With momentous events like weddings, everything has the potential to serve as a keepsake including the invitation. My guest today, Christiana Turner strives to make her stationery a piece of personal history her clients won’t ever forget. She’s the owner and creative designer of Isabella Invitations located in Houston, TX and has some amazing designs for menus, save-the-date invitations, and more.

In 2007, she started her company out of her love of arts, crafts, and scrapbooking, and it has grown into a fulfilling passion. Her work has been featured in many local and national magazines like The Knot, Weddings In Houston, Munaluchi Bride, Modern Luxury Weddings, and much more. Her clients extend beyond Houston and even the U.S. with clients located in the U.K., as well as different countries in Africa and South America.

Her business specializes in unique, luxurious invitations and stationery from save-the-date cards to thank you cards, wedding programs, and invitations for all other special occasions. Christiana showcases a variety of invitation styles such as laser-cut, die-cut, and unique box and offers several print methods like digital offset, foil, letterpress, raised print, embossed, and engraved. In addition, she uses different materials and textures like acrylic, leatherette, and velvet in a variety of colors.

In this episode, Christiana and I discuss her use of mood boards as part of her creative process for clients, where she draws her inspiration from, the timeline for sending out invitations, and ways to simplify RSVPing for wedding guests. She also talks about how to address couples and non-couples by name on invitations and seating assignments, suggestions for properly postponing your wedding, and tips for keeping your stationery organized.

In This Episode:

[02:13] - What was it specifically that directed Christiana to weddings?

[06:15] - Christiana describes her style, how it differs from others, and why she wants to create designs that clients will enjoy looking at many years later.

[08:55] - When designing an invitation suite for a couple, how does Christiana stay inspired?

[11:01] - Eilena asks what timeline Christiana recommends for sending out your save-the-date invitations.

[14:42] - For RSVPs that need to be mailed back, put stamps on those RSVP envelopes too. 

[16:16] - What about addressing invitations? Christiana discusses proper naming etiquette, including for same-sex couples.

[19:38] - Which is better: alphabetical or table seating charts? 

[21:12] - Given the current environment, Christiana discusses the proper way to postpone your wedding.

[23:24] - Eilena asks for a couple of tips for helping couples stay organized with their stationery. 

[25:37] - In single households with a few generations, do you send out one or multiple invitations?

[27:39] - Before you buy any stamps for your invitations, you need to do this at the post office first.

Relevant Links:

Isabella Invitations

Website | Instagram

The Wedding Tea

Instagram

The Event Loft

Website | Instagram