Jun
The Wedding Invitation: Defining and Describing a Romance.
I have recently, of late, been spending a lot of time looking at wedding invitations. (I have my reasons.) I’ve looked at formal ones, silly, elaborate, simple, and it occurs to me that there is rarely something so compact and distilled that speaks no only to the kind of wedding one will have but also what kind of couple is sending it, than the invitation. (note to self: as an exercise, design wedding invitations for characters. You can learn so much!)
No longer is the standard the white or cream linen card stock with embossed scrollwork and tissue paper to protect the ink the norm. No, indeed, today’s couples are choosing their wedding invitations as a form of self-expression.
(All invitations pictured here are courtesy of Zazzle.com, and link to their page, if they pique your interest!)
For instance, this invitation tells me that the couple has a traditional romantic streak, a love of history and things past, and my best guess is they are going to honeymoon in Paris.
And what kind of couple gets away with putting a moustache drawing on their wedding invitations? The awesome kind, that’s who. The couple that prizes humor over seriousness, even though they take their futures together very seriously.
Flowers on a wedding invitation have long been a staple – but white embossed roses are no longer the only choice. You can have any itineration of flower you desire, you can have them to match your wedding flowers. Swirling, framing flowers on an invitation like this, with the gorgeous teal background tell me that the couple is partly traditional, but partly whimsical, and their wedding has not been planned to within an inch of its life – indeed, if a hurricane came and made their outdoor wedding location a temporary lake, they would shrug their shoulders, and enjoy an indoor occasion as best they could make it.
But I have to tell you, the absolute hands-down, most incredible wedding invitation is not a printed card at all, it is this website: http://jessandruss.us/ And it does not require me to interpret the couple’s romance, because they tell it to you themselves. Visit the site, enjoy, and become inspired!
Jun 30, 2012
6:45 am
Oh, that was soooo sweet. *sniff* Thanks Kate.
Jun 30, 2012
9:54 pm
Isn’t it just gorgeous?
Jun 30, 2012
9:13 am
Those are very pretty. I didn’t have invitations for my wedding. It was a quickie wedding. Our invitations were word of mouth. Wish I had a bigger one. Maybe next time.
Jun 30, 2012
9:55 pm
Word of mouth works, sounds like a fun gathering! sometimes low key is the way to play it.
Jun 30, 2012
10:13 am
Lovely post Kate!
Like you said, I love how weddings and wedding invitations are so individualized these days so you really get a sense of the couple, their personality, etc. through the decor, theme, location, etc.
I really like the last one, the teal and white is such a lovely color combo!
This is something I’ll definitely have to keep in mind when/if I ever have occassion to send a wedding invitation.
Jun 30, 2012
9:57 pm
Thanks Lisa! I love the color combo in the last one too.
Jun 30, 2012
10:34 am
What an AMAZING invitation! How very cool.
My husband and I just got invited to our first traditional Indian wedding. The invitation is jeweled and purple and weighs half a pound. We are very excited about getting to experience this wedding — and about wearing traditional Indian attire, as requested.
I’ve always wanted to go shopping in the “little India” neighborhood in Artesia, CA, and now I have an excuse!
Good luck finding the perfect wedding invitation for you!
Jun 30, 2012
9:58 pm
okay, I think we are going to need pictures of this tradition Indian wedding when it happens.
Jun 30, 2012
11:53 am
Was an amazing invatation.. Wedding invites are so great these days and you can choose from hundreds of styles and words.. But sometimes this can be a bit of a tough time with so much to choose from.. Maybe simple is the way to go..
Good luck with your search.
Jun 30, 2012
9:59 pm
Thanks Kathleen! I enjoy the variety — there really is something out there for everyone.
Jun 30, 2012
2:37 pm
Oh! I totally cried. I tried to hold it in, but my throat started aching and I lost it! I’m a big mush pile for stuff like that.
Our invites were home-made. We got some really nice card stock with cherry blossoms scrolling down one side, printed them out in black ink and glues them to stiffer dark red card stock. (The wedding was at a Japanese Museum.) I think we also glued little dark red satin ribbon bows to the top of the invites. It saved some money and I could personalize it exactly the way I wanted it.
Jun 30, 2012
9:59 pm
That sounds like a fun craft-y project, Olivia!
Jun 30, 2012
2:38 pm
Oh! I totally cried. I tried to hold it in, but my throat started aching and I lost it! I’m a big mush pile for stuff like that.
Our invites were home-made. We got some really nice card stock with cherry blossoms scrolling down one side, printed them out in black ink and glued them to stiffer dark red card stock. (The wedding was at a Japanese Museum.) I think we also glued little dark red satin ribbon bows to the top of the invites. It saved some money and I could personalize it exactly the way I wanted it.
Jun 30, 2012
2:39 pm
Oops! Sorry for the double post. Not sure what happened there…
Jun 30, 2012
6:29 pm
Love all these invitations and the one you link to is fabulous. I’m also enjoying and envying all the different invites how commenters describe. I had the boring, standard, written in the third person English invitation, engraved not printed, of course. (Snotty English people run their forefingers over the lettering and say “printed” with a snotty sniff if it’s flat.)
Jun 30, 2012
10:00 pm
oh those snotty brits. We adore them.
Jun 30, 2012
8:09 pm
Those were all lovely invitations and I admit I teared up a bit at the online one too.
I based our wedding invite on the very simple one of my parents. It was incredible hard to find paper similar enough to the one they used back in 1970 to suit me. But we managed.
Good luck with your process!
Jun 30, 2012
10:00 pm
What a great idea, basing your invite on your parent’s invite! Way to tie in the tradition.