... and Custom Wedding Invitations (with Prize Draw!!)

We have another fantastic guest post today, from Joanna O'Sullivan at Joanna's Little Shop. Joanna shares with us the steps she takes to make her beautiful custom made wedding invitations. Also, there is an opportunity to enter a prize draw...... read more about this at the bottom of the page!!

..........................................

Here are the steps in my production of custom wedding invitations. I like this particular example because the client wanted a flat card with the actual invitation part on the front and she chose to put the directions to the wedding venue on the back. My invitations contain an image from an original painting that I do specifically for the invitations and I give that painting to the client as part of the package.

1. Speak to the client. She would like an original painting of her and her husband on their wedding day. Since they aren’t married yet there isn’t a photo of them all dressed up. It also turns out that they have very few photos of just the two of them. The client doesn’t give me a photo but instead asks me to look through the photos on both her and her fiancé’s Facebook pages. She tells me that she is from Cork and he is from Tipperary and they would like a background of their respective county flags. I tell the client that I feel that the invitations will look like a match ticket if I put flags in the background and she asked me to do what I think would work best and then e-mail it to her and she’ll see if she’ll want flags or not then.

2. I find what I consider to be a good photo but there are other people in the shot. If you look at picture 1 here you’ll see the photo and the two heads I actually want cropped out of it. (I requested and received permission from the photographer to reproduce and crop the photo).
3. I prepare for the project by drawing and painting the couple together. I just want to get a feel for how big I will need the image to be for it to photograph well. I know that the image will need space around it on the invitation so the wording can fit. If you look at picture 2 you’ll see the original doodles where I tried to work the colours into their clothes. They’re not very clear because I didn’t think I’d need these photos! You can see I started off very small (the pen is there for scale) but soon realised that I’d need to paint the couple bigger.

4. I need a background for the image. If you want to click over to this post on my blog you’ll find my technique in more detail. Basically, I put water on my acrylic paper and then dab the watercolours I want into it. If you look at picture 3 you’ll see a) a background I wasn’t happy with and b) the one I chose to use.

5. The client is very happy with the background. She can see how the Tipperary colours of yellow and blue are on one side and the Cork colours of red and white are on the other . She likes that they have a wavy quality.

6. I now paint the image of the bride and groom in acrylics over the watercolour background. If you look at picture 4 you’ll see the finished painting.

7. The client approves the image. I had previously told her that I would put a narrow strip of white sticker on the invitations where she would be writing the guests names. She is now not happy with that because, she says, she likes the brush strokes on the image and wonders if I can use the image in a way that a brush stroke provides the space for the names.

8. I take photographs of the image.

9. I use Photobox for the production of the invitations. I upload my image and add the text that the client has given me for the front and back.

10. I buy a Sharpie permanent marker to include with the invitations because the finish is glossy. I send the package to the client. If you look at picture 5 you’ll see a finished invitation. I blurred out some personal information for the purposes of this post.

11. My invitations packages include the original artwork that I painted for the invitations. I now sign the painting and spray it with fixative.

12. I don’t offer a framing service. If you look at picture 6 you’ll see the framed original painting hanging in the client’s home. That’s it!

PRIZE DRAW!!!

As well as sharing such a fab guest post, Joanna is generously donating a pack of her beautiful cards as a prize! All you need to do is leave a comment below and then we will enter you into the prize draw. Also, each time you share this post via Facebook or Twitter will count as another entry - just tag us in so that we know! (details on contact us page).

The winner will receive a mixed pack of 5 cards (A6, glossy finish) from Joanna's Shop and is open to anyone world wide. This giveaway is open until 8th March and we will pick the winner using a random number generator.

You can also follow Joanna here: Twitter

We are linking up to these parties!