Custom Handmade Wedding Details from The TreeSpace Studio

There’s nothing quite as charming and intimate  as a handmade wedding invitation so it is with great pleasure that I present to you a recent online discovery - The TreeSpace Studio.  Illustrator and designer Amy Tan of The TreeSpace Studio hand-crafts beautifully-illustrated and designed personal wedding details that reflect a fabulous union and  make wonderful keepsakes for all guests. Pictured above is her Travelogue Suite which is perfectly suited for a beach wedding.

It’s composed of a Travelogue Sketchbook, completely hand-drawn, lettered and watercolored, printed on thick cotton paper and accordian folded-Japanese style. The front and backs are screen printed and so are the backs of the RSVP postcards.

The postcards are tied together with Hemp string and the edges are hand-deckled for a rustic, natural look.

This suite is just an example of what she can come up with. I asked Amy about how one can go about hiring her for custom handmade wedding details:

A bride (usually it’s the bride) contacts me and we chat about what she wants and how much she is willing to invest. Once I get an idea of what she is looking for I will email her with some further thoughts outlining the time-line, design process, and confirm that a custom listing on Etsy will be created for her. I will also send her a fun TreeSpace Studio custom-invitation online questionnaire to work on. It gets the conversation ball rolling and I find out interesting details about the wedding couple I normally might miss out. When Paypal clears the payment I schedule them in and begin by creating a Flickr folder for her so we can swap inspirations and see them all in one place and the design process begins!

These sets of Save-the-Dates (pictured above and below) were custom-made for a couple of  destination weddings inspired by vintage travel imagery.

Amy also notes:

I am pretty flexible and will be able to adapt my style pretty easily to different clients and I can work in different mediums (screen print, color pencils, watercolors, pen and ink, digital, photographic), but I will have to say I enjoy it the most when brides/grooms want something totally different and non-traditional and are willing to just let me come up with something crazy unusual that is uniquely about them and their story.

Of course if it is their style, I love telling stories with my illustrations about the wedding couple and their wedding theme/location/vision.  Their suite should not ever look like anyone else’s and is hopefully something they would want to frame up to remember for years to come.

This invitation suite is inspired by vintage travel maps and brochures and its tropical hilltop destination wedding. It is crafted from beautiful almost tissue-thin Japanese washi paper, screen printed on the front and folds out into a map of the hilltop location on the inside and wedding information on the other side. It is wrapped in the same washi paper, wax sealed and slipped into a sturdy, colorful, recycled envelope reminiscent of utilitarian yellow kraft envelopes.

As a graphic designer myself, I know how important finding just the right kind of paper for a project is and Amy shares the same sentiment:

Materials are a big thing for me, and I go out of my way to source sustainable or artisan papers/cards that enhance the invitation. I want the suite to feel like something you just want to run your fingers over. That is a lingering effect of my architectural background

A set of hand-illustrated note cards for special occasions.

My mission is that wedding stationery/favors should be treated as keepsakes or little art pieces, if you are going to spend all that money, time or effort, it should be something guests will want to keep because it’s just so cool. I abhor the disposability mindset of many conventional wedding vendors. (Sorry, I feel very strongly about this).

Don’t be sorry, Amy, Poptastic Bride couldn’t agree with you more!

You can view all the elements of the invitation suites, and more, at Amy’s portfolio. Amy also provides online shoppers to order her lovely works straight from TreeSpace Studio’s  Etsy store.

Amy just also started a Wedding Charette where new entries are posted on Fridays to encourage brides to think outside the box. Her number one requirement for brides is to break the rules of what wedding imagery and paraphernalia should be like. I love it!

Her latest wedding charette entry is how to fashion a Grateful Dead themed wedding invitation suite. Check it out and be inspired.

Tags: handmade weddings