Now that the date has passed, I can show you, strangers on the internet, the wedding invitation suite that I designed for my vow-renewal and wedding reception. Forgive the weird color-variation that occurs between different browsers.
Themed weddings can be a bit tricky to do well. A theme can easily cheapen or date a formal event, especially when it’s taken too literally or involves a lot of plastic garbage. We’ve been at this renaissance costume thing for a long long while, even hosting our own pandemic faires at home annually. Seeing as few events are as rooted in tradition, historical societal pressures, and politics as weddings, we decided to run with a loose medieval theme.
I spent roughly four months chipping away at design ideas, exploring just how far I wanted to take the theme in the invitation. As a guest of weddings, I always look for cues in the invitation as to how the couple might want guests to dress, and I shape my expectations for décor based on serifs and swoops. Just me?
Anyway, I didn’t want guests arriving in full renaissance regalia but I did want the joviality of a courtly feast. Below are some original sources that I ultimately drew inspiration from for color, line weight, and composition.
Speaking of plastic garbage, I did investigate those all-in-one envelope-invitations with the tear-off rsvp post cards to reduce waste, but no one would let me design my own. In fact a discouraging number of printers would only print their own designs. Where’s the personalization in that?
After several rounds of proofs I had a satisfactory, though not perfect product printed on a linen paper in as few pieces as would satisfy an analog generation. Combination invitation-menu, RSVP card, and an envelope for each. The covid-precaution insert I printed myself at home.
Finally for a little extra flare and expense at the post, we opted for wax monogrammed seals. Special stamps and hand-cancelling required, but worth it. This polymer ‘wax’ is actually designed not to melt in a hot mailbox, and as far as we know, they arrived to all guests in one piece.
