I’ve been holding out on all of you – I hope you’ll forgive me.  But I am so excited about these real invitations that I wanted to save them until today – the best for last, right?  Anyway, I first fell in love with Laurel & Jedd’s wedding after seeing the hand-stitched signs that Laurel created:

{photo by Rob Garland Photographers via snippet & ink}

I asked Laurel if she’d be willing to share the paper ephemera from her wedding, and she very kindly obliged.  Here’s what Laurel had to say about her invitations:

Creating my invitation suite was, I’m ashamed to say, probably the most important part of my wedding.  I just really, really wanted these to be perfect and elegant and appeal to all of our guests – from my creative friends to some of our elderly relatives – and I wanted to make sure each piece obviously fit into my style.

Laurel’s invitation suite included a stand-alone invitation, rsvp postcard, information card with directions and accommodation information, and a reception card, all of which were assembled using red & white baker’s twine in a glassine envelope:

{the main invitation and a fully assembled package}

The invitation suite used a primary color palette of creams and soft browns, with red accents in the baker’s twine and labels:

I don’t think I could have created an invitation with any other kind of color grouping – it just wouldn’t have been me.  Glassine envelopes are all over my business‘ packaging – I feel like they are an interesting way to tie printed items together – so I leaned naturally toward including those.  I love creams and browns and neutrals and I felt like the pop of red introduced a little vintage country into the design.

{the additional elements from Laurel’s invitation suite}

{the rsvp postcard}

{the double-sided enclosure provided guests with accommodation information on one side and directions on the other}

{the reception card enclosure}

{the fully assembled invitation, ready for mailing}

Laurel also created and printed her own Save the Dates, also enclosed in a glassine envelope, and thank-you cards:

{the Save the Date card}

{thank you cards}

For her ceremony programs, Laurel incorporated the design graphic from the thank-you cards and printed each program on a long single sheet of linen texture paper:

Guests found their programs behind more hand-stitched signs:

{photo by Rob Garland Photographers via snippet & ink}

For the reception, Laurel printed the guests’ escort cards on obanai tissue paper:

{the table number was hand-stamped on each escort card}

{photo by Rob Garland Photographers via snippet & ink}

Here’s a bit more from Laurel about the inspiration behind her designs:

I started an inspiration folder for the printed materials I think about 5 minutes after Jedd proposed!  I love the idea of found paper and not having anything be “matchy matchy” (I think that might have been the theme of my wedding – NO matchy matchy!).  Though it’s hard to get your style just right since each piece still has to fit together!

{Laurel’s invitation inspiration board}

I pulled so much inspiration from Minhee and Truman‘s wedding invitation suite and, oddly enough, home items – like the details found on the ends of silverware, the softness and textures of fabric and wallpaper design.

{Minhee and Truman’s invitations via MS Weddings}

I also love old office supplies and found inspiration for the labels and the font there.  The colors are, well, just me.

Some of my happiest accidents – like figuring out how to print the escort cards on obanai paper with the hand-stamped numbers, and the program design – happened really quickly.  Sometimes when you just have to make a decision or else, the best design is produced!

Thanks so much Laurel, for sharing your invitations and design inspiration with us!  And it’s so true, sometimes just taking a deep breath and letting things go is the best way to find the right design.  If you haven’t already seen them, definitely head on over to snippet & ink for more photos from Laurel & Jedd’s absolutely gorgeous wedding!

{except where otherwise noted, all photographs by me}