As soon as my friend Andrea got engaged, I couldn’t wait to do their invitations. She and her fiance, Aaron, love being outdoors, so it was no surprise when they chose The Water’s Edge Resort and Spa for their ceremony and reception. Along the shore in Westbrook, Connecticut, it would be the perfect spot for their small affair of 65.
When we first talked about her design, Andrea sent me a sample she’d found with a die cut daisy on the front cover. She really liked the idea of using daisies in the design, but didn’t care for the yellow in this particular sample. Her favorite colors have always been among the blue and purple families, so I knew we could find some beautiful stock photos of daisies and colorize them for a unique look.
I started out with some basic sketches and a couple of white paper mock-ups that would help her see how each idea would work. I wanted to give her a decorative die cute idea, but also incorporate a large flower, similar to the one from her reference.
With such a small wedding, we only needed to create about 35 sets of invites. This small quantity made me feel more comfortable with the idea of doing some extra hand finishing to each piece. I found a decorative punch at The Great American Stamp Store, which could create a scalloped design along the edge of the paper.
Andrea chose the third sketch concept, a 7”w x 5”h folded invite card with a large bluish daisy on the front and their first names printed underneath. The front cover of the invite had a short fold where I would later finish the edge with the decorative punch. The short fold revealed a line of copy that was written on the inside of the card “Love is the most cherished flower in the garden of life.”
For the paper, I found a beautiful ivory colored stock from the Stardream family of papers. It had a pearlescent sparkle to the paper which reminded me of beach sand. I used the matching Stardream envelope to go with the response card. For the outer envelope, we chose a vellum transparent paper. The flowers on the invite card were so big and vibrant, it seemed a shame to hide them. The transparent envelope allowed the flower to show through on the back side along with the bride and groom’s names. The finished product was simple and elegant. A non-traditional feel that reflected the couple's laid back and easy going nature.
Invitation Assembly
For more information about invitation design for weddings or any special occasion, please post or email me at kathy@katandmousedesign.com.
as mother of the bride, I had a vested interest in how the invitations turned out. I was extremely pleased to say the least.The transparent envelope gave an open, airy appearance to the invitation which went well with the garden wedding theme. the flower on the back of the direction card that showed through the envelope made the invitations unique. they were understated but elegant all at the same time.these invitations were, truely, one of a kind. thanks so very much for all of your hard work.
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