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Unique Wedding Invitations from Personalized Artwork

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Unique Wedding Invitations from Personalized Artwork
Anna Gilbert

Wedding invitations are getting more and more elaborate these days. From ancient papyrus scrolls to music video e-vites, to frilly boxes that shoot confetti upon being opened—there is definitely something out there for all types. And with all the various components that invitations can include it is easy to become overwhelmed! If you are at that point in your wedding preparation where the design and cost of your invitations are weighing heavily on your mind, then maybe I can help ease your troubled thoughts with this very unique, VERY INEXPENSIVE invitation solution.

Unique Wedding Invites

I took my inspiration from a little shop on Etsy that specializes in creating custom wedding suites, among other prints, by getting to know couples and creating an original artistic characterization of their persona. With their watercolor floral designs and their adorable family portraits I was very impressed and also very inspired by their work. Due to my incredibly tight timeline, however, I was not able to use heartandfox for my invitations. BUT—as I mentioned in my post on utilizing your family and friends as resources—I was able to take that inspiration from heartandfox and lean on my sister and fiancée (Team Madison and Addison) to create something that was so personal to us and truly one-of-a-kind.

Madi is a studio art major, attending the University of North Texas and has always been very gifted when it comes to character art. I was able to describe to her the look I had in mind and she started sketching. It wasn’t long before I looked down at that sketch pad and saw Addison and me in these tiny little cartoon faces!

Couple Character Sketch

She pulled out the gouache and tried to get the colors right.

guoache

Obviously, she’s very talented, because that was the only try she needed.

Wedding Couple Character Hand Painted

Next, she cranked out the wreath I wanted and painted a matching floral piece which included my favorite part, my little veiled chameleon, Joni! Dude, I gotta tell ya, it was enough to make a grown woman cry.

Hand Painted Wedding Wreath

So she took the images back to school with her and, using the fancy-shmancy scanner in the art department, she made some very clean vectors of her art.

Sidenote: A vector is another word for the version of any graphic that allows it to stand on its own. It can be placed on any color background without having a white block surrounding it and retains a very crisp resolution at any size. This was basically one of the first things I learned when I got into marketing—comes in really handy when you’re making personalized and promotional products! 😉

Hand Painted Bouquet with Chameleon

 

So after the artwork was created, it was up to Addison to solidify the layout. I told him what I had in mind and I sat back and watched him create a masterpiece! He’s really got a great eye for design, and he put in a lot of effort to look up traditional wedding invitations to make sure that we were including the most proper verbiage. We chose a very clean font, Gill Sans, as not to distract from the artwork and to help create a striking appearance.

There are lots of inserts that can be included in your invitation. We simplified the “RSVP” insert by asking folks to do so via our wedding website, annaandaddisonwedding.com. This same card let them know that we wanted them to stick around after the ceremony for a luncheon and the Family Talent Showcase. This way, they could plan their day accordingly. Plus, food. Having that quality vector art allowed us to enlarge the graphic for the reception card, allowing recipients to get a closer look at the detail of the artwork.

invitecloseup

Down to the wire on time, we chose to print the designs with CatPrint.com, upon referral. Let me just say, I was skeptical since I had never heard of Cat Print, but after our experience using them, I would highly recommend it. And to anyone in need of a good quality print with no branding, Cat Print’s customer service is impeccable. Their website was down, but we called their hotline the next morning were able to send our designs in via email. Once the order was placed, the prints were shipped out the very same day! Not to mention the total cost for prints and envelopes was less than that of our postcard Save the Dates created from templates through another vendor (which I still love dearly).

Cat Print Delivered

We received so many compliments from the recipients of our invitations admiring how they truly are a work of art. And I’ve even heard a few people say that we definitely have the best fridge flair, hands down (“fridge flair” is totally catching on!).

Invitation Opening

 

Unique Wedding Invitation

 

Unique Wedding Invitation Insert

 

Unique Wedding Invitation Set

If you’ve got a dream for your invites, the message here is that if you can find a way to get the artwork and have someone help you build a design, there is no reason why you can’t have exactly what you want. So go for it!

P.S. I’m hoping my sister will pick up a little business after this. Send your inquiries my way!


Anna Gilbert

is a Texas strawberry with a chameleon, big goals, high standards and waaay too many hobbies.