The Wishing Room :: Custom wedding invitations and Colorado wedding stationery

Years in business :: Just reaching 1 year working specifically on wedding stationery

Location :: Fort Collins, CO

Most memorable project :: Actually one I am currently working on, it is a custom design. Each invitation is a hand stitched booklet that contains pages with all the relevant wedding information, including the invite itself, maps to the location and lists of area restaurants and lodging in the area. The response card is tucked inside a sewn pocket in the back of the booklet. This is still in production but I will send photos when it is completed!

I love it when a bride and groom are :: open to ideas about their wedding stationery. Often I talk to couples that have a color scheme for their wedding or some foggy idea of a theme, and I am able to take these threads and create (or customize) stationery that really fits their personality, and what they want for their wedding. The stationery, although sadly often overlooked due to budgets, really sets the whole stage for the wedding. It is the first piece that your guests receive to give them an idea of what kind of experience they will have at the event, and carrying the look and feel throughout the ceremony and reception with stationery accessories such as programs, menus, escort and place cards, table numbers and personal notes to the guests really creates a cohesive feel to the event. Even better when the stationery is well thought out so it coordinates with all the event decor and design.

Favorite part of what we do :: This is tough. I love to design. I love coming up with great new ideas for my current line, and being able to really stretch my creativity with custom work. However, I also love hearing from the brides how much they love my products and how much it added to the feel of their wedding.

Favorite kind of bride :: Again, probably the ones who have some vague idea of what they want but are willing to talk about it and to get ideas of what might work well with their ideas of their wedding theme. Like everything associated with weddings, most brides don’t know what’s possible until they turn to the professionals, and they are really happy they did because they are so pleased with the results, which they realize they could not have achieved on their own.

What sets us apart :: I think a few things are key to The Wishing Room. One is the design. We come from a strong and long background of graphic design, so we really focus on the design (colors, typography, imagery, sizes of pieces and the way they feel in your hand, the way the pieces in the set relate to each other, just for starters) to make our invitation sets great pieces of art. I have seen quite a few companies that do wedding invitations that really look like they could have been created with Word. Problems with typography, imagery and composition, as well as a real lack of inspired creativity is, unfortunately, quite common in this industry. I hope to be able to allow brides to see there is a difference with good design, and that it doesn’t have to break the bank.

There has been a trend over the past few years of wedding stationery being pared back to very “clean” looking, which can be interpreted as sophisticated if done right, but many designs just turn out incredibly boring. I think a lot of people, whether it be brides thinking of who they will send the invites to, or invite companies who are trying to appeal to every bride out there, who have a tendency to dumb things down and try to aim for the simplest look, trying to please everyone. We believe that your wedding stationery should really reflect you as a person, both of you as a couple, the wedding itself and your real lives. That gives us the freedom to be able to really infuse a lot of personality into our work. A little bold for some brides for sure, but for someone who just wants something super simple with not a lot of personality, we will probably not be the stationer for them.

Another thing that sets us apart is our level of service. We stay with the client all the way thru to the end and make sure every detail is right before we go to print. We are perfectionists which drives US crazy but guarantees the clients are always thrilled with their products. (which they are.)

Trends we are seeing in 2010 are :: Nature! I am definitely getting the most out of my nature-inspired designs. Ironically enough I have several invite suites I designed specifically for Colorado weddings (very rustic and natural looking) that have been very popular with some of my brides living on the East Coast. Go figure.

One tip for invitations on a budget :: Shop around. Some of the best designs I have seen are really fairly priced, while others that are really not memorable at all are outrageous, which really makes things harder on those of us who like to offer quality products at really fair prices. Give yourself the time to find what you want, and remember that if you do try to do things yourself you will more than likely spend more money than you think, way more time than you think, and probably not be very pleased with the outcome. I don’t know how many times I have heard this from brides, who tried to save time and money by doing their own save-the-dates (and then call me) or I hear afterwards they wish they had just gotten what they wanted because they spent a lot, wasted time and are not happy with their invitations. And remember too that invitations serve as a reminder of the day for years and years, and having a design that reflects that day is really important not just for you but for your family and guests who attend.

Anything else :: …ummmm…we love what we do, and would love to help all of your brides with their stationery so it really is a reflection of themselves and their wedding day. We have a catalog of great designs that can all be customized with colors of ink and paper, and wording options, and we also do custom work. Oh, and we’re REALLY nice people too. That’s important.

We can be reached at: www.thewishingroom.com, or thewishingroom@me.com or call Wendy at 970-556-2251.