The Happy Stuff

Something has been introduced to me that I never could have anticipated: wedding invitation illustration and design. Consider this the confession of someone whose knee-jerk skepticism has been overturned in favor of love and one very happy day. Really.

The first commission came from a couple with very specific needs—like all pre-wedding couples, I imagine: specific content, tone, color palette. You know what? It’s kind of freeing. As I’ve reiterated (to myself and others) over the past couple of years, true collaboration is so appreciated in a client-based environment. Especially in a case like this, where the clients are so emotionally tied to the outcome. Together we put together a package that represented the personality and vision behind the occasion.

We started with (1) Save the Date cards, followed that up with (2) formal invitations and (3) enclosed RSVP cards inside (4) personalized envelopes, then created (5) two sets of driving directions to be included in hotel gift baskets, (6) programs for the actual ceremony and (7) food labels for the reception. I won’t bore you with a lot of process stuff, but below is a look at how it turned out.

Save the Date: I’m just now learning about weddings. This card says, “Hey! Please hold this date for our special event! And, by the way, here is an introduction to our event’s themes.” Easy breezy.

Formal invitations: There are levels of message here, various instructions to be made clear, and an anticipatory explanation of how the ceremony will be presented. This step develops the themes. And the way it opens was a consideration, so below is what you see, in the order that you see it.

The little travel section is for people who don’t feel like consulting the couple’s Wordpress site.

RSVP cards: This is pretty cut and dry, but the bride wanted each to be personalized for the recipient(s), so I created two variations with InDesign, and our lovely printer Frank Kiernan at Bubble Gum Print Corp fed the list of names through.

The envelopes and food cards kind of speak for themselves, and I stupidly forgot to take any photos of the food cards in the reception environment, so I’ll move on to the programs. The bride was so wonderfully specific in her description of the chuppah for the wedding, which she wanted to use to promote and thank those who had contributed to its success, that my rendering was pretty close, although deliberately distorted so that it could sort of enfold the interior items.

I was pretty happy that after choosing to represent the location with a bee there turned out to be bees everywhere at the live site.