So Sweet! A Super Sweet Invite Suite

With a lot of pressure riding on the invitations - it was time to pull the threads of inspiration & get decision making!


According to David Tutura:


Invitations should set a tone of excitement for your entire affair! The outside of the envelope, the stamps, the layout of the invitation, and the font—all the details count. When you’re creating invitations, imagine what it will be like for your guests to be receiving them. A great invitation grabs the attention of your guests and guarantees the impression that yours is a wedding not to be missed.

Thanks, David.  No pressure added.  None at all.  Especially for a bride that obsesses over paper & fonts.

So I got to work.  It would have to evoke the laid-back-ness of BBQ - not black tie.  And I knew that I would likely go the Etsy route (I love the idea of supporting independent designers).  I was thinking about designing them myself by have been holding out into splurging on photoshop.


With words swirling in my head about the essence that I wanted to evoke (sweet, fun, laid-back, charming, true love, vintage, simplistic romance)... I found these pretty pieces of paper:

Etsy Designer twoforjoypaper

Etsy designer NewBorrowedandBlue plays off MadLibs

in this adorable invite

and I just love the fonts & wording (we are "super excited" to be getting married too!)

in this invite from Etsy designer SwoonCreative

But one stood out in particular.  Given our history of Mr. Sweet Cream riding me on his handle bars everywhere after my bike got stolen in 8th grade, my heart melted when my eyes fell upon this:

Etsy Designer RazzleDazzle's sweet bicycle silhouette certainly encompasses

sweet, fun, laid-back, charming, true love, vintage...don't you think?

Sigh.  It was perfect.  Except I wanted it to speak to our feeling for each other.  Besides love paper and fonts -- I love words.

Although I certainly love the word "hitched" when speaking about tying the knot, I preferred "married" for our invite. It just felt a little more formal.  As much as a wedding that involved pulled pork could be.

And I just loved the words on this cake topper:  

"This day I will marry my friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love." 

I also wanted to tiptoe around the formality of my father & mother "cordially inviting" guests' presence...  Although I certainly think that it is lovely -- it just didn't fit with the feel of our wedding.

So I worked with Razz, going back and forth via email & her sending me things in the mail and vice versa.  Finally... Tada!!

via RazzleDazzle

Gorgeous! No?

But wait! Something was missing...

With that tree inspiration lingering in my mind, I begged Razz to incorporate a tree with our initials for the reception card.  I really think  that it adds that deep down tug at the heart strings that I was pining for.

So this adorable tree with our initials was swapped out for a duo on a bike for our reception card & now I am completely in love with our invites.

But it's not finished quite yet.  I'm still thinking about a way to incorporate a simply beautiful Bob Marley quote about love -- as well as a DIY wedding map.  I may add a bit of fabric here & perhaps some baker's twine there...But more on that later.  I can wait to share my full invitation suite with the hive!!

I seriously suggest jotting down the words that you want to evoke for your day to help with the planning process.  What made you chose yours?

Do you have a favorite phrase that had to make it into the invite?  Was your invite formal or not-so-much?  Were you brave enough to DIY the whole thing?