Kristina and Ramon, childhood sweethearts whose utterly romantic love story of coming together and moving apart is one that span years and oceans and truly worthy of an epic romance novel or film! Sweet Kristina approached me to see if I could design a map-style invitation that would tell their unique story, incorporate their mutual passion for travel and presented in a suite that would fit in their wedding travel theme.
Their wedding moodboard reveals an interesting blend of refined textures, organic materials, splashes of silver and deep red satin in a blend of aesthetic that is both highly modern and rustic, slick yet touchable. My challenge was to design an invitation suite that would go with their idea of personal passports/wedding favors/programs that their guests would receive to be hand-stamped at the tables, themed after cities they have both visited together.
Kristina also sent me a glowing cube that would serve as a centerpiece for each table, a sort of shadow box with silhouette outlines of the respective cities. The invitation suite I am proposing here echoes the squares and the creamy/ivory glow. The painted/drawn map would need to be in a minimalist, modern style-no outlines, with the world painted in ruby red against a sea of silvery tones. The city names they have visited is lettered in off-white/paper color , in large typographic style in its approximate location. Whenever Kristina and Ramon have shared a life together, the land beneath the city names is painted a deeper radiating shade of red.
Dotted lines that range from thin to thick span and criss-cross the lands and oceans from end to end, separate where the two fated ones have been apart and intertwining when they travel together. A deep dull red to represent Kristina, and a dark grey for Ramon. The thickening lines reveal that years have passed and represent the passage of time.
Materiality would be important, classy yet refined but still organic-the papers are handmade in an off-white shade, with a subtle refined texture, clean edges and a gorgeous gorgeous subtle sheen. The entire map folds into a square- a classic, gate-fold style and held together with a unique RSVP bellyband in matching paper. The Bellyband RSVP features a painted montage skyline silhouette of their traveled cities, in gray tones. A matching envelope is tucked at the back of the suite for guests to return the RSVP in.
Envelopes are recycled, environmentally friendly metallic silver with the same city skyline banded at the bottom to match the invitation.
During the consultation, the couple expressed interest in seeing how their invitation suite would go together with their passport/table idea-a project they will possibly undertake themselves. As I am a big fan of functional multi-use wedding details, I am proposing the passport/programs to also be guest favors. The Moleskine pocket cahier in red, a classic notebook, is the perfect blank canvas. The cover would be hand-stamped or silkscreened and then embossed with their north arrow monogram/wedding logo from their invitation painting and loose program cards inserted within the creamy notebook pages. Guests would get their ‘passport’ notebooks stamped and have something to keep around as a their very own pocket traveling journal! A wedding favor to actually keep around and treasure!
As a prelude to their beautiful wedding, we also talked about save the dates and possibly using the idea of a choose-your-own adventure based on their mutual love for such books during childhood. My take on it is a little more streamlined. Silhouettes of two children-a boy and a girl, with dotted line arrows (hinting of the ones in the invitation) point in two different directions. The guest receives this mysterious card which asks them what they thought happened and how it did and to save the date for the wedding to find out! Part of the answer would come with their map-story-invitation, of course 🙂
