Li Ward photographer of pets and weddings. Fat Orange Cat Studio is a fresh and candid boutique photography service in Boston, Massachusetts.

Now that the 2011 season is officially over, I thought I’d share a little behind-the-scenes of sorts – my DVD cases! I include high-resolution images in my photography service. The dvd covers are from most of the weddings I’ve done this year. Several are not included as some couples wished to remain private, and there are a couple of early ones I am just realizing I never got around to blogging, erps. I’ll get to them! Anyway as you can see I tend to be a little more traditional with the photo cover, keeping to a simple, classic portrait of the handsome new couple. The back is usually some detail from the wedding. Around wedding #3 I started to include calligraphed names of the bride & groom on the spine, but sometimes I’m not able to fit it into my workflow for reason or another…such as August and September when time seemed to be so scarce and I just needed to get things ordered. Everyone did end up receiving a stamp from the calligraphy though (except for Anny and Caitlin, ack!).

See some cases in action here.

I hope everyone had a wonderful first holiday as a married couple and thank you for choosing me to be your photographer! It has been an amazing honor, and an amazing year.

My friends at Pinhole Press make wonderful, customized paper goods out of your photographs, like the ones below from this season’s weddings. I had these made as gifts for my clients, and couldn’t help but include some calligraphy to make it even more personalized. It meant me scanning in the lettering, opening Photoshop, pasting in the image of the lettering with the wedding photo I wanted to use, saving it, uploading it to Pinhole…Just so you know, I added about 4 extra steps for myself! The calligraphy on Bill & Maggie’s notepad is actually a photograph off their wedding invitation, so that was nice reuse :). The step of uploading your images to Pinhole is all you need to worry about. Seriously no-fuss.

See for yourself how easy it is to get your own customized paper goods. Pinhole Press is having a 1-day holiday sale right now! So get your favorite wedding, travel, baby image files out of your hard drive and onto calendars, wine labels, and journals, to name a few. Enter code “holidaykickoff” and receive 33% off your entire order until Nov 4, 2011 9am EST.

PS I just saw this post on their Pinhole Pro Community site: how their products are made. A really great behind-the-scenes!

I calligraph my wedding couple’s names, scan them, and use the image on the spine of their DVD covers, photo boxes, press albums, for invitations and save-the-dates…I also make rubber stamps out of them and imprint their names on the DVD surface (the printable kinds only) and envelopes. Then I include the stamps themselves in the packaging. For each client this whole hand-lettering rigmarole adds several hours to my workflow, but it makes my final package cohesive and personal. I love small hand-made touches when I see them, so I can’t help but to include them when I can!

I am so happy to officially unveil a project that’s been in the works for some time now. It is a collaboration between Fat Orange Cat Studio and Parrott Design Studio, and so I’m calling it The Orange Parrott Collection. The Orange Parrott Collection is a set of hand-lettered Save the Date cards, written by yours truly and letterpress printed by the very talented Sarah. These cards are now available to those who book me for their wedding photography services…and who may also be paper fans looking for something lovingly hand-made at an affordable price as well!

There will be 10 colors to choose from, as well as a set of icons to incorporate into the design. For the pet lover there are kitties and doggies in love! Those are my favorite.

I am so excited about being able to offer these Save the Date cards. I was determined beyond anything to incorporate calligraphy into my wedding photography packages…the hard part was to do it in a way that was valuable, affordable, and made sense in the whole time line of wedding planning. Photography is a service that’s usually booked early in the process when couples know two core things: where the wedding will be held, and when.

Well, the same is true for Save the Dates! No need to know anything beyond the where and the when. Just pick a color, an icon if you wish, and you’re on your way to receiving a bundle of simple but beautifully crafted cards that celebrate the art of letterpress and hand-lettering!

The Orange Parrott Collection will be offered exclusively to clients who book me for wedding photography services. So to potential clients and paper lovers out there, feel free to inquire more about the Collection. We would love to create Save the Dates for your wedding. And then photograph it! :)

Behind the Scenes at the product photo shoot:

How to incorporate a big fat godzilla cat into the Collection.

Fat Orange Cat Studio’s first Open House is this Thursday, March 3 2011, at Audrey’s pet supplies and services on Newbury Street. After months of debate whether I should have a business spin-off for just wedding photography, I have decided to keep everything under one roof. So, I am officially rebranding myself as a “pet-and-wedding photographer,” which in my mind is very different than being a “pet photographer…and a wedding photographer” or vice versa. The two need not be mutually exclusive! It doesn’t matter whether I photograph your pet, or whether I photograph your wedding. At the end of the day we all have one thing in common – we love our best friends!

So to celebrate, I am hosting an Open House with Audrey’s on Newbury Street, Boston MA. Mark your calendars for March 3, from 6 to 8pm. There will be things to eat and drink, two and four-legged friends to meet, photographs to browse through, wedding invitations to peruse, and finger crossed that it will fit, a photo booth.

There will also prizes to raffle away! All proceeds will be donated to the Animal Rescue League of Boston.

PRIZES INCLUDE:

* An Audrey’s GIFT CERTIFICATE

* A PET SESSION of your beloved dog or kitty.

* An ENGAGEMENT SESSION with you and your betrothed.

* WEDDING COORDINATION services by Jennifer Cox of Esq. Events

* $100 GRETTACOLE gift certificate

* $100 towards Boston vet care at the Animal Rescue League Veterinary Services (plus more!)

* A beautiful 10×10 hand-bound HEIRLOOM ALBUM, with a luxe Japanese book cloth cover (upon booking).

* FLORAL CENTERPIECE by Petalena (upon booking)

Photos by Lisa Rigby Photography

* Suite of LETTERPRESS WEDDING INVITATIONS by Parrott Design Studio, from their *new* collection of wedding invitations.

AND…

Also making its debut at the Open House will be a couple of projects that have been brewing between Fat Orange Cat & Parrott Design Studio for quite a few months.

Here is a little sneak peek of my calligraphy work for PDS’s new suite of invitations…

…and hot off the {letter}press, a live sneak peek of PDS’s letterpress machine at work turning my calligraphy into a set of Save the Date cards, which will be offered exclusively to clients who book my wedding photography services!

See all these products, and much more, at the Open House next week. RSVP here and we’re looking forward to seeing you there!