july 2026
SLOWING DOWN and DESIGNING AHEAD
After a June that left barely a spare hour on the calendar, July feels like something of a gift: a slower, quieter stretch, and one I am admittedly in need of. There will be a fair amount of World Cup on in the background, some genuinely committed pool lounging, and the kind of open days that let a summer bucket list actually get checked off rather than just written down.
I'm looking forward to celebrating the Fourth with friends, a day in New York with a friend I've known since middle school, and a few unhurried beach days. No big trips this month, which, after the last several, might be exactly right.
In the studio, it's a different kind of busy. I'm deep in design mode for November and December weddings, and putting the finishing touches on a handful of late summer and early fall suites. Even in a slower month, there's always a season or two being designed in advance.
I love summer, and this year I'm trying to actually be in it, not just get through it.
featured post
Wedding invitation flat lays have become a fixture of the wedding gallery, but a beautiful photo and a thoughtful one aren't always the same thing. I asked several photographer friends what they wish more people knew before styling and shooting a suite, and their advice was too good not to share.
Pro Tip…
Letterpress and embossing all but disappear in flat, even light.
A soft, raking light across the suite is what reveals the impression, the shadow, the dimension of specialty printing. If your photographer is shooting straight on, ask them to try an angled light source instead. It changes everything.
SCHEDULE
July Checklist
Custom Invitations: Start the process now if you are getting married in January or February.
Semi-Custom Invitations: Order now if you are getting married in October or November.
Order Day-of Stationery: For August or September weddings, it is important to order programs, menus, place cards, and any other details now.
Pro Tip…
A beautiful invitation suite can speak for itself.
Resist styling with every pretty object within reach. A ribbon that's part of the suite, a bloom that echoes the florals: yes. Shoes and perfume bottles: no. The best flat lays have restraint, and every prop earns its place.
my current favorites
I built this playlist last summer for exactly one purpose: floating aimlessly with as little mental effort as possible. I gave it a refresh this year, and it has already logged more hours than I'd like to admit. If you need a soundtrack for doing absolutely nothing well, this one delivers.
Listening
The World Cup, until further notice
I'm making no apologies for how much television this is currently costing me. The moment the final whistle blows, it's straight into The Bear (season 5), which feels like the right palate cleanser: trading one kind of controlled chaos for another.
Watching
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
I'm a sucker for a Taylor Jenkins Reid book, and this one has been the perfect poolside companion: sweeping, emotional, and hard to put down in the way her books always are. If you want a beach read that still gives you something to sit with, this is it.
reading
My grandmother was the best baker I've ever known, and summers at her house meant raiding the cookie jar, pancakes with her homemade strawberry jam, and hide-and-seek through the strawberry fields, with plenty of strawberries eaten along the way. This cake was always the occasional treat, it’s the one my daughter requests for her birthday every single year. It is a complete cheater recipe - we thought it took Grammy hours to make (it’s so easy). Some traditions are worth keeping exactly as they are, and maybe with a little less confectioners sugar.
cooking
Here's to July: the slow mornings, the pool floats, the World Cup afternoons, and the quiet permission to do a little less for a while.
To the couples whose November and December invitations are taking shape right now, thank you for trusting me with the first chapter of your story.
To beach days, a dear old friend, a bucket list finally getting checked off, and the kind of slow that only follows a very full June.
July, I think we're ready for you.
Ready to bring
your wedding vision to life?
Let’s create something thoughtful, artful, and unmistakably you. Book a discovery call
and we’ll begin designing the kind of stationery that makes your guests say,
“This is so them!”