The Invitation

Two of the 150 invitation covers that were painted for our
wedding...each were slightly different and all amazing

Today is Grant and my three year wedding anniversary and, naturally, I am feeling nostalgic.  I remember well all of the feelings, the people, the love, and yes....the party! As all brides can attest, it impossible not to forget the party.  As I think back on the countless mother-daughter idea-sharing phone calls, piles of dog-eared magazine pages of table setting inspirations and the crumbled fabric sample of my bridesmaids' dresses that I kept in my wallet for emergency color decisions, I realized that planning a wedding is a lot like decorating a house: both require decisions on color scheme, lighting, mood setting, arrangement; both need to blend elements of tradition and practicality with modernness and flare.



Our Marye-Kelley Decoupaged plate

My favorite part of wedding planning was choosing the invitations.  Anyone who knows me well, knows of my paper obsession.  I love to feel, touch, and smell paper - engraved and letterpress are personal favorites.  A handwritten note in the mail will make my entire day.  And so, I painstakingly designed invitations that became, literally, works of art.  Like walking into a foyer of a home, a wedding invitation (and any invitation for that matter) sets the tone for what your upcoming experience will be.

The cover of our invitations were graced by individually hand painted watercolors of a Chesapeake Bay marsh (our wedding was on Maryland's Eastern Shore), which were lovingly done by a good family friend, Nelia Cheney.  The intention was for her to paint one - that we would copy - but she insisted on painting each one - about 150 in total.  To me, the paintings were the most incredible wedding gift that I could ever receive and the most amazing present to give to our family and friends.

Hard to see my parents' invitation
etched in glass - but you get the point

But the story does not end there.  I refused to have our wedding invitations destined for a "memory box" in the attic...and neither should anyone else looking for ways to make the things in your home interesting and meaningful.  For Christmas gifts, I framed extras of the original invitation paintings.  As a wedding gift, Grant's cousin, Shaedyn, had one of our invitations decoupaged in a beautiful glass plate - a Marye-Kelley Design - which lays on the side table next to our living room couch (I subsequently gave this as a wedding gift to my best friend, Meghan, and highly recommend for others). 

Likewise, the wedding invitations of our grandparents and parents are additional treasures to proudly display. For example, in our china cabinet I have a glass box with my parents' wedding invitation elegantly etched in the top.

The cover, announcement, and reception pieces
of our wedding invitation - proudly, the  first thing one
sees in our home



I have lots of wonderful things around our house of which I am proud.  But, my favorite will always be the first thing people see when they walk through our front door, into our small foyer.  It is a simple but lovely frame from my aunt with the most beautiful pieces of our wedding invitation displayed amid white matting.  It continues to welcome guests and greet them with my style.  It will do so in every home in which we live.  Three years later, the invitation still makes me smile.