Happy Little Owls

For the first case study of my wedding invitation designs, I thought I'd bring you a wedding that was very close to my heart. My oldest friend in the world, Miss Kelly-Ann Taylor, a friend I have known for a larger percentage of my life than not, became engaged before my very eyes in summer 2010 to her wonderful fella, Mr Daniel Mallon.

I jumped at the chance of bringing their big day to life by designing the hand screen printed paper goods for their wedding, and what a lovely time I had too. Let me share it with you...

 Image courtesy of Tim Emmerton Photography

Knowing Kelly-Ann's style very well I knew she'd have some top notch ideas for the look and theme of her wedding, and we began the custom process by discussing some of the elements they'd like to capture for their big day.
The style was classic British summer vintage, with some surprise elements to entertain the guests throughout the day. I got working with this list of ingredients, sketching out some ideas and researching the 'setting' of the invitations.

Everyday is like a Sundae.....

As and ode to Morrissey and Ice Cream fans everywhere, Kelly-Ann surprised her guests on arrival to the reception with 2 scoops of the yummiest ice cream around by Sunset Ices. I would highly recommend the mint-choc-chip (although not if there are pesky wasps around like there were when I was trying to slurp mine)

We took this idea to be the first visual element on the invitations, screen printing each envelope with the Bride and Groom's correspondence details, alongside a yummy ice cream.

 

I used a luscious calligraphy ink in baby pink to add hand-written excitement to each envelope - how exciting would it be to find this on your door mat in the morning?!

Inside, the invitation bundles were bound with candy pink bakers twine, which upon opening revealed an exciting little package, alongside invitation, RSVP and information card.

Using the Bride's guidance, we chose the light summer vintage colours of rose pink and baby blue, knowing that these would be big features of the actual day.

Inside the smaller package, the guests were treated to a selection of custom made pin badges, using delicate matching fabrics and the invitation design itself, to choose to either wear on the day or simply keep as a love token.

Kelly-Ann and Daniel had expressed that a particular element they would like to include was their shared love of owls, letting me in to the secret, post-wedding breakfast entertainment - a display from East Lancashire Hawks and Owls.

I particularly liked the mini baby owls, all perched together keeping watch on the fun!

I chose to use the gorgeous flowers Kelly-Ann had picked to frame the front of the design, with a variety of soft pink roses.

 Image courtesy of Tim Emmerton Photography

St Leonard's Church was a particularly special place for Kelly-Ann and her family, being the very place her parents tied the knot, and christened both her and her brother. So I knew that it would be a lovely place to set the invitation in.

 Image courtesy of Tim Emmerton Photography

I incorporated the beautiful archway entrance, which I knew would feature heavily in a confetti shower :)

The back of the invitations proudly waved banners inviting the guests to the wonderful day, including cute little illustrations of bonbon jars and cupcakes alongside handwritten text and a clean, modern font.

To distinguish between the day and night invites, we chose to print them in the differing colours.

The cupcake was used again on the hand printed RSVP postcards; the information finished with a soft, scalloped edge and postage stamp area.

The back of the RSVP, topped in bunting had a tick box for each reply, along with a space special dietary requirements.

Being part of bringing this very special couple's day to life has been such a joyful experience. As Kelly-Ann and Dan delightfully told me after the invites were sent out - it is the first visualisation of what the day will look like, both for them and their guests. I find it an exciting and fun process to translate all that a couple are, their personalities and style, and expressing that to their nearest and dearest....

 Image courtesy of Tim Emmerton Photography

....It's just a shame I didn't know about the Royal balcony kiss!