I’m partial to oversize floral patterns in wedding invitations – they make such a fantastic statement in a wedding invitation! (If you haven’t already, you have to check out the botanical envelope liners on these invitations.) I love how designer Christina Egan Chang combined modern elements with classic florals in these modern botanical Chicago wedding invitations. The large scale (and negative space!) text over the oversized botanical print on the RSVP card? So good! What a fun modern twist on a botanical invitation suite!

From Christina: This was a fun save the date announcement and wedding invitation suite for an elegant September Chicago wedding! Lauren, the bride, is a stylish advertising agency account manager and Michael is a teacher and writer. The pair, both Chicago natives, met in Michigan while at college and became engaged after six years of dating. Lauren and Michael wanted to evoke the ambiance from their wedding venue within the invitation details, so their color palette of green, white, black, and silver was pertinent to the design.

Their wedding reception took place in an antique shop turned event space by night, so we selected a vintage botanical print featuring the same flowers in Lauren’s bouquet as a recurring element in the invitation suite. Their table centerpieces featured stacks of vintage books draped with green eucalyptus and various seasonal white blooms, a visual that was frequently referred to during the design process. We created a modern crest with their first initials to add some boldness to their effortless black and white invitations.

Lauren and Michael opted for traditional letterpress printing on their wedding invitation. To balance out the cost of letterpress printing, we transformed the vintage botanical print multiple times, rather than purchasing additional botanical prints. Most noticeably the leaves from the print were trimmed out and reconstructed into a leaf composition for the envelope liners and front of the RSVP card. Lauren wanted a strong use of green for the envelope liner to contrast with the crisp white envelope, so this made for an excellent solution.

A fold over map card was included for traveling guests along with wedding details and favorite places to visit in Chicago. Lauren and Michael initially explored script fonts, classic serif fonts, and calligraphy – but ultimately opted for a modern sans serif font on their invitation suite. This type selection perfectly rounded out their personal style: an appreciation for styles of the past, combined with a love for modern and mid-century design.

Thanks Christina!

Design: Christina Egan Chang

Printing: Steracle Press

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Christina Egan Chang