Watercolor Illustration Wedding Invitations: Brooke and Brent

At the beginning of 2021, I announce that I had stopped taking custom wedding invitation orders. This change may not be permanent, but for the time being, I needed more rest and flexibility in my life. A week before I was going to pull down the order form, Brooke reached out to me needing invites for her micro wedding in May.

While reading through her and Brent’s love story (and seeing all the adjustments they had to make already), I knew I had to take on this project. What sealed it in for me was her referencing one of my favorite Portuguese pastries.

After an initial call, I was a little nervous I wasn’t going to be able to hit all the notes they were looking for in invitations. They wanted to include the original spot they were supposed to get married (Jamaica), the place they were engaged (Portugal cliffs), and their home and current wedding spot (Richmond).

After some sketching, I worked on choosing the invite to highlight the places in Richmond where the ceremony and reception were taking place. Brooke had mentioned really loving the lines in Polegreen Church so I played with illustrations of the venues. When we talked, we reflected on how when they do a larger celebration, or go back to Jamaica for a bigger wedding, that invitation can be a reflection of that event. I opted for blue envelopes to play off the color in the sky and allow the green to pop.

To pull together all the three places Brooke & Brent wanted to represent in their invitations though, I utilized their invitation liner. I put the state flower of Virginia, the national flower of Portugal, and tropical leaves native to Jamaica. I just love how this pattern came out. It's dainty and his a subtle not to special things for them.

And like I have done for other clients, I sliced their invite up into strips and gifted them a Christmas ornament. The green will look so good on a pine tree come winter!

While I still feel like it was a good decision to turn off customer orders for now, clients like Brooke & Brent make it really hard to stop. If you like these, keep your eyes out for when custom (or semi-custom) orders open again in the future.