About this vendor
Quintessence Papers is an innovative custom design studio specializing in unique wedding invitations and coordinating paper goods. We are known for our creativity, attention to detail and excellent customer service. Quintessence offers custom design services in a variety of print processes including foil, thermography, letterpress and engraving and uses the finest quality luxury papers. Quintessence Papers will help you design the perfect look for your event with fresh, personalized designs and ideas.
We work hard to make sure you’re thrilled and take pride in providing high level, personalized service. Special event invitations and day of papers should be just that ... special!
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Invitations & Paper Goods
- Custom Invitations
- Paper Goods
- Coasters
- Escort & Place Cards
- Menus
- Programs
Awards and Affiliations
2-Time 'Best of Weddings'
2021.2019.
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Reviews
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5
out of 5.038 reviews
Review photos
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Working with Carolyn at Quintessence Papers was one of the best decisions we made during our entire wedding planning process. From the very first conversation, she brought a level ...
of warmth, professionalism, and genuine care that immediately put us at ease. Invitations can feel overwhelming — there are so many choices, so many details, and so much pressure to get everything “perfect” — but Carolyn made every step feel effortless and exciting.
She took the time to truly understand our vision, our style, and even the feeling we wanted our guests to have when they opened the envelope. Her design instincts are incredible; she offered thoughtful suggestions without ever pushing, and somehow took our scattered ideas and turned them into the most stunning, cohesive invitation suite we could have imagined. Every detail — the paper quality, the printing, the colors, the layout, the envelopes — felt intentional, elegant, and beautifully crafted.
What stood out even more was her communication. She was responsive, patient, and so organized, keeping us updated through every stage. If we had a question, she never made us feel like we were bothering her. If we weren’t sure about a decision, she guided us with clarity and kindness. By the time the order was finalized, we felt completely confident in every choice.
When our invitations arrived, we were honestly blown away. They were even more beautiful in person — timeless, unique, and truly reflective of our wedding. Our family and friends couldn’t stop complimenting them, and several told us they were the most gorgeous invitations they had ever received. It felt like opening a piece of art, and it set the perfect tone for our wedding day.
We are so deeply grateful to Carolyn for her talent, her passion, and the incredible care she put into our invitations. She exceeded every expectation, and we would recommend Quintessence Papers without hesitation to any couple looking for something truly special. Carolyn doesn’t just design invitations — she creates meaningful keepsakes that you’ll treasure long after the wedding is over.
I recently had the pleasure of working with Quintessence Papers for my wedding invitations, and I can confidently say that Carolyn created the best wedding invitations I have ever ...
seen! From our very first meeting, she made the entire process seamless and easy. Having physical examples to look at made a significant difference in our decision-making.
Initially, I considered ordering invites from an online website, but I am so glad I chose to work with Carolyn instead. The invitations she designed were absolutely stunning, and I still receive endless compliments from my guests to this day! It truly set the tone for our wedding.
Wedding planning can be incredibly stressful, but if you choose to work with Quintessence, you won’t have to worry about the invitations at all. Carolyn not only took care of the beautiful designs but also helped with shipping the invites, which was a huge relief.
In addition to the invitations, Carolyn also crafted our place cards and table numbers, all designed with the same level of beauty and attention to detail.
I wholeheartedly recommend Quintessence Papers to anyone looking for personalized, elegant wedding invitations. Carolyn's talent and dedication truly shine through in her work!
Carolyn did an outstanding job on our wedding invitations, placecards, cocktail napkins, and menus. Working with Carolyn was an absolute pleasure, she is professional, knowledgeabl...
e, responsive, and overall a joy to work with. She went above and beyond taking my inspiration photos and vision into account to make the most gorgeous invitation suite for our September wedding, we haven’t stopped receiving compliments! I really wanted handmade paper for my invites and Carolyn was able to make it a reality while still working within my budget. I, like many brides contemplated going the DIY route for my invites and wedding signage but I’m soo happy to have went the custom route and to have worked with Quintessence Papers, Carolyn’s attention to detail is unmatched and I will recommending her to everyone!
Carolyn did a fantastic job on our wedding invitations, ceremony booklets, and placecards. She is very attentive with her clients and wants to make sure your prints are exactly wha...
t you’re hoping for! And if you’re undecided, she will provide excellent suggestions to help you through the deciding process. Her work is stunning and we received so many compliments on our prints! If you’re looking for gorgeous, elegant prints for your wedding (or any special occasion) - look no further! 😊
In short: HIRE CAROLYN
Seriously, Quintessence Papers was my favorite vendor to work with at our wedding. If you can dream it up, Carolyn can bring it to life. She is truly...
an artist at her craft and produces unique and spectacular work.
I will be a lifelong customer of Carolyn’s for all of life’s noteworthy events.
Carolyn was a joy to work with on my daughter’s September 2021 wedding. She has exquisite taste, is full of helpful information, responds quickly to questions, and is so much fun t...
o work with! Carolyn completely understood the look we were going for. She helped us choose a gorgeous paper, motif, and even purchased a special font that we used for all of our paper goods. We had save the dates, invitations, menus, programs, table numbers, and signage done by Carolyn…oh, and cocktail napkins, boxes of matches, and labels for our out of town guest bags! Carolyn is just full of creative and unique ideas, but isn’t at all pushy. She truly seems to delight in helping you achieve the look you want within your budget. I can’t recommend Quintessence papers highly enough!
I can’t say enough of how amazingly talented Carolyn is at her trade. She’s knowledgeable about all things ‘wedding’ and my invitations were beautiful. I am having a beach wedding ...
and her ideas for not only my invitations but napkins, signs etc were spot on!! I recommend Carolyn for all your party needs!!! I can’t thank her enough
I had a bit of an idea about what I wanted for my invitations but Carolyn really made it all happen. I couldn’t always find the words to describe, but somehow she understood . It ...
was fun to get the proofs and everything came out so perfect! Carolyn is easy to work with, so attentive and great with all of the details. I highly recommend her for all of your wedding paper.
Right from the start Carolyn understood what we wanted. We haven’t done our wedding invitations yet, but can’t wait to start (once we have a date!) We started with an engagement an...
nouncement and Carolyn was able to help with wording, the design and even a matching wax seal. It is perfect and our friends and family loved receiving it. I highly recommend Carolyn and can’t wait to continue working with her.
Working with Carolyn on our wedding invitations was a dream come true. She was able to skillfully bring our vision to life, mixing details and style into a custom wedding invitatio...
n. At the first meeting, Carolyn pulled out sample after sample of invitations, envelopes, colors, and fonts which were tailored based on our theme (dark, moody florals) and what we were looking for. We had no idea we would be able to hand-pick every single detail of the invitation--the specific flower we wanted on the invitation backdrop, the font, the size of the invitation, the color of the envelope, the photograph of the flowers lining the envelope, the wax seal...the list goes on and on. The customization and flexibility allowed us to create a unique invitation that Carolyn then brought to life.
We also had SO much fun choosing additional details/ decorations for our wedding day--from the escort cards, to the menu, to personalized napkins, and hashtag signs--each personalized detail made the night that much more special.
We met once with Carolyn in person, and then did the rest from afar. We live in Boston and Carolyn is based in the Chicago area (my hometown). The distance wasn't an issue at all. We had consistent communication, and Carolyn was always easily reachable.
She truly nailed it. We were married in October and STILL receive compliments on our wedding invitations. One of the best wedding gifts we received was a shadow box with our wedding invitation embossed in the glass surface, and we are so grateful to have a memento that beautiful to cherish forever.
I am not a very creative or descriptive person, and sometimes I have an idea in my head that I have no idea how to bring to life. Working with Carolyn was exactly what I needed. Ca...
rolyn was able to take my tongue-tied descriptions and make them a reality. She was patient and kind and willing to work with me from beginning to end. She was the beginning of the creative process of our wedding, starting with the Save the Dates, then onto the wedding invitations, the thank you notes and ultimately the thank you notes for our baby shower. Next stop: birth announcements and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with. I trust her 100% and know that the final product will be beyond all expectations. Working with Carolyn is so easy and seamless and it’s clear that she loves what she does and is truly happy to be sharing in your happiness as a partner in one of the most important events (or in our case, multiple events) of your life. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Carolyn and if you’re reading this, your search for the person who will help you design your wedding invitations really should stop here.
We used Quintessence Papers for our wedding last summer. Carolyn was great and easy to work with and created the most beautiful save the dates and wedding invitations for us! We re...
ally loved how everything turned out and the personal/unique touches we were able to add and create with her! I would HIGHLY recommend her services and already have had my best friend work with Carolyn for her wedding as well as another family friend.
Carolyn was an absolute dream to work with. She had us send ideas and inspiration before our appointment and had ideas read for us. She totally got it! Everything was beautiful. Sh...
e is professional, knowledgeable and so kind and helpful. I recommend Carolyn and Quintessence Papers 100% and can’t wait to find a reason to work with her again.
Amazing experience! I'm a bit of a paper addict, so finding the right invitation vendor was key. Carolyn has beautiful taste and was able to translate my thoughts and ideas into th...
e perfect invitation. She also coordinated all of our paper goods for the reception and everything came out perfectly! I cannot say enough good things about her and the experience.
Carolyn was lovely to work with! She helped us create the most beautiful invitations and day-of goods at a reasonable price. She even worked with us to create a custom stamp of a w...
atercolor my dad painted - we loved all the personal touches she helped us add to our paper goods.
Carolyn created the most beautiful save the dates, invitations, programs and other printed materials for our wedding in December! She was so easy to work with, understood after onl...
y one meeting the look and feel we were going for and was so responsive anytime I had questions or additional requests. I have had many friends compliment the design and quality of everything she created. Can't wait to work together again for another occasion!
Carolyn was absolutely amazing! Of all our vendors she was our favorite. She thinks of every little detail you may overlook. She did our save the dates, invitations, programs, napk...
ins, coasters, place cards, and table numbers. Everything was beautiful. She was always available to answer questions and offer suggestions. Her prices were fair. I would recommend her to anyone! Love this company!
The paper items for my wedding were one of the most important parts to my mother and I, as we absolutely LOVE all things stationary. My wedding planner introduced us to Carolyn, an...
d she understood my vision for my invitation suite for my wedding the moment I started to tell her what I had in mind. She had the most beautiful paper, font, and accessory options. She truly made my invitation dreams come true! Every step of the way she had fantastic ideas, helpful tips, and was an absolute dream to work with. We also used her for our programs, place cards and signage for our wedding. She knocked it out of the park on the first try, with a beautiful watercolor grey floral paper that tied together the entire vibe of our wedding perfectly. The touches that her paper products brought to our wedding were beautiful and memorable. On top of it all her prices were very reasonable, especially considering the amount of customization! Thank you Carolyn for being such a fantastic part of our wedding day! We will absolutely be using her in the future for all of our paper needs!!
Carolyn at Quintessence is incredibly talented and creative!! Our invitation suite, ceremony programs, escort cards, menus, everything turned out SO incredibly beautiful, and so mu...
ch better than I had imagined! She has expert knowledge and was able to elevate all our ideas while still keeping to the themes and ideas we loved. She even helped us get custom cocktail napkins that looked amazing and were great quality! She's also very passionate about her business, and for something as personal as a wedding, that makes a huge impact. I loved working with her!!
When I started planning my wedding I was worried about getting the right invitation. Thankfully, I found Carolyn. She listened to our vision, asked the right questions and propo...
sed multiple options. Her taste is impeccable, her guidance was invaluable. She had many samples to look at and hold which was great. In the end, she created gorgeous invitations that all of our guests complimented. She is full-service and created other signs and the matching wedding program as well. And everything was very reasonably priced. She is so easy to work with—I worked with her long distance and in person and she was accessible, responsive and had very quick turn around. Overall, I cannot more highly recommend her services, I found her to be the one vender I had absolutely no issues with and could count on 110%.
Carolyn is the best person to help make even the smallest details of your wedding perfect. From the save the dates to the place cards to invitations - every last detail was exactl...
y what we wanted and looked beautiful! Carolyn is so creative, easy to work with, and was prepared to do anything we wanted. She was honestly my favorite vendor to work with. Use Quintessence Papers for your wedding and you won't regret it!
Carolyn did an amazing job with our wedding invitations, programs, escort cards and more! She was incredibly precise and sent beautiful proofs for our approval that were error-free...
and perfect the first time! Her communication was clear and timely, and we thank you so much for helping to make our special day so beautiful!
Carolyn created the perfect invitations for our daughter's wedding, then used the same color scheme and embellishments for the program, escort cards, and blessing card. And she di...
d it on-time, error-free, and even assisted us with proper etiquette.
Carolyn is great to work with; very friendly, and knowledgeable. We came into our first appointment not really knowing what we wanted, or how much we wanted to spend. She spent a...
lot of time providing examples/options from her expansive portfolio within the price point we were hoping to spend. Additionally, Carolyn has a great eye for what style and font works for the type of wedding you are looking to have. From invitations to escort cards, table numbers, etc., Quintessence Papers is a great place for all your paper needs for your wedding. We highly recommend you meet with her!
I cannot say anything but amazing things about Quintessence Papers. I worked with Carolyn on my wedding invitations and all of the day of paper goods (programs, escort cards, ect.)...
. She was extremely helpful and had a lot of great ideas to make our wedding unique. For the beautiful work that she did she has very reasonable prices and I could not be any happier with the prices. She was always very easy to communicate with and was very accommodating to change anything we asked, this also went outside of helping with paper goods but also with other details for the wedding. I highly recommend working with her!
We met Carolyn last winter when we decided to look at invitations for our June wedding. The best way I could describe our experience with Carolyn was meeting her was like stumbling...
upon a gem. We were so lucky to work her. She is responsive, creative, talented, professional, and patient. Discussing and creating our invitations and day of details was definitely one of my favorite parts of wedding planning. She provides great insight, feedback, guidance and expertise in helping couples along the way. All of her pieces are absolutely beautiful, and while some may argue that they are simply paper goods, we are so happy with our decision to order all our of printing needs through her. Online printing simply does not even come close to comparing to Carolyn’s work. We are so excited to see all the pieces we picked incorporated into our wedding day. If I could give one piece of advice to brides and grooms out there I️t would be to save yourself any stress of trying to create/figure out printing and hire Carolyn. Carolyn is simply the best and we look forward to working with her in the future again.
Carolyn is incredible! She is very organized, thoughtful, and detail oriented. I used her for multiple items, including: invites, save the dates, napkins, welcome letters, table nu...
mbers, escort cards, etc. She has such a warm personality and really wants your wedding to be perfect! I am a total planner and felt so at ease with her throughout the entire process. I always knew that I wouldn't forget any details with her by my side:) She definitely adds to the excitement of wedding planning, making you feel so special as the bride! I HIGHLY recommend using her!
Carolyn was so helpful! My fiance and I have completely different styles and she helped us find a balance that also fit the theme of our wedding. I've never paid much attention to ...
invitations but I truly love the ones she helped us design and we have received so many compliments on them!
Carolyn is amazing! I really knew nothing about invitations, but Carolyn was able to guided through the whole process! She's so sweet and dedicated, and she responded quickly and t...
o all of our requests. Our guests are just now receiving their invitations, and we are getting so many compliments. Thanks, Carolyn!!
Carolyn is GREAT! Literally every paper product I needed for my wedding was from her. She helped with the save the dates, invitations, programs, and custom cocktail napkins. She i...
s always flexible with meeting times and great on getting proofs out on time. Look no further...book Carolyn today!
Carolyn is so talented and was so great to work with, a true professional and expert in her field! Look no further for your invitation vendor, I couldn't have been happier with my ...
experience with Carolyn at Quintessence Papers. She is incredibly knowledgeable, responsive, creative and made the process so easy, stress free and fun. It's no surprise that friends have had top notch experiences with her as well.
We went through Quintessence Papers for our wedding invitations and Carolyn was amazing to work with. She helped me find exactly what I was looking for and helped design the perfec...
t wedding invitation with her great tips. She helped guide us through the process and made it easy with her welcoming and warm personality. I will definitely be going through her for all of my special events.
Carolyn was amazing. We showed her a picture of an invitation we wanted and she had the exact thing. We were able to change it to exactly what the bride and groomed wanted. She was...
so patient and helpful. The groom wanted a specific font and she patiently showed him them all and then printed out a sample for him. We went to her for a first meeting just to get ideas and to meet Carolyn. We never imagined that on our first meeting that we would leave with invitations ordered. We spent the whole afternoon with Carolyn and never felt rushed. Along the way Carolyn suggested other paper goods that we might need. Planning my first wedding I had no idea what we needed. Carolyn guided me the whole way. I ended up having Carolyn do all my table numbers, escort cards, programs and menus. Everything was perfectly coordinated. You will be in great hands with Carolyn. I would never order from anyone else. I left feeling like I have a new friend for life.
I would highly recommend Carolyn to do invitations for your wedding! Figuring out what you want to do for your invitations can be very overwhelming, but Carolyn was so helpful duri...
ng this process. She listened to our ideas and shaped them into exactly what we wanted. She responded quickly to our emails and had no problem making last minute changes. Carolyn is extremely professional and is so creative! I'm so glad we chose Quintessence Papers for our invitations!!
Quintessence Papers was the best choice for our wedding invitations! Carolyn created absolutely gorgeous invitations for our wedding. Our consultation with her went amazing and i...
t was an absolute pleasure to get to work with her through the entire process. She has hundreds of choices of invitations to choose from. She worked with us and helped capture our vision of the perfect wedding invitation. She also helped create beautiful invites for other events that were surrounding our wedding (Reception Dinner and Mother-of-the-Bride brunch). I would recommend Quintessence Papers to anyone who is looking to bring their dream wedding invitation to life! Thank you, Carolyn!
We couldn't have been more pleased with our experience working with Carolyn on our wedding. From our first meeting, everything was personalized to our style and included Carolyn's ...
personal touches. She really wow-ed us while working with her and helped make the wedding planning experience one we truly enjoyed.
Carolyn was absolutely fantastic to work with. I got married at the Park Hyatt in Chicago and Carolyn did my save the dates, invitations, ceremony programs, and table numbers. Al...
l were absolutely beautiful! I also loved how Carolyn was able to listen to my vision of my event and create paper products that were entirely inkeeping with that vision without further input from me. I could not recommend her more highly!!
I was referred to Carolyn from a friend and I am so glad I went with her! From the first time we spoke, I knew I made the right choice. My Mom, grandmother and I all went to meet C...
arolyn to pick out the invitations. She even offered us drinks and apps!! She had so many choices to pick from. We had talked a bit before our meeting to discuss what I was looking for and she nailed it! I am pretty sure around the 10th invite she showed me, we had found ours! Great attention to detail. Really listens to what you are asking/looking for. We received so many compliments on our invites. If you are looking to work with the best, look no further! I need another event to plan so I can work with Carolyn again!!
Contact
Northbrook, IL
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