Our Invites, Revealed.

I can hardly fathom how quickly time has flown since I showed you a sneak peak of our invites back in May. Sometimes, I find myself nervous to go to sleep because I just know I am going to wake up the morning after the wedding ;)

Anyhow, the invites should have reached most of our guests' homes by now (I've got a few RSVPs to prove it!) which means I can finally share our invites with you!

A little bit of backstory first...

As perhaps you may recall, we ordered our Save-The-Dates through The Aerialist Press—this sufficiently quenched my thirst for beautiful letterpress and thus decided to go a different route for our invites. The Sealman and I had met a wonderful woman named Mimi at a bridal fair way back yesteryear and she stuck with me for a few reasons. Firstly because her custom invite designs were gorgeous, and secondly because her given name is a nickname I've had since before I can remember.

I let time pass, briefly reconsidered letterpress and then mentioned to Mr. Seal that I was considering contacting the "invite designer with my nickname" The very next day, he and I attended a dinner for engaged couples getting married - or in our case, holding their reception - at our venue. The environment was unique; engaged couples were seated with preferred vendors and encouraged to get to know each other over some cocktails and delicious eats. And it was here, just a day after I talked about giving her a call, that we reunited with Mimi! Fate? I think so.

After sitting down for a very productive consultation with Mimi, Mama Seal (who graciously offered to pay for our invites) agreed with us that she was the one. We then embarked upon a several month process of designs, revisions, ideas, additions and, eventually, approvals. Mimi was such a pleasure to work with and I am so grateful to have met her. She's one classy lady and really fantastic at what she does.

To accent Mimi's designs, I contacted Nellie of NJW Calligraphy (who also worked on my STDs) to address my invites. Did she hit the ball out of the park? Oh, you better believe it! She's a masterful calligrapher and I can't recommend her any more highly. In fact, I'm brainstorming other ways to incorporate calligraphy just because I am such a big fan of her work and like her so much!

Ok, ok. Enough jabbering. All pictures (and brief descriptions) from here on out ;)

Invite designs by Creative Designs by Mimi

Calligraphy by NJW Calligraphy 

Not sure why I photographed my black pocketfold invites on a black box...but hopefully you get the point ;) Our wax seals worked out perfectly!

The main portion of the invite was guarded by a piece of vellum printed with our monogram.

Man, that really was a poor decision to photograph the invites on a black surface. Anyway! If you can't tell...this is the pocketfold suite once opened.

I couldn't resist adding a little touch of Swarovski bling to each invite!

The map/directions card

The accommodations card.

The RSVP card/envelope

We've received nothing but rave reviews from our guests which pleases me greatly. Some people hold the opinion that the invitations are of little importance as they quickly get thrown away anyhow and, while I think that some of our guests would likely agree, I couldn't shake the feeling that the invite sets the tone for the festivities. Thankfully, I think the suite perfectly captures the classic San Francisco vibe I was hoping to convey.

Did you work with someone else to create custom invites or tackle the task yourself? Are you happy with your invitations?