Ceci Talks Wedding Stationery

{A view from the outside of the lounge}

Last week I blogged about attending the opening of the new Luxe Destination Weddings boutique in Toronto's Liberty Village. It was also an exciting event because Ceci Johnson of Ceci New York flew in from New York to celebrate the opening of her invitation lounge in the boutique. The collaboration is particularly special, as Ceci designed a line of destination wedding invites, specifically for Luxe.

{I chat with Ceci about her design process and upcoming trends.}

In the vlog I shot, she offered tips on choosing your wedding stationery, but I didn't have the chance to include all of the great things we chatted about during our time together. She was super sweet, very passionate about her work and also inspiring to talk to. If you are looking for couture stationery, I highly suggest you look into working with Ceci. If her custom work is out of your budget (it starts at $2300 and up to work with her), she does offer ready-to-order designs that are gorgeous too (and you can still customize many details like the font, colours and paper). We particularly love the vintage save-the-date postcards and the Botanical collection.

{Vintage Postcard}

{Style: Enchantment, Botanical Series}

She had a lot of great things to say about what brides are loving right now and some of her favourite uses of media in her designs. Here are some of the highlights:

- "Letterpress has always been huge," says Ceci. "It's the Manolo Blahnik of printing." - Ceci feels the perfect answer to fancier letterpress is combining it with foil. - Metallic will always be on trend. It's classic and elegant. - Jewel-tones are big right now, like red, teals and blues. - Personalization is big with all of the brides Ceci sees. For her, the couture concept is really the best way to get exactly what you want. Plus it's essentially a work of art you can frame and keep forever. - Timing is very important when it comes to ordering your stationery. You should be doing it as soon as you book the venue, she insists. - When it comes to a destination wedding, you're asking a lot from your guests (from travelling there to taking time off work), so consider how important that message is. A well-designed invite will show you care about the celebration and value them as guests. - You don't have to know anything about design to work with Ceci. She guides her clients through the process, with her keen ability to communicate visually.

Love Ceci? She also has a magazine entitled "CeciStyle" that shows her design process and offers tons of gorgeous inspiration.