Business Opportunities Weblog

September 5, 2008 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

Seattle Times:

Like many brides and bridegrooms, Katie Mercurio and Jeremy Geddis had specific ideas about their wedding.

No pink. Lots of lavender. Traditional Seattle food and ingredients.

And rock-poster invitations.

For that, they turned to Seattle-based designer Matt Terich, who makes wedding-poster invitations, on top of his poster work for bands and his day job as a user-interface designer for a startup company.

Other designers and printers shy away from the wedding business, Terich said, because emotions can run high and personal tastes may be tricky to satisfy.

Fortunately, Terich found the majority of his clients to be more easygoing than he’d expected.

Terich got the idea for his quirky side business in 2005, at a poster convention. A couple approached him, wanting to know if he’d be interested in making their invitations. The designer agreed. He’s gone on to make eight or nine posters for weddings, and that’s without promoting the side business.

The invitations are more like event posters than traditional wedding invitations, describing the date and location of the wedding as if it were a long-anticipated concert. The posters can come in a variety of sizes, up to 19 by 25 inches, depending on the client’s need, Terich said.

So far, the most difficult part of the job has been explaining to people why they can’t just buy one poster (with the cost of printing and supplies, clients must buy a minimum of 50), but Terich loves making wedding posters because the clients are often more enthusiastic than musicians.

Photo by Matt Terich.

In Creativity, Niche, Weddings | 2 Comments