Valen-times...

Happy February 1st Gals & Pals!

You know what I was realizing this past week?
Next to Christmas, Valentines comes a close second in the "Most Rad & Awesome Holiday" category, for me.
It's always been that way.
Maybe it stems from the fact that my great aunt Pegs quilted hearts into all my crib bedding and so that shape has forever been etched in my subsconcious.

Or the fact that my mum used to draw hearts for me to color in with my pack of 96 Crayola brights. And I mean, would draw them DAILY because I was a crayon obsessed maniac as a child.

It could also be the fact that pink and red, together, are like sweet, sweet symphony.

I can tell that you totally get what I'm saying right now...

A lot of people dislike Valentines though. With a passion that's severe and kind of awful. And while I can appreciate that everyone has the right to think what they want, I like to think that Valentine's Day is a day that acts as a friendly reminder to share some love. Because sometimes we get bogged down in work and stress and we forget to tell those we love how awesome they are.

**Note I'm not saying the work and stress are excuses.
Because we can all do better.
I'm just saying that reminders are important.
Plus, let's face it... how often do you tell all the people you should, just how much you love them?

See.
I'm right.
You don't say it enough...
And don't go pulling that, "well, if I say it too much it'll lose it's meaning"...
There's no pulling the wool over my eyes on this one peeps.
I've got you all figured out.

And so, in the interest of fun and fair competitive nature, I'm challenging you to give someone a Valentine this year who will not likely be expecting one. This goes out to all of you Valentines nay-sayers, too.
It's a healthy, good-natured challenge... and you'll feel great doing it.
Believe you me.

Come and see us at Gus & Ruby's and we'll hook. you. up.
You'll be passing out the BEST Valen-timesy love notes this side of the Piscataqua!
Because, you know, we don't mess around when it comes to gifties and love notes.
No Sir-ree, Bob. 

(just a small assortment of cards from Rifle Paper Co. available now at Gus & Ruby Letterpress)

Don't 'cha just love, love?!
xo Lizzy







 

Why book an appointment for wedding stationery?

Over the years, we've had a number of people wonder why we ask that brides and grooms book appointments to discuss wedding stationery. So, today, I'd love to give you a brief answer to that all-important and understandable question. In a nutshell, we schedule appointments for these 3 main reasons:

• A scheduled appointment means one-on-one time and undivided attention for you! Choosing and designing wedding stationery is a fun process, but it can be confusing (especially when you can customize as much as you can with our albums or personal design!). A private appointment with one of our invitation experts means that you'll get the dedicated service, thorough explanations, and professional creative collaboration that you deserve. We'll be able to devote our attention to you and you only and help you navigate the ins and outs of stationery. From printing techniques and price points to creative inspiration and etiquette, we'll be able to answer all your questions, point you in the right directions and give you solid, sound advice.

• Scheduled appointments prevent walk-in disappointment. What we mean is that, this time of year, we are chock-a-block booked with appointments. We absolutely hate turning down walk-ins who want to look at albums, but we must in order to provide an exceptional experience to those people who have booked private appointments. We would never want you to make the trip to see us only to find that you are unable to browse because we have appointments booked all day utilizing our cozy invitation corner. And, conversely, we would never compromise your scheduled appointment by allowing walk-in customers to interrupt your dedicated time.

• Appointments give us the time to get to you know YOU! By blocking off 1.5-2 hour slots for each of our initial consultations, we are able to take the time to truly get to know you, your love story and your vision for your big day. We are hopeless romantics, after all. So, hearing the proposal story, learning about how you met and truly getting to know you is what we love most about our jobs. We'll pour you some champagne and then settle in to chat about all the lovely details of your big day!

Really, appointments are set-up to benefit you. Our appointments are a relaxed and informative way for us to help you understand, select and customize the perfect stationery to fit your vision and budget!

This time of year is our busy season (with lots of couples planning for Spring and Summer weddings), so please do plan ahead when you would like to schedule an appointment.  We offer appointments 6 days a week and do our absolute best to work with the busiest of schedules. Weekend appointments book up first, so be sure to call a few weeks ahead of when you'd like to come in.  We can't wait to meet with you!


(Photo by emilie inc. photography) 

Designer Spotlight: New Designs from Dauphine Press

Happy Snowy Wednesday!  It's a gorgeous Winter day here in Portsmouth. The town looks absolutely charming with a fresh blanket of white snow and we are cozy in the shop working away on lots of fabulous wedding invitation suites.

For those of you curled up at home, grab a cup of cocoa and a snuggly blanket and feast your eyes on these STUNNING new designs from the ever-amazing Dauphine Press. Dauphine produces some of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful designs that I have ever seen. I seriously swoon every time I show the album.  Their font choices, gorgeous use of space, creative graphics and romantic color palette is to die-for.

Another reason I adore Dauphine is that the amount of embellishments that they offer truly sets the bar for customization options. From sparkling foils for foil stamping and super-duper-thick duplexed papers to die-cutting, patterns galore and beautiful satin ribbon detailing, the Dauphine album has everything a bride or groom could ever want to create a seriously WOW! invitation suite. And, the team at Dauphine is a dream to work with and come up with incredible designs for each and every unique couple.

Take a peek at some of their newest designs:

 

And a few other beauties & customizations also found in their incredible custom album:

(all photos courtesy of Dauphine Press)

Give us a call to schedule an appointment to see these stunners for yourself! You won't regret it :)

Designer Spotlight: New designs from Smock!

Good evening, friends! I hope you all had a lovely day.  Now that the rush of holiday is passed and as we begin to ramp up for our crazy, busy, wonderful wedding planning season (remember to book your invitation appointment soon, pals! Slots are filling up left and right!), I want to take some time to fill you all in on some of the incredible new designs our albums have released over the last year.

First up - our beloved Smock. Smock released some truly stunning designs over the last year and, coupled with how SUPER easy peasy and fun it is to work with them, have remained firmly at the top of our list of favorites albums to design with. This year- gorgeous, shiny foil, type-driven design featuring fun new fonts, and new spins on classic design took center stage. There are some really great additions to the already stellar albums from Smock.

Check out a few of the new Smock lovelies:

And, of course, everything is totally customizable (change colors & fonts, play with the design elements, add foil, add back patterning, add folios or sleeves or belly bands or....well the list goes on and on!!). So, each and every one of the designs in their gorgeous albums is just a jumping off point from which we can create something stunning and perfect for YOU!

Call or email to make an appointment to check out the pretty new Smock stars yourself! 

 

 

(all photos courtesy of Smock)

Process pics: holiday cards

Hi friends! Whitney here wishing you all a happy 2013! I'm not usually a big "new year's resolution" kind of girl but this year Sam and I have some resolutions for the business - one of which is to be better about blogging regularly. We hear it constantly from our fellow wedding, printer and retail vendor friends that one of the hardest parts about running your own business is keeping up with blogging and updating work on the website. It really is one of the most important things but always seems to take a backseat to all of the other daily tasks that continue to pile up!

My hope for 2013 is to share more photos of our custom work with you! This can often be hard as I like to wait until we have professional, styled photos of all of our work, which means you sometimes don't see photos until months (dare I say years?) after the actual pieces were printed and mailed. I've decided that every post doesn't need to be perfectly written with numerous professional photos so I'm going to write more posts that feature some process photos from the press.

Today I thought I'd share pics of some of the holiday cards we designed and printed for Christmas and New Year's:

If you'd like to see daily photos from the press and shop (and a ridiculous amount of photos of the pups and the food we eat:) you should follow us on Instagram! Here are all of our usernames:

Whitney: gusandrubyletterpress
Samantha: samantha_gusandruby
Liz: paperposydesigns
Laura: youstirme
Smash: smash13

I'll be back next week to share a beautiful Martha's Vineyard invitation suite from 2011!
xo
Whit