While the postage stamp might be the last thing you include in your mailing, it is most certainly part of the first impression of what’s inside. Most often the tiniest of details, like a stamp, are what make a design stand out or feel thought through and cohesive. So let’s hear it for the postage stamp! Or at least give them the spotlight for once in this blog post by sharing a few things you may not have known about them. You may find something useful for your next stationery mailing or simply impress everyone at trivia night…

1. The first United States official postage stamp came in 1847, with 5 and 10 cent stamps depicting Benjamin Franklin and George Washington (real original, I know).

2. You can buy USPS postage stamps on Etsy! If you’ve been on the hunt for that perfect image to accompany your invites, don’t forget to check out vintage, retired and other on-theme stamp designs on Etsy.

3. USPS offers stamps in denominations from 1¢ additional postage to Priority Mail Express Stamps costing over $30. Additional postage stamps can give your mailing a layered look (like these from Little Postage House) which is often unexpected and unique—making you look like a stamp expert which is definitely a title worth adding to your resume.

4. Since the 1980’s, the mail service’s budget has relied almost entirely on stamp sales rather than taxpayer dollars. Please send some love to the USPS by sending actual birthday cards instead of texts this year!

5. The general public can submit ideas for stamp designs only by…wait for it…mail! Believe it or not, as of right now, proposals are not accepted by email or by phone. Gotta love that old-school way of promoting business.

6. The Postal Service continues its popular Love series with a new stamp in 2021. The stamp art features a lighthearted and colorful digital illustration with the word “LOVE” and three large hearts shown in an unconventional palette of color duos, strikingly set against a dark blue background. Greg Breeding was art director; Bailey Sullivan created the original art and designed the stamp. The less interesting fact is that this series is a Courtney Winet Design favorite.

7. People once had to pay for the postage on the letters they received. AKA: a lot of mail was returned because the recipient didn't want to spend the money. So prepaid postage stamps (the same ones mentioned above in 1847) solved this problem.

8. Are you old enough to remember licking stamps? Because we are…In 1992, pressure-sensitive self-adhesive stamps rolled out nationally. By 2005, 98 percent of all stamps were this type.

9. According to Salt Lake Mailing and Printing, the most popular (in terms of number saved, not sold) commemorative stamp issued by the USPS is the 1993 Elvis stamp. Over 124 million of this colorful 29-cent stamp featuring the famous singer have been saved. Guess that makes him the King of stamps too!

We believe that whatever stamps you choose will be amazing ...as long as you address your invitation correctly! Read our blog post on invitation wording etiquette for more stationery tips.

It’s raining again here in St. Louis as I write this. I feel like it’s been a particularly rainy spring this year, but it is hard to complain about the April showers when the sun comes out and all these beautiful May flowers finally grace us with their presence. Florals are not just in abundance in nature right now; they seem to be popping up in our work, project after project, adding beauty and brilliance in even the tiniest details. I’m not usually someone looking for symbolism in all things, but it’s hard not to notice that the world seems to be opening up more and more at the same time as spring blossoms—and we couldn’t be happier about it. As our way of celebrating, here is a bouquet of designs that came from the Courtney Winet Design studio so far this year that pay homage to flowers (and allow us to work in a few puns).

Save the Date? More like Forget-Me-Not!

The pops of pink and orange against the black and white details take this design from simple to sophisticated.

Delicate Details

Sometimes the smallest details of an invitation are what make it stand out the most. These are actual pressed flowers inside a wax seal, and they are one of our actual favorites.

Gold Floral Crest is Best

With a personalized wedding crest as beautiful as this one, how could it not be made of gold (foil, that is)?

Roses are Red, Cards are Blue

Just when I thought a tone-on-tone Save the Date couldn’t be any prettier…we added this envelope liner bursting with beauty!

Everything's Coming Up Roses

These coasters make us want to keep raising our glass to good times, good people and good designs.

Worth the Wait

I can see why people wait in anticipation then flock to see the cherry blossoms each year; if they’re half as pretty as these velum invitation covers, count us in!

Another Way to Send Flowers

Don’t just send flowers, try sending a hand-written note on custom floral stationery instead!

Beautiful Greenery All Year Long

For clients who want to send out Save the Dates way in advance, just know our floral designs will last all year long.

Flower Power

This Black & White invitation suite is bold and timeless at the same time, what I call true flower power.

You’re probably not sending mail to an actual elephant, but there are certainly plenty of unique and sometimes even awkward situations which beg the question: how do I address my invitations?

Emily Post may have written the book on formal etiquette (and you can find the CWD guide to these formal addressing rules here), but being a designer means encouraging creativity in every aspect of the project—including addressing the invitation. So go ahead, toss that book out the window, or follow it to a T! When it comes to your invites, it’s not important whether you “did it correctly” but rather that it feels like you.

There are just three things every invitation address has to include: 

• Start with the name of a recipient

• Followed by a street address or PO Box on the second line

• Lastly include city, state and zip code (and Country if sending internationally)

That’s it! Those are the rules according to the post office; so if you want people to attend your wedding or fawn over your family Christmas card we suggest following them.

The questions we get all the time go something like this...
“Do I have to write just the man’s first name?”
“Should I abbreviate or write out streets, states, etc.?”
“Can I list kids’ names on the invitation or just put ‘Family’?”
“What’s the right way to address it so they know they’re allowed to bring a guest?”

What all these questions have in common is their answer: it’s up to you! A great place to start is to reflect on the vibe of your event+invitation, and carry that theme through to how you address them. If you are mailing invitations to a traditional wedding, Emily Post is a great resource for formal addressing correspondence. If your vibe is more modern and casual, feel free to bend the rules a little and maybe list both full names of the couple on the envelope. Don’t forget how details like calligraphy or printed typefaces play a major role in the overall feel of your invitations as well.

Think of the way you address your invites as the first impression of your event, a tease if you will, building anticipation for what’s inside and what’s to come!

You can flip through the Courtney Winet Designs Mailing lookbook here for more tips and ideas regarding how to address your invitations. Or send us your questions—we’ll do our best to help!

Welcome to the new gossip column! We haven’t been motivated to keep up with blogging, so we thought we’d spill some tea instead. Nothing quite as hot as Oprah’s recent royal interview, but rather we thought we’d let you all in on something we’ve recently realized: it's scary to put a price tag on your own work. It’s scary because you put yourself out there for someone to say, “That seems expensive.” Which can translate internally as self-doubt creeps up to,  “Is she worth it?”

So let’s talk specifically about worth when it comes to Branding. People are always going to (and should!) ask if they’re getting a good value. What we’ve come to learn is the reason most clients don’t know is because there is a huge price spread in what graphic designers will charge. There’s a reason the phrase “you get what you pay for'' is still making the rounds. So let’s shed some light on all that behind-the-scenes work CWD does (and hate to break it to you, not every designer does) to make yours a successful brand.

• That initial meeting: the one where we either sit down together or discuss over the phone everything you love about, despise and hope for your business? That’s us taking the time to make sure we understand your needs and wants, getting as much history on your brand as possible, to give you the best possible final product.

• Check out the competition: We’ll spend hours researching and conceptualizing. This one is so important not only helping your brand stand apart from the rest, but helping you avoid headaches and hassle when that cheaper logo ends up being plagiarized copy or obvious and boring.

• Versions and files galore: okay maybe not galore, but your logo should be finalized and packaged in a variety of file types and colors. We’ll set you up with a logo for virtually any application, sometimes that even means for virtual spaces and applications.

• Are you satisfied: We are working towards your satisfaction, not the speed at which we can move away from this project and onto the next. Do you want to see a different color? Or maybe you just found something new that has to be part of the mood board? We have multiple revisions built in to allow for these ideas. But ultimately, we want you to be happy! Because the longer you use that logo, the longer the work is out there and hopefully you’re happy to make a referral! That means the world to small-business owners like Courtney, and worth the little things to get your job done right.

Designer and author Nela Dunato has a brilliant article dedicated to this topic: Logo Pricing Difference. We think her analogies really hit home. But we’ll leave you with this line, “How can the same thing (a logo) cost $5 and $5 million? That’s the point—it’s not the same thing.” CWD never just does the same thing as everyone else, and that’s why you’re sure to get great value out of your Branding investment with Courtney Winet Design.

I recently had the pleasure of working alongside some of the most amazing people on a styled shoot at a.casa, hosted by my faves, a.companie. Here’s a look at the hard work that was put into this amazing shoot!

hair & makeup - Emily Miller Team @midtownmakeupandhair @emilymillerteam

videography - Switzer @switzerfilm

marketing & shoot collaboration - Fresh @exp_fresh

clothing - May's Place @maysplace_stl

stationery - Courtney Winet Design @courtneywinetdesign

planning & design  - a.companie @a.companie_events

venue - a.casa @a.casastl

florals - Snapdragon Studio @snapdragonstudiostl

catering & cake - Seed Sprout Spoon @seedsproutspoon

model - Janese Watson @janese.watson

model - Nolan Manning @nolanrmanning

I’m so excited to partner with The Women’s Creative for their first ever virtual happy hour - Viva La Quarentina! We’re mixing some drinks, putting on our festive best and hopping on a zoom call! Join in on the fun 05.05.20 anytime between 5:00-7:00pm CST. We’ve rounded up a few ideas to get the party started so please read on!

First things first, a cinco de mayo isn’t complete without the perfect festive cocktail (or mocktail)! In my past life, you would have found me slingin’ drinks working my way through college. I’m still known to enjoy a cocktail or two, so I threw together a few recipes for everyone to try.

You can download the drink recipe cards here.

A celebration without classic latin beats shouldn’t be called a celebration in my books. Check out this fire spotify playlist here.

Is your day complete if you haven’t sent or received a silly meme!? Here’s a few we call our “Quarentina Quips.”

Download them here and share away! Be sure to tag @courtneywinetdesign and @thewomenscreative!

You’ve probably been on A LOT of zoom calls lately. Who wants to see something other than their living room or office wall!? ME and you should too. Make your zoom calls more exciting by adding in an on-theme background.

Don’t mind me, I’m just “zooming” the streets of Mexico. Check out our other views here.

Now here’s where the real fun starts. Everyone’s favorite life and business coach, Your Coach Meg, will be leading us through a little trivia that we like to call “Cinco de Thinko.” No need to brush up on Mexico’s History, just get your margarita ready and your party pants on!

We hope to see you on the zoom call! Here’s a link to that too! Cheers to seeing some friendly faces and having a good time! Adios!

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Purdy while visiting Palm Springs, California. Our paths crossed while browsing vintage jewelry at the Palm Springs Vintage Market where we were both eyeing the same tiger bauble (which is now in his coveted collection). We maybe said a few words to each other but both moved on with our days. Later that evening our paths crossed again while both wearing sequin jackets and knew that we had to chat!

Michael and I became fast friends and started working together on various events over the past year. He recently made his love for throwing a good party his full time business. I am so happy that I was able to help Michael on his branding for his new business, Purdy Party.

Here’s a quick look at some of the events we have worked on together. First up, an opulent 30th birthday party in Napa Valley:

Here’s a sneak peek at something fun we recently worked on and can’t wait to share more!

Even though we’re all stuck at home, who doesn’t love a good party!? A few of my friends and I threw a socially distanced “quarentino italiano” and it was a HIT! Grab your wine, pasta and pals and get ready to zoom away to Italy! Here’s what we did!

Step 1: Make a FIRE charcuterie board!

Step 2: Get the pre-dinner drinks flowing. Don’t skimp on this step! We sprung for the always classic, Aperol Spritz.

*We took the not skimping part very serious! Get FANCY for yourself…add blood oranges, cocktail umbrellas and make sure you get out any and all themed-dishes.

Step 3: Don’t forget to include your furry friends! (Charli loves a good meatball!)

Step 5: You guessed it…make sure to dress on theme! I went with a flowing red skirt, which is perfect for an Italian evening stroll.

Step 6: SET THAT TABLE. Get out your Grandma’s vintage dishes, pour the red wine and put the garlic bread in the oven (It has to be the tin foil kind!).

Step 7: Make sure you’re all set up for the perfect zoom call. Change the background to something a bit more Italian, put on your beret and you’re good to go.

Step 8: If you’re like me, after enjoying a few aperol spritzes and several glasses of red wine, you’re going to want to change again! Slip into something to round out the evening that screams “I’m Italian!” I went for a more “guidette” look and do not regret it.

OKAY! You’re all set to plan your socially distanced party! Go ahead and invite your friends with the free downloadable instagram templates below. Make sure to get the ZOOM backgrounds too - no party is complete without! I would love to see how your party turns out so be sure to tag @courtneywinetdesign on instagram. Ciao!

Download these files:

Quarentino Italiano Instagram post.

Quarention Italiano Instagram Story Template | Version 2

ZOOM Backgrounds (a must!)

”Quarentino Italiano” Spotify Playlist

I’ve encouraged my friends and followers to #sendsomelove via snail mail. If you email me your address, I will write you a note and send you a piece of stationery to send to a loved one.

Put your pen to paper and let’s get through this together! xoxo

I recently teamed up with a group of extremely talented St. Louis women for a “Collaboration Celebration.” Hillary J Events, aka the hostess with the mostess, brought us all together for this wonderful day. Yes, there was lots of champagne, desserts and girl talk, but the best thing about the day was all the fabulous, new friends I made - and each one of them truly is a bada$$ boss babe. Here’s a look at what we were up to!

The invitation consisted of three die cut circles - the top featured lashes and lips printed on vellum. It was sealed in a cellophane envelope filled with confetti.

No flat-lay is complete without grabbing some baubles from my jewelry stash.

The back of the invitation featured a fun blue cheetah print which was a motif that was woven throughout the event.

Here I am sipping champagne, feeling footloose and fancy free.

The table setup was gorgeous! So many fun colors.

Menus and place-cards sat atop gorgeous vintage dishes provided by Nadine & Mina.

The place-cards were die cut circles, folded in half to stand upright.

A ‘Sip & Scheme’ bar menu and a pull tab sign with ways to ‘treat yo’self’ sat atop the cocktail tables.

Of course you CAN sit with us!

My pal Hillary was the #bossbabe that made this day happen. A big cheers to her! I also met my new friends, Honey Door Co; and I just adore them.

The day was not complete without the ladies from The Women’s Creative and my fave gal pal, Daily Disco.

Here’s the bright & colorful, super talented group of women that made this day happen. Cheers to this collaboration celebration!

#collaborationcelebrationSTL Vendor Credits:
Planning/Host: @hillaryjevents
Photographer/Host: @emilybroadbentphotography
Venue: @lumen_events
Wardrobe Styling: @paperdollsboutiquestl @daily_disco @ninadangelo_
Florals: @snapdragonstudiostl
HAMU: @elizabethwolfmua
Stationery: @courtneywinetdesign
Accessories/Staging: @honeydoorco @heleneestes
Party Rentals: @eyecandyrentals @nadineandmina
Catering: @sloanemargaret @23cityblockscatering
Small Business Collective: @thewomenscreative @yourcoachmeg
Linens: @bbjlinen