Invitation Inspiration

When passed the five month out mark, the wedding timelines (darn those things!) started telling me it was time to get the invitation show on the road. Choosing our invitations was something I'd been putting off for a while because I was kind of afraid to make a decision! I understand it's just a piece of paper to many guests, but here in the wedding world we all know it is SO much more than that. Invitations are your guests first peek at what the wedding will be like. They also contain tons of important information if you choose the bundled route, which I am a huge fan of.

There are an unbelievable amount of decisions when it comes to invitations; what style, what kind of paper, wording, fonts, graphic design... the list goes on! Although I've proved to be a one and done kind of planner when it comes to the wedding, with the invitations I had made a promise to myself that I would shop around and really find something I was pleased with (not that I wasn't pleased with the other choices, but you catch my drift.)

Let's begin with our invitation style. Mr. Coach and I are keeping it classy when it comes to the wedding decoration and atmosphere, so it's only natural that our invitations would reflect that. I want something somewhat traditional..

Image via Wedding Paper Divas

But, maybe not so, ..well, plain. When you click on the "Traditional" link on many wedding invitation sites, you get items like this. We want classy, but not boring by any means!

Something a little more like this:

 Grand Lace via Minted

White Lace via Minted / Why yes, I do love lace! How could you tell!? ;) 

I love that these choices still have a traditional feel, while each incorporating a beautiful design (...which both happen to include lace. It's a bit of an obsession.)

When I browse invitation websites, my eyes are drawn to script and calligraphy type fonts. I think that type of writing fits our style really well, so I'm leaning toward a design that emphasizes it. When it comes to the overall look, I really want our names to be bold and draw the attention, with the information secondary. Yes, I'm a bride who wants some attention! ;) While the pictures above both included beautiful designs, they still weren't quite what I was looking for.

A while back, we ordered our Save the Dates from Minted. We chose a fun design, Minted's Bold Stripe Save the Date, with plans for something more romantic for the invitations.

Overall, our order with Minted was a great experience. The paper quality, as well as the printing, was fabulous, they were printed exactly as I had designed in the proof, and they were delivered to my apartment so quickly - literally, days sooner than the expected delivery. For these reasons, I headed over to Minted, with hopes of finding a design I liked so that we could relive the experience with the invitations. With the previous criteria in mind, I began my search of Minted's website, and designs like these caught my eye:

Heartthrob via Minted

Float + Spring Shades via Minted.com

It was clear to me very quickly that I was not going to have any trouble finding the right design for us on Minted. They also offer a great custom color option, making it easy to match any design you like with your wedding color scheme. I'm obviously a big fan ;)

Was it hard for you to find or design an invitation that matched your wedding style? Anyone care to share your inspiration alongside the final product?