Wedding Blog

For this week’s edition of Ask a PWG Wedding Pro, we sat down with Donna Lipscomb, artist and owner of Confetti, a specialty invitation company with an impressive portfolio of custom, handcrafted wedding stationery.

Confetti, located in the metro Atlanta area, has been creating whimsical and timeless invitations for brides and grooms for nearly a decade. What started as a mere hobby has expanded into a full-fledged company with a private label line of stationery paper (Made Heart Felt Paper Products). Read more as Donna shares with us her secrets to what it takes to create the “perfect” wedding stationery suite, and get the inside scoop on what’s hot in wedding stationery trends today.

How do you work to set your invitations and stationery apart from others in the industry? What makes your invitations and service unique?
Confetti takes great pride in creating unique invitations for each couple. As part of our process in designing custom invites, we spend a lot of time not only discovering the couples vision of their special day, but also knowing and learning what makes the couple unique themselves . . . from “their story” and their individual tastes and styles.

We also design custom handmade papers as well. We utilize fabrics such as silks, velvets, tulle or other textiles with interesting textures, and have a wide array of embellishments that make the invitation special. Recently we have added letter press capabilities for that elegant or vintage touch.

Each bride receives a custom keepsake box and thank you notes that match their invitation suites. We really do bond with our brides and maintain lasting relationships, ending up rejoining couples for birth announcements and other special event invitations.

Where can brides look for inspiration to make their invitations more stylized and original?
I tell my brides to look for inspiration in any area of their world. Although we are able to “mimic” almost any pre-made invitation; the truly unique aspect of their invitations will come from their own individual inspirations. Look to nature for fresh and new color combination.

I love old style. I frequently tell my brides to look back at vintage or old family photos. Great ideas that got lost in time can be dusted off and reworked into something fabulous. Embellishments on their gown and architectural structures of their venue work as great inspirations as well.

Tell us about your most memorable wedding invitation creating experience.
I recently worked with the “anti-bride”. She was fun, but not at all interested in wedding fluff. Basically she told me to do whatever I felt would work. It was almost torture to get her involved in any decision making and even harder to get a reaction from her. I was challenged, but wary too. Her style was very natural and she loved clean lines and sleek styling.

The wedding was taking place in late November. We created a very stark invitation for her: cream background with just a black, silk-screened branch going across the invitation and a Swarovski crystal resting on the tip of the branch. When I showed it to her she actually cried and said, “I’m really getting married!”. That was a very special moment. In fact, when couples initially open their keepsake box of finished invitations they become quite emotional and that reaction is what motivates me.

What are some of the current non-traditional styles appearing in the world of wedding stationery?
I am getting a lot of requests for “green” stationery; recycled papers, papers that can be embedded with seeds to be planted later; postcard RSVPs to save envelope waste; any extra steps to keep our planet healthy.

Bold, bright colors and less formal but more “hip” and personalized invitation suites continue to be a popular trend. Letterpress techniques are making a big comeback. And now since there are so many events scheduled surrounding the wedding, brides are looking for a more unique way to package the invitation to accommodate all of the necessary information.

Basically I am seeing brides stretching their imaginations more and becoming less concerned with the “traditional” invitation and more concerned with the “wow” reaction guests will have when they open that special envelope.

Special thanks to Donna for providing the fantastic invitations photos! To learn more about Confetti, check out their vendor profile on PerfectWeddingGuide.com. Also, if you have a question you would like to see answered in an upcoming Ask a PWG Wedding Pro wedding blog segment, email us at profiles [at] pwg [dot] com!