A Wonderful Evening to Celebrate

My oldest niece got married in June. As a wedding present to her I offered to design her wedding announcements. When I asked her what she liked, she told me her colors would be orange and blue and that she'd like something with birds and flowers and possibly a tree. She wanted it to be elegant with a vintage kind of vibe. I was at a total loss. I had no idea how to pull that all together without it looking like a hot mess. I called my sister and asked for her input and she found this inspiration piece and I went from there. I ditched the tree idea and focused more on the wording. I'm not going to lie--it took me a really long time. Partially because everything design related that I do is self-taught and partially because I am a perfectionist, but I think the end result was worth the time. My niece and sister were both really happy with it and that made me really happy.

I also did business card sized inserts for their family to put in the invitations of those friends and family that they were inviting to the actual marriage ceremony.

Because of logistics and for convenience reasons the reception was actually held the Friday night before the wedding date. Funny story (well not really): they ended up getting married on Monday, not Saturday, because they arrived at the temple and had not remembered to get their wedding license. Everything was closed for the weekend so they had to wait to get a license first thing on Monday morning. They were married Monday afternoon. It was all pretty traumatic and stressful at the time, but it worked out in the end. My husband found me a really reasonable plane ticket so that allowed me to stay for the wedding even though my original flight left on Sunday. I was able to spend more time with my parents and my sister and her family so that was a blessing as well.

Despite many hiccups the reception was gorgeous and the sealing at the temple was everything it should be-- lovely, spiritual, tender and joyful. I was so glad that I got to be a part of it all. And a little glad that I have all boys and I won't ever have the stress of being the mother-of-the-bride. ;)