The Stationers Guild

From January 16th through April 12, Crane & Co. will offer two distinct promotional offers to Guild dealers who carry the Crane wedding, Kate Spade and Martha Stewart wedding collections.    If you are planning a wedding, drop into a Guild member store in your neighborhood to see these exciting Crane wedding invitation collections.

For all engraved and letterpress orders, you will receive  free invitation and return address dies (a $148 value for the two dies) on orders of 100 or more invitation.  Letterpress dies are not returned.

For thermography and flat print orders, clients will receive free return address printing on their outer envelopes (a minimum $58 retail value) on orders of 100 or more invitations.

Visit a qualified stationer in your neighborhood to learn more about Crane’s exciting new wedding invitation promotions.  See the difference in ink colors from live samples available at a qualified Crane dealer near you.  Remember, ink colors change dramatically depending on the printing process employed.  Expert advice is always welcomed on an occasion as important as your wedding.   Poor internet resolution distorts colors and the printed outcome will probably not conform to your expectations.  Some things are best done in person.  Selecting your wedding invitation is one of them.

Sheila P. May
Thérèse Saint Clair

A recent Blog article called my attention to some advice given by Talley Sue Hohlfeld, Etiquette Expert for Martha Stewart, on whether bridal couples should send E-Vites for a Wedding.   Ms. Hohlfeld, blindly jumping on the “save-a-tree” bandwagon, acknowledged that she was “firmly against using e-mail for something as momentous as a wedding invitation.”  Nevertheless, she added that “putting a website URL on the lower left corner of your invitation would . . . save paper on your end.”  As an etiquette adviser to Martha Stewart, Ms. Hohlfeld should know that putting a website URL on an invitation is not only improper etiquette but is also quite TACKY.

Look, I have no issue with people sending out email invitations to save money.  Nevertheless, to justify sending an e-Vite on ecological grounds is either stupid, deceptive or simply dishonest.   First and foremost, many quality wedding invitations are printed on paper made from cotton and not wood fiber.    In fact, Crane & Co. has been printing paper from cotton (a renewable crop) and cotton rag from textile mills (recycled cotton) for over 200 years.  Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why Ms. Stewart decided to partner with Crane & Co. to launch her new line of Martha Stewart wedding invitations.  Perhaps, Ms. Hohlfeld should consult Ms. Stewart and ask her whether she would like to see a URL at the bottom of her invitation.

Secondly, the “save-the-tree” war cry of environmental righteousness is simply a banal sound-bite probably concocted by online email advocates like AOL and eVite to justify their services as “green.”  I think we all know the expression that if you repeat the same sales pitch or lie and nobody questions it, overtime people will believe it to be true.  Wake up wantabe environmentalists, it’s a hoax!  Most serious paper companies like William Arthur and many others source and produce papers made from wood fibers using the highest “green” standards.  In fact, harvesting wood may be beneficial rather than detrimental to the environment, according to  David Foster director of the Harvard Forest Project.

Martha Stewart Weddings

Thirdly, if Ms. Hohlfeld honesty believed what she was saying, she would most certainly recommend to Ms. Stewart that she immediately cease the publication of Martha Stewart Weddings in the interests of saving a forest, not simply a tree.  Or how about the fact that the average PC user consumes 28 pieces of paper a day.  Should we simply abolish PCs to save a tree?   Ms. Hohlfeld and others who promote themselves as experts should take the time to seriously research issues before simply repeating self-serving slogans that have little basis in fact.  Civility and good taste would be far better served by “Etiquette Editors” who understood the difference between etiquette and a sales pitch.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) in conjuction with Crane & Co. introduced a new wedding invitation line at last week’s National Stationery Show.  A suite of 24 invitation suites together with a brochure were distributed to Crane and Co.’s dealers late last week.   The new line was officially launched by Martha Stewart and Charles Kittredge, CEO of Crane & Co. on May 18th at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller Center in New York.

Martha Stewart & Charles Kittredge

The new line was prominently displayed at the Crane & Co. booth at the National Stationery Show.  The 24 invitation suites are comprised on invitations, save-the-date cards, response cards and supporting pieces in a range of attractive styles.  The collection is made from all-cotton tree-free and certified recycled papers. 

Martha Stewart at Crane & Co. Display

Crane dealers now have samples of the 24 invitation suites together with a brochure describing each style in more detail.  In a marked departure from previous releases by Crane & Co., prospective bridal couples may also download the Martha Stewart Wedding brochure (a pdf file, which requires a free download from Adobe Acrobat Reader) from the Crane & Co. website.

This attractive new line reaffirms Crane & Co.’s stylish design capabilities coupled with Martha Stewart’s characteristic good taste.  Found below are a couple of samples that may be found in Martha Stewart Stationery Weddings brochure:

Baluster Edge Wedding Suite

Crown Ecru Wedding Invitation Suite

Paper is a tactile experience and we encourage bridal couples to see the Martha Stewart Stationery Weddings samples at a Guild member store in your neighborhood.

Sarah Schwartz, the talented editor of Stationery Trends magazine, gave two standing-room only presentations at the National Stationery Show last week.  The topic was Stationery Trends for 2009.  There was so much useful and practical information crammed into Sarah’s colorful presentation that it was sometimes difficult to keep pace with her rapid-fire overview of 2009 stationery trends.  With apologies to Sarah for missing something significant, I would like to comment briefly on the six key themes highlighted in her presentation.  I am doing so without graphics since I don’t want to overload the server.

Trend 1 - The Value Proposition:  Clearly, the economic recession has had a marked impact on consumer purchasing decisions.  There were numerous examples of companies offering different printing alternatives (flat-printing or lithography vs. letterpress) to provide more affordable options for the consumer.  Along that same line, several companies were offering less expensive substitutes.  For instance, Demby and Solomon have an attractive line of return address stickers rather than the generally more expensive printed envelope.

Trend 2 – Colors to Covet:  Purple is emerging as a “hot” new color.  Orange and yellow have been around for several years and both remain popular choices for today’s young consumer.  Gray features in many upscale designs.

Trend 3 – New vs. Old Patterns:  Several companies have created a modern twist on old patterns.  For instance, Elum Designs has created some truly contemporary stationery letterpress designs using old patterns.  Lucky Onion is another company that comes to mind that is producing some “hip” invitations using traditional designs.

Trend 4 – The Perfect Green Storm:  Many companies are offering Eco-friendly stationery or invitation papers.  Playing the “green” card has become quite fashionable.  I did give the papers made from elephant dung a pass, but Night Owl Paper Goods has some attractive greeting cards and invitations made from wood.

Trend 5 – Designer Cachet:  A number of fashion trend-setters have added their name to stationery and invitation lines.  Vera Wang branches into new territory with the debut of Wedding Invitations II in June.  This follows Vera’s very successful Wedding Invitations I with William Arthur in 2005.  Martha Stewart has partnered with Crane & Co. to produced a line of 24 wedding invitation styles.  Lilly Pulitzer, MOMA and several others are adding their own distinctive touch to new stationery and invitation lines.

Trend 6 – Design Trends:  Sarah cited so many design trends that I will only highlight a few.  Animal prints (particularly wild animals), birds and butterflies are popular across many invitation lines.  Cityscape patterns found in Lallie and Faux Designs are also proving to be quite popular.  For me, the most distinctive trend was the introduction of texture into the design process.  Lattice, lace, damask and toile were evident across may lines and in some cases, like the new Vera Wang wedding invitation line, were the most riveting feature of the stationery ensemble.   Personalization, through monograms or names, continues to a growing trend in stationery.

Sarah seminar is clearly a must-see for those who are looking for something new and distinctive.  While the National Stationery Show was somewhat smaller this year, I did manage to discover 10 new companies that were not on my initial target list.  Thanks Sarah for a great introduction to this year’s National Stationery Show.

In an email message to their dealers, Crane & Co. confirmed that they will shortly launch a full line of co-branded social stationery products with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.  According to the email, the Martha Stewart Stationery Weddings ensemble will debut at the National Stationery Show in New York in mid-May. 

Crane’s message indicates that the Martha Stewart wedding stationery will feature 24 invitation suites comprised of wedding invitations, save-the-dates, and response cards reflecting Martha’s “unique style.”  Crane & Co.’s association with Martha Stewart follows similar co-branding initiatives with Kate Spade and Disney.  Orders from Crane dealers will only be accepted electronically through Crane & Co.’s proprietary Personalized Design Studio (PDS).