Kasey and Phil met at a mutual friend’s wedding in Chicago – Kasey was living there at the time and Phil in San Francisco (although originally from the Chicago area). They had a blast at the wedding and danced the night away, but nothing followed. Until Kasey was heading to San Francisco with her family and contacted Phil for some area recommendations. They ended up meeting up that trip and a long-distance relationship ensued. Not only did they continually fly between the 2 cities, they traveled the world together and Phil has since re-located to Chicago.

When I met the couple, they had figured out how many miles they had traveled to be together during their courtship, 103,874 to be exact, and I knew I wanted to incorporate that into their invitation suite. Kasey had an idea of colors (plum and grass), a casual style and a general “travel” theme; but left the rest up to me to create which was such a great challenge for me! Both her and her fiancée were involved throughout the entire process making it such a fantastic collaboration for a true love story.

I created a Save the Date postcard referencing the mileage traveled along with icons to represent both Chicago and San Francisco and now, “they would be traveling down the aisle”. Their invitation suite featured a custom passport logo with their initials, miles traveled and the 3 cities meaningful to them – Chi, SF and Fort Wayne (where the wedding was to be held) – on the outer envelope, and paper band wrap. Plus, a tri-fold invitation featuring a floral element to tie in elegance and nature since their wedding is taking place outside at a country club, and a quote that is meaningful to the couple to tie in their long distance love. Their details and response card also had a nod to travel to tie the entire suite together.

Last week, I received the most amazing praise from the bride which makes this project all the more meaningful. “I was referred to Courtney through a friend after looking at some larger stationary companies for save the dates and invitations. Meeting with Courtney was a breath of fresh air – I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, and rather than fitting me into something that she’d already done as the other companies had, she listened to my ideas around the wedding and the concepts, and was able to take my vague direction and come up with some AMAZING concepts that both my fiancé and I loved. Courtney went above and beyond with her quick turnaround, patience with our many updates and tiny modifications, and very timely communications on all the steps in the process. From start to finish, we never had to worry about getting what was expected from Courtney, on time and far above expectations in terms of design and creative ideas. We’ve recently sent out our wedding invitations, and it has been such a treat to see all the emails/texts/calls we have gotten complementing our beautiful and unique wedding invitations! We’ve recommended Courtney to many engaged friends, and would refer her to anyone for their stationary needs.” Kasey Everett