Anyone who knows me well, knows I have a think for gorgeous, vintage inspired stationery. And beautiful fonts and typography. And so, when presented with a combination of both at the same time, my inner paper geekness get's all a little flustered :) And so when I came across Royal Steamline, I practically combusted on the spot with glee!
Royal Steamline are a US based husband-and-wife design team who create wedding invitations with a dark, clockwork or otherwise retro and vintage flavor. Through a subtle and anachronistic combination of shadows, textures and vintage illustrations, the design have succeeded in conveying a sense of eras, both strange and forgotten…
"It seems that more and more people are realising that weddings can and should reflect themselves, their styles and tastes. And, for what seems like a growing number of people, this means choosing wedding invitations that evoke a dark romantic, Victorian or misplaced-science-type feel.
It's created a whole new definition of what a wedding should be. We just want people to enjoy their wedding day, and if they're into the idea of people landing on the Moon in 1901, then we likely will have a design to match…"
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photos by Jessica Hill Photography | Imagery Copyright (c) 2010, Royal Steamline
"Sea monsters mingle next to robotic ravens, and gentlemen scientists have tea with rockabilly rebels. Simply stated, we offer unconventional invitations for unconventional people.
We divide our readymade invitations into four main categories: Vintage, Steampunk, Gothic and Retro. So I suppose we have several styles that've resulted from our tendency to mix-and-match elements. Vintage-Eclectic? Mid-Century Gothic? Clockwork-Carnival? They all apply!"
"Our designs start and end with a story, usually sparked from a book or artifact on our shelves. We've been deep into Victorian pulps and collecting mourning buttons and early 20th century advertising and science imagery. We're inspired by the stories of retro technology, textures of old paper…the look of outdated fonts, movies from the '40s, '50s and '60s, hand-drawn ornate borders from early typesetters and illustrators.
The combo of the different worlds usually leads to some interesting aesthetics."
"While we do offer bespoke, "from-scratch" invitation design, we specialise in readymade, customisable wedding stationery printed on high-quality linen papers. Brides- and grooms-to-be simply select a style from the dozens available via the Royal Steamline webiste, submit their customised wording, and we handle the layout, proofing, press checks and shipment.
All of our invitations are professionally printed at a local, environmentally-friendly printer here in Portland, Oregon. Invites, enclosures, RSVPs, table cards, seating cards, thank-yous…we do it all!"
"Some of our most popular designs include "Two Ring Circus," "Steamside" and "Hearts." Creative typography has always been fashionable, and the popularity of "Two Ring Circus" and "Steamside" suggests that this trend isn't flagging. "Hearts" is a very flexible design that complements a range of themes.
Many brides want an invitation that has a "less is more" quality, and "Hearts" fits very well for them."
"Our homebase is in Portland, but our (online) storefront is global. We've designed invitations for many Brits, Aussies and Kiwis. We've also worked with brides and grooms in Turkey, Italy, Spain, Holland and Ireland — and we'd love to hear from you, too!"
Oh wow! My inner paper geek is in heaven! All pretty darn gorgeous I must say.
For further information, visit the Royal Steamline website.
Much love,
Annabel xXx
♥
