One and Only Paper

Notes on the first year of my 30s

thealisoncitron — Wed, 16 Oct 2019 08:00:52 -0400

photo by Radian Photography, styling by Janet Lucia St. Clair

It’s my birthday!

More importantly, it’s the one year anniversary of my trip to Italy - when you spend your birthday in Rome, it’s hard to think of something to top that for the following year! This year will be much more low key, which I am glad for, since it’s been a busy year for me.

I love birthdays because I think they are a great time to reflect on where you’ve been, and where you’re headed. It’s like your own personal new year, and I love a fresh start. This past year has been pretty crazy for me. I started it in Italy, and like normal, I thought things would slow down after that, but really what happened is that I hit the ground running and haven’t looked back since. Add in some traveling, family, friends, weddings, engagements.. It’s been a whirlwind.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I want my career to look like moving forward - last year at this time I felt like I was really fighting burnout, and I thought my trip had been enough rest, but now I can see that wasn’t actually true. Burnout for me doesn’t mean I’m just super tired overextended, so I think I missed the signs. I almost always have ideas or things I want to pursue, even when I am burnt out, but my ability to deal with the normal problems and issues that come up when running a business just plummets. I can have the best clients, everything can go smoothly, but behind the scenes I’m still an anxious mess because I know if literally anything goes wrong I’m going to lose my mind. It took me almost another year to realize this about myself, but now that I know, in retrospect, it feels like I’ve been beating my head against this wall for a while now.

For me, I think the solution will be to simplify. I started a business so I could have the freedom to live the life I wanted to live, and I somehow turned that into a job that I felt accountable to all the time. I’ve learned in the past couple of years that I don’t like being busy all the time, and I need a lot of free time in order to feel like myself. I like having time to think, and work on projects, and I want to feel more present when I’m spending time with people who are important to me.

I want to spend more time painting and less time answering emails, and I want to feel like the work I am doing is bringing joy and beauty to the worlds of my customers.

I also want to get a lot more comfortable saying no - I want nothing more in life than to be helpful to everyone, but just like Marie Kondo told us to get rid of physical objects that don’t spark joy in order to fully appreciate the ones that do, I need to do that with my commitments. I am so bad at saying no, you guys, so this is going to be hard. I’ll keep you posted.

That’s pretty much all I have to say about that right now! I’m excited to see how this year goes for me, and as always I’m grateful to be turning another year older. I hate how getting older is seen as a bad thing - even my grandma is like ha ha ha you won’t be young forever! Maybe this is my paranoid side talking, but I see every year I get to a) be alive, and b) no horrible tragedy befalls me as such a gift. I feel way more confident and stably happy at 31 then I did at 21, and I feel like having the benefit of time to grow continue to grow into the person you want to be is so beautiful.

Margaret + Spenser’s soft lunar invitation suite

thealisoncitron — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 10:30:29 -0400

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

When Margaret and Spenser came to me for their wedding invitations, I knew it was truly going to be a special suite. Spenser proposed to Margaret right after the solar eclipse in 2017. I think that’s honestly the best proposal story I have ever heard - seeing the total eclipse is such an emotional experience, and to become engaged to the love of your life right after? Just like… perfection!

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

They were getting married at a fairy tale-esque country club in Greenville, Delaware, so we knew we wanted the invitations to be refined and elegant, but also bring in their sweet proposal story.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

I painted moonflowers as a subtle eclipse reference, and kept their letterpressed type refined and light.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

I loved painting the map of the spots they loved in Greenville!

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

We tied the whole suite together with a deckled edge vellum wrap, and a lush silk bow.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

My favorite element was the total eclipse of the sun stamps for the outer envelope, and the reply envelope! I know I’m hard on the USPS, but these stamps were the best, and I was so excited to use them for a project.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

When you touch them, the heat of your finger reacts with the ink to reveal the moon! How cool is that! It was the perfect final touch, and I loved the reference to their love story.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Congratulations Spenser and Margaret!

Addressing ‘but it will just go in the trash’

thealisoncitron — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 10:30:16 -0400

A picture of trash, according to some people. Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Kind of a lot of people like to tell me how they love my wedding invitations, but they would never want to pay for something like that because it will just go in the trash. Obviously, that’s a huge bummer for me to hear! I work really hard to create beautiful pieces for my clients, and I’d hate to think of all that time and effort as just garbage.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Luckily, I don’t think that’s actually true. Beyond the fact that I’ve heard a lot of stories of people saving my invitations because they think they’re so beautiful (hair flip), I also think we should look at the bigger context of a wedding. It is an event, which means it intrinsically comes with impermanence. You don’t get to keep your venue, the food is consumed, flowers die, makeup gets washed off, dresses are often only worn once, etc. There is really very little you get to actually keep from your wedding.

Probably the only thing the client got to keep in this picture was the table number. Photo by Mikkel Paige.

But you do get to keep your invitations. Not all of them, obviously, but long after the wedding is over, your invitation will still be there. Many people even frame and hang their invitations in their homes! When you work with a custom stationer, you are essentially commissioning an artist to create something just for you. I strive to create heirloom quality pieces that will be treasured for a long time, and long after the wedding itself is a distant memory, you will still be able to hold that invitation in your hand and remember your event.

Maybe reframing your invitation as not only serving an extremely important purpose in inviting your guests to your wedding but also as a keepsake to be treasured after the wedding is over could be helpful to you!

AnnaLaura + Scott’s moody floral invitation suite

thealisoncitron — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 10:30:18 -0400

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

AnnaLaura and Scott were married at the Sutherland, and their fall wedding was the perfect mix of classic and modern.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

For their invitation, we knew we wanted to use a burgundy paper. I created lush illustrations of AnnaLaura’s favorite flowers and used gold foil to create a really stunning ‘wow’ moment for the invite.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

I also loved their reply card - it was just a traditional reply card, but in adding a deckled edge, we added a little interest and texture. I referenced that in their reply envelope, with the illustrations being cut off by a line, to make way for the address.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

We went a little lighter for their accommodations card and featured an illustration of their wedding venue. I loved how the watercolor softened the whole look and added a little whimsy to their suite.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Probably my favorite element was their envelope liner. I knew I wanted to do something dark, floral and moody, but I wasn’t sure exactly how I would get the colors I wanted. I ultimately ended up scanning flowers from my then officemates Wylde, and combining them digitally, which gave the perfect moody, somewhat surreal look. Using something photorealistic and dark was such an unexpected touch, but I truly loved how it all came together.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

We tied their suite together with a gold velvet ribbon and used a wax seal of their sweet husky dog to seal it all together, which I obviously think was just the best. Dogs on wax seals are truly my love language.

Congratulations AnnaLaura and Scott!

What kind of wedding day stationery do you need?

thealisoncitron — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 10:30:28 -0400

photo by Mikkel Paige

Wedding day stationery can be a lot to wrap your head around. There are a lot of options, and it’s not like an invitation, where there are necessary components. For example, you don’t NEED a welcome sign, but you definitely need a way to let your guests know where and when your wedding is.

Photo by Theo Milo Photo

Your wedding day stationery offerings will vary from stationer to stationer, but we offer a few standard things:

Photo by Theo Milo Photo

Favors and customized items (so like cocktail napkins, bottle huggers, and matchbooks, for a few examples), printed signage (either paper, mounted on foamcore, printed on acrylic, or engraved on acrylic or wood), and printed paper goods (programs, menus, printed escort cards, etc).

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography

The best time to really dig into your wedding day stationery is right after the invitation design is complete. As you go through the planning process and finalize with your caterer and venue, your needs will change. While I’m happy to give general quotes, it saves a lot of back and forth if we wait until a bit further along in the process.

Photo by Dana Cubbage Weddings

10 weeks out from your wedding is the best time to order your wedding day stationery, with proof approval four weeks before your wedding date. While you may need to wait to finalize your numbers until all the replies come back, in the meantime we can have the wording finalized, the designs complete, and a pretty good idea of how many pieces you will need. Your wedding day stationery can take between 2 and 3 weeks to produce, and I aim to have clients picking up their stationery at least a week before their wedding. I don’t want to add anything to your plate the week of your wedding

And that about covers wedding day stationery. Is there anything I missed? Shoot me an email with your questions!

What I’m loving this season

thealisoncitron — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 10:30:24 -0400

Even though we’re just barely coming up on spring, I’m already thinking about fall - because that’s when all the invitations I’m designing are happening! PS - if you’re getting married in the fall, let’s chat! Now is the perfect time to get started on your wedding invitations.

I thought I’d share a few elements I’m loving for this year’s fall weddings!

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography

Tone on tone. This is having a big moment with me right now, and I looove it. It’s understated, textural, and totally fresh feeling, and perfect for the warmer tones traditionally associated with a fall or winter wedding.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Transparency. Vellum has been having a moment with my clients for a while, and I don’t see it going away any time soon. I love the thought of raising the bar by using colored vellum, or printing patterns or washes on vellum to elevate it. While clear acrylic is still going strong also, I love the thought of playing with opacity by either adding color, or using other materials, like thin cloth, cloudy paper, or even layering inks using processes like screenprinting.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Bright colors. I think that many couples are moving away from the classic gold/white/blush look, and moving into more saturated and vibrant colors. I love the thought of combining this with tone on tone and having a super rich, vibrant suite.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair, calligraphy by Judith Browne

Texture. I’ve been getting more requests for handmade paper (which I obviously love), and I can’t wait to explore textural elements even more, from things like acrylic, organic materials, folded paper, laser cutting, and fabrics!

What are you loving right now, visually?

Rachael + Jesse’s lush illustrated foil invitation suite

thealisoncitron — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 10:30:36 -0400

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Rachael and Jesse had a beautiful at home wedding in the mountains of North Carolina. Rachael is the owner of the Local Squirrel, so of course, we hid little squirrels in every piece of their suite.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

We went with a lush floral illustration stamped in champagne foil for their invitation and paired with dusty blue letterpress text.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Their map was filled with their favorite local spots - each one watercolor painted by me! We incorporated those elements throughout all of the pieces of their suite, perfect for a textural, elegant look when it was all together.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

I particularly loved the color palette for this - pairing the burgundy with grey-blue, and touches of pink felt so fresh and new, especially with the champagne and white papers.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

For this suite, I worked with Chelsey from Gather Together Events on the design. Her specialty is just incredibly unique weddings that always pull in such fun details - I love seeing it all come together in the end!

Etti-Qs: Where do I put my registry information?

thealisoncitron — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 10:30:26 -0400

Here’s an etiquette Q: where should you put your registry information on your invitation suite?!

Photo by Mikkel Paige, calligraphy by Judith Browne Calligraphy

That’s a question I get a lot, and the answer is, unfortunately, nowhere! I can understand why it is tempting to cover all of your bases, but having your registry information on your invitation is actually considered to be a pretty big faux pas.

The reason for this is that while most of your guests will want to bring a gift to your wedding, they are not required to, and putting that information in your invitation will give the impression that you think that they should bring a gift. It’s kind of silly: you know they want to bring a gift, and they know you would obviously love a gift, but you definitely don’t want to seem like you’re asking for a gift. Very proper guests would consider that offensive.

So how do you get the word out about your registry? The expected way to do it is your wedding website. Since websites weren’t around when a lot of these etiquette rules were created, they’ve become kind of a catch-all for the information you’re not supposed to put in your invitation. It’s also the perfect spot for registry info because you can link directly to your registry. If someone is hosting a shower in your honor, it is expected for the registry information to be on the shower invitation, since that’s kind of the whole point of the party. It’s also totally fine to share your registry information with people if they ask you.

Behind the scenes in painting + creating digital art for invitations

thealisoncitron — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 10:30:19 -0500

Today, I thought it would be fun to talk about how I create the artwork for invitations! Sometimes people ask me if I hand paint every invitation, which I have done in the past, but don’t do any more, and other times, people don’t even know that I create the artwork for my invitations! So it’s really all over the place.

An example of the vintage art I’ll occasionally work with. We paired the vintage florals with a custom watercolor map. Photo by Mikkel Paige.

I create almost all of the artwork that I use in my wedding invitation designs. The only time I won’t create the artwork is when I’m using vintage illustrations, as they are older and a different style than my paintings. But the vast, vast majority of the time it’s a painting or drawing by me.

An example of my typical setup. Sometimes I work at a desk, other times I’m painting at night and paint at my coffee table so I can watch tv and hang with David.

For my watercolor work, I’ll usually start by sketching out lightly in pencil what I would like to paint. Sometimes I go for a looser look, but usually I have to put pencil to paper to make sure it doesn’t look weird in the end. For my venue or pet portraits, these sketches are a lot more detailed, and for something like a floral painting, they’re a lot looser.

Then, I’ll actually create the painting. For each project, I’ll usually try to make a few different options for each piece I would like to use. Often for my designs, I’ll pull from my pretty extensive library of artwork, so if I’m doing something custom, I like to make sure I have a lot of new pieces to add to the library. Paintings can take me days to complete - I always think I can just bang something out, but it actually can be a fairly slow process.

Once the paintings are complete and dry, I’ll scan them, and then digitize the artwork. I’ll be honest, I kind of hate this part, as it is sooo slow and nitpicky. It’s too boring to explain, but basically, it’s color correcting, then going around and tracing each part of the art to pick it off the paper background, and then more color correcting. It can take days, depending on how involved the piece is. This is when I listen to lots of podcasts and complain to David about how hard my job is.

After the piece is digitized, it’s ready to go into the design. This is my favorite part, as it a) means digitizing is done, and b) it’s so fun to see it all come together!

This suite used both watercolor and line drawings. I created the line drawings on my iPad! Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

If I’m creating a line drawing, it’s a little bit different of a process, because I do most of my line drawing on my iPad. I use a program called Adobe Sketch, which has been a real game-changer in terms of creating drawings that don’t look too digital from the start. The great thing about that is that there’s no tough digitizing part - I just pull the drawing off my iPad and I’m good to go.

I generally paint surrounded by beverages - it’s like a fun challenge to not drink paint water, or dip my paintbrush in tea.

I love creating artwork for my stationery, and it’s especially fun to see how versatile the pieces can be - a painting of a flower can look totally different in different contexts, and I love seeing how they can come to life. I still can’t believe that a huge part of my job is drawing and painting, how crazy is that, anyway?! Is this process in line with what you envisioned? Or is the way I do things totally different from what you thought?

Lucy + Van’s exuberant watercolor floral invitation suite

thealisoncitron — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 10:30:34 -0500

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Lucy and Van were so low key and relaxed that I honestly didn’t think they’d want to do much for their invitations, but instead, we created something so spectacular that I think it’s one of my all time faves. They had a blowout wedding weekend in beautiful Charlottesville, Virginia, and their suite had so many pieces that it was a struggle to get them all in one shot!

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Staring with the invitation, one of my favorite details that we, along with their insanely talented wedding planner, Stephanie of Viva L’Event brought throughout their entire day, was the crest I created for them. Going for a more modern monogram, we included soft watercolor flowers, and their two sweet pups, Colonel Mustard (the best name for a dog) and Larry. You know I’m a sucker for including your pets in your invitation, and this was no different - I loved painting those sweet boys.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Their invitation was letterpressed, which I always recommend when you want to keep the typography simple and traditional - when you add cotton paper and the tactility of letterpress, it just elevates it to a completely new level, and the piece suddenly feels so special.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Another favorite card was their morning-after brunch invitation - I went nuts with the flowers on this one, but the coolest part was the little bits of gold foil detail that we added to the flowers. It was a really subtle effect that made it feel so special in person.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

I loved creating their map of Charlottesville, to show their guests all the city had to offer. I actually went to Charlottesville with David on an anniversary trip about a month before Lucy and Van’s wedding, and it was really cool to see all the places I painted in real life!

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Another great card was their rehearsal dinner invitation - we went with blue paper just to break up all the white cards we already had, and the gold foil monogram just took it over the top. Paired with the white digital ink printing, it feels so fresh and springy, I love it!

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Tying it all together is the most epic belly band I’ve ever created - custom tissue paper, tied with an oversized grosgrain ribbon, and topped with a gold foil monogram card. I knew this was going to be a really special weekend for their guests, and I wanted it to feel like they were opening a beautiful gift - I hoped the experience of seeing the invitation would give them a taste of the wonderful experience of the wedding weekend to come.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

We used a french blue outer envelope to hold it all together, and the envelope liner featured a custom illustration of the tree that Lucy and Van were to be married under. It was seeing that tree that sold them on their venue, and so we definitely wanted to make sure it was featured somewhere in their invitation suite.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

I loooved working on Lucy and Van’s invitation suite, and it was so fun to carry these details through to the day of - but I’m going to leave that post for another day, as this one is long enough already!

Etti-Qs: Can I do online replies?

thealisoncitron — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 10:30:37 -0500

In this increasingly modern age (lol could I sound any more like the 80-year-old woman I basically am?), online replies have become more and more prevalent. I’ll often get comments like: ‘I know you probably hate online replies, but I want to do them anyway’, or ‘Is it really that bad to do an online reply?’, and my not so secret answer is that I don’t hate online replies at all! I think they can be a really valuable tool, and if you’re short on time, or want to save a little money, they’re a great way to go.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Generally speaking, my stance is that when it’s your wedding, you should do whatever feels right to you. I think it’s important for your guests to feel comfortable and welcomed, and that’s really the point of etiquette: to make sure everyone knows what to do in any given situation. I like to educate my clients on what the ‘proper’ thing to do is, but at the end of the day, it’s their wedding, they know what would work best for their guests, and I’m here to make it easier for them, not to judge them because they opted for an online reply.

That being said, I have three things to consider before you opt for the online reply:

Your older guests will be confused.

If Grandma Nancy doesn’t own a computer, she’s probably not going to go down to the library and log on to rsvp to your wedding. If you’re just inviting a few older folks, that’s probably not a big deal to check in on them and get a personal reply, but if you know a significant portion of your guest list is older and not super computer literate, it might be worth it to just do a traditional reply card instead.

Sometimes people don’t take the online reply as seriously.

It’s hard enough to get people to reply to your wedding anyway, but something about not having to send a card back means that people might try to wait until the last minute, and then even forget to respond. Something I always recommend is to include a separate card in your invitation suite, no matter if it’s an online reply or a physical reply. Having the separate card means that it will draw a little more attention to the fact that there is still something for your guests to do, and hopefully make it a little easier for them to respond.

It’s really fun to get replies back in the mail.

It’s so exciting to check the mail every day and see who got back to you, and those little cards can become keepsakes when you’re also getting personal notes from loved ones. I ended up saving most of our reply cards because they were so sweet, and such a great snapshot of an exciting time in our lives. When so much of wedding planning can feel hectic, getting those reply cards back can feel like a really nice moment to pause and just enjoy the excitement.

So there you have it! Online replies: not a terrible faux pas, but also not quite as fun as a physical reply card!

What do you think? Would you still go for the online reply, or have I convinced you that a physical reply is the way to go?

Ways I stay sane and run a business

thealisoncitron — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 10:30:23 -0500

A definitely not staged picture of me at work.

I love being a small business owner. It’s great to have full control over my schedule and pursue my passion, building something that hopefully will be my lasting legacy. I wouldn’t change it for the world. However, at times being a small business owner can be bananas crazy. You have to wear so many hats, there are always a zillion balls in the air, and you’re ultimately responsible for making sure it doesn’t all come crashing down! For me, I’ve found my busy times come in waves - sometimes really close together waves. There will be slower times where I have a moment to catch my breath and come up for air, and there will be times when I’m pretty much only focused on getting my work done. This used to really stress me out, but now that I’m a little more used to the rhythm, I kind of like it. I thought I would share some of my tactics for making it through the crazy times without losing my sanity.

Caspian reflects upon the joy of a tidy home.

A clean house is a must.

I work from home, so this is doubly important, but it adds to my feeling of chaos 1000% if my surroundings are cluttered and dirty. Generally, I try to make sure everything in my home has a place, and regularly do Kon-Mari style purges to make sure everything is sparking joy, which super helps. When I find myself feeling really overwhelmed, taking 15 minutes to tidy my immediate area can really help me reset, and focus.

Journaling.

I don’t journal regularly, and I’m sure when I’m long gone anyone who finds these journals are going to be like ‘who was this psycho and how did she manage to survive for as long as she did?’ because I just use them for stress relief. I don’t know about you, but when I’m feeling crazed, my mind is going a mile a minute, and sometimes just brain dumping all of that onto a page really helps me feel like I can focus and relax.

A peek at my February calendar - I screenshotted this in the middle of January - it is so nice to be able to plan ahead.

Asana.

I recently started putting everything I need to do into Asana, and it has been a game. Changer. I can pull up a calendar view of all tasks assigned to me, and it’s been so helpful, in terms of knowing what I absolutely need to accomplish in a day, feeling like I have everything I need to do documented (so I don’t have to waste time worrying about it), and allows me to plan ahead.

Piggybacking off Asana,

I also have started batch working a little bit more, and it is honestly the best.

When I’m looking at my calendar view in Asana, I can match tasks that are in the same category (so I might have one day where I design a bunch of invitations, and then another day for assembly, etc), and best of all, it’s allowed me to stop using my email as a to-do list.

Me, not checking my email.

Stop using your email as a to-do list!

I have recently implemented a rule that I can only check my email when I’m prepared to take action on my email. So, if I read it, I have to respond to it or put whatever action is associated with it into Asana. I’ve started checking my email only once or twice a day (honestly some days I am more successful at this than others, but even with my lack of willpower, it’s still super helpful. Side note: did you know that checking your email triggers the same response in your brain as playing slot machines?) This has resulted in a couple of changes in my workflow. I feel like I’m more responsive and communicative to my clients, because I’m not just letting things linger for days on end, and I have freed up SO MUCH TIME, because I’m focusing on what is truly important for me to accomplish on any given day, and not letting email to-dos derail my productivity.

Sometimes the mountains you climb are in your mind, other times they’re literal mountains.

Exercise regularly.

This can feel counterproductive because why would you want to take time away from working when there’s already so much to do?! And sometimes I’ll definitely skip a workout because I feel overwhelmed. But, I’ve found when I can remain disciplined, it’s really helpful, not only in managing any anxiety or stress I feel around my workload but also with my productivity. The best time for me to work out is in the middle of the day, and knowing I have a break coming up means I can really put my head down and knock stuff out in the morning, and I often return to my work with more energy, and in a better mood.

Cut myself a break.

I truly believe you can have it all, but not at the same time. I can be killing it at work, but maybe I’m not cooking healthy, delicious meals every night, or being a very present friend, or living up to all the high standards I set for myself. It’s okay. Sometimes it’s okay to be giving your all in one area of your life, and just getting by in the other areas. If it’s going on for too long, that’s probably indicative of a bigger problem, but the truth is, sometimes things get busy and something has to slide. On any given week, I might be trying to stay off my phone and read books, but after a super busy week maybe I just want to lay in bed and swan dive into instagram, and that’s not the worst thing in the world.

I hope that was helpful for anyone out there going through their own busy times! Leave a comment below and let me know your number one self-care tip when life gets crazy!

Taylor + Matt’s romantic handmade foil + letterpress invitation suite

thealisoncitron — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 10:30:16 -0500

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography

Taylor and Matt had a beautiful fairy tale wedding at maybe an actual castle? Or wait, it was just the Graylyn Estate in Winston-Salem, but basically the same thing. Taylor made my dreams come true by wanting handmade paper, gold foil, and a truly romantic feel that was incredibly fun to create for her.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

We started with her save the dates, which featured a gold foil illustration of the Graylyn Estate, romantic typography, and soft cotton paper.

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography, florals by Green Bee Floral Designs, calligraphy by Calligraphy by Carole

Moving on to her invitations, we commissioned custom oversize handmade grey paper, and combined letterpress and foil on those bad boys, cutting the edges straight to keep it from looking too messy.

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography, florals by Green Bee Floral Designs

You don’t often see straight edges on handmade paper, and I’m here for it. In person, the texture is truly lovely, and the straight edges not only add an elegance and refinement to the whole look. It also allows printers to run several processes on the paper - it’s basically impossible to get the registration lined up correctly if the edges of the paper are uneven. So, kind of a win win here.

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography, florals by Green Bee Floral Designs

We finished this suite off with a vellum belly band and an oversize wax seal, and grey thread holding it all together. The wax seal was just perfect for this look, and you know I love a tone on tone, so the greys all coming together really made my heart sing, haha!

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography

Moving on to the wedding day, I created custom drink huggers for Taylor and Matt, featuring their crest, as well as menus for their guests, and stickers for their popcorn favors (it was Chicago mix, meaning caramel and cheddar, and I’ve now been craving that combination for months).

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography, florals by Green Bee Floral Designs

I think the overall effect was so pretty, and honestly, their entire wedding was just stunning. Their photographer, Amanda Castle did an incredible job capturing the event, and I’m so lucky to be able to share her photos with you.

Photo by Amanda Castle Photography

It’s easy to tell she took such time and care in styling everything, and I’m kind of obsessed with how it turned out.

What does the M mean on a reply card?

thealisoncitron — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 10:30:19 -0500

If you’ve ever received a wedding invitation, you might have been a little puzzled by the reply card, which usually goes a little something like this:

Kindly reply by (date)

M___________________

What does the M mean?!

My brother in law wrote his own name (M)att____ on our reply card, which I loved, but the M does not exist just to make people whose names start with M’s lives a little easier.

It’s just the traditional way of indicating that you should write down your name on that line - M is the first letter of Mr., Mrs., or Ms., so it’s kind of a one size fits all situation. I’ve found that most people know what to do, but if you think it’s weird, you could always swap the M out for Name(s) instead, just to make it clearer!

And now you know!

How I got started in invitations

thealisoncitron — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:30:34 -0500

Doing my own version of the success graph

It’s crazy to think that I have been designing wedding stationery for almost 10 years now! My journey to stationery was not as simple as going from point a to point b, so I thought I’d get into it today. Buckle up, this is a long post!

Me, wearing a shirt I designed and screenprinted. NGL, I still think this is a cool design.

It all started back in college when I was majoring in art and design. I had chosen this major because I felt like it would afford me the most options in what I wanted to do, but now that I was actually in it, I felt like the major wasn’t providing me with a clear path forward. A lot of my friends were in graphic design, and I was really interested in the things they were doing - I started sitting in on their classes, and doing their projects on my own time. I pretty quickly decided that I want to switch majors, and started my sophomore year as a graphic design student.

I really loved my time as a design student, and I thought when I got out of school I would move away, work at a boutique design firm, and be incredibly successful by the time I was 25, at which point I would have a meet-cute with some hunky guy and get married when I was 30. To me, that felt like the clearest path to success and fulfillment.

What actually happened was a little different

I started working at internships for design in college - I needed them to be paid, which meant that my options were pretty limited. Boutique design agencies were totally off the table, as they pretty much only offered unpaid internships. I still feel strongly that if you can’t afford to compensate someone for their time, you probably shouldn’t have an intern, but unfortunately, that’s not the norm in the creative industry. While I was in school, I worked for a distance education group that was affiliated with my university, a teacher’s group, and my school’s sustainability office.

A sustainability walking map I designed for my internship - these projects definitely helped me realize my love of print, and looking back it’s kind of nuts I got to own so many cool projects as an intern!

Particularly at my last internship, I learned a LOT about working with clients, as I was the only designer in the office - it was extremely valuable to learn how to deal with people who weren’t approaching creative problems from at all the same place as I was.

I also got to create several annual reports, which involved some sweet graphs.

I would love to go back and sit in on some of the meetings I was a part of at that time… I was obviously very new to professional situations, and I’d be in meetings with 10-15 people, most of whom were middle-aged men, trying to lead them through a design process I myself was just figuring out. I’m sure I was not nearly as smooth as I thought I was, but I definitely learned a lot!

Making some truly puzzling photographic choices during this time. This suite was thermography, which felt v fancy for someone who had never done anything beyond a laser printer.

During this time, I designed my first invitation suite for my cousin, Alyssa! Her support in such a tangible way means so much to me… I had no idea what I was doing, didn’t know anything about the wedding planning process, and thought the whole thing was easy - I was probably kind of obnoxious to work with, haha! But I loved seeing what I had made come to life, and it was my first taste of how awesome print design can be. I was sooo proud of these and so excited for her to send them out!

The hilarious part of all of this is that at the time, I distinctly remember my fellow students and I talking about wedding stationery and working for yourself like it was the lowest form of design possible… like these were last resort options for an actual career. Little hipster Alison had a pretty big dose of humility coming her way!

You know what wasn’t depressing? Adopting Caspian as a graduation gift to myself.

Graduating from college was a depressing event in my life. First, I looooved college. I loved the fresh starts of a new semester, I love learning, and projects, and the library, and living in what felt like a little big city where you could walk everywhere - I was so sad to leave it all behind. Second, I graduated at maybe the worst time to have a nonessential job. Out of the 40ish people in my graduating class, one person had a job lined up after college. One. Those boutique design firms I was so sure I was gonna work for were straight up bare bones, like they weren’t even taking unpaid interns because they didn’t have enough work. Lucky for me, I got to keep my internship at the sustainability office for another year after college, but I really kind of hated my life at that time… I was applying for a million jobs, not hearing back from anyone, I didn’t get to be a student anymore, and things were not going how I thought they should. I applied for so many jobs at that time, like literally anything: Victoria’s Secret (didn’t have enough experience), Starbucks (never heard back), a Segway tour guide (no explanation but not getting that job was definitely a low point). I worked random jobs as a babysitter/personal assistant, and cleaned my mom’s house for extra cash, I even took a disastrous unpaid internship for a few weeks (they told me they were going to be hiring a junior designer soon, so I thought that would be my way in, except my first day was also their new junior designer’s first day… and they had little dogs that pooped and peed inside, and whoever saw it first had to clean it up. They also had no work for me to do, it’s like the only thing in my life that I haven’t felt bad about quitting). I sent out hundreds of unanswered cold emails and started trying to freelance.

A website design I did way back in the day.

I cast a pretty wide net at first for freelancing - I did websites, branding, random design projects, I started a greeting card shop on Etsy, and you guessed it, I even did an occasional wedding invitation.

Branding for crackers - I was so proud of this project.

At this point, it was mostly friends and family who were getting married, but I had a lot of fun with those projects and started thinking that maybe wedding invitations would be easy money (lol again at little Alison). After a while of doing this, my internship ended, and I started trying to make it work full time. I began to refine my offerings, and my now husband and I started focusing on creating websites for small businesses, and I also did wedding stationery.

A table number I created for a styled shoot before I was really even a stationer. I thought I was so slick with the foil paper.

The wedding stationery work was fairly sporadic. I was focusing more on the website design, and that was growing slowly. The only problem was that I really did not enjoy it. Website design started to feel repetitive, I didn’t like working with small business owners, and I particularly did not enjoy the fact that website projects can literally drag on forever. Every time I thought I had completed a project, one more small to do would pop up, and so on and so on. Around my 24th birthday, I had a small crisis, one where I was like WHAT am I doing with my life?! I could not see a way forward with website design, and to be honest, it was suuuch a grind, I felt like I was hardly making any money, and I didn’t even really like doing it.

I remember being on a long walk with David, and just talking out all of my options. I decided I wanted to do something event-based, and extremely briefly thought about being a wedding planner, and then immediately realized that I would not be good at that at all. This brought me back to wedding stationery. It’s something I had some experience with at this point but hadn’t really committed to it, and it felt like a really good fit - I love weddings, I liked that the project had an end date, and I love print work. Wedding stationery also meant that I could play with unique printing methods that commercial print work often didn’t have the budget for, and I felt like I already had my foot in the door a little bit.

It was around this time that I also decided to ask my friend Gabie if she wanted to be my business partner. She was living in California at the time, and we had bonded over our shared love of stationery, and doing crafts for her wedding, so it felt like it could be a natural fit.

After Gabie and I decided to start working together, I also had a job fall into my lap. I started working at Videri Chocolate Factory as a bar wrapper, which was really perfect for me at the time since we were just getting One + Only Paper started. So there was a lot going on.

Our first styled shoot! Photo by Becci Ames.

Gabie and I started out by creating a ton of sample invitations and staging a styled shoot at the Merrimon-Wynne House. This is also when I started getting into watercolor. It was a crazy time. Gabie was in the process of moving back to North Carolina, I was finishing up some last website clients, we were both working other jobs, and trying to get this dream going. I remember launching the One + Only Paper instagram account, and feeling so excited and discouraged at the same time… we had like 20 followers, all of whom we knew, and it was just like, will anyone ever hire us?

Our very first instagram post. S/O to the ten people who liked this post.

Slowly we started to gain some traction, with small jobs at first, and then bigger invitation clients. More importantly, we got the business side of things set up (I say ‘we’, but honestly that was all Gabie), and slowly started to figure out a process, and how we wanted to work.

The weirdest part about all of this is that this is when I started to feel comfortable being a business owner. Back when I was freelancing, I was so adamant that I was a freelancer and not a business owner, I guess because it felt too scary? It’s crazy, because now I love a lot of the challenges that come along with being a business owner, but I felt so afraid to own that title for so long. I guess I had to grow into it.

Things were getting busier at One + Only Paper, and around this time is when Gabie and I decided to part ways. At least from my perspective, it was a positive step forward for both of us. Starting a business is stressful and intense, and a process that lasts for years, and we decided that it would be better for both of us if that wasn’t a marathon we ran together. We’re still friends, and I owe Gabie a lot - I know that One + Only Paper would not be where it is today if it wasn’t for her huge part in building the foundation of this company, and I will always be grateful for that.

After our split, I pretty much put my head down and started working hard to achieve my goals. I learned so much that following year. It was the first time I had to manage multiple client timelines, and I learned a lot about setting expectations, building relationships with my printers, and how to manage my time. The year after that felt like one step forward and two steps back - I was busy with clients all year, but I was also SUPER busy with clients all year. I barely had a minute to breathe, much less figure out how to improve my processes or do anything else to drive my business forward.

And that brings me to today! In some ways, 2019 feels like a fresh start for me - at the end of last year I had some time to reflect on what I learned in 2018 and put a few things I’d been thinking about for a long time in motion, and I’m super excited to see what the future holds. I’ve learned so much in the past couple of years, and this feels to me like the year that I’m going to put it all together and see what I can really do.

If you have made it this far, please leave a comment so I can send you a personal thank you note for reading basically my life story - Gretchen Rubin said it best when she said the days are long but the years are short. I can’t believe I’ve been out of college for almost 9 years now - I simultaneously feel like I’ve come such a long way, and like I’ve only just begun!

Jamie + Trey’s navy + gold watercolor floral letterpress invitation suite

thealisoncitron — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 10:30:21 -0500

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

There’s just something about this invitation suite that I love. The navy blue paired with the gold, the minimalist geometric accents paired with the more romantic florals, or maybe it’s the letterpress and foil that really takes it to the next level.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

The most fun part is that it’s probably one of the most popular suites I’ve ever done. You know instagram best 9? I like to do that every year, and for 2018, like half of my pictures were of this suite!

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Jamie was super fun to work with - she and Trey both work in education, and they were just refreshingly down to earth, and also super into the paper details, which of course I loved. I love to work with someone with a vision, and she definitely had one that was a joy to execute.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

I loved how fresh and modern the geometric accents made this suite feel - we stuck with more traditional fonts, the color palette was definitely traditional, and adding in the lines could have felt weird or trendy, but it all just worked. The sharpness plays off the soft watercolor florals so well, I think it’s really fun.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

I think my favorite detail in this suite is the envelope liner. It’s crazy how these little details can just take things to a whole different level, and I felt like the envelope liner instantly pulled this all together. The watercolor painting was slightly different from my usual style, so of course, I had a great time getting out of my comfort zone just a little bit, and it’s actually inspired me to begin exploring that style more in the future.

photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Another great detail here was the custom stamp. I believe this is actually the first custom stamp I ever made, and after that I was hooked - it’s a great way to call out a favorite detail from the suite, and let’s be honest, sometimes the post office does not deliver (see what I did there?) when it comes to good stamp designs. We can do better than a wedding cake, I know we can! Congratulations, Jamie and Trey!

Etti-Qs - How do I make sure kids are not invited?

thealisoncitron — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 10:30:35 -0500

One little wording question that I hear all the time is ‘how do I indicate children are not invited to my wedding?’

This is a little tricky for me to answer, because strictly speaking, it is not considered proper etiquette to state who is NOT invited on the invitation. Your guests should know who is invited from the outer envelope, where it may say, ‘Mr. and Mrs. John Smith’, and not ‘The Smith Family’, and then if you want to be extremely specific, I always recommend adding inner envelopes, which will list out each guest, (‘John Smith, and Jane Smith’), in this example.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

While that should make it clear to your guests who’s actually invited to your wedding, another great trick to use is to put a line on your reply card that says ___ of ___ seats have been reserved in your honor. You’ll fill in the second blank with the number of guests in that household who are invited, and then your guests will fill in the first blank with the number of people who are actually coming.

Sometimes, clients will worry that despite all that, people will still want to bring their kids. I get it. I had several uninvited guests come to my wedding, and it was really frustrating! Another trick I like to employ is to use your website as the bad guy - if you have information directing guests to your wedding website, you can definitely include a line somewhere in there about how children are not allowed at your venue, or you wish you could invite children but you aren’t, etc, etc.

If, despite all this, you’re still worried about people bringing their kids to your wedding, and really want to put that line on your invitation or reply card somewhere here’s my opinion:

Are there just a couple of people in particular that you’re worried about? I’d recommend speaking to them directly after the invitations go out, and reassuring them that you love little Jimmy, and wish he could be there but this will be an adults-only affair.

You’ll also get some super cute pics if kids are invited to your wedding! Photo from my own wedding, at the Merrimon-Wynne House, taken by Brett & Jessica.

Consider: would it really be that bad if someone slipped through the cracks and brought their kid? Children are often the most enthusiastic wedding guests, and on a day that’s about merging families, one or two kids being there won’t ruin your wedding. If anything, it will make it less fun for the parents, and you probably won’t even really notice. That being said, I know sometimes that it would actually be a problem if a kid shows up, whether it’s because the venue is not child-friendly, or maybe it’s a really poorly behaved child, or whatever. Which brings me to my final point:

This is your wedding, and while etiquette says that it’s inappropriate to state that children are not invited, etiquette is also designed to help everyone feel more comfortable and like they know what to expect and how to behave at an event. If it will put your mind at ease knowing that it’s explicitly spelled out, I think that’s what you should do. I like to give my clients all the information, but at the end of the day, I’m here to do what makes you happy, and if that will make you happy, it’s definitely not that big of a deal either way.

Introducing the new Mad Dash invitations

thealisoncitron — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 10:30:27 -0500

For the past couple of years, I’ve been happily partnering with Mad Dash Weddings, ‘a bodacious, money-saving solution to effortlessly declare your love with your closest family and friends.’

They provide wedding, elopement, and vow renewal packages at a fraction of the price of a typical wedding, all hosted at the beautiful Leslie-Alford-Mims House in Holly Springs, North Carolina.

As someone who lives life with champagne taste on a beer budget, I love this concept, and I’ve been so thrilled to provide couples with beautiful invitations to truly set the tone for their event.

This year, I felt like it was time for a little design refresh, and so I’m pleased to debut 10 new designs for Mad Dash couples!

These are a little different from my custom offerings in that they are customizable templates, meaning all you have to do is pick a design, send me your wording, and I’ll take care of the rest.

Visit Mad Dash today to learn more about what they have to offer, and I’d love to hear in the comments which one is your favorite design! I love No. 5 - it’s bright and a little vintage!

Suzie + Brandan’s modern black and white letterpress invitation suite

thealisoncitron — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 10:30:43 -0500

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Suzie and Brandan came to me with the most clear and unique vision, and I had such an incredible time executing it with them! Suzie knew she wanted crisp, modern type, and a minimalist, black and white feel.

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

Working together with McLean Events, we actually took direction from my business card, which had blind debossing on the back, and blind debossed her and Brandan’s names. That’s a move that can feel risky, but is so good when successfully executed (and blind debossing really is surprisingly legible. The dimension that the letterpress adds makes it easy to read, particularly when the words are larger, as they are here.) The secret to the story is that when I designed my business cards, I went the blind debossing route because I hoped that it would help convince my clients that they could go for it, by seeing how legible it was on my card. And it worked!

Photo by Mikkel Paige, photo styling by Janet St. Clair

We tied this suite all together with a vellum belly band and an oversized wax seal - white, for a tone on tone look. And best of all, we brought the details of the suite throughout their wedding day, with their modern escort cards, vellum menus, and minimalist drink signs.

photo by Theo Milo Photo, event planned by McLean Events

I seriously loved this suite! I think a common misconception is that when you’re a stationer and artist, your clients have to fit into your style, but since I’m coming from a design background, having my personal style represented has never been my goal for my work.

photo by Theo Milo Photo, event planned by McLean Events

For me, it’s about representing my client’s styles, their love stories, and how they’ve envisioned their special day. The magic happens when their style hits the right note of inspiration for me, and there’s enough trust in the relationship to take the suite beyond what they’ve initially envisioned, and create something truly unique.

photo by Theo Milo Photo, event planned by McLean Events Florals by Blossom Bay Design

The icing on the cake is that this wedding was featured on Martha Stewart Weddings!! I’m not surprised, because everything about it was perfection, but I am so, so excited. I’ve been a big fan of Martha since basically day one (as an eight year old I would pore over her magazine, and I still subscribe today), and when I started my business, my dream was to have my work featured in Martha Stewart Weddings.

photo by Theo Milo Photo, event planned by McLean Events Florals by Blossom Bay Design Tabletop decor by Emerson James Rental

I feel super grateful to get to work alongside such talented vendors on the regular - since I’m never actually at the events, I always feel a little bit removed from the team, but I always love seeing how it all turned out, (I’m usually stalking them on instagram the day of the event, cheering everyone on) and it’s so rewarding to see my pieces in their true context on the day of the event.

How many invitations do you need?

thealisoncitron — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 10:30:22 -0500

It’s time to embark on step two of your stationery journey - calculating how many invitations you need to order! The number of suites you need can affect your price significantly, and you don’t want to under order, as reprints are costly. A great rule of thumb for estimating is that you need roughly 60% of the number of guests you have, but that can be confusing for some people, so I’m going to break it down today!

Here’s how you figure it out:

Pull up your guest list. Now, look at the number of households or addresses you are sending invitations to, not the number of people. This is important! If Jane and John Smith are married and living together, they’re not each going to receive a separate invitation. And it’s likely that the majority of your guest list is couples or families.

Add 10 to 15 extras. The setup costs remain the same whether you’re printing 10 invitations or 100, so it’s always, always cheaper to order a few extras in order to avoid reprints. We want to avoid reprints at all costs! You will also want to have a couple extras on hand for:

A keepsake invitation

1 to send to your photographer.

Any invitations that get lost in the mail, or sent to the wrong address (I’ve learned that someone is always moving and forgetting to clue you in!)

Any last minute guest additions (did you forget somebody? Has your mom or mother in law decided that they just have to invite great aunt Elma?)

And that’s it! If you are still working on your guest list, you can click here to access my handy template for inputting your addresses - at the bottom it will automatically calculate how many you need!