Custom Wedding Invitations
"I take great pride in providing personalized service and I love customization. It is deeply satisfying to see the sparkle in a bride's eyed as she sees her wedding invitation for the first time. I see my role as helping couples and their families translate their vision of the "perfect" wedding into beautiful papers that reflect vision." Elaine Barker
Custom Wedding Invitation Ensemble
Click on the image to see a larger version of this custom wedding invitation.
About This Custom Wedding Invitation Ensemble
Hand-Drawn Motifs Set The Theme
This wedding was particularly memorable. In February, Elaine sat down with the bride-to-be and her mother to sketch out the preliminaries of the wedding event such as timing, locations and likely color combinations. Two months later, the bride's mother provided Elaine with lovely hand-drawn motifs that would be used to tie all of the wedding papers together under a common theme.
A Tribute To A Special Place
Everything illustrated on the invitation packet was a significant part of the bride's experience in growing up in the area of Northern Michigan. The bride was the 5th generation of the family to summer on the shores of the area. The lighthouse on the invitation was the location of the reception; the sailboat on the Events and Activities Card was the family sailboat, the "Sophia Helen" named for the bride's grandmother; the sailboats on the front of the navy pocket represented the local "Northern Michigan" fleet, whose design dates back over 75 years, which races in the harbor; shown on the respond card was the motor launch called the "Pointer" which formerly served as transportation between the resort and a nearby town. The Pointer is now used to take people out for brief cruises and was used for the rehearsal dinner; a bicycle was used on the accommodation card as they are a favorite means of transportation in the area; a "carriage" was used on the direction card as no cars are allowed on the resort during July and August.
Personalized Stamps
Even the stamps on the envelopes were personalized with the mother's hand-drawn motifs, the lighthouse on the invitation envelope and a seagull on the respond envelope and also the back flap of the invitation envelope as seagulls are her favorite bird.
Letterpress Printing For Subtle Coloring
Green and blue were the color combinations used for the wedding papers. The bride decided that letterpress printing would bring out the subtle colors of the Northern Lake Michigan coast line and sky and opted for Vera Wang paper and the William Arthur paper pocket to assemble the wedding papers. Needless to say, the groom, bride and her mother were thrilled with the outcome and so were their guests.
Excerpt from the 2008 Award Winning Custom Wedding Invitations Presentation by Sheila P. May, StationersGuild.org
