When Rachel reached out to me in January to design an invitation for Dan's and her joint 40th & 50th birthdays, she wanted something special that would inspire people to travel to New York from all over the world to celebrate this occasion with them, turning "The Decades Party" they had thrown for their 30th & 40th years earlier into something of a tradition.

They had booked the new rooftop restaurant Nubeluz by José Andrés at The Ritz Carlton NoMad in New York City, and were planning sunset cocktails, stylish passed nibbles, and dancing the night away in some serious platform heels. I immediately envisioned blocks of ritzy and stylized typography reminiscent of the inimitable New York City skyline...and we played around with several versions of the wording that would allow us to highlight the letters LET'S PARTY, sparsely scattered around the page in gold foil.

She didn't want white paper - "I don't want it to look like a wedding invite!" I remember her insisting...so we chose a light warm grey and created a dramatic folded piece that would unfold and introduce both scale and surprise.

Little did either of us (or any of their 100 guests) know that the REAL surprise was going to be Dan getting down on one knee to propose - after seventeen years together! And as if that weren't enough, then having an officiant on hand to marry them right there on the spot. You gotta love both the romance and the pragmatism. When 50 of your 100 guests live on other continents, how often can you expect you'll have the treasure of having them all together, under (or on) one roof!

Rachel sweetly credits the invitation for having inspired so many people to make the trip, and while I think it may be a little too much credit - it is surely the greatest compliment and story of my last decade. Isn't it funny that I designed ONE single invite this year NOT for a wedding...that ended up, actually, being for a wedding.

From Birthday Girl, to Bride, to Wife, all in one night at the Ritz.

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