The Invitation - Initial Design

Initial Invitation Design

To incorporate my husband likes and Korean theme, I picked the Dragon and Phoenix theme. I thought this theme is can be related to South Asian – Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

My husband is born in the year of dragon and I the year of rooster. Females born in year of rooster can also be depicted as phoenix. It’s supposed to be a heavenly match between the dragon and phoenix (rooster).

To avoid making the invitation design look like a Chinese restaurant menu, I wanted a simple, elegant design with the dragon and phoenix embossed, instead of vibrantly colored. Secondly, it has to look Korean too, so the card maker suggested putting “love” in Korean typography.

EnvelopeCover

The initial design of the wedding invitation card was supposed to be understated and elegant with muted ivory color made of recycled paper and blind emboss the dragon and phoenix.

To cut costs, I had first chosen a small squarish shape.

The Wedding Invitation

The design -------- Real Invitation

Final Design – We still kept the look of the original design but my sister convinced me to change the size of the card.

The initial size was not grand and she told me that my father wouldn’t be happy if he were to see the card, even less sending them out. Gold Japanese fancy paper with white printed dragon and phoenix.

The band is made of kalkir paper and it signify Korean colors – red, yellow and blue. This stripes are also seen on my traditional “flower robe” sleeves. The “fuk” (prosperity) signs are also the gold leaf prints on my hanbok “chima” – skirt. .

The Final Thing

The overall design of the card was one of the few things that I find very satisfying for my wedding, thanks to my sister. But my husband initially was upset with my last-minute decision to change the invitation. He had preferred it to be in recycled paper as we were printing a large quantity of 2,500 pcs. Those 2,500 guests who would receive the invitations would also be aware of being environmental.

The reason why I didn’t use recycled paper was due to another invitation I had received. I loved the gold they used. It was beautiful and my initial invitation design looked dull and dead compared to it. My card maker knew the paper used and my sister finally decided for me to use the exact paper, color coordination and even the size!

Secondly, my mother’s friend, who is a paper manufacturer, had given me the paper to make my invitation out of goodwill and I decided to incorporate her paper into the invitation. I used them for the map,, band and envelope. I had thought it will help cut the costs of the new design but sadly, it didn’t..

My advise for would-be brides and especially bridezillas to, save a few invitation cards for themselves as memory keepsake.. I even went as far as framing the invitations together with the souvenir! I will post them once its done.