Fine Art Wedding Invitations: Delicate Watercolor Illustrations Paired With Bold Typography

Finding a Dream Location

As soon as I started to see the renovation process happening at The McAlister Leftwich House earlier this year, I was hooked!  As many other people in America, I have been hooked to fixer-upper style renovation stories for ages, and even more so now that we have our own house.  It did not take me long to start stalking their Instagram account for updates.

I was also captivated by Kaitlin's style.  The house is classic and elegant without being so fine that you have to whisper with you're visiting.  This is my goal for our home and life (and honestly, my work): I want our life to be surrounded in beauty and all of the elegant details that I love... but I also want our children to be able to live in our home! I want them to run down the hall without giving me a heart attack as they skid past my "priceless" vase.

Pretending to be Invited

Anyway!  You can probably imagine that as the renovations started to come to a close and the completed design came together, I had an invitation design swimming around in my head!  I wanted something fine art inspired, but approachable.  I crossed my fingers and hoped to snag a bride there this fall, but alas *big sigh*, it was not to be!

But I didn't let that stop me!  This is where all of that musing eventually led:

The Marriage of Two Styles

A current favorite for my work lately has been to combine a modern text layout with traditional, delicate artwork.  I believe that this combination brings fresh life to an otherwise repetitive exercise.  Of course, you could have an invitation with artwork centered, text centered and everything framed perfectly in a symmetrical fashion.  And while I have worked in that fashion in the past, I believe that adding some asymmetry into the game along with a little something unexpected really makes the suite memorable!

I gave the suite a rather harsh left flush (all text justified to the left), instead of centering the text, and pushed it farther to the right than I normally would.  Then I paired a messy, single flower bouquet with a more structured illustration style (line drawings, rather than a looser watercolor style).  I created the lines with watercolor however, which gave even more dimension and interest to the overall piece!

I repeated the same theme on the envelope liner for the crest.  A strong asymmetrical placement of the flowers paired with a simple, hand lettered monogram. I would love to hear your thoughts on this suite—do you like the combination of bold and feminine details?  Or do you prefer the traditional route of centered, symmetrical artwork?

Delicate, feminine and a little bit bold, but without sacrificing structure.
At least... that was the goal! haha

Love what you see? I would be honored to partner with you on the paper goods for your big day! Inquire below and I’ll send you a custom quote within 2 business days!