Sneak Peek! Elegant Peacock: a hand-illustrated wedding invitation

There seems to be a pretty strong trend in the wedding world of using peacock feathers as part of wedding decor as well as using one of nature's most elegant color combinations. Brides the world over are inspired by the rich jewel tones of the male peacock's finery and his majestic silhouette.

If you follow me on Instagram you may remember this pic, taken of some drawings I was working on.

Well, that peacock had been living inside my head for months. I had this vision for a peacock "themed" wedding invitation that was different than any I'd seen before but the problem was trying to get it from my head onto the computer without it looking cheesy. So I collected a bunch of peacock images to give me some ideas for composition and to get the details right.

[I'm working on source references now, hold tight!]

After the initial sketch, I used some tracing paper to clean up and further develop the illustration finally ending with finished drawing which I outlined using a fine point Sharpie. Using the magic of my scanner and Adobe Illustrator my sketch was in the computer and ready for "design-ification."

After some awesome community-suggested tweaks, Elegant Peacock was on it's way to an Editor's Pick. Woooo hoooo!

There is that little green star again!

While the full invitation suite hasn't launched quite yet, here's a sneak peek at what the whole thing will look like. 

While I anxiously await the launch of my Elegant Peacock invitation suite, I know there will be a whole collection of other amazing wedding designs to come. You can get a sneak peek of the other selected designs at the winner's page on Minted right now.



While this post contains some Affiliate links, I am really just super excited to show you the fruits of my hard work! If I make a little commission from some shopping via these links I'll consider it a generous bonus. Thanks for reading!

Modern Belle: a classy letterpress invitation

I am super excited to announce that one of my design entries for the first-ever letterpress wedding invitation challenge at Minted was chosen to be part of the Spring 2014 line!

Check it out! (I love that little green star.)

Living in the South (North Carolina is in "the South," right?) I know how the Southern ladies love their bright colors and fun patterns. I wanted to create a wedding invitation suite that would appeal to the "Southern Belle" that was at once classy and fun in a modern and not too sweet kind of way. In the end, I was inspired by the ever-popular chevron motif and challenged myself to create an invitation that would appeal to both the bride planning a breezy beach wedding as well as the bride planning a wedding on a sumptuous Southern plantation.

My vision looks a little like this inspiration board.

[sources here]

I've been working on the remaining elements of the suite, trying to keep it classy but still integrate the fun chevrons in each element. This is where I ended up.

The suite will be available in one, two and three-color versions giving you the ability to choose each color you'd like from Minted's palette of letterpress inks.

Something Old, Something New Wedding Invitation Challenge

Is open for voting! This challenge focused on designing for different cultures, religions and traditions. There are a ton of great submissions that will allow for brides and grooms around the world to find the perfect invitation for their event. Go now, and let your rating finger do the talking.


wedding invitations - Lucky Horseshoe

wedding invitations - A Comic Book Love Story

wedding invitations - Sales Pitch

wedding invitations - Coral Beach

Black + White

How about an inspiration board to start off the day? Inspired by my Vintage Ornament wedding invitation (available at Minted) bold black and white graphic elements make for a modern black-tie event full of personality.

[ 1. houndstooth dress photo by Veronika of ticktockvintage.blogspot.com 2. woman in dress, photo by Regina Relang, found via Schupman Collection 3. white bouquet Martha Stewart 4. martini by Martha Stewart via Ritzy Bee 5. lace cake from Real Simple 6. zebra photo by alles-sclumpf on flickr 7. Brandon Flowers for GQ ]

Minted: Coming of Age

It's rating time again for Minted's "Coming of Age" challenge to create age appropriate 16th birthday, quinceanera, confirmation and bar mitzvah invitations.

The first thing that came to my mind is that horrible show on MTV "My Super Sweet Sixteen." If I had been a spoiled brat I think I would have wanted a dance club themed party, complete with glow sticks, cage dancers and lots of house music. Well, not really, but I do love a good beat and practicing my freestyle dance moves in a dimly lit nightclub.

So this is where I went with the challenge.

Visualizer

Inspired by the music visualizer on older sound systems, stereo decks and computers, the bars move up and down with the music. This is the girly colorway but it can be easily adapted for a guy's party.

We Be Clubbin'

This one came to mind when I thought back to all the club promo fliers that would cover my car after leaving it parked downtown over a weekend.

Neither fit nicely into Minted's established aesthetic but I wanted to be true to my inspiration and create something that said "dance party."

Client Spotlight: Bindu + Michael

I'm not going to lie, I like to photo-blog stalk my clients. (Is that creepy?)

So imagine my excitement when I discovered that one of my best client's wedding photos were posted! She picked an amazing photography studio to capture her wedding day and I am honored to have been a teeny tiny part of it. (Remember this post?)

Behold the wonders of Lyon, France, 13:13 Boutique Wedding Photography and Bindu's exceptional style!

Go check out the rest of their photos and start dreaming of your own French country-side wedding!

Client Spotlight: Jen + Jimmy

Last winter I was approached by a co-worker of my husband's to design and print the invitations for his December wedding. Their wedding took place in a charming chapel in Pensacola, Florida with the reception at a local art museum.

After a bunch of design ideas they decided on a grey damask design with a cobalt blue frame and accents.


I am sorry I don't have pictures of the actual invitations, the job ended up becoming a last minute deal and I mailed them off while they were still hot from the printer.

They actually moved to England when we did and have become great friends. Thanks Jimmy and Jen!

Minted: It's time to VOTE - Breakout Wedding Design challenge

So click the links and vote (or rate) away!

Obviously I want to get all fives, but I cannot control what you pick. However, if you follow this blog there is a good chance you like how I design so I'm guessing you'll vote in my favor. But if you just like me and pretend to like my work (mom, this better not be you) maybe you can give me sympathy points for the shameless pimping I've been doing for this contest?

Even if it's not mine, please reward hard work and a great aesthetic.


Wedding Invitations - Berry Wreath

Wedding Invitations - Yellow Rosette of Texas

Wedding Invitations - Whale Love

Minted: Breakout Wedding Design

I have submitted three designs for the Minted Breakout Wedding Challenge and I would love your feedback and critique no matter how harsh!

Berry Wreath

Whale Love

Yellow Rosette of Texas

Client Spotlight: B's Wedding Invitations

Here I am sitting in our TLF (temporary living facility) while hubs is off doing stuff with his new squadron. Upon checking my email I see I've gotten an email from one of my favorite clients, B.

Before the insanity of the holiday season started I finished up an invitation design suite for her. You may recall her save-the-date postcards from earlier in 2009. Well, today she sent pictures of the final printed and assembled invitation! They look FANTASTIC so I just have to share.

To start the design process I asked her to describe the overall feel that she was looking for. Her answer was:

"French tea salon ... lovely chandeliers, wood panels, warm and cozy light, beautiful pastries, macaroons and other yummy things lined up on the shelves and counters, tea and hot chocolate served in wonderfully detailed tea cups."

She added that Ladurée's (of Paris macaroon fame) packaging embodied exactly the kind of look she wanted to go for.

[image source: some like it haute]

[source: beyond the pale]

Umm, how perfect is that for a spring-time French château wedding? I was psyched to get started on designs! After a bunch of concepts and revisions this became the final design.

B used Catprint.com and had them print everything on their 107lb shimmer cardstock. The paper punch she found in Hong Kong on a trip. The pocketfolders and envelopes are from paperandmore.com.

Item Featured!

I just found out that Creepy Queen Magazine has featured my Scarlet Flora invitation suite on their site in the "Summer of Alternative Weddings" article.


I have always thought there were not enough punk/goth/rock wedding designs out there, so I've been trying to offer more than pretty pastel and floral designs in my shop. Like this one, geared toward a graphic/printing geek using only CMYK (I guess I should make an RGB version for the web geeks too!).



Now that someone has noticed my stuff, I'm inspired to take it up a notch and add some more!

Thanks for the heads-up uvkitty!

Inspiration: Bunting Flags

I occasionally will surf the millions of great wedding blogs out there in the blogosphere for a boost of inspiration. I stumbled upon a cake with tiny little bunting flags draped around it and fell in love. I got so excited to create a design using bunting flags that I forgot to note exactly where I saw the picture. I did find a few more inspiring examples to share with you.

What a sweet way decorate for a garden wedding and reception!

[source]

I had a ton of fun creating this invitation poster design and it's now for sale in my shop. Enjoy!
[source]

[source]

Custom Map & Direction Cards

Custom designed map and direction cards are not only an effective way to keep your guests informed but they are also a great way to convey to your guests the kind event that they are in for. Both stylish and functional, this is an element you can't live without.