Brenna Catalano Design Studio

Brenna made our invitations and they are the best and most beautiful invitations I have ever seen in my life! Everyone loves them and I couldn’t be more proud to send them out. After our guests tell us «congratulations,» their next comment to us is about how they LOVE the invitations!
Our invitations were a little complicated because we’re having three different events on three different days to accommodate all of our friends and family. Some people are being invited to just one event, two, or all three! Brenna was able to design three different versions and even gave us lists and addressed envelopes. All we had to do was mark the RSVP cards according to the number of guests or plus ones.
We met with Brenna once in Salinas where she printed ideas from my Pinterest page and showed us possible designs. We got to choose colors and papers. Brenna was also eager to help us coordinate the designs, paper, and ribbons of the invitations to the table numbers and programs at the wedding.
Brenna was easily accessible via email and asked us many questions to make sure that everything was just right. In addition, she was candid about some of my high-​flown ideas that might not come to fruition — at least not within our budget.
Speaking of budget, the invitations were $ 12 for the fancy ones (multiple components, shimmery paper, ribbon, and a Swarovski Crystal) and $ 6 for the others. All of them were FedExed to us and opening it was like getting Cinderella’s glass slipper (see pictures).
When I was small I *knew* about wedding invitations. They were addressed with fancy writing and had an envelope within an envelope. It was thick and heavy. They were written in formal verbiage and they had many inserts and a stamped RSVP card. I knew that it was the hallmark of a fancy event. Since then, wedding invitations have gotten more commercial and cheaper. Brenna Catalano Design Studio hearkens back to the time of grandeur and excitement. Our invitations made by Brenna are valuable heirlooms deserving of framing.

Brenna was amazing!
I really can’t say enough great things about working with Brenna. I was referred to her by my also amazing wedding planner — Mandi Nack of A Sparkling Event. I had, with assistance from a family friend, done my own save the dates. They turned out OK — I did vista printed postcards with printstagram save the date stickers attached to the back. Unfortunately, though, the person I was working with didn’t help me proof and had some minor mistakes on the prints (apparently no one else noticed July had 31 days instead of 31… except my guests who received the cards!). So irritating!
After going back to my planner and asking her if she had any advice, she gave me some other DIY options and then recommended Brenna. Since my wedding was happening in California in the middle of my husband’s and my move from Guam to South Carolina, working with a professional was very appealing!
My mom and Mandi met with Brenna while I was still on Guam and had very positive reports back so Brenna and I started the process of long distance invitation design.
When I was able to return to California for my hands-​on wedding prep, I got my chance to meet her in person. In fact, I sat down with her twice in her office — once she was even kind enough to come in on a Sunday to keep us on schedule and accommodate a short trip I had planned with my family — to look over paper samples and choose our final layout and design.
She was so flexible and helpful through the whole process! Also it was abundantly clear from start to finish that she wanted us to have the invites that were perfect for us and our event, not just something that was pretty or that she liked for herself. Everything is tailor made to suit your needs and event. She will even design a custom logo for you if you’d like — for us it was an adorable panda bear and polar bear design to call back to my husband and my pet names for each other. They were so cute I decided to incorporate them into every part of the wedding — from the favors to our toasting flutes and even our cake topper!
I can’t tell you how many compliments I received prior to the wedding on our invitations, many stating that they reflected a perfect balance of elegance and fun which was exactly the feeling I was hoping for. Our programs, place cards, and table numbers were also absolutely perfect! And last but certainly not least she even designed Thank You cards for us that incorporated our little logo!
It’s truly rare for me to be able to justify giving anything a full 5 stars on Unilocal but Brenna deserves every single one of them and more! She truly listens, she’s very knowledgeable about paper product wedding etiquette, her designs are absolutely wonderful and truly tailor made for your specific event.

«This is the PRETTIEST and CLASSIEST invite I’ve ever seen!» This was a typical comment from family and friends about our wedding invitations. Our wedding was in July 2010 and recently, Brenna posted a pic of their lovely new office in Salinas on Facebook and I just realized I have not written a review for her. This is wayyyyy overdue!
I was in a bridezilla mood one night because I’d seen so many wedding invitations and none of them were good enough. So I opened my wedding box, pulled out every single flyer that I got from Bridal Faires, and when I thought hope was lost and I was about to pull my hair out, I finally came up with Brenna’s card. I thought, hmmm…“elegant custom wedding invitations”??? YES!!! I want that!!!
So after a few emails we agreed to meet at a Starbucks. I was really impressed with all the samples she brought with her and it was a relief it was something we could afford. Plus, with Brenna’s easy-​going and amiable personality I knew she was someone I wanted to work with.
We exchanged ideas through email. My husband and I told her what we wanted and she executed our ideas perfectly, she’d obviously done this before! I was delighted when she delivered our invites to my work in a pretty box. She showed me the final draft in an email so I knew what they would look like, but when I had the actual invites in my hand, my tears of joy wouldn’t stop rolling down my face. Sophisticated and elegant indeed. We were so happy with the invitations that we had her do our table cards and name cards to match.
Thank you, Brenna! My husband loves all your work too!

AWESOME WEDDING INVITATIONS!
I was referred to Brenna Catalano Design Studio by another bride for my wedding paper items. She was amazing and affordable. At our initial meeting she brought lots of samples and spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what I liked and the style I wanted for my stationery. Initially I wanted letterpress but as we went over prices I decided to not go that route. Although Brenna’s letterpress prices were better than other quotes I received, I needed multiple paper items printed for the wedding and needed to be cost-​conscious.
We decided to print the save-​the-​dates first and discussed concepts and options. Brenna sent me a draft and we emailed back and forth editing design and content. She has a really good sense of etiquette and what the difference is between proper wording and casual wording. As soon as I approved a final draft, it went to print. The save-​the-​dates came out wonderful and we moved on to designing the invitations which followed the same process.
The invitations were definitely more elaborate and detailed. They came out AMAZING! Everyone told me how beautiful and classy they were. I know the invitations got everyone excited for the wedding and people knew it was going to be something special.
I also used Brenna for programs, seat cards, large seating chart, table numbers, buffet menu, thank you cards and digital calligraphy. All turned out terrific. With each item she made sure that I got what I had envisioned.
I was not a total bridezilla but I was definitely slightly neurotic and a little high maintenance. Brenna was always patient and committed to making sure I was happy with the final product. Everything she did was timely and she was always very responsive whenever I contacted her. Budget was of course a concern– she respected that and gave me great quality and value.
I plan on having Brenna do personal stationary for me and would not hesitate to refer someone to her in the future.