The Story Behind Our Greeting Cards and Envelopes
I care a lot about greeting cards and envelopes.
Maybe more than most people should.
Because to me, they're an important part of the gift.
When I first started, I used standard greeting cards that matched the flowers.
They were fine.
Nothing wrong with them.
But as Luna & Ray slowly changed from selling flowers to selling gifts, I started feeling that those cards no longer fit the brand.
They looked too ordinary.
I wanted something that felt more special.
Something that matched the gifting experience I was trying to create.
So I designed a new card.
A thick cotton paper card with gold foil details.
It wasn't cheap.
But when I finally held it in my hands, I knew it was right.
The texture felt right.
The weight felt right.
Everything about it felt better.
After running gift shops for more than ten years, I've sold all kinds of greeting cards.
Hallmark cards.
Budget cards.
Everything in between.
And one thing I noticed over the years was that people were surprisingly happy to spend $6 to $10 on a beautiful card instead of buying the cheapest option.
That taught me something important.
The card isn't just an accessory.
It's part of the gift.
Once the card was finished, I moved on to the envelope.
My first version looked very different from what we use today.
I used a thick pearl-finish envelope and printed quite a lot of text on the front.
When they first arrived, I loved them.
I thought they looked amazing.
Fancy.
Premium.
Special.
But over time, I started changing my mind.
There were simply too many words.
It reminded me of my first website.
Back then, I wanted to explain everything.
I was worried customers wouldn't understand what preserved flowers were.
So I wrote more.
And more.
And more.
The envelope was the same.
Lots of words.
Lots of explanations.
Eventually I realised something.
Good design is often about restraint.
People don't want to read everything.
Honestly, I don't want to read everything either.
At the same time, the shiny envelope didn't really fit the rest of the brand anymore.
Every time I packed an order, it felt slightly out of place next to the black gift boxes.
The more I looked at it, the more it bothered me.
So I redesigned it.
I removed most of the text.
I kept only one line:
For now. For always.
I removed the "To" and "From" sections.
I wanted the message to feel more open.
More emotional.
More personal.
Then I replaced the pearl paper with matte black cardstock.
And suddenly everything felt right.
The matte black envelope matched Luna & Ray perfectly.
One of the funniest messages I ever received was from a customer asking whether they could buy just the envelope and gift box.
I laughed when I saw it.
But secretly, I was very pleased.
Not because I wanted to start a packaging business, but because it meant people were noticing the details.
Once the card and envelope were finished, I discovered wax seals.
I watched way too many wax seal videos.
And immediately became obsessed.
At first, I considered using stickers.
But they never felt special enough.
The moment I paired a gold wax seal with a matte black envelope, I knew I had found what I was looking for.
It felt complete.
Like the final piece of the puzzle.
Of course, that created another problem.
I thought choosing a gold wax seal would be easy.
It wasn't.
My supplier showed me what felt like twenty different shades of gold.
Bright gold.
Rose gold.
Antique gold.
Royal gold.
And then there were the stamp designs.
Hundreds of them.
I was completely overwhelmed.
Choosing the final colour and design probably took me an entire day.
But eventually we arrived at the version we use today.
For now, I'm happy.
For always?
Honestly, I don't know.
Knowing me, I'll probably find something else to obsess over in a few months and redesign everything all over again.
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