“I had come to Rock Paper Scissors many times—I always loved this shop, it was warm and welcoming, and it always had things I loved,” says Karen Ward. That was during the six years Ward worked in a stationery store in Alexandria. But as of January this year, she and her husband Jonathan are new Charlottesville residents and the excited owners of Rock Paper Scissors.
Since she was in the industry, Ward knew that the owners of Rock Paper Scissors were ready to sell after a successful 15-year run. “My husband heard me talking about it on a Zoom call,” Ward recalls, “and he has always wanted to live in a smaller mountain town.” The couple had visited Charlottesville often, and Ward loved the store. She was also looking for a new challenge, and their daughter lived in Richmond … so the decision was made.
Ward didn’t start off with big plans for change; she has spent her first season getting to know the store and its breadth of stock, its clientele, and the town. While Rock Paper Scissors does a thriving retail business, it also offers a full range of custom services—personal stationery and note cards, bridal and baby showers, anniversaries and birthdays (“We did cards for a birthday party for a woman turning 90,” Ward recalls. “If you get to that age, you should have a celebration!”).
A large part of the store’s custom work is for weddings: “The wedding industry is tremendous here,” Ward notes. “The spring was very busy, and October is likely to be on fire.”
Wedding clients’ requests run the gamut from “bare bones—’we just want these few pieces’—to ‘we want the wedding of a lifetime,’” says Ward. If a couple wants the complete custom package (save the date card, invitation with reply card, the agenda card with details, rehearsal dinner invitations), Ward advises them to be set with a vendor nine months to a year out. Then there’s the day of work, from welcome signs and table cards to food and drinks menus (“We’re doing a lot of watercolors and imagery [for these].”) to napkins, cups, even matches. And don’t forget the thank-you notecards for after the wedding …
“Every couple’s style is individual,” says Ward. “There are some who prefer going traditional, either as a personal preference or sometimes to make the families happy. Other couples are going to have their own style for their own day.” From her experience, Ward cautions, “The more time in planning, the better, if you want something unusual.” And while often one half of the couple is happy to let the other half handle everything, she does see plenty of clients where both parties want to be part of the design decisions.
“One of the most interesting things with this job is watching the relationships,” Ward says. “The parents may be involved, especially if they’re paying for the wedding. But many couples these days are older, are paying for the celebration themselves, and have definite ideas of what they want. It’s so variable—always interesting.”
The Wards have settled into their new life. Jonathan works mostly on the back end of the business, but helps in the shop on weekends (as does their daughter), and the couple just bought a house here. Ward herself is still all smiles with the excitement of her new venture: “I keep thinking, ‘Somebody pinch me—this is a dream.’”
