Ask The Experts: Custom Wedding Signs with Olivia Lane Designs

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Personalized decor—from monogrammed table cards to custom menu boards—is white hot this wedding season (thanks, Pinterest). For expert tips on incorporating custom signs into a wedding, we reached out to local DIY queens (and sisters) Michele, Christine, and Melyssa Kirn of Olivia Lane Designs, a Cincinnati studio and boutique that offers handcrafted items ranging from darling cake toppers and scripted “Mrs.” tees to hand-carved custom menus and chalkboard signs.

In mid-April, Olivia Lane plans to open a new storefront in Covington. They’ll share the space with their sister company Grainwell, which focuses on natural handcrafted house décor and items. Their new location will house a wood shop, design/office space, and a showroom and boutique for both Grainwell items and Olivia Lane’s non wedding-related items. We talked with the design trio about Bride-and-Groom chair signs, custom guest books, and monogramming just about anything.

CW: What have been the most popular ways to incorporate “signs” (cake toppers, monograms, his/her seats, etc.) into weddings lately? OL: For this past year, it seems the most popular has been anything monogrammed (especially cake toppers). We’ve monogrammed tumblers, wine/champagne glasses, wooden cutouts of initials, etched hangers, and apparel, for both wedding décor and bridal party gifts. Other popular items have been his-and-her seats, table numbers, chalkboard signs, custom menus, and table escort boards.

  His and hers chair signs, a simple and unique touch to any wedding day! #wedding #hisandhers #wooddesign   A photo posted by Olivia Lane Designs, LLC (@ol_designs) on

CW: Do you have a favorite way to include monograms in a wedding?
OL:
We personally like when monograms are subtle yet present. For example, on the Instagram signs, menus, guest books, and escort boards we make, we love to use the couple’s monogram (either one that we’ve created or that they’ve used on their save-the-dates or invitations) and incorporate that into the sign.

CW: Your cake toppers are one of your most popular items. How do you come up with your ideas for those?
OL:
A lot of our ideas for cake toppers stem from brides’ ideas. Last year, we had a bride who was having a Kentucky Derby-style wedding and wanted to subtly incorporate that theme. She had the idea of using a horseshoe as part of her cake topper, and we decided to make a two-piece monogram with the horseshoe attached to the back of the initials. Recently, we launched more generic cake toppers like “To the Moon and Back” and “Happily Ever After.” None of us are married yet, so a lot of our designs come from our own ideas and what we want in our future weddings!

We had so much fun making these items for the Carney wedding! #meetthecarneys #caketopper #wedding #menu #lovemyOL

A photo posted by Olivia Lane Designs, LLC (@ol_designs) on

CW: What’s one of the most unique ways you’ve seen your custom signs/decor used in a wedding?
OL:
The most creative request so far has been a Valentine’s Day wedding where the couple asked us to use sparkly red acrylic for the his-and-her chair signs and all table numbers. It was the first time we’d used colors for décor—most brides like more of a neutral palate like wood tones or gold or silver—so honestly we were really excited! We’ve also created several really neat custom guest books that are designed around the fact that the bride and groom are from different states or cities.

CW: What are your tips for making sure personalization doesn’t cross the line from “just right” to “excessive”?
OL:
We love the monogram trend, but also think monograms with a more classic or delicate font are the way to go. As far as gifts, with custom items you really can’t go wrong. A custom piece means that item was made specifically for that person, which definitely would make anyone feel good and special.

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