Today we’d like to introduce you to Shannon Ferguson.
Hi Shannon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m the owner of The Inviting Pear (www.theinvitingpear.com), a graphic design and stationery studio based in Austin, Texas founded in 2005. While planning my own wedding, I couldn’t find the right invitations and so as a graphic designer I created my own. My wedding venue’s coordinator loved my invitations so she started referring me. At that time, The Inviting Pear was born.
In 2015, I hired Arielle Vicaria as a graphic artist. She handles all of the custom watercolor illustrations and is crucial to the business. One of my best decisions as a small business owner was to hire someone who isn’t exactly like me but who has talents that enhance the business.
We both believe every design should be as unique and special as the client. We strive to listen to our clients and understand their personalities so that we can translate it into the perfect design piece. We love every aspect of the process—from the initial consultation to the design to the printing production. Not only is the design from scratch but our clients can feel good about how we realize the creation because we print locally. We think it’s important to support other small businesses in Austin.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We love our job and it is incredibly rewarding. We get to design and create every day with amazing clients, many of whom are planning their weddings. What’s more rewarding than helping happy couples!?
We’ve been in business for 17 years so we’ve been through many ups and downs. For instance, I went into labor early for both pregnancies with stays in the hospital and long recoveries. As a business owner, there’s no time to take a break. I learned that your competitors are your best friends. They will help you when you need it. This is especially important when you have hard deadlines (like weddings!). I’ve always believed that there’s enough work to go around.
Obviously, going through the pandemic has been one of the most difficult times in our business as most of our clients’ weddings were postponed that year. We learned to pivot. We turned our attention to helping rebrand small businesses with a refreshed logo, business cards, etc. We also learned the importance of contracts.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are graphic designers specializing in unique, completely custom event invitations and stationery. For weddings, we meet with couples to discuss their colors, style, theme, design preferences, etc. – then we work with them to create a custom, one-of-a-kind invitation set which truly reflects their personality and individual style. No more having to choose a generic, mass-produced invitation out of a book. We can also create a complete wedding package, carrying the style and theme of the invitation throughout all the wedding stationery – ceremony programs, menus, place cards, favors, thank you cards, acrylic signage, watercolor pet and venue illustrations, watercolor maps, monogram, etc.
We also provide corporate graphic design services including logos, business cards, stationery and more.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My favorite childhood memory is traveling to Wisconsin at Christmas time to visit my grandparents. We would sled and snowmobile and my grandma would always have hot chocolate waiting for us when we returned. We’d sit around the kitchen table and chat and laugh for hours. And then we’d go back outside to play, freeze and do it all over again!
Contact Info:
- Email: info@theinvitingpear.com
- Website: www.theinvitingpear.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_inviting_pear
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theinvitingpear
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/invitingpear
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/theinvitingpear
Image Credits
Headshot by The Crakes Invitation photos by Brittany Jean Photography
