custom wedding invitation

Real Wedding
Watercolor Wedding Venue Invitation Artwork
- September 26, 2017
- Comments Off on Watercolor Wedding Venue Invitation Artwork
- by Allison
Maria and Licinio got married in a historical cathedral, and then celebrated at the stunning Park Savoy Estate in North Jersey this past winter. They decided to have a separate reception card in their invitation suite, which featured the exterior of this beautiful building along with the fountain and lush gardens adorning the entrance of the Park Savoy.

I painted this custom artwork and bordered the painting of the venue with the romantic florals that were to be scattered throughout the wedding from the bouquets to the centerpieces. Focusing the invitation artwork on the beauty of the ceremony venue on the invitation and reception venue on the reception card excited the couple’s guests to the lovely places they would be celebrating this monumental event.

As you can see from yesterday’s and today’s blog post, this wedding was simply gorgeous, but what were the bride’s favorite details and moments at her wedding? I took the opportunity to ask her a couple of months after her wedding, allowing for the event to soak in. Here is what she said.

Allison: “What was your favorite detail at your wedding?”
Maria: “Our favorite detail (besides our amazing invitations) is our Portuguese Roosters on our cake.”

Allison: “Favorite moment at your wedding?”
Maria: “Our church ceremony and dancing all night!!!!!!”

It was so much fun creating these hand-painted wedding venue inspired invitations with the couple for their special day, and I hope this gives you ideas on how to customize your wedding invitation in a unique and special way. To learn more about Custom Wedding Invitations, click here.

Wedding reception venue: The Park Savoy Estate | Photographer: Predestined in Love | Wedding invitations: Hand-Painted Weddings

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave
Real Wedding
Finding wedding invitation inspiration in decisions you’ve already made
- September 26, 2017
- Comments Off on Finding wedding invitation inspiration in decisions you’ve already made
- by Allison
Not sure where to look for inspiration for your wedding invitations? Yes, you can look on Pinterest. Yes, you can create a theme such as an Alice in Wonderland wedding theme or Back to School theme. Or, you can use your ceremony and reception location as the artwork for your wedding invitations. This is a great way to not only share a glimpse of what your guests will see come your wedding day, but it will also showcase one of the biggest wedding style decisions you have made….your wedding venue.

Maria and Licinio had a beautiful winter wedding in North Jersey. The bride decided to work with me on creating a separate ceremony and reception card (in English and Portuguese), each showcasing the beautiful wedding venues the couple was getting married in.

When I asked Maria “How did your wedding invitations tie into the look of your wedding?”, she responded “The invitations illustrated our church wedding and reception location perfectly. Our family and friends are still talking about how everything tied in together perfectly.”

Maria and I decided to showcase the wedding venues front and center in the designs and then surround them with paintings of the lush, romantic flowers they had planned for the bouquets and floral arrangements. This added a gorgeous pop of color to the invitations for this winter wedding. To learn more about Custom Wedding Invitations, click here.

Today on the blog, I am sharing the ceremony card along with some photos by Predestined in Love of their stunning ceremony. Tomorrow I will be sharing the reception card along with reception photos of the happy couple.
Wedding ceremony location: Our Lady of Fatima Church | Photographer: Predestined in Love | Wedding invitations: Hand-Painted Weddings

SaveSaveSaveSave
Hand-Painted Invitations, Real Wedding
San Diego Wedding Inspiration – Part 3 – Wedding invitation
- December 3, 2015
- Comments Off on San Diego Wedding Inspiration – Part 3 – Wedding invitation
- by Allison
Today’s blog post discusses one of the main inspiration aspects I use as an artist for couple’s invitations. To avoid a spoiler alert, I will just go right into my question for the bride…

Allison: “How did your wedding invitations tie into the look of your wedding?”

Kara: “They were a direct reflection of the venue itself, which was so unique and special. I wanted to present something different to my guests that they hadn’t seen before. It was almost a preview of the night to come. Allowing my guests that “sneak peek” seemed to create a sense of growing anticipation.”

A couple’s wedding venue is usually the very first big wedding decision the couple will make together. The wedding venue usually says a lot about the couple’s tastes and interests, so it is a great way to incorporate these personal aspects into the wedding invitation. Using the wedding venue as the art on your custom wedding invitation also sets the scene for your guests and as Kara says creates “a sneak peek” of what to expect on their wedding day.

Kara and Taylor had a lot of beauty from their Stone Gardens Events wedding venue to choose from to feature on her wedding invitation. We decided to use the lake with the palm trees in the background from the first photo below as the feature for the invitation and the bridge with the curving ironwork as the artwork on the RSVP card. I love how the final invitation set was sunny and represented some of the unique beauty of their wedding venue.

Photos by Happy Endings Photo.

SaveSave
Hand-Painted Invitations
Autumn Save-the-Date Postcard with Gold Shimmer
- June 15, 2015
- Comments Off on Autumn Save-the-Date Postcard with Gold Shimmer
- by Allison
Autumn invitations…my favorite! I worked with the bride, Katie, to create her custom Invitation package including their Save-the-Dates. The Autumn Save-the-Date features two trees with intersecting branches which subtly symbolizes the strength of each tree (or person) as they intersect their lives together in marriage. The invitations are an extension of this design and zoom into the branches further…but I will share with you the invitation designs tomorrow!

Katie chose to have her Save-the-Dates as postcards. One little tip I like to give couples who choose to send out postcards is to ask their local post office to hand-cancel their postcards. Many couples choose to do this for their invitations as well, but particularly for a postcard, you’ll want to add that special attention. The reason I push this for postcard in particular is because some of the machinery that pulls the postcards through for metering tends to scuff up the cards. Not every post office does hand-canceling so be sure to inquire ahead of time, and drop off your Save-the-Date postcards or invitation sets during a slow time at the post office.

This couple also decided to have a little gold shimmer added to their designs. This is a great alternative to gold foil. I printed the Save-the-Date postcards and painted shimmery gold watercolor accents to the leaves on the front and back of the design. In the light, these gold accents shimmer beautifully!! Gold is all the rage these days, and it is perfect for autumn weddings, so if gold foil is not in your price range and a little too structured in design for you, consider adding a hand-painted gold shimmer to your order.

Custom Autumn Wedding Save-the-Date Postcard by Hand-Painted Weddings.
Hand-Painted Invitations
Board Game Themed Wedding Invitation
- September 30, 2014
- Comments Off on Board Game Themed Wedding Invitation
- by Allison
When my board gaming friends got engaged I was pretty much jumping up and down eager to design their invitations, because I knew they would have some creative ideas for their wedding paper….and I knew they would be interested in a board game theme!

When I say my friends are into board games, I’m not referring to monopoly or scrabble, but the mostly unknown world of Eurogames or strategy games…those kinds of intense games that can sometimes take 6 hrs to complete…and, most of which do not have English titles. If you are curious about such things, go to boardgamegeeks.com to discover the world.

Board gaming is a highly illustrated world, so I knew I was up for a challenge. The norm for board game design is either in the realm of sci-fi or medieval illustrations. The couple expressed the desire to have a ‘subtle’ game theme and had already chosen their wedding color, which was purple.

Meeples are game pieces common in the Eurogame world so I decided to make them the ‘subtle’ centerpiece of the invitation. I liked how the meeples impersonated the couple holding hands and the meaning behind meeples. Meeple also means “my people” which is so fitting for a wedding where all of the couple’s favorite people are brought together to celebrate the union.

Have I mentioned I love when a couple incorporates aspects of their relationship into their wedding!?! Well, this couple continued the ‘subtle’ game theme by having purple meeple pieces scattered on the reception tables, decks of cards as favors, Hand-Painted Wedding meeple escort cards (as shown above), and a cake that had game pieces climbing the edge with a bride and groom meeple cake topper.

Meeple Invitation by Hand-Painted Weddings.
Hand-Painted Invitations
Inspired by a Beautiful Engagement Story
- September 15, 2014
- Comments Off on Inspired by a Beautiful Engagement Story
- by Allison
This wonderful couple had a very romantic engagement story that they wanted to incorporate into their wedding invitations. The couple got engaged on the beautiful bridge in Italy named, Bassano del Grappa. The sweetest part of this story is that the groom’s grandparents got engaged on the same bridge years earlier! I was gushing when I heard this heartfelt story!

The bridge and the cute little town were the highlight for the invitation art while the bride told me that the flower box adorned windows were her favorite, so I incorporated them into the reception card.

I love when couples bring their sentimental personal stories into the designs of their weddings, particularly into their invitations!

Bassano del Grappa Invitation by Hand-Painted Weddings.
In the Studio
In the Studio: Julia and Dan’s Invitations
- January 23, 2013
- Comments Off on In the Studio: Julia and Dan’s Invitations
- by Allison
I am delighted to present to you Julia and Dan’s Wedding custom invitation package! This project was a lot of fun to work on! Julia and Dan are having a backyard wedding this coming summer. The bride and groom wanted a very laid back feel to their invitation (and their wedding).

This invitation features a few design elements that will be incorporating into their wedding day such as string lights and mason jar candles. It also showcases the pier and pond that are unique features in the backyard they are getting married at (how cool is that!). This project turned me onto this casual style of calligraphy, which I have adored playing with alongside my watercolors.

I also had a lot of fun illustrating the “wedding particulars” card. For those of you who are not familiar with Philadelphia, Le Meridien hotel is right near the famous Philadelphia Love Statue, so I thought the Love Statue would be a fun illustration to have next to the hotel information.

I’m excited to continue working with the wonderful Chrissy from Truly You Events and Julia and Dan on the coordinating reception paper elements in the next few months!