To me, wedding design and wedding invitation design go hand in hand. You have a unique opportunity to express YOURSELVES, as a couple with your own distinct identity. This is made up of your tastes & personalities, and the combination is so unique from couple to couple.
So, as you start thinking about what you want your wedding to look and feel like, here are some questions that I ask my custom design couples to start finding ideas for their wedding invitations.
What art are you attracted to? For me, impressionism, is always a win. The soft colors, nature, light, and peaceful vibe are hard to beat. Hani, my new husband, is more into Dalí and Picasso. He loves the abstract and surreal nature of their art. If our invitation design swung too heavily toward either, one of us wouldn’t be happy. So, we tried to find a middle ground between soft colors for me, and abstract elements for him.
This might seem simple, but what are your favorite colors? In theory, my favorite color is a soft pink. In practice, though, I think blue is actually my favorite color. Hani’s favorite colors are blue & grey. So, we decided to make our invitation suite in shades of blue, with pops of blush + grey. All of our favorites represented! For the actual wedding, we added in colors that are most easily found in flowers, and incorporated the blues in other ways to keep consistency.
Next comes aspirational interior design (emphasis on aspirational). What eras or styles are you drawn to? What type of homes make you drool, and how can you combine what you both love? I love anything Swedish country, like what you see in Ingmar Bergman films. Clean lines, not a lot of color, nothing extraneous, but situated in nature. Hani is all about mid-century modern, the Mad Men vibe. Bold yet simple. Putting those together was tricky, but a lot of fun.
Now, how is your home actually decorated (or what elements of each other’s homes do you like the most, if you don’t live together yet)? Sometimes the styles we’re really drawn to aren’t what we actually choose for ourselves. For your wedding, you don’t want to base your design on Versailles if in your day to day life, you don’t enjoy being surrounded by anything ornate and gilded. Do you have a lot of tchotchkes and art up on the walls, with a lot of color and personality? Or do you tend to buy simple pieces and a lot of neutrals?
What are some of your favorite activities, as a couple and individually? I love books, and Hani loves movies (we both have small collections) so we knew we wanted to incorporate hints of some of our favorite book & movie designs into our invitations. If you’re a huge gardener, and the flowers are your wedding are really important you’ll likely want a floral element included in your invitations. Or, what about space travel? Hiking, or fishing, or winter sports more of your thing? What is so meaningful in your life that a little infusion into your wedding would make it that much more special?
And last but not least, what are your favorite places? Your wedding destination is an important one that a lot of people incorporate heavily into design. We included a sketch of the Château we planned to stay in for our wedding (drawn in a simple, modern style that suited both of us) before Covid cancelled those plans! Do you love escaping to the mountains, and want to get married in a mountain town? Or is a beach wedding a must? You can pull in so many elements from locations, from colors to textures, to illustrations and fonts.
The process of finding inspiration for your wedding invitations (& wedding) can be so much fun.
It’s often rushed through, and it helps to find a planner/designer that wants to work with you to be sure that the look and feel of your wedding comes from your identity as a couple. Weddings are memories that last a lifetime, and a beautiful occasion to learn more about each other, so why not do it right?
Concept & Shoot Design: Calligraphette & Co, Photography: D’Arcy Benincosa, Flowers: Bushel & A Peck, Dresses: Rent the Runway