A Fashion Photographer's Intimate Taos Celebration

It's safe to say that most of our clients these days have already experienced firsthand the quality and creativity of our work before they hire us. They likely have received an invitation of ours from a family or friend and intimately know the thrill of receiving a commissioned Ladyfingers Letterpress invitation in the mail and want their guests to feel the same way.

A few years back, we had created pretty insane baby shower invitations for some close friends who are in the film industry in New York. A guest of that shower, Alex Bolotow, was dating the iconic fashion photographer Terry Richardson at the time, and when they became engaged, she called us up right away with tons of enthusiasm and ideas. 

Alex and Terry were planning an intimate gathering at a remote and serene southwestern desert location outside of Taos, New Mexico and wanted to give their guests a preview of the warmth, love and realness that they would soon be experiencing on their wedding day. A gift of excitement, a collection of beautiful things both close to their hearts and to the heart of the place they wed.

We worked together for ten months to create something that could hardly be deemed an invitation. A gift, maybe. More like a finely curated assemblage of meaningful things, like opening the lid of a close friend's favorite collection of personal objects. Alex and Terry wanted the suite to be as personal, tactile and location-centric as possible. The concept took on a three dimensional form, and the invitations were shipped in large hand-lettered kraft boxes that were carefully opened to uncover a sun-kissed wooden box overflowing with the invitation and supporting objects. 

We hand-lettered the invitation and hot foil stamped it in gold foil onto sturdy and semi translucent pieces of mica. Additional pieces such as their RSVP and Smudge Blessing Card were letterpress printed onto thick cotton paper. We worked with local artist Pipilo Road to design and manufacture handmade wooden boxes out of reclaimed materials. The lids were hand painted and screen printed. We went through several iterations where we sent videos of different prototypes back and forth before a design was settled and the boxes were fabricated.

Soft, tobacco deerskin leather pouches were carefully designed, stitched and hand burned by Three Arrows Leather out of Taos. Alex helped us source sage bundles, quartz rocks, vintage matches from New Mexican locations and palo santo sticks to complete the suite and allow their guests to conduct a Smudge Blessing of their own. All of these items, plus a hand drawn map of Taos and a celestial map of the night sky on the date of their wedding, were carefully tucked into the handmade wooden box which was designed to fit perfectly within an outer shipping box. 

We got to know Alex over the time we spent working together, and now consider her a close friend. In fact, she and Terry surprised us with an invitation to their wedding, which we happily accepted. We're still reeling from our time spent in Taos with this lovely couple and are happy to finally share these photos taken by Lauren Memarian with you!