“A Wedding Day We Will Never Forget”

Once you have chosen a wedding date and locations for your ceremony and reception, a theme or color scheme might feel like the next daunting decision. But it doesn’t have to be.

As an artist and designer, I advise couples to think about what you and your fiancé are passionate about. Everyone has a passion for something, and that passion may have been what brought the two of you together. Also think back to your engagement day. Use that day, the experience, or that feeling as inspiration. Then, try to associate your memories, thoughts and emotions with colors and images. Below you’ll find the story of how my husband and I planned a wedding day we will never forget.

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Surrounded by tall pine trees, with a bed of their rust-colored needles under our feet, Michael dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes. Twice. Once to give a heartfelt answer. Twice to ensure I had spoken audibly in my breathlessness.

Our engagement at Governor Dodge State Park in southwestern Wisconsin was magical. As we planned our wedding, it seemed perfectly natural to relive that day over, and over, and over, again. We knew that through our invitations and decorations, we could invite our family and friends to experience the same magic we felt that day.

As an artist and designer, I’ve designed several wedding invitations for other couples. I knew that continuity and consistency would be important: Our “save-the-dates” would kick-start our theme, our invitations would provide our guests with a sneak peek of our wedding day, and our decorations would immerse them in the experience.

Our “save-the-dates” debuted our wedding colors, as well as a graphic and materials we would later use in our invitations and programs.

I incorporated natural materials with lots of texture into our invitations. The main card was printed on linen fabric, the pocket cards were printed on Kraft paper, and a moss-colored raffia held all the pieces together. Every compliment I received assured me they were worth all the time and effort. I wouldn’t have done them any other way.

I infused natural elements into all of our dinner decorations. Mason jars, wrapped with raffia and ribbon, were filled with moss, pine needles (from the trail where Michael proposed to me) and water for floating candles. Holding our beautiful hydrangeas, they sat on cross-sections of a tree (some folks call them “tree cookies”). For table runners we used raw, custom-cut burlap. Our table numbers were faux Polaroids created from photos that our friend and matchmaker Katie (a wedding photographer) snapped the day of our engagement. You can find her beautiful blog post with the photos here.

Walking into our reception, we were taken back to that day at the park where we said “we will.” Once again, we were breathless. And so were our guests.

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Our wedding day came together beautifully, and yours can, too, by incorporating all the things you and your fiance love into your invitations and decorations. To have your wedding invitations custom-made, contact me at ouac.creations@gmail.com or through BB10 Creative at bb10creative@gmail.com.

Before I sign off, a big thanks to my friend Lisa (a wedding photographer) who snapped the above shots of all the decorations and elements at our wedding that we worked so hard on!