Wedding Preparations

My niece's wedding was this past Saturday. What a lovely day it was! A perfect Florida sun-shiny day. Warm in the sun, comfortable in the shade.


For the past six months I've been fortunate enough to be included in her wedding preparations. I had to call on my graphic design skills from days of yore to help create many of her printed materials. Purple and white, clean and crisp were my instructions. So I set to work, and thought I'd share it with you.

Pardon the poor photography, but this was the invitation. 5 x 7 inch flat piece...

...with a vellum overlay.

Typeset with Edwardian Script in dark gray and deep purple.

Reply cards in the standard A2 size.

Ink, ink, ink the edges of everything. (Thank you, Dusty Concord.)

Head table name cards.

Seating Chart. So many details on this one that are hard to see here. Basically, a foam core board I painted with silver, then applied embossed "tiles" of white card stock for the background. Flowers are a mix of sprayed watercolor paper run through a flower die, plus layered paper flowers. White decorative ribbon finishes the outer border. The typeset page is 12 x 12 inches itself, which I had printed at Office Depot from my computer file. This gives you can idea of the size of the overall piece.

Table numbers with easel backs, and Thank You cards for after the wedding.

Again, not the best photo. (My head is creating a lovely shadow on the right page.) These pages are the Guest Book. Each is 12 x 12 so they can be put into their wedding album (which I also created, as a wedding gift). These pages are a combination of typeset pages with stamped flourishes, paper flowers and light purple gems.

This Card Box was the biggest challenge. But I was up for it! The bride wanted this style of box, but didn't care for the striped satin fabric on it or the big tassel on the front. (our local party store carried these) I told her I could fix that. So I started ripping it apart. At this point, I was getting really nervous because I wasn't exactly sure where I was going and stuff wasn't coming off very easily. But I persevered...

I purchased some damask print vinyl with a flannel backing from Hobby Lobby, then created templates from very thin cardboard to fit all the panels on the box and covered each cardboard panel with the vinyl using a strong adhesive spray. I was able to fold over the vinyl to create nice clean, crisp edges before adhering the finished panels to the box. So far, so good.

Large flourishes from Hobby Lobby the bride and I picked out. A metal keyhole embellishment from Tim Holtz with some pretty pearl baubles dangling from it. Tiny purple satin flowers placed here and there.

More flourishes, more flowers, a big bow and a name plate. Finally, some pretty white trim all over to finish it off. Whew!

My niece was thrilled with how it turned out, and that's all that matters. It really did look quite pretty on the gift table at the reception.

Table numbers on each pretty table.

Seating chart at the reception.

Oh, I forgot to mention we also made 100 chocolate lollipop favors using Wilton molds and foil. 

And here's the happy couple. My niece Heather and her new husband Dan LaVerne.

Can you tell she's related to me?

I was behind the camera all day. Took over 100 photos, but managed to hand it off for a photo of my little family. It truly as a beautiful, perfect day for a wedding and I wish Dan and Heather the very best of times together.

Thanks for stopping in today. Enjoy your Memorial Day break and remember those who have served and sacrificed for us and our freedom. It's another beautiful day!