There’s one thing we can say for sure: Sarah Donovan’s invitations and cards are anything but “cookie-cutter.”

So many brides opt to visit a large stationer and flip through book after book of conventional, mass-produced invitations. And that’s fine if it works for you; many of them are beautiful and highly functional. But the people who create such products don’t really know you, or the ideas that are floating around in your head.

And here’s the cool thing about collaborating with someone who does custom work:

They listen.

If you ask us, Sarah goes way beyond the call of duty in her listening.

She not only listens for themes as she’s talking with a couple about their wedding, she weaves those themes together and comes up with a generous palette of ideas that hone in on the essence of the bride and groom. For example, one bride – who wanted a renaissance-themed wedding – sent her photos of the lace on her wedding dress, an antique cameo brooch and several color schemes and textures she had considered. Sarah hand drew some concepts and hit the proverbial bulls-eye (see invitation below.) Sarah may visit your venue, take some pictures or even do some original illustrations. For a peacock inspired invitation she painstakingly painted the artwork from actual photographs of peacocks!

Sarah has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design. After college she went job hunting and quickly learned that there weren’t many job descriptions that matched her unique and highly personalized approach to enterprise. So she started her own company and the Stationery Bakery was born.

Other things you should know about Sarah: She teaches at the Cordovan Art School. She’s a self-professed “paper nerd” who’s like a kid in a candy store when sifting through fine and specialty papers (she even hopes to make her own papers someday!) And she offers eco-friendly options for those who want to go easy on the environment. Oh (perhaps most importantly) she’s married to Andrew, who is her biggest supporter and fan (they have one canine child and another one on the way.) When asked what sets her apart from the rest, Sarah says, “I try to offer something that they’re not going to get anywhere else.”

Maybe that’s why she named her business the Stationery Bakery: much like the difference between made-to-order cuisine and fast food, she’s not going to prepare it until she knows what you want. Once she’s listened to your dreams and pulled together the raw materials to make them come true, she’ll whip up a custom recipe and give it to you fresh out of the oven.

Seriously. We love the peacock pieces. And Sarah did the “grapevine” drawings by hand for a bride who wanted an Italian vineyard theme.

What a crazy cool idea! 

We know these aren’t wedding related but had to include shots of her christmas card set….they are so stinking cute!