Special Offer on Custom Invitations

You're going to love our current offer on our custom invitations!!!!!

Schedule a complimentary consultation today to view our products in person. You can schedule a consultation directly online by at http://elegantcustom.genbook.com or by calling 281-506-2521. We look forward to meeting with you!

Below are some of our custom work!!! Visit our online gallery. We have lots more displayed in our Galleria area office studio.

Arinola and Yemi Pocketfold invitation

 

Kim and Charlie Layered Flatcard with Pebbles backing

 

 

Melissa & Nick Layered Flatcard with Rhinestone accent

 

 

Morgan and Troy Letterpress invitation with Hand Calligraphy

Kelley & DuJuan Silk Pad Wedding Invitations and more

Hello Everyone!
Happy New Month!!!! It's unbelievable that we're already in November. I've been a little behind on blogging as October was an incredibly busy month.
I'd wanted to blog about these invitations since we produced them back in June. I met Kelley and her lovely mom several times at different places. First we met at the January Bridal Extravaganza, then we met again at the Bell Tower Open House in February. Afterwards she came in with her mom. I didn't hear back from her for a bit and we met again at the Houston Bride's Evening of Bridal Luxury in March. Kelley was very specific on what she wanted. She wanted to make a statement with her wedding invitations. And she wanted the silk pads. I totally love her wedding invitations. Kelley and DuJuan were married last weekend at the oh-so-gorgeous Bell Tower on 34th. Enjoy...

The Silk Pads with the Pearl Brooches


The Silk Pads with the Pearl Brooches


The Silk Pads were placed neatly into Box mailers


The RSVP cards


Box Mailers all ready to go!



Tekara and Chris
Tekara and Chris were guests of one of my past clients - The Agrawals. She received the wedding invitation and totally fell in love with it. So she requested the stationer's information from the Agrawals and contacted us for a consultation. Tekara has to be one of my sweetest brides till date. The couple were wed in a private ceremony in Hawaii. A week after the ceremony, they hosted a wedding reception in Amarillo, Texas. Below is the stationery we created for their big day.

Gatefold Style Invitations


Inside the invitations


Layered Flatcard Tablecards


Tent Escort Cards with Brown and Crystal rhinestones indicating the guests meal choice.


Single Panel Signature Drinks card. Tekara chose to place these in frames


Folded Thank you notes with the couple's monogram



Julia and Michael Stationery
I blogged about the Wedding Invitations and accessories we created for Julia & Michael's wedding. You can view the post here.

The couple had a Fiesta themed wedding celebration after their honeymoon. So we created a custom patterned backing for the invitations.


For Julia's Thank you note, she wanted to carry on the layering style from her other stationery. So we added a copper backing to the Flatcard. We created a married monogram for the couple. All items were completed in Raised print.



Amber and Daniel
I met with Amber, Daniel and Amber's Parents very early in the year (probably January). She was having a wedding on the Yacht and she wanted to incorporate a textured cardstock to her invitations. We came up with the idea of also incorporating the yacht watermark on the invitations as well. The bride loved the invitations and we were happy with the outcome as well. Amber and Daniel were married on October 1st in League City, Texas.

Folded Card with Textured backing



That's all folks! Enjoy the rest of the week...

Spring is here!

Hello all!
Spring is upon us and the wedding season is in full swing. We have a few exciting projects in the works and I can't wait to blog about them later in the year.

Lauren & Wyatt
I met with Lauren over a year ago with her fabulous wedding planner - Alia Rdissi (Belle of the Ball). We began working shortly afterwards on the save the date cards followed by the invitations and programs. Can I say that Lauren is so sweet and her mom has to be the sweetest MOB ever! Having worked with them for a year it was bitter sweet after we completed the ceremony programs because the wedding planning process was over. Lauren & Wyatt were married last weekend at the First Methodist Church with the reception at Crystal Ballroom at Rice Hotel in downtown Houston.

Since Lauren had a bit of information to include with the invitations, she went with the Pocketcards. Did I mention that Lauren loves PINK! We lined the envelopes in light pink with their monogram imprinted on the liners.


Front and back of the Invitation Pocket cards


The enclosure cards with a custom map


We completed the invitations with Thermography (Raised print)


The Ceremony Programs were booklet style. First Methodist and Crystal Ballroom has a very rich history and Lauren wanted to include a brief history of both locations in the programs. Oh yeah and she had a really large bridal party!


We created tent style Reserved tablecards



Pamella & Priscilla's 15th Birthday
I had the pleasure of working with a cute set of twins - Priscilla and Pamella. I met with the twins and their mom sometime last year. Mom had an idea for years of what she wanted her girls birthday invitation to be like and she was very excited to put that vision to reality. Color theme: Black and Fuchsia Pink. Enjoy!

Work in progress (look at all that bling!)


The invitations were a layered flatcard with a rhinestone accent

Photo credit: RHPhotoarts

The invitations were delivered to guests in Box Mailers



Happy Easter everyone; enjoy your holiday!

"People just throw the invitations away"

I have been longing to write this post for sometime now but have been too busy to get to it. As we begin a new wedding season, there isn't a better time than now to post this.

So, I've been on a mission (lol). I cringe every time I hear brides say, “the invitation is just paper, people will just throw it away”. My first response to that has always been “people will only throw out trash”. Those that know me personally know that I’m not much of a salesperson; I suck at it!. But I find myself sometimes turning into one when I hear such comments, trying to explain the idea/purpose of invitations. I feel like I have a duty to change the mindset of what your wedding/event invitations are each time I hear those statements.

Your invitations set the tone for your wedding/special event! It gives your guests a foresight into what to expect at your wedding. The invitation is the first thing your guests receive about your wedding (in most cases - if you did not send out save the date cards) and it is one of the things that remain with them long after your wedding is over. Sending invitations to your guests make them feel special, honored and gets them excited about your big day. If you give people a piece of paper or some shabbily made invitations, guests do not expect anything different from the last wedding they attended.

• Why do you pay for beautiful flowers / decorations that neither you nor your guests get to take home after the event? Because of the ambience the flowers / décor create.
  
• Why pay so much for a dress you probably wear only once!? Because all eyes are on you at the wedding and you want to feel the most fabulous.

Well, your invitations are no exception. Attention should be paid to every detail of the event. So what if all your guests don’t keep them. They don’t keep the linens at the reception, nor the flowers at the church. As long as it accomplishes that which it was intended for. Which is – set the tone for your special event, provide guests with information, get guests excited about your event.

You don’t have to get the fanciest invitation or break the bank just to send out invitations. You should choose quality invitations that reflect your personal style and personality. If you're going for a simple classic style, there are a number of quality catalog invitations out there that you can select from. If you’re unable to find something in the catalogs, you can elect to have a custom invitation made for you by working with an invitation designer (like yours truly lol).

Sometimes, I find that most brides see the very fancy invitations and immediately fall in love with them. However, once they hear the price, they assume “I can’t afford beautiful invitations”. Well, the key is to set a "reasonable" budget (yes, reasonable). You can only set a reasonable budget if you know what quality invitations cost. For example, if you have a $500.00 budget for 200 invitations, then it might be unreasonable to expect to get custom Pocketfold invitations with 3 enclosures for that price. If you are creative, you could DIY your pocket invitations for that price. However, you might be able to get beautiful flat card invitations with enclosure(s) for that price. Or an invitation suite from a Catalog Album. There are quite a number of different Catalog albums out there.

All couples are different and have different budgets. What is considered "expensive" to one bride fits perfectly into another's budget. So, let your stationer know what your budget is and you would be steered in the right direction on what fits within your budget without compromising on quality.

So what have we learnt?

• Set a reasonable budget


• Be open minded about the different invitation styles


• Sending elegant, gorgoeus invitations to your guests does not mean breaking the bank


• Always remember your invitations are meant to set the tone for your big day, so don't send invitations your guests wouldn't care to keep or wouldn't feel bad throwing in the trash.

Not one to leave you without a picture, enjoy the silk folder below.


Hope you have a fabulous week!!!

Exciting Stuff!!!

Happy New Year!!! Hope you all had a nice start to the new year. The Bridal Extravaganza Show was this past weekend and it was a huge success. Our booth was bustling with exciting brides, grooms and their families as they begin or continue on this 'fun' process of planning their big day. You can view some pictures of the show on our facebook fan page.

We are excited to announce that we have added another gorgeous Catalog Invitations Company to our collection. Checkerboard is a family owned and operated designer and printer of invitations for every single one of life's special occasions: weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, relocations, birthday parties, births. The albums have a nice collection of gorgeous invitations suites. Schedule your complimentary consultation today to view some of the Checkerboard Catalog Albums in our studio. You can view some of their collection online here.











So, What is the difference between Custom Invitations and Catalog Invitations?
Difference between Custom and Catalog Invitations
Custom Invitations are invitations that are designed and handcrafted especially for you and your unique event. Throughout the custom-design process, you choose the colors and style and design options that suit your specific needs. Your stationery creation will be a direct reflection of your style and taste. The possibilities are endless with custom invitations hence it is almost impossible to maintain a printed “catalog”.


Catalog Invitations are distributed by a third party (invitation stationer like us) who helps you select your invitation and places an order on your behalf. When you shop from a catalog, you are choosing from predesigned styles and layouts, but by changing your ink color and typeface you may be able to create an invitation reflective of your event. After your order is finalized, it is printed and shipped from the catalog company and sometimes requires assembly. We are an authorized dealer of the Carlson Craft Catalog Invitations and Checkerboard Catalog. For the Carlson Craft Catalog Invitations, pricing for each invitation is available online (next to each invitation).

Special 10% Discount Offer
For a limited time, we are offering the Carlson Craft Catalog Invitations at a 10% discount. Discount applies to select Carlson Craft Catalog Invitations. Offer not valid on Cranes by Chloe Album and Monique Lhuillier Album Invitations. Offer expires on March 31, 2011. Contact us for more details. You can also order the Carlson Craft Catalog Invitations directly online by going to www.elegantcustominvitations.cceasy.com or by visiting our studio.

We also have a special discount offer on our Fabulous Custom Invitations. Contact our studio for more details at 713-408-9407 or via the website www.myelegant-invitations.com.
Visit our online gallery to see some of our past custom invitation work.

Enjoy the week!

Some of the great families I work with!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend by yourself, with friends and/or with families?
Over the years we have been blessed to work with some great families through their wedding and special ocassion planning process. One of the things I love the most is the joy that comes with working with these families through the course of several months leading to their big day. I especially love working with Mother - Daughter duos - I think this is such a special relationship.

Angeni & Naren
The Agrawals are one of such special families we were blessed to meet this year. I got to work with Dad, Mom, Bride and Bride's sister. They have such a close bond and they - yep all 4 - made decisions together on every detail of the wedding invitations. I was first contacted by Mr. & Mrs. Agrawal and we immediately set up a time to meet. They loved the "Renee & Damien" style invitation but wanted their daughters (who were not present at the 1st meeting) to see the invitations. Since they hadn't decided on the wedding colors, the invitations set the colors for the day.
One of the biggest compliments [I think] a client can give other than referrals is to include you in their guestlist. It shows they appreciate you well enough to share their day with them. The Agrawals returned to give me an invitation to the wedding and I thought that was very special!
I attended the wedding ceremony which took place at the Intercontinental Houston and it was spectacular. There was so much color and lots of bling!

The wedding invitation was a Large Pocketfold with Satin Ribbon and a jewelled accent. The enclosures were the Mehndi, Sangeet and Response cards.


The wedding invitation


Escort Cards


Ceremony Programs


Courtney & Shawn
I was introduced to Courtney and her Mom, Mrs Redmon by awesome wedding planner, Alia Rdissi of Belle of the Ball. The Redmons are another special family that we met this year. They were awesome to work with. We worked with them on all their wedding stationery from the save the date cards to the thank you notes, cocktail napkins and everything else inbetween.
Here we go:

The Invitation was a large Pocketfold style with a Satin Ribbon accent




The Escort Cards were envelope style with the guests names on the front




We created circle menu cards that went under the Clear Silver beaded chargers at the reception.


Cocktail Napkins


Ceremony Programs were Folded cards with satin ribbon accent




Table Cards


In case you didn't notice, yes, the colors were silver and black with accents of red :)

Enjoy your week everyone.

Wedding Invitations

Hello Everyone,
Again, I've been a pretty bad blogger and it's simply because I've been super busy. I apologize for the lack of images. So here we go, below are some invitations from months ago. Enjoy

"Jessica & Mario"
I began communicating with Jessica via email earlier in the year. Yes, she's one of our many out-of-town brides we never get to meet. She went with the Box Mailer style boxed invitations with the jewelled accent. Jessica was married in Disneyland in October.



The boxes were mailed with custom stamps that we designed. A nice way to complete the look!




Escort Cards



We also created the Table cards that went into frames for the reception


Shayla & Romario
Shayla was another one of our out-of-town bride that we [unfortunately] never got to meet but communicated via email and telephone. She loved the "Birthday Dinner" invite from our online gallery. We replicated that with a little twist. Her wedding colors - crimson and gray - really made the invitations pop. She and Romario were married in October in Tennessee and their wedding was fabulous!

The invitation was a folded card with a satin ribbon accent with patterned cardstock.


Inside the Invitation


Reception Card



Layne & Michael
Here's one from some months ago I never got to post. Working with clients during their wedding planning process means getting to work with the families in most cases. This is one of the joys of being in this industry and we have blessed this year to have worked and still working with some wonderful brides and their families. Layne and Michael were married in Cabo San Lucas this summer.

The invitation was a side Pocketfold.




Well that's all for now. Take care everyone!