Here Comes the... Wedding Invitations!

Every Bride dreams of her special day, so what an honor it is to be asked to design and handcraft her wedding invitations! Over the past month I have been able to design not just one invitation but two, what an honor! The first set of invites, were very basic. The bride had selected a creme colored paper with a satin trim, so she wanted the type on the invitation to be a basic script font. After playing around with the type, the bride and I chose to use “ATC Jacaranda.” She wanted very simple but yet elegant look. The bride and groom, chose the wording and layout of the text. Here you will find the wedding invitations for the future Mr. & Mrs. Lawhorn. The second set of invites, were just more than designing. The bride had a variety of invitation styles that she liked, so taking the “elements of design” from each of those invitations I was able to develop, design and create a custom handcrafted wedding invitation that suited her elegant style! These were the most time consuming, for many reasons. First, the wedding invitation folder with a pocket was not a premade/bought invitation folder. These were specifically created using special measurements and paper that reflected the bride elegant taste. With this being said, over 150 invitation folders were crafted for the wedding invites. Second, I incorporated the wedding colors of pink and grey in the invites, but used a vintage background that would represent her taste and style. As the invitation design progressed, a selection of two typefaces, Copperplate Gothic and Centeria Script, were selected to add to the elegance of the overall design. Once, the main design was developed, the reservation and accommodation cards were easier to correspond to the wedding invites. The invitations needed to have some sort of wrap band, so that those who were invited had to remove, giving it the feeling of unwrapping a special gift. The overall size of the wedding invitation, with two folds and the band wrap, measured at 7x 8.25. The envelopes could not be left with out design so the same elements and fonts were used to address the invitation envelopes. Keeping everything in the wedding consistent, the “Rehearsal Dinner Invitation” was included to reflect the same design concept as the wedding invitation, but not quite as elaborate. As you can see, a pink band was used, to keep with the wrap band idea used in the wedding invitation and the same design and fonts were used. The rehearsal dinner invitation measured 4.25 x 5.5. Consistency is a very important design element that designers must insure to use throughout development of anything they produce. After seeing the wedding invitation, several of the bridesmaids had me include a lingerie shower invitation to the mix. We sorted through a variety of shower invites to develop a unique invite, but added some spice! Keeping consistent with the fonts and design pattern, a template (pattern) was developed to use in Illustrator. Once the template was designed, the other elements were added to complete the printed invite. Not quiet complete, a ribbon was added so that the person invited had to “un-lacing” the bodice to read the invite itself. As planning continues for the wedding; creativity, beauty and elegance continues to develop. I can’t wait to see the final ceremony and reception! I will continue to post updates, as we plan this brides special day!