Mrs. Petunia, Ft. Lauderdale
Age and Occupation: 31, College Professor
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Engineering Student/Part-time Barista
Engagement Date: December 8, 2006
Wedding Date: March 2, 2008
Venue: Riverside Hotel
Blogging Since: August 6, 2007
About Me: Our original idea of running off to get married quickly turned into an event with 100+ guests once other people got involved and I, too, got swept away in the lovely madness that is wedding planning. Mr. Petunia and I are obsessed with all things World of Warcraft, Monopoly, and Nintendo, so we’re planning on including some fun “game-y” details into our wedding.
Invitations: Do More Than Just Invite?
August 24th, 2007 @ 5:04 pm by Mrs. Petunia
If you received this invitation, would you assume the wedding would reflect these colors, this richness, the same damask feel, etc.?
I’m wondering how much invitations just invite people and how much they help create and reflect the overall mood and feel of a wedding.
When you picked your invitations, did you do so with the hopes that it would represent what you wanted your wedding to feel like?
Bee readers, I sure could use your help. When I first chose my color scheme of pink & green, I had yet to dream up the idea of incorporating Monopoly into our wedding. Now I wonder if the colors fit, if they go, if they make any sense…argh!
I’m worried about the other end, too: everything looking too match-y, match-y, too theme-y, too personalized.
Now that we’re considering having custom invites made, is it crazy to change the color scheme, too?
14 Responses to “Invitations: Do More Than Just Invite?”
Ahhhh!! I can share your stress - this is one of my biggest issues… and I’ve changed color schemes several times.
I’ve finally resulted to the idea that I have this theme/image in my mind. The colors will revolve around that but I’m not going to go out and hand select them.
The monopoly idea is a little harder to do this with but I think if you choose basic colors (or go monochormatic) it would look really nice
A few things to consider:
1) the invite does indicate the formality of the event
and 2) from personal experience, it is VERY easy to get bored of your own design scheme as a bride - but you have to remember no one has seen any of it, or barely glimpses yet. And when they do it will be all at once and make sense. Thus, the only way to be TOO matchy matchy would be to really, really, really go overboard. Don’t worry - you’ll be fine.
And, you could easily incorporate monopoly and your color scheme with formality - consider silhouettes of the game pieces? The cell phone/phone could be cute on the RSVP, the car on the directions, the top hat on the invite, and if you go that far and put registry info the $ bag, the iron if you put attire, etc, etc.
PS have you seen on their site the print your own money feature? This could be SO fun!
Good luck!
I think it would be odd to have an extremely formal invitation to a casual, BBQ style wedding, and vice versa. But, otherwise, I think many couples can go a little overboard in NEEDING their invitations to reflect the theme or the feel of the wedding, that they MUST be in the same colors, papers, etc., as every other piece of paper used in the entire wedding process. They could just be some invitations that you really liked. Ours were the same colors, and I used the Art Nouveau motif on them in a few other places, such as on the table numbers, but we didn’t have a overall theme other than “wedding.”
OTOH, if you’ve decided that you want a Monopoly theme, and you can afford to have your invitations custom-designed, why not go for it? (Keeping in mind that some printers might not be willing to reproduce trademarked images.) Have fun. It’s your wedding, you can do what you want. Don’t worry so much about what others are doing, there’s no Wedding Police that will come and fine you for not sticking to your wedding colors.
I think you can definitely use your colors that you have already chosen and the monopoloy theme. If anything I think anything dark and heavy will be too much. Think light and vintage. Old monopoly games versus shiny and new. I don’t know if that helps or not. 
I think you’re right, the invitations set the tone of the event for sure. I’d be more interested in trying to get the invitations to be more fun or playful to go with the Monopoly theme… what you have right now is very pretty but seems more conservative for the new direction you seem to be going in.
http://frostfirepulse.com/chocolate-monopoly-game
how great would these be for favors? Give each gust a card?
I should clarify: I used that invite as a sample, but we were originally going with something green & pink. Now what’s in the work for invites is red, black, and white, fun and Monopoly-ish. That’s why I’m stuck on what to do…I suppose really I could just make the red pink and keep that Monopoly feel, without it being exactly Monopoly…
The only rules you have to follow are the ones that YOU make. Use pink and green as your colors! Rename all of the properties- how many variations on Monopoly are there? Dozens? Hundreds? Use streets from your childhood and FI. Monopoly is mutable. Play with it! Enjoy yourself! Don’t let convention make the rules…
Just keep in mind the invitation does set the tone and formality.
Aren’t some of the monopoly property colors green and/or pink? I’d use those quite often throughought, with the other monopoly items thrown in as accents.
If you love pink and green I say go with it, but add a little hint at your Monopoly/game theme. Maybe you could add something to your invites that would just kind of give a peek of what your wedding will be like. Keep the guests guessing. It could be as simple as including a little quote that has something to do with games or how much fun being in love can be. Or you could include a small graphic of one of the monopoly characters on portions of your invitation. For example, a little thimble at the bottom of the invite or the little dog in the corner of your RSVP. Good luck!
I agree with posts 8 and 10 above! Stick with your colors, since they are certainly not dull, and continue to incorporate your Monopoly/game theme. No one is going to get out your invitation and compare it to a Monopoly board and scold you for replacing the red with pink 
And, in the same regard, it couldn’t hurt to subtly incorporate some other colors if you think the Monopoly theme would benefit from it; just keep those extra colors limited to smaller details (ie, not your flowers or main decor elements) and it will all come together.
Make your own rules: keep the colors you love, keep the great game thing going, and don’t let yourself get too caught up in the minute details. What your guests will see first and foremost is a loving couple’s wonderful personalities and devotion to each other; no one will nitpick about all the other details as much as you may think. Good luck!!
I like making your own rules.
I’m having the same dilemmah(I’m from New england! haha) I like so many different types of styles, but what do I want to convey! Ultimately, it’s YOUR day, make it your way!
Pink and green can also go nicely with a silver(are the game pieces silver?) Your wedding sounds like it will be so much fun! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
I think you can do the monopoly theme with pink and green. Think of monopoly money. Those colors would work perfectly.
i would encourage you to talk to a designer and get some ideas about how to icorporate your colors and the monopoly theme. i do think it’s important for your invite to set up the event, however, it is also fun to hint at a theme through them. it really does sound like a fun project to tackle!!
