Invitations That ‘Glow’
November 5th, 2007 @ 1:04 pm by Mrs. Flamingo
For several months, I’ve been trying to find ideas for my wedding invitations. Being a graphic designer, I find it extremely hard designing something for myself. I don’t know what it is… I guess I’m extremely critical of my work and it’s hard finding the perfect idea.
Invitations in general should set the tone and mood of a wedding, but most of all they should be inviting. You want your guest to want to come to your wedding. Invitations can also serve as great mementos… but in order to offer such a unique invitation, you may have to pay a little more, or be talented with your two hands, of course.
Invitations by Gleaux
I came across a really neat invitation company called Gleaux (pronounced “Glow”). GLEAUX is a full service graphic design studio dedicated to the reincarnation of paper invitations. What pushed them to create such beautiful designs is the urge to re-kindle the excitement of receiving and opening a personal, handwritten addressed envelope on beautiful paper. They pay lots of attention to details, but most of all they want to establish that special relationship between you and your guests.
This is exactly what I need, and obviously I will make them myself, but I don’t even know where to start. I called my good friend in Toronto for some help. She said she would be happy to help me out! Thank goodness… because I don’t think I can do this myself. We are gathering ideas left and right, so once I have something more concrete to show you guys, I will.
Is this indecisiveness only something designers are prone to? My whole planning has actually gone really smoothly, but my invitations are a huge road block! What are your wedding road blocks?
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7 Responses to “Invitations That ‘Glow’”
Invitations were tough on me too. I thought I had to go DIY just to be able to afford them, but I didn’t know what I wanted. So after a year and a half engagement, we sent our final invites out a month before the wedding. It took us that long to figure them out.
my wedding invites were a huge road block…….i found my dress easier than choosing my invitations but in the end, i spent a lot of money on the invites that i really really really liked. i wanted my invites to stand out and make a good first impression. it was over my budget but no regrets.
I’s finding my invitation decision nearly impossible as well. I work for an advertising agency and am therefore constantly surrounded by really great creative work. To me, invitations are technically an advertisement for your wedding - you have to get people excited about taking part in your big day! With so many ideas, I’m finding it hard to choose just one…
I guess it’s different because I’m not very artistic, in a graphic design field, etc. I know my sister, who is, will agonize over her invitations when she gets engaged.
But for me, I just wanted something simple, clear, and to the point. The people receiving them are already excited that I’m engaged, they just need to know where to go and when to show up.
My family was adamanty opposed to plain white with black letters, though, so I DIYed some invitations on nice cottony coverstock, elegant font, with a band of gold paper and a band of Florentine design paper going down one side. Little fuss, very simple, but I’ve gotten a lot of compliments because it wasn’t just black on white. It doesn’t always require talent or creativity, just a good local Paper Source.
I’m a graphic designer/art director and my fiancé was also one for 3 of the 5 years we’ve been together! I can’t wait to do the invites and all the graphic little details (table numbers, signage, etc) - we’ve still got 10 months to go, so there are more important things to concentrate on now.
When the time comes, we’ll do everything ourselves and I’m sure our friends are expecting something slightly out of the ordinary. I think we’ll have a hard to deciding together what the BEST design will be but thinking up designs or collecting inspirations will be lots of fun. With 2 designers in the house, there’ll be some definite opinions… just choosing a font…oh gosh! Luckily we have similar tastes.
I’m so glad you’re a bee blogger and I’ve been hoping for some graphic-related posts! Thanks for this one.
Thanks so much for posting about this company. I have these certain images in my head for my new web site, and their style is the closest to that that I’ve ever seen. It looks like they might be moving into more than just invites- hopefully! Their work is beautiful!
Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, Canada
Age and Occupation: 25, Graphic Designer
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing Student
Engagement Date: December 2004
Wedding Date: June 21, 2008
Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)
About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
The invites were actually a big road block for me too! I love to design things and have been making my own cards for years. But like you I’m very critical of my own work. I redesigned the invites about 4 times before I found something I kept loving everytime I looked at them. What ended up working for me was to do just like you. I went to websites of invitations that were WAY out of my price range and just snagged the ones that caught my eye. When I was done I had a definate style and it was clear that what I had been designing thus far was not going to work. So, armed with that inspiration I was able to design some that are absolutely not copies of anything I saw but totally original for us and our event. I’m so proud of what we’re going to be able to send out and just like you were saying I want people to be excited to attend and look forward to what is to come at the wedding. Thanks for you post. I can’t wait to check out that website!