Sitting on my desk is a Dove Dark Chocolate wrapper from two years ago and its message, “there’s no excuse not to dream”, has been staring me in the face every day since I first unwrapped that delicious little package. I’m not a fan of this terminology but I’ve always been a “creative type”. Although I had been working in marketing for two years at that point I still found that I needed an outlet to express myself creatively – I have a very different style than they very traditional organization I work for. So I started down the path of designing custom wedding invitations – a perfect outlet for me since I LOVE weddings. Seriously…a delicious cake, a big party, and an excuse to shop for months for the “perfect dress”? What’s not to like?

How it all started

I had been designing personalized note cards for friends and family as gifts for years.  A note pad here, monogrammed stationery there, the occasional hand-made holiday card.  But the thought of designing wedding stationery didn’t really cross my mind until a few recently engaged friends of mine asked if I would be interested in designing their wedding invitations.  Having a background in graphic design and a love of weddings (and of course my friends) I decided to take a stab at it – and I actually really loved it! I really enjoyed getting to know my friends better and designing something that was truly unique and a true representation of each couple.  Word of mouth was fantastic and I started getting requests from people I hadn’t even met before! Strangers were asking me to design their wedding invitations! I was completely stunned.

My inspiration

I had been following fellow stationery designer turned branding expert Emily Ley for a while and was incredibly inspired by her ability to put her personality and style into her custom wedding invitations. I reached out to her in October of 2010 for a little advice on how to take my business to the next level.  Emily asked me what should have been a very simple question: How did I feel about my brand? Ummm…what?

The truth was I had no connection to my brand, Pink Snail Stationery.  It was just something I came up with that I thought would be “catchy”.  Having a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s in communication I knew this was a fatal error.  Branding is so important. You need to be 100%, totally in love with your brand and I wasn’t.  So when Emily announced she was teaming up with Lara Casey to launch Making Brands Happen I knew it was something I had to be a part of.

Slowly but surely

Working with Lara and Emily was one of the most inspiring and challenging experiences of my entire life. They helped me to fully explore who I am and turn that into a business (and my first ever Wedding Collection) I was pumped about! The process wasn’t easy and there were a few breakdowns along the way but as I began to see Dear LC take shape I found myself with a renewed sense of confidence in myself and my business!

I can’t really say that I knew who Lynn Caputo was before my conversations with Emily and Lara.  Just one conversation with Lara helped me reveal things about myself I hadn’t discovered in 28 years of life!! I still can’t believe how well they were able to “peg” me.

They helped me to dig deeper into who I was and what I wanted my business to be. The result was a brand and a business that was truly, 100% me.

Understanding who I am and using that to build a brand that I’m truly in love with is one of my proudest accomplishments and there’s no way I wouldn’t have gotten here without the advice and guidance of Lara and Emily. So without further ado I’m pleased (and very proud) to share with you Dear LC!

Thank you to everyone who has helped me and supported me along the way! Your support and confidence in me is appreciated in ways you may never know. I’m excited to share Dear LC with all of you and even more excited to see where it goes!

LC