Our wedding invitations, part one

Hello, friends! As you know, our wedding invitations have flown the coop, so now it’s time to share! I thought it might be fun to walk you through the process today, and then show you the finished product tomorrow.

Like getting married in Connecticut in September, a love for a particular wedding invitation I saw three (yes, three!) years ago was one of the only things I took into planning this wedding. Here it is:

This beauty is a collaboration between I Am Always Hungry, Birdie Birdie, and Battery. My favorite parts? The light type on a dark background, the beautiful mix of fonts and neat typography, the size, the fact that it folded, the clever wording, and the overall classic aesthetic.

So I tucked that inspiration away for a few years, and when it came time to design our invitations, I pulled it back out. I had been warned by a few graphic designer friends that there were certain aspects to this design that made it a very difficult print job, so I knew that this was not a project I was going to be able to tackle alone. The first and only graphic designer I thought about working with was Jess from Magpie Paper Works. I had had the pleasure of working with her on a work project, and loved her clever but classic aesthetic (sound familiar?) and her cheerful attitude.

Having now gone through the whole process with Jess, there are so many things I appreciate about her, and I’d like to list a few here:

1) She was eternally cheerful, and unfailingly as excited about our invitation as I was
2) She was sensitive to our budget, and delivered within our (admittedly smaller than ideal) parameters without ever making me feel like it was a burden
3) She is clearly passionate about her craft, and I loved her clear and concise explanations of the different steps in the process. There were no smoke and mirrors – everything was totally above board.
4) Best of all, and most importantly, she took my inspiration and delivered a final product I love even more. Genius!

After we decided to work with Jess, the ball started rolling quickly. I can’t remember what order, exactly, these steps happened in, but in quick succession, we:

— submitted a deposit (50% of the estimated total cost)
— sent Jess a folder of inspiration
— filled out Magpie’s “client welcome form”

This form asked for the usual suspects, including our basic contact information and basic info about our wedding events (ceremony start time, etc.). We also answered a few questions about our style, and rated ourselves on a scale of 1 to 10 for a few questions: how traditional are you, with 10 being “most traditional” (6), how rustic is your event, with 10 being “formal” (8), how whimsical is your event, with 10 being “serious/reserved” (4), how colorful is your event, with 10 being “lots of bold colors” (6). It was fun to think things through like that!

Here are a few of the inspiration images I sent:

Top to bottom: window decal via Design*Sponge; “yum” bags from Martha Stewart Weddings; white on black envelope by Mr. Boddington’s Studio; black on white invite by Perky Bros, “fancy but not schmancy” by Bird & Banner; wooden invitation photo by Jose Villa; rice packets from Martha Stewart Weddings; gold and navy invite by Plurabelle Calligraphy; black and white programs by Mr. Boddington’s Studio; marriage certificate by Orleans Paperie; calligraphy favor box by Martha Stewart Weddings; coaster and napkin calligraphy by MM Ink, design by Magpie Paper Works, via Southern Weddings (photo by Katie Stoops)

And, of course, the IAAH design above – Jess knew all about that one. Again, lots of typography, beautiful calligraphy, cheeky wording, wreaths, fairly clean and classic design.

Taking all of the above into consideration, Jess sent us this board as a first stab.

Whee! Already so exciting! We sent back our thoughts, and here was round two:

In round three we saw full invitation designs for the first time. Here are three of the six Jess sent over:

Jess took our feedback and presented round four, which included four options. Once we chose our favorite from round four, rounds 5, 6, 7, and 8 were just a series of small tweaks – the basic structure remained the same. Round seven also introduced the RSVP card, which was easy once the invitation was well on its way!

Whew! I think that’s quite enough for one day! Back tomorrow with the finished product, and more details about the ordering process!