By Shelly Seong
Creating the perfect wedding invitation is one of the most stressful components of the entire planning process. It’s the first impression that you give to your guests and a crucial step to setting up the tone and overall theme of your wedding.
If you are looking for invitation designers that offer not only the finest paper products, but who can give you an additional selection of environmentally friendly goods, look no further than Melinda Morris’ family-owned paperie boutique, Lion in the Sun.
Read on to learn about how Melinda started her shop and find out the latest trends and styles that are popular in 2010, such as letterpress, digital printing, going green and bilingual (and even trilingual) invitations!
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1.) What inspired you to start your own custom invitation and stationery business?
Lion in the Sun is a family business my mom started in 1981. I grew up working in the shop, printing stationery, helping clients with customized invitations and merchandise buying.
After college I had a career for many years in the nonprofit sector as event planning and fundraising. I ultimately decided to go back to my roots and open my own shop in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. I have always loved that in this business we focus on happy occasions and help people through that process. So In Feb. of 2001, I decided to take my event planning experience and my custom design history to open my own shop. It was a no brainer to keep the family legacy going and extend the Lion in the Sun brand to Brooklyn.
2.) There are so many green paper and print companies. What sets Lion in the Sun apart from the rest?
What sets us apart is that we represent many different printers and designers who offer many types of environmentally conscious options so we have many different more options for our clients to choose from to best fit what is important to them in style, design, materials, budget and still make choices that are good for the environment.
3.) What are some of the most popular printing methods in 2010?
Letterpress is definitely the most popular printing method right now. Although I would say given the economy, people are looking for ways to save money and digital printing is becoming much more common.
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4.) Is there a particular trend in style this year for the invitations, such as wording, components or accessories?
The new trends for invitations are reply postcards, or one piece invites with a perforated reply card. Additionally web cards are very popular, small business size card inserts that give the website information rather than many directions, hotels and activities. I would say for wording the trend is toward short and sweet and fun. Fewer of my clients want long winded formal invites with quotes and poems. But many of clients have been providing space for a song request on the reply card.
5.) What are some invitation options for the clients who are die-hard green supporters?
Cotton paper I think is absolute best option. It creates beautiful luxurious invites, with a totally tree free approach ( and it is usually made from Recycled cotton to boot!!). It also limits the paper you use. Single envelopes without a liner and a single card with a web address for reply is the “Die-hard” way to go. Keep it super simplistic.
6.) Do you feature bilingual and even trilingual invitations? If so, can you give us some more information about this interesting option? (i.e. pricing, formatting the wordings and design, is this a budding trend in the wedding industry lately? etc).
Yes Bilingual invites have been very popular. Multi-language is probably the most common request we get (up to trilingual options). They can be used for both practical and sentimental reasons. When relatives and friends do not all speak the same language, we need to make sure everyone is able to read the invitation. Also, many couples feel by representing both languages, even if everyone can understand English, it is a wonderful way to represent both cultures. For example, we will often include Spanish translation on an invitation for its cultural significance more so than communication needs.
This can be done in several different ways, by splitting the text into top and bottom, front to back or every other line translation can actually create a really interesting design element if each language is in a separate font and color. Another popular way to achieve this multi-panel accordion folds which offers plenty of room for 3 languages and all on equal importance.
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On the flip side of this for a couple that are perhaps from another country but are now living in a US city, the invitation can reflect your new life in your city with images from where your wedding will be rather than where you came from. This is a great way to include family and friends from home into you new life and the wedding they will be attending. Map images or building silhouettes are a very popular way to do this.
7.) Is there a way for out of state clients to personally get in touch with the designers and place a printing order?
People can always use the website as a guide and call us. But as soon as the website launches in a few short months it will be very easy. Stay tuned.
8.) Do you have any word of advice for the new clients (bride-to-be) in the process of getting their custom invitations?
My best advice is to go into a shop and talk to an expert in person. Don’t try to do it all yourself! There is no substitute for seeing a paper and printing person. Also, allow your stationer to help guide you with design suggestions and wording that suits your event.
While it is great to create something fresh and new for your wedding, you also do not need to recreate the wheel. Learn from all the brides and grooms who have gone before you.
9.) I heard that you are going to open an online store very soon. When and what should we expect from the grand opening?
YES! We are so excited. We are working hard to finish up the last touches on everything and we plan to launch in late summer/ early fall. For now you can see a sneak peak on our “made in Brooklyn” page on our website www.lioninthesunps.com
