J&J Wedding Part I: Invitations

I can't tell you how much time I spent looking at envelopes and fonts. It was a lot of time, that I know for sure. Full of so many ideas I couldn't make any firm decisions, the COVID-19 lockdown forced me to simplify some things and handmade the elements I couldn't bear to let go. The result was, as Jared said, possibly one of the most personal and involved wedding invitation you've ever seen. 

I really wanted the invitations to feel like a piece of good news delivered especially to you, so I used watercolor to add color and texture to sheets of some old paper I had (this undertaking totally justified all the vintage stationary I've been collecting for YEARS) that I cut into strips, pressed in a book, and used to hold all the elements together.

Our friend Connie Gabber drew up the PERFECT invitations for us (and just in case you got excited about attending/crashing--Multnomah County isn't even in Phase I yet, so we've officially canceled this wedding reception). I love the J&J in the heart (always makes me think of Robin Hood and Maid Marian, anyone else??), but the best part is on the back:

We're so happy with the work she did! Thank you times a million, Connie!

I've had the idea of incorporating the quote "All Shall Be Well" from Julian of Norwich for a looooong time. It has been very meaningful to me for the last year or so, and Jared is writing his thesis on Julian, so it seemed to be a perfect choice. Little did we know back in February that we'd be sending these invitations out during a pandemic, so "All Shall Be Well" has come to represent a strong message of hope that doesn't deny the pain and difficulty of the present situation. After I used watercolor to give each some color and texture, we wrote personal messages on the back of each one!

I also took this opportunity to use all the vintage postcards I've been collecting for years. We included them in the invites to close friends and family so they could send us a message to read on our wedding day--this ended up being SO SPECIAL and I can't recommend the idea enough to any other couples that are navigating how to connect with their larger group of loved ones if they're having a small ceremony. We pre-addressed them to come back to us and even put stamps on them. Do it!

Here are all the elements together, including our engagement selfie (taken in Laurelhurst Park). I used one of my old stamp sets to make a return stamp for us (smudged in the photo above to protect our privacy).

All together, our message of love and good news looked like this!