I'm a designer. So when it came to making decisions about decor and stationery for my wedding, I wanted to get my hands as metaphorically dirty as possible. First, I worked with my fiance to pick out our colors. We initially called them "dark coral" and "deep sea green," but that just seemed to mystify people. Apparently if you use more than one word to describe a color, you're being overly specific and non-artistic-people have no idea what you're talking about. Who knew? Then we discovered the color palette at David's Bridal, and I was happy to find very close approximations to my vision - called, of all things, "guava" and "jade." Once we started using those terms instead, people liked us better (though I'm betting they still had no idea what colors we were talking about).
Second, I designed our stationery. I created images of coral roses with some splatter droplets coming off because I was looking for a way to put my whole self into the design. I wanted to integrate my love for both graphic design and watercolor in our wedding imagery, and I loved how artistic the paint spray looked. I also created a vaguely heart-like pattern from the curls on the Baskerville italic ampersand I love so much (because yes, I'm such a nerd that I both love to turn fonts into patterns and have favorite characters within font families). Using those two images and our wedding colors, I created a pretty rocking set of stationery, if I say so myself. There was a save-the-date, a two-page invitation, a thank-you card, and an RSVP card.
It was awesome, and I was really pleased at the end result. I felt like it was really *my* wedding now, like I had really put myself into the design process.
And that's how I got "the bug."
Because once I saw how much of myself I could put into our wedding stationery, doors opened, the clouds parted, and sunshine streamed down from the sky. I began to wonder - where *else* could I put my artistic stamp?
I designed menu cards, ceremony programs, escort cards, and table markers. That might not seem too crazy - after all, those are all just more stationery items. But then I wanted to *actually* incorporate real watercolor, not just the *feel* of it. And so I painted the pattern I'd designed on 27 18"-diameter placemats. By hand. Each one took me about 5 hours - for those without a calculator handy, that's about 135 total hours. It took me two months. Thankfully, we scheduled a long engagement, so I had plenty of time to complete my project. And again, I was pleased with the results. I was excited at how much of *me* would be in the decor of our wedding. The 27 placemats would be on each of our 20 round reception tables, with the last 7 placed on our long head table at the front of the room.
But I'm still not satisfied. Now I'm working on painting my pattern on a cardboard box to make into our card box for our gift table. I finally decided to start delegating *some* tasks to other companies - our pattern is going to be iced on our cake by our cake baker, and as wedding favors we're having playing cards printed up with one of my flower designs and the pattern stripe on the back - but the idea is the same. Incorporate as much of my design into our wedding as I possibly can.
It's a lot of work, but I know it will be worth it in the end. We'll have a very unique wedding, down to every last detail. It will be me, it will be us. When people enter our reception space, they'll know that an artist was at work. :) And that is exactly what I wanted.
Second, I designed our stationery. I created images of coral roses with some splatter droplets coming off because I was looking for a way to put my whole self into the design. I wanted to integrate my love for both graphic design and watercolor in our wedding imagery, and I loved how artistic the paint spray looked. I also created a vaguely heart-like pattern from the curls on the Baskerville italic ampersand I love so much (because yes, I'm such a nerd that I both love to turn fonts into patterns and have favorite characters within font families). Using those two images and our wedding colors, I created a pretty rocking set of stationery, if I say so myself. There was a save-the-date, a two-page invitation, a thank-you card, and an RSVP card.
It was awesome, and I was really pleased at the end result. I felt like it was really *my* wedding now, like I had really put myself into the design process.
And that's how I got "the bug."
Because once I saw how much of myself I could put into our wedding stationery, doors opened, the clouds parted, and sunshine streamed down from the sky. I began to wonder - where *else* could I put my artistic stamp?
I designed menu cards, ceremony programs, escort cards, and table markers. That might not seem too crazy - after all, those are all just more stationery items. But then I wanted to *actually* incorporate real watercolor, not just the *feel* of it. And so I painted the pattern I'd designed on 27 18"-diameter placemats. By hand. Each one took me about 5 hours - for those without a calculator handy, that's about 135 total hours. It took me two months. Thankfully, we scheduled a long engagement, so I had plenty of time to complete my project. And again, I was pleased with the results. I was excited at how much of *me* would be in the decor of our wedding. The 27 placemats would be on each of our 20 round reception tables, with the last 7 placed on our long head table at the front of the room.
But I'm still not satisfied. Now I'm working on painting my pattern on a cardboard box to make into our card box for our gift table. I finally decided to start delegating *some* tasks to other companies - our pattern is going to be iced on our cake by our cake baker, and as wedding favors we're having playing cards printed up with one of my flower designs and the pattern stripe on the back - but the idea is the same. Incorporate as much of my design into our wedding as I possibly can.
It's a lot of work, but I know it will be worth it in the end. We'll have a very unique wedding, down to every last detail. It will be me, it will be us. When people enter our reception space, they'll know that an artist was at work. :) And that is exactly what I wanted.
Shameless plug time: Love my invitation designs? Check out my custom invitation design website:
invitesbyandrea.com! I'd also be willing to paint reception table placemats for you - for an added fee! You can email me at andrea@invitesbyandrea.com for more details!
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