Watercolor Wedding Invitations
What I love about Watercolor Wedding Invitations
Dreamy washes, endless colors, subtle brush strokes. There's nothing quite like watercolor to capture the romantic details of your love story. When I started painting as a side hustle in 2017, I quickly started selling more and more portraits and landscapes from photos for anniversaries. I soon was hooked and expanded to wedding invitations. My love of custom wedding stationery blossomed into a new career. In 2023, I ditched my full-time corporate marketing job and dedicated myself full time to my little stationery business.
The thing I love most about watercolor for telling love stories is how it perfectly expresses every nuance and detail of couples' lives. From the location of their weddings, inspiration from their home towns, hidden personal elements from their lives together, to shared passions and interests. There's just so much personality and story-telling we can work into custom invitation suites with watercolor.
It all starts with a consultation call. After you inquire with me, we schedule a brief 15-30 minute design consultation call. During the call we discuss your wedding aesthetic, how planning is going, what your vision is for your invitations and I ask some questions about your needs to craft the perfect proposal. We also talk through the process of working together and answer any questions or address concerns you may have of working one-on-one with a professional stationery designer.
Next, I follow up with a tailored proposal that outlines a few options for watercolor wedding invitations, save the dates, or day of stationery. The options typically range in budget, materials, and accessories so you can see what packages best fit your needs. After a few back and forth adjustments, you'll receive a contract and link to pay your deposit. Then it's off to design!
The first round of the design process is a concept round. I put together some rough sketches and ideas within the package you selected based off of our initial consultation. I typically include two different directions, one that is straight forward and most closely resembles any inspiration or references you provided and one that includes some different ideas I came up with. I love this part of the process because it allows me to do what I do best and share a creative vision with you. This is also great if you're unsure what you'd like exactly or are very visual because I can show you how the different parts of your wedding invitation suite can come to life. The concept stage can be very collaborative and fun! I often hear from my clients the wedding invitation process was the most fun part of wedding planning.
What if I don't know exactly what I'm looking for in invitations?
How custom wedding invitations come to life
As a watercolor artist and designer with a unique point of view and expertise in the industry, I come to the table with taste, style, and design expertise. So don't feel like you have to have it all figured out. I'm here to do more than just execute your vision. I will provide you with guidance on etiquette, inspire you with the latest trends and innovations, recommend which colors, fonts, and materials will fit your aesthetic, and help you wow your friends and family with top-of-the-line stationery.
If you're looking for inspiration, check out my portfolio page which has several full client galleries and a selection of photos that demonstrate the range of styles that can be accomplished with watercolor.
The last piece of the design process in creating custom watercolor wedding invites is the digital proofs. I scan in your artwork and design the invitation around it with all of your text. Each piece of the invitation suite is its own proof. You'll receive each individual proof to review for spelling, factual details, and design. You'll also see a mock up of what the suite will look like printed with all of the pieces and accessories. This really illustrates what everything will look like so you won't be surprised after we go to print.
Finally, we move into production. If you opt for a full service package, I oversee all of the professional printing of your invitation suite, as well as the assembly, addressing, stamping and mailing of your invitations.
In the second phase, I move into more detailed sketches of anything that's going to be drawn or painted. This is a great chance for you to weigh in with any feedback on how the artwork is going to be created. So don't forget to mention any details you'd like included, perspectives you'd like changed, or things you would love to add.
The third phase is painting. I hand paint all of the watercolor artwork that's going to be included in the wedding invitation suite. You'll receive the originals of anything that's good enough to keep after we're done. I love how my watercolor wedding invitations have a greater permanence than most wedding invitations. If you selected a pre-designed or even semi-custom collection from another designer, you won't get an original work of art that you can keep forever. So many aspects of your wedding are gone once the day is over but by commissioning custom watercolor for your stationery, you have an original piece of art that lasts a lifetime.
Watercolor Portfolio
"I chose Bread & Jaim for my wedding invitations and am so happy with the entire process and outcome. Jaime is thoughtful, talented, patient and thorough. She heard everything I said when we first discussed wedding invitations and drew a custom proposal with a vision board that was spot on. After reviewing her proposal, everything else fell into place seamlessly. Jaime's artwork is truly beautiful and she was able to answer every question I had about etiquette, etc. She made the best suggestions along the way and even thought of using an envelope color I never would have considered but that I LOVED. She is such a good listener and communicator, which is also very important when working on a tight timeline! I couldn't have done this without her." - Suzie
How much do watercolor wedding invitations cost?
How custom are your watercolor wedding invitations?
As you can tell by reading through the process of my custom designs, there's a lot of room for your input and feedback. I pride myself on having an extremely custom process when you book one of my full service packages. Your invitation suite will contain original, one-of-a=kind artwork, unparalleled choice of fonts, materials, envelope colors and accessories, and unique luxury print methods or die-cut pieces.
What recent clients have to say about working together
For custom watercolor wedding invitations, the cost varies depending on a few factors including how many invitation suites you need, the type of addressing, accessories included, paper type, print method and more. Typically my client spend anywhere from $3,000 - $8,000 on 150 invitation suites. The lower end of the range includes unlimited artwork, full service assembly, addressing, and mailing and digital printing on card stock. The higher end of the range includes things like custom wraps and envelopes, letterpress or foil printing, multiple accessories, handmade paper, over 200 invitations, and more.
To get a tailored quote for your wedding invitation needs, inquire here.
"We'd give Jaime 6 stars if we could! We had a tight deadline and a very specific ask and she delivered above and beyond!! Our wedding invitations turned out absolutely gorgeous. Jaime was very responsive, professional, and made the entire process seamless. Highly recommend if you're looking for custom invitations or artwork!" - Hannah
Can you Add letterpress to watercolor wedding invitations?
Yes, you can absolutely add letterpress to watercolor wedding invitations. In fact, the combination of these two printing techniques can create a truly stunning and unique effect. It involves combining digital printing with letterpress printing on the same piece of paper. I won't go into all of the details here but because letterpress printing relies on plates for each ink color, the actual watercolor artwork can't be printed with letterpress techniques. But the watercolor can be printed digitally and letterpress can be added on top to achieve that pillowy effect of letterpress.
Here are a few ways to incorporate letterpress printing into your watercolor wedding invitations:
1. Blind letterpress printing over watercolor: This is a classic and elegant combination. We can create a plate with no ink that creates an impression in the paper where the watercolor is. The letterpress printing will add a beautiful texture and dimension to the invitations, while the watercolor artwork will provide a soft and romantic touch.
2. Watercolor washes with letterpress accents: This approach is a bit more subtle, but it can still be very effective. I can use watercolor washes to create a background or border, and then use letterpress printing for the main text and details.
3. Hand-painted watercolor details with letterpress printing: This is a great option if you're looking for a truly unique and personalized look. You can have a professional artist hand-paint watercolor details onto your invitations, and then have the text and other details printed in letterpress. These can be hand painted on each invitation or printed beforehand with some small details added by hand.
4. Watercolor and letterpress on different elements of the invitation suite: You don't have to use both techniques on every piece of the invitation suite. For example, you could use letterpress printing for the main invitation, but have watercolor artwork on the envelope liner or rsvp card.
