Harsh Reminder #1: The Invite

2E's and I are in North Carolina for the next week, soaking up some time with the soon-to-be in-laws and spending some downtime at our annual hot spot on Oak Island...

...but at this precise moment, I'm killing time at a Chapel Hill Starbucks while 2E's slips into her dress at the local tailor. And -- surprise, surprise -- I'm not invited. 

So it's the perfect time to reveal the designs for our invite and response card, or what I refer to as "the first harsh reminder of the wedding planning journey." Until now, designing a wedding wasn't unlike designing a house on The Sims ... the "people" in your designs are seemingly imaginary, there's no physical labor, and if things get out of control, you can always scrap the design and begin again. 

But the moment those response cards hit your mailbox, those are butts in the seats. Your guests. Your simulated neighbors who will come into your home and judge you by the simulated artwork you've put up on your simulated walls.

Having designed the Save the Dates on our own, we decided to consult with a professional graphic designer for our invites and go a different route. We met with the awesome and accommodating Francesca Grossman of the LA-based Creative Paperie, told her what we were thinking, and she transformed our rough sketches of ideas into the following:

2E's has a visual infatuation with bicycles for two, so that quickly became the "theme" for our stationery. We all crafted the wording together and decided on grey-blue cardstock using only red and black ink. In other words -- keeping the design relatively simple and the costs relatively low. (Please forgive the occasional blank spaces in the design -- we've eliminated some minute details for our own protection.)

I had designed the text of the response card (and came up with the concept of the deconstructed bike), sent it over to Francesca, and she was able to tweak it all and incorporate it into the existing design. I'll be sure to include our guests' responses in a future post.

Lastly, the back of each envelope was accentuated with the following return sticker:

 

You can contact Francesca at Creative Paperie at creativepaperie@mac.com.