited about this job than Amanda was for once.

The purple invitations matched the quarterback's team colors, and that only leaves two options...the Ravens or the Vikings. As a big Bears fan it's a good thing it was the Raven's QB Joe Flacco, and not Christian Ponder or Joe Webb from our NFC North rival. If it had been a Viking player's invitation I might have had to call in sick instead of working on that job. Sure, I'm trying to run a business, but I have my priorities, and I'm loyal to the Monsters of the Midway. Of course when we got the job from our friends at Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultants, Amanda had to ask me who Joe Flacco was. The only NFL player she recognizes is Julius Peppers.

Luckily for Mr. Flacco and his new bride I have no ill feelings toward the Ravens, so their invitations turned out pretty great.

A nice close up of the escort cards we did for the reception. The "love" stands were provided by the bride, but we did get to print cards with names like Michael Oher on them. Photo by Jason Prezant Photography

Photo by Jason Prezant Photography ....check out his blog to see more of his great work.

Springtime Invitations

It doesn't quite feel like spring yet here in Chicago, so hopefully these springtime invitations and their tulip design can kick-start mother nature into turning up the temperature. It is supposed to be pretty nice this weekend....we hope!

White Christmas....Wintry Invitations

Well the big holiday is still a few days away, and while it looks like we'll have a white Christmas here in Chicago, not everyone will be so lucky. If you don't get to enjoy the white fluffy stuff in your neck of the woods, maybe these wintry wedding invitations can get you in that yuletide mood.

Red and Black Invitations

Check up the upper right hand corner of this collage created by Heather Parker for the Bradley/Holmes wedding from earlier this year...it's the red and black invite with wax seal we did for them. Thanks for including us, Heather!


Also featured are flowers by Wishing Well Florists, make-up by Briette Madrid, hair by Theodora Bourikas, and the Tower Club.

Invitations Inspire Crafty Presents

It's always nice to hear from our clients that their family and friends loved the invitations we did for them, but sometimes we're blown away by how much they seem to like them. Take Mary Ann and Darel's wedding for example. They had friends actually make them gifts out of our invitations!

First, the invitation that inspired the gifts.....


Here is a custom cake topper their friend Ty made for them....


And here are a couple of photos of a vase made from the invitation and their engagement picture....

Bright Lights, City Wedding

Check out the great photos by Edyta Szyszlo Photography from Kristen and Gene's wedding. You'll see a sneak peak of our "Chicago Theater" invitations- a visual focal point from the Wit Hotel where the wedding was. Love it when it all comes together!


It was nice to have an excuse to go downtown so we could take some pictures to use as inspiration for the invitation design.

Happy Wedding Day, Lisa Simpson!

Spilled Ink Press would like to congratulate Lisa Simpson on her wedding today! We could have done a better job on the invitations though.

Happy Earth Day!

Some of you may have noticed we've recently added an extra page on our website titled, "our green story". It dawned on us that we've always been a "green" company, we just never took the time to let people know! So happy Earth Day everyone! Maybe you're out there appreciating the sunshine (at least in Chicago it's a gorgeous day), perhaps planning your home garden, changing your bulbs, recycling your newspapers... Here's our green story, in a nutshell.

LOUIE Awards, here we come...

Did you know that Americans exchange 7 billion greeting cards a year??? Seriously. 7 billion. That's almost beyond comprehension.

This is why the Greeting Card Association exists. A group that keeps the stationery industry life blood flowing. Every year at the National Stationery Show in New York City they host the LOUIE Awards... which is basically the Oscars for us in the card and invitation biz (named after Louie Prang, who of course invented the Christmas card, what else?). There is a big gala and dinner (I'm wondering if there will be a red carpet... ok, ok, I'm getting a little carried away, I know- it's New York, not Hollywood...) where they announce the winners- which are whittled down from over 800 international applicants.
Well lookie here, guess who is a finalist? WE ARE!! Check it out. Scroll down... keep going... This is what you see:

Personalized Invitation/Announcement ($5 & Below)

Charu Overseas

Kat Blue Art & Design Studio

Spilled Ink Press

This is the invitation we entered:


It's our layered invitation style, with a copper colored wax seal. It has three pages (invitation, reception with map on the backside, and perforated RSVP postcard), all fitting inside a long skinny #10 envelope. Neat, tidy, elegant, and no extra postage. Taa Daa.
More pic's and the design back-story here.

Now here's hoping it's neat, tidy, and elegant enough to win us our first LOUIE Award!!

Here are a few other pictures of the accessories from this wedding job:

Rock n' Roll wedding invitations

I was listening to the 'BS Report' the other day, Bill Simmons's podcast, and his guest was writer Chuck Klosterman. Simmons usually mixes in a lot of pop culture with his sports writing, and Klosterman writes about sports a lot for a music and pop culture writer, so I figured it would be a pretty entertaining listen. At one point they compared the relationship between Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwan's NBA careers to the relationship between Motely Crue's "Dr. Feelgood" and Guns N' Roses's "Appetite for Destruction", so yeah I'd say it was entertaining.

So you are probably thinking "what does the Sportsguy's podcast have to do with wedding invitations?" Well it just so happens that Chuck Klosterman mentioned at the end of the podcast that he was engaged. This was kind of surprising news since he once wrote..... "No woman will ever satisfy me. I know that now, and I would never try to deny it. But this is actually okay, because I will never satisfy a woman either." Maybe he was wrong, maybe not, but I know how to make one part of this wedding satisfying to Mr. Klosterman.....Spilled Ink Press needs to do his wedding invitations! I'm telling you, we are perfect for this couple. Sure our invitations are nice and classy and beautiful and all that, but our greeting cards are an entirely different story. They are cynical and sarcastic, and a lot of them have skulls. I can't think of a better client to combine our invitation style with our greeting card style than Chuck Klosterman.

For example, take a look at our "Have a Rockin' Marriage" card...


Now take a look at the cover of "Appetite for Destruction", the classic album from Klosterman's heroes Guns N' Roses.....



Now picture a similar aesthetic on an invitation like this one....


It would be perfect! How can Spilled Ink Press not do Chuck Klosterman's wedding invitations? This has to happen. Chuck, if you are reading this, send me an email. Let's talk invites, man to man.

stationary evolution

I love being apart of other people's "happy" times. 99.9% of what I create for others is to announce something pretty awesome- showers, a wedding, a baby being born. The really great clients come to me for ALL these events! So here it goes- let me show you the evolution of Marc and Amy's happy times... Yes, you'll notice that Marc and Amy don't waste any time. Big things are happening people!

Save the date: completed 12/07


Wedding invitation: wedding date 3/29/08


This one's a little hard to see, but it's their Baby Shower invitation.
It's titled, "Come hang out with us". Their nursery is monkey/ jungle themed.
Baby Shower: 12/07/08

And ladies and gentlemen... introducing the beautiful Jackson James Vassallo!!

Jackson James
Born: 01/22/09

Baby announcement to follow...
stay tuned!

Bridal Expo, Chicago

I'm still "up" from the great energy and fun I had at the latest Bridal Expo at the Swissotel in downtown Chicago. So many cool and hip brides to be, and quite a lot of grooms to be too! That's how you know it's a good crowd when the dudes come out for it. Bravo fiances!
I'm getting good at introducing our work to the masses too. You have to understand, every time I do a Meyers-Briggs test or even a silly personality test, I always toe the line between an introvert and an extrovert. It's weird- It's like I have the potential to be the life of the party (ya, right) if I can find the gumption to get off the couch and out of my pajama's. But when you have your own company and the majority of keeping the bizness coming in is to talk, talk, talk about it... you learn how to get comfortable being in front of a crowd. The rent depends on it! =) After a while though, and a slightly hoarse voice, it just fell into place and started grooving. A big thanks to my booth neighbor, George Street Photography, for chatting it up with me. It might have been the coffee I had that morning too (I'm trying to quit, so when I do have it, it's like a wind-up toy is let go)- but I was particularly chatty. We realized we were neighbors in more ways than just booth neighbors- we literally live within a few blocks of each other in Lincoln Square, have our studio's in Lincoln Square... It was kind of serendipitous.
So if my vibe from the show is correct, we're going to be making a lot of sweet invitations this year. Yay, quitting my job at a good architecture firm and working from home on my own invitation designs is looking like it was still the right move (big exhale here).

Planning big things for 2009

So what can you expect from spilled ink press in the next year? Total domination of the wedding invitation industry? Sure. Greeting cards that shock the world? Yep. Getting out of bed when the alarm goes off? Probably not. 2 out of 3 ain't bad though.