Today I have one of my favorite wedding vendors to share with you…Milk & Ice Cream! This is a new up and coming vendor and they produce the most beautiful and modern wedding invitations and all things paper! I was able to chat with Milk & Ice Cream’s owner Amy Kirby and find out a little more about her business.
Amy is a New York City Graphic Designer originating from Colorado. Growing up, she immediately knew she wanted to work in advertising when ripping print ads out of magazines became a habit no matter where she was. Amy says, “There is something about advertising that I am addicted too, yet I have a true weakness for stationary and printed goods. Picking out the perfect greeting card was always a daunting task for me. I would read fifty cards at the store while studying all the designs before deciding. I could never find the perfect card, now I design my own.” Her business Milk & Ice Cream Design was established when she realized that all her girlfriends were getting married. They all wanted unique wedding invitations not the standard wedding template pieces that everyone was ordering. So she began designing their custom wedding sets from scratch making sure the each couple’s style was present in all the pieces. “I didn’t want two sets to look the same. The wedding invitation is the first piece the guest will see, and it’s important. The invitation sets the whole stage for the couple’s wedding look & feel.” The business is named Milk & Ice Cream because both milk and ice cream are Amy’s two favorite things that she can’t live without, much like great design. “There is truly nothing else like the printed piece these days.”
As Milk & Ice Cream brides become moms, the business is now experiencing a baby boom! Amy has been keeping busy on all sorts of baby designs from shower invitations to announcements, soon baby birthday party invites should be rolling in! I was actually lucky enough to have her design two Baby Shower invites for me as well as Parker’s Birth Announcement! Amy is actually getting married herself this year, to another designer! We are honored to be shooting hers and Chris’ wedding and cannot wait to see the paper goods she comes up with!
“My goal is always to design pieces that reflect people’s personal stye. I design pieces that I am proud of that I know my clients will love, at the end of the day it’s always a collaboration. I am really excited for 2012, Milk & Ice Cream has a bunch of great new work coming up this year, which also includes designing for my own wedding.” Take a minute to “Like” Milk & Ice Cream’s Facebook page to see all of Amy’s new creative designs.
Last time Amy was in Colorado I shot some headshots of her for her business. Meet Amy of Milk & Ice Cream Design! Below are some samples of her pieces and I had her give us the low down on each one.
A vintage doily invitation set with country charm for a lake wedding in West Virginia.
The wedding was outside by a lake so I created fans to keep guests cool. The reception was decorated with mason jars, so I used that antique look on the fans and the place cards which were hung by clothes pins. I also created a Welcome Letter Template that the Bride and Groom could use to send a welcome letter to their guests. Overall, I wanted the vintage down home feel to be reflected throughout all the pieces.
This set is travel themed, as the Bride and Groom Julie and Tucker, met abroad in Spain. They love to travel together so I wanted to illustrate that in the set. They are both from the Chicago area and that is where their wedding took place. This invite has a kraft outer envelope sealed with a monogram return address sticker with an inside set. A red pocket folder encloses the set.
I designed the monogram sticker to play homage to the couple’s Chicago roots. The couple had a traditional Catholic Ceremony with a formal Ceremony Program. The wedding colors were wine burgundy and champagne. I tailored the Program and Place Cards to match the reception.
This set was inspired by the bride’s favorite colors and flower…the sunflower. This set has five pieces and all pieces were held in a black folder. A bright yellow Monogram Sticker closed the folder.
I had a lot of fun designing the Gross ceremony pieces. Since the wedding was outdoors in Arizona, the bride wanted to ensure her guests kept cool during the ceremony with a hand fan “to have & to hold”.
I designed a magnum wine label for guests to sign the bottle as a wedding day keepsake. Sunflower Menu Cards were also created for the reception. The sunflower theme and look was carried across all the pieces.
The illustration of their beloved dog, Myra, was made for their Favor Card and I made a rubber stamp of Myra that was later used to stamp the Thank You Card envelopes.
Cari and Mike were married during the Summer in a castle in Colorado. The theme of their set was bright floral royalty. Cari also really loves pretzels, so I made sure to incorporate “pretzel flowers” in her pieces.
Cari and Mike actually brewed their own beer for their wedding, so I created a fun crown monogram for their two custom beer labels, and the guests really enjoyed the labels and of course the beer!
The Place Cards were printed on seed paper as a guest favor and propped up by corks.
I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in this Inspiration Shoot with a bunch of great vendors! I designed each of my pieces to have a subtle glitz and a sense of glam in jewel tones. The paper stock had a metallic sheen finish to add a little sparkle. The jewel pattern is my favorite part. The pattern actually lines up when all three invitation pieces are placed in the tri-fold pocket folder and a foil gold belly band keeps it all sealed.
The diamond shaped Place Cards were hung by jeweled knobs.
I also created a custom Menu with swanky and posh food. I made Place Cards for the tables with the names being different precious stones.
I saw this idea as a paper doll cut-out, but I wanted to design this piece to illustrate each of my bridesmaids by their hair style while asking them a very important question to be in my wedding party. I hope to design many more of these for future brides with different dress colors and hair styles!
(I love this idea and wish I had done this for my own wedding!)
Catherine and Chris’ Save the Date Card was designed with a Vegas theme for their Las Vegas destination wedding. I wanted to highlight how adorable their engagement photos were while staying within the Vegas bright lights and gaming look.
(David and I actually shot Chris and Catherine’s engagement photos!)
Kristin and Guido had an Italian Wedding in Marsala, Sicily. She wanted a Save the Date luggage tag to send to those who would be traveling near and far to their wedding celebration. I wanted the design to be old-world like and vintage.
(David and I had the amazing opportunity to go to Italy and shoot this wedding! These luggage tags fit the wedding perfectly!)
Valerie and Brandon’s wedding colors are navy and teal green. For their Save the Date I didn’t want the type to distract from the beautiful photo that Colby took so I kept the type on the sides to allow the photo to be the center of attention. The couple is also really into biking, so a bike had to make a small appearance on the invite.
Here is the invitation from Colby’s California Nautical themed baby shower. I captured the theme of the shower with this Sea Inspired piece. I spelled out “Baby Boy” with the nautical flags.
I also designed the Baby Shower Invitation for Colby’s Colorado “CU Buff” themed shower. Her and I both have CU pride in our hearts, so I was very excited to design a CU inspired shower invite. I kept the look elegant, yet in keeping with the CU colors to welcome the new baby Buff.
Little Owl Baby Shower Invite: this was designed for an expectant mother who loves Owls and wasn’t keen on pastels so I kept the color palette bold.
This Baby Announcement was designed for Sarah who is Swedish, so I used the Swedish flag and had a blank space for a photo. So as soon as the baby was born Sarah added a photo.
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