Yesterday evening, I was fixing back some of the frames that had fallen off the wall onto the sofa. This one in particular stood out to me – I Guess it’s all the memories associated with this image.

This, was my wedding dinner invite. I also had another design as my afternoon ceremony invite. I remember toying with different Color palettes: yellow and grey, jade green and maroon… The idea of a Peranakan themed wedding only came up when one of my bridesmaids said “I’ve always wanted to wear a kebaya.” My response? “Let’s make it happen.”

4 years ago when I started doing calligraphy, my goal was to write and design my own wedding invites. By the time it came to mine, I had probably designed more than 10  invite suites. But was it easy? Nope. Not at all.

Why?

1. I didn’t know what I wanted! Flowers were in trend. They were gorgeous. But at the same time I wanted to do something different from the usual flowers. I wanted something specific to my then-fiancé and I, but what?
2. I wanted everything. Since I was designing my own suite, I wanted to have a Programme card, a guest card, invite cards, a thank you card, etc. Etc. But how would I even start if I didn’t have a design? Ambitious much.
3. Pressure. I was stressed about the fact that as a designer myself, my invites had to be the best they could be. I don’t think those were expectations others’ put on me but it was something I had taken upon myself. I remember writing my wedding verse multiple times…and then not using it. And then drawing and scanning multiple pieces, putting them together and deciding.. it’s not spectacular enough.

It was stressful then but I remember the idea came when I was least expecting it. That’s a story for another day. Bottom line though, is that everyone goes through that phase, normal brides and artists brides both.

In Part 2, I’ll talk a little more about the design steps and processes.