Olivia Leigh Photographie Blog :: Photos and Experiences from a Chicago Wedding Photographer » products

A sophisticated thank you card design

Olivia — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:21:49 +0000

I’ve been doing many more photo thank-you, save-the-date and holiday cards this year, and it has been so wonderful to see them printed and enjoyed by couples and families. Janella asked me to put together a nice design for her and Vince; she liked a previous thank you card I offered, but we really needed to customize the design to suit the more regal aesthetic of her gorgeous wedding at the University Club. She picked up the cards last night and was so pleased with them — “so much better than I had imagined” she said. These cards were printed on a gorgeous, thick paper with a pearlized finish, and came complete with envelopes. As Janella had mentioned, she has seen a lot of thank you or save the date type cards that are printed on paper that creases/bends so easily and then turns the dreaded white in the crease. This paper is so much thicker and looks so much more chic and elegant. I’ve been more passionate about making and designing these cards in the past few months, as it is a wonderful way to give your guests a lovely picture from your wedding in a beautifully finished card. Janella was so kind as to let me keep one to show clients, so if anyone would like to see them in person, you are welcome to drop by!

Here is the back of the card, which has space left for writing out the thank you.

And here was the front design

I hope everyone has a marvelous weekend! I am off to shoot a gorgeous wedding at St. Clement, one of my favourite churches to shoot at. Looking forward to sharing so much next week on the blog!

New Save the Date/Thank You Cards

Olivia — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:11:53 +0000

I’ve always had Save the Date and Thank You cards available, but have done a woeful job in the past of marketing them and having some cute samples to share. Print materials are such a great way to show off part of your personality and set the tone for the day — will it be sophisticated and classic, fun and quirky? With the cards below, unlimited customizations are possible, from the colours to the fonts to the info contained in them, and they are the perfect way to show off some great images from your connection session or wedding. Great for save the dates, thank you cards, or even anytime cards, I’m always happy to work with my clients to create the perfect design for them! These are priced very, very reasonably for my studio, and are all printed by my usual professional photograph printer; trust me when I say I have seen some save the dates printed from other consumer vendors and the colours are a bit off and the paper quality not so great–a professional printer can really make the difference and create a great impression for your guests!

These first three are doublesided.

These can be modified as desired. Here there is space on the back for a hand-written note (such a nice touch!).

Single sided here, perfect for postcards with addresses and stamps on the back, or printed on very nice papers for a classic and luxurious feel.

Albums, albums :: Part II

Olivia — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:54:36 +0000

I finished up the album I described below last week, and my fantastic provider was able to do a special rush for me so I could have it by tomorrow for a meeting. I decided to go with a vertical layout in this one, as I tend to shoot quite a few vertical, and enjoyed how the style lent itself to fuller spreads and less cropping. I have used this style of book before, but I don’t think I had fully imagined the possibilities. The one I got today feels like an entirely different book, and I absolutely love it!

I ordered a special, extra-durable dust jacket for this one, incorporating more of my photos and my signature colours:

I did a different layout for the actual hardcover beneath. So sharp!

The reason I love these books–gutterless spreads that don’t turn strange colours! (I had investigated some other providers with gutterless lustre pages, but unfortunately, many showed pink and blue turning colours in the samples. This fine art matte paper is tested to not experience colour shift.)

And a few more spreads I enjoyed:

Albums, albums

Olivia — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:06:37 +0000

With the impending arrival tomorrow of one of my favourite people from Nashville, I finally stopped procrastinating and finished up my sample album. I have a few weddings later this year that I think will make for simply stunning sample albums (possibly with new providers), but in the meantime, I wanted to be able to show off some images from some of my other weddings in person. As such, I decided to make a palette album, in which I showcase four different weddings I shot and the unique personality of each. While the differences are subtle, when you see the multiple pages from each wedding next to each other, I think (and hope) that each set has a unique spirit and feeling to the point that you might be able to tell which images go with which couple. Before I dozed off, I decided to share a few. I hope you enjoy! My amigo from Nashville shall be forced to take some headshots of me while he’s here, so perhaps you’ll see a bit of me on here soon. Have a lovely week.

These first two weddings are from weddings I shot with uber-fun, fellow Chicago photographer, Jeremy Lawson. I can’t show all of the images from these weddings, but they were both gorgeous weddings with beautiful people.

These were from a wedding we shot at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. It was unbelievable, and the couple was so unbearably cool.

Here’s some shots I didn’t show before of Alex getting read at Alex and Christina’s wedding. I was talking to someone recently who wondered why people would want to have pictures of the groom and his guys getting ready, but it really is a wonderful time to get some photographs of the groom and his friends and brothers, who probably aren’t photographed as much as perhaps the bride and her friends.

And last, but not least, I added in a few pages from my most recent wedding with Valerie & Jason.

Albums

Olivia — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 01:08:59 +0000

I’ve had a few photographers ask me about my albums recently, and of course, they’re always one of the products that clients are most excited to see. I recently got in my guestbook album, which was also my way to test out a new album provider. In the future, clients will be able to choose from either of these styles for their wedding album, which is traditionally a 10×10 or 12×12 album. The guestbook will also be available for clients who elect to get an engagement session and are designed with plenty of white/light space for guests to sign. These might be my favourite product–I think they’re so very cool and a wonderful way to have your guestbook be an heirloom memory, instead of a leather book of signatures that gets put into a box.

Many album providers exist, and finding the right ones for me was certainly a process. The albums and styles I use match with the overall style of Olivia Leigh Photographie — modern, fresh, and unique. I have a background in page design and layout, which I use to custom design every book that goes out the door to suit the style of the couple and the feel of the event! I have several new ideas for designs floating around in my mind, and I hope to have many more samples available for all of my 2008 clients. Here are a few samples of my albums, and a few sample pages. They, of course, look better in person, so feel free to contact me if you’re a prospective clients and we can have a chat and drink some tea!

This style of book allows you to custom-design the cover, using any text, photos, etc., that you wish.

Again, all the pages are custom-designed. This provider is quite neat, as the photos are printed all the way across the spread, meaning you lose nothing and have no sight line in the gutter (in between the pages), and you can also print background photos, as I did here. It’s a very modern, clean, fresh look.

Janie & Ryan rented an adorable blue beetle for their getaway. I love this spread.

Below is the new style that I just got in. The provider I used for these doesn’t offer photo covers, but does offer a variety of colours and material choices. You can get leather, this textured fabric, or a woven fabric, in colours across the rainbow, perfect for coordinating with your wedding colours. I did an engagement guestbook for Christina & Alex, in a 6×9 size (wedding album would be bigger).

The look of these is very similar to the books above, although they generally split the pages, and the pages are printed on more of a lustre paper, as opposed to the matte style of the previous. They are a bit heavier weight, and a very nice option

Close up of the pages–They’re bound in such a way that the pages lay flat when you open them. Very neat!