Meet Isabel Gates | Luxury Wedding Stationer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Isabel Gates and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Isabel, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My luxury stationery business was the culmination of many passions, failures and paths in my life. I always knew running a creative business where I could be an artist with control over the time I spent on the work I made was a big goal in my life. I grew up drawing all day every day, thinking that maybe if I worked my butt off, it would make up for the fact that art isn’t a practical field to get into. In college, I double majored in Fashion Media and Journalism, and minored in Graphic Design. All three fields were attempts at forging my artsy soul into an employable modern worker with practical skills. I explored a lot of avenues. I did freelance graphic design, I did photography for a while, I became a social media manager. I was a music and arts reporter and wrote for all the major publications of my city, even interviewing people like Tyra Banks and Josh Groban and being paid to be a theater and concert critic. That last job was a blast, but for every one story that lit my fire, I was slaving at 10 others I hated writing with peanuts as pay. And then the pandemic hit, and everything stopped. I found myself a new graduate from SMU with no full time job, and no clear path. I went from a million miles an hour trying everything in order to make art work for my career, to living at home burnt out.
But like many, the time at home pointed me back to art for the sake of it. I got married during the height of the pandemic, and though my wedding was small I put everything I had into making it beautiful. I treated it like one big art project, learning every aspect of wedding planning I could just because it was fun.
I created my own wedding invitations and day of stationery, and it was honestly my favorite part of wedding prep. I had made invitations for my friends’ weddings before, being the designated artsy friend, but this time I really let myself get creative. It reminded me of how much I missed my first love-art. Working with my hands to dream up something that didn’t exist before.
And every failure and path I took up to that point had equipped me for this line of work. My years I spent drawing as a child lent itself to my ability to draw anything I see. My graphic design minor helped me get good at the digital side of making art. My time as a photographer and as a social media manager helped me with my marketing. And my journalism gave me an edge a lot of stationery designers don’t have- the ability to tell a story.
One thing I pride myself in is I love to see people, and really see them. When I take on a client, I am not making them a cookie cutter invite they’ve seen on Pinterest that their guests will throw away in a day. When I take on a client, I am promising to know them, and to use paper to tell their story. I believe that wedding stationery can be the most creative part of your wedding, which is great because it’s also the guests’ first impressions of your day. At Gates Paper Company, your stationery is your love on paper, and it’s the act of inviting through art.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I believe the way to avoid wedding regret is to remember that wedding trends come and go, and to make decisions based on who you are and what your love is like. There’s always going to be the thing that’s exciting on Instagram, the thing everyone is pinning on Pinterest. Remember mason jar weddings with all that burlap? That used to be cool, can you believe? I know so many people who didn’t even know all their wedding decisions weren’t their own. And I can’t tell you how many weddings I’ve attended and seen on Facebook that look like carbon copies of one another. That always seemed like a shame to me, considering all the money that is being spent for these events and how people will be looking at these pictures for decades to come. So at Gates Paper, we specifically avoid that by making everything a thousand percent unique to the couple. And sure, we’ll participate in trends every once in a while. But only if it makes sense for the couple. In the end, trendy or not, I want to tell your story, not anyone else’s. My journalism background really helps me as the right questions and find the real story in every couple. I’m really good at figuring out what my clients want even before they know, and the result is something so much better than a Pinterest copycat invitation. It’s you.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would probably hit up Bishop Arts District. The stationer in me loves the stationery shop We Are 1976, a great place to get little trinkets and souvenirs, or to just feed any office supply addiction you might have. They have Salty Donut over there, which is great for me because they have the BEST gluten free donuts. And of course one of my favorite spots ever is the Wild Detectives. I mean, it’s all the best things in the world. It’s a coffee shop, a bookstore, a venue, and a bar.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to shoutout my husband- my best friend and biggest supporter.

I’d like to shoutout my extended family in the Philippines- the artists and dreamers who have always shown me that you can do all three- be successful, do art, and love what you do.

I’d also like to shoutout all. authors that kept me company as a child. Thank you L.M. Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, and company, for keeping my head in the clouds.

Website: gatespaperco.com

Instagram: gates.paper