Louella Court

Merry Christmas to Me

{ posted by Brooke, designer }

The hardest part of Christmas shopping for me is not getting sucked into the temptation of buying things for myself. This year I bought only one small present for myself (which I cannot divulge here because I also bought the same thing for my sister-in-law... the hazards of having a family member who also has spectacular taste! Hehe). I am quite proud of this feat, what with all of the sparkly, pretty things glaring at me from all over the place, but that doesn't mean I'm not still lusting after a few things that I'd like to buy for myself, in particular a bag from Etsy shop made by hank.

I first came across Katie Henry's (get it?... Henry=Hank!) adorable and unique bags via Oh Joy! and became immediately smitten with her designs, particularly her "tough ruffles" bags. I love her color choices, attention to detail (check out the adorable polkadot lining directly above), and her product shots, and her prices are incredibly affordable. Katie is a fellow Philadelphian who makes all of her pieces by hand, and will even fulfill custom orders. Of course, her popularity can be detected by the fact that her shop is almost completely cleaned out for the holidays, but I'll be keeping my eye on things in January for a possible New Year's gift to myself.

Be sure to check out Katie's blog, http://madebyhank.blogspot.com/ where she features some new pieces and various musings/pretty things. 

Rainy Day Stripes

{ posted by Brooke, designer }

It's nice when a little color is brought to an otherwise dreary day.  It is rainy and gray in the Philadelphia area today (and unseasonably warm for mid-December — 60 degrees!), but Maggie's colorful wellies managed to make me smile. 

(I'm tempted to be her wellie-twin and buy a pair all my own, but seeing as we already bought the same dress recently, I think that would just make me her crazy co-worker.  Hmph.)

In light of Maggie's boots, what a funny coincidence it was to happen upon this post on The Dieline this morning, featuring this limited edition Coca-Cola Light bottle designed by Nathalie Rykiel. 

Colorful stripes will never go out of style, in my book.

Cool black and white wedding

It's been rather hot around here, and so we've found ourselves wistfully looking at photos of cooler weather. Among them, these detail shots of area photographer Laura Novak's chic winter wedding this past February. It's always exciting to do an invitation for a vendor we work with, and I know Vanessa was thrilled to create Laura's unique stationery suite. Her invites were letterpressed on thick cotton stock, before being duplexed to the offset pattern pictured below. Because the crisp white invite begged for the contrast of a dark envelope, Laura choose jet black lined with pink for both her outer and response envelopes. Both were engraved with her hot pink motif, and hand caligraphied by Betsy Dunlap in white.

And as you may have noticed, we can't get enough of our black, white and punchy pink motif, and couldn't resist one more post on the subject!

If you'd like too see more fun photos of this wedding and the day of items we designed for Laura, check out these posts on the Bride's Cafe: pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3.

Real Spring Chic Wedding

We're thrilled to end the week with a few photos from another real wedding. This special day was a refined affair at the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia, and I love how the bride chose light spring colors to create a fresh feel in the ballroom. Photos are compliments of our talented friend and area photographer, Laura Novak. Take a look at how our bride, Olivia, chose to incorporate the pattern we used for her invitation on several of her day of details. The result is a very chic "put together" look.

As always, feel free to click on the image for a closer look. Have a fabulous weekend all, and we'll look forward to seeing you back here next week!

Black and white with a twist

Posting about all the fun details of Jaclyn and Dan's wedding reminded us of how much we love black and white with a punch of juicy pink. Here are a few ways we've been using this combination recently...

Clockwise from top left: Custom two color letterpress invitation by Two Paperdolls / Daffoldil Bouquet design in black and white by Louella Press / Mantilla design, invitation and celebration card as shown in album by Louella Press / Custom engraved and offset invitation suite by Louella Press at Two Paperdolls

Jaclyn + Dan

We're always thrilled when we get to see some of our work "in action" and these beautiful photos from Jaclyn and Dan's wedding by the talented Marie Labbancz are no exception! As I mentioned earlier in this post, we were lucky to help this fun-loving couple fill their day with lots of personal touches that included the custom monogram and patterns we designed for them. In our minds, black and white is always a good idea, especially with a splash of deep pink, and we love how Jaclyn and Dan kept this look going through all the details of their day.

Clockwise from top: A basket of Jaclyn and Dan's custom programs await guests / Miniature photo book favors bearing a well wish from the bride and groom / Jaclyn and Dan cutting loose on the dance floor near the lighted monogram we designed for their suite / Cocktail napkins are so much prettier with a little punch of color / The couple's sweetheart table marked off by one of our signs. The flowers beside it by one of the best floral designers we know- Beautiful Blooms / Flip flops with the custom design we created were given out after the ceremony / A second view of the flops / That menu we know and love / The invitation suite that started it all!