I am not sure about you, but in my world the months between June and September are Wedding Central over here. Which means I've been busy and did a few commissions for wedding invites! Because life has been a bit overwhelming lately (as you've been able to read all about in my last two journal updates on this blog), I've taken very few external commissions, so these are all for friends and family. 

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Hester & Rutger: Natural Minimalist

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The first set of invites were for my very own brother and (now) sister in law! Now, this wasn't an easy commission. I did their engagement party invite a while ago, but they wanted something quite different this time around. The bride, who is a photographer and quite creative herself, actually had a very clear idea of what she wanted and had sketched it all out, but I just couldn't make it work. The style wasn't a fit for mine and it just looked awkward. Fortunately, they had a quite elaborate Pinterest board set up, which I then translated into this minimalist nature-inspired card. It was a perfect fit for their gorgeous and relaxed Dutch farm wedding (pictures on their photographer's blog here). I also did a few extra bits for them: a separate invite for dinner, and empty notecards for personal messages to each one of the guests. 

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Hannah & Ed: A Countryside Wedding

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The second invite I worked on was for my dear friends Hannah & Ed. I met Hannah a few years ago at work and we've been fast friends ever since. She's a one of a kind, and one of the kindest people I know. She also is Mrs. British Countryside herself, who has acted as my guide to British culture and countryside over these past few years. Her wedding took place in their gorgeous local village church, followed by a feast in a tent set up in the field by the dairy farm they live on. The entire tent was decorated with vintage farmyard equipment (her husband is a mechanic), hay bales, and hops. Hops are local to the area and also featured heavily in the designs I did for them. 

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I did a few extra bits for them as well, including the Order of Service booklets, and custom wine labels! I managed to bring a few bottles home (for the portfolio, of course), and let me just say I am definitely open for more commissions like these. Wine label designer, could that be a full time job?

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Dirk & Sabine: A WACOM TABLET WITH FEELINGS

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This final commission I almost feel bad for including here, as I don't feel like I properly designed this one. The bride and groom (my brother and sister in law) had this design all sketched out and just needed someone to turn this into reality, which I did. The only credit I will take is picking out the font, which is different from what they originally picked. Still, they were happy with the designs and ultimately that is why I love designing wedding invites: you get to be a special part of people's celebrations. 

Hope you enjoyed that update! 
If you're interested in commissioning a wedding invite or save the date, please do send me a message or check out my Etsy shop. 

Lately, I've been trying to hold off on taking on too many commissions. I've been doing a lot of travel and the pregnancy is taking up its fair share of energy as well. I've got one more wedding invite to finish before my maternity leave, but other than that I've mostly been working on a baby book for our little one and trying to keep up my own journal pages.

Here's two commissions I did do this past year, both for family. I also hand lettered 350 place cards for a friend's wedding (which was surprisingly relaxing), but I forgot to take pictures.

Samme's Born!

I had the honor of designing my nephew's birth announcement. He was born back in November, and he's the absolute cutest of course. I love working with my brother and sister in law, as they always know exactly what they like and don't like. It helps when people have a clear idea of what they have in mind (and have somewhat of an understanding of the design process). 

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Party Invite

Exiting things are happening in my family, as my youngest brother is getting married next year. Because our stepmom has recently fallen quite ill, and we're not sure how long we'll still have her with us, my brother and soon-to-be sister in law decided to organize a small gathering for all of the parents in honor of them getting their wedding license. We had to throw this one together in quite a rush, so we used a drawing I made of them in my journal before from when they got engaged (see here) and turned it into an invite. It was total card blanche from their end, so this went to press with only minor adjustments. 

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Whenever people ask me who most inspire me (which is, like, all the time, duh), I never have to think for very long. For me, it's my two (younger) brothers. Both of them, in very different ways, are very special human beings and it's been a privilege to grow up with them and learn from them. It's the reason why I asked the two of them to be my witnesses at my wedding. I have such deep respect and love for them both. 

This spring, my brother Peter is getting married to his high school sweetheart, Lisanne, and I not only have the honor of being one of their witnesses, but I also had the pleasure of designing the invites for their special day. I must admit, though, I was a bit nervous. It always feels like a tremendous responsibility, but in this case, even more so. Peter and Lisanne as individuals and as a couple are amazing to be around. They treat each other with such love, mutual respect, and absolute honesty - it's refreshing and it goes a long way in explaining how they've managed to grow together these past eleven years, instead of growing apart, which so often happens. Bringing love, respect, and honesty (!) to the table is something I strive for in all of my relationships and mostly my marriage, and I think of them often as an example.

Long story short: this invite needed to be perfect. And while I'm not sure it is as perfect as it could be (am I ever sure?), it seems to have done the job for them :-)

Stella (6), Lisanne's niece, made the drawing of the wedding pair, I added the design and park bench illustration. The exact shade of green was the focal point of our discussions (everything else pretty much stayed the same from the first version), which is funny because I just painted my kitchen wall green. And bathroom wall. And bedroom wall. Which may or may not have been a coincidence. 

If you're interested in getting your wedding invite done, check out my Etsy shop here, contact me here, or check out more images and examples here. 

I always thought that I would never design my own wedding invite. Heck, up until pretty recently, I didn't even think I would get married any time soon. But then I did!

The Wedding Invites

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 © Anna Denise Floor

Jochem and I decided on the style and content of the design together, which was great. We felt since it was a simple and small wedding, we wanted to keep the invites as clean as possible. 

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 © Anna Denise Floor

We had the cards professionally printed on heavy card stock, then wrapped them in blue tissue paper. A true collectors item ;-) as only 14 people received a package.

The Party Invites

Of course, silly us for thinking we could just get married and be done with it. A party was in order, of course. Last weekend, almost 70-80 people (I lost count) showed up for our modest wedding bash. So fun. I shared a cigarette with my mom, I think my grandma got a little drunk, one of my best friends poured vitamin water into my brothers mojito. It was a classy affair, let it be said. 

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 © Anna Denise Floor

The invites (sent out digitally) of course had to include some pictures of us (taken in a photo booth in France last summer), as somehow in between the butterflies and wedding rings, we hadn't quite gotten around to introducing each other to everyone just quite yet. Dus.

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Nuria & Jochem's Save the Date © Anna Denise Floor

This summer, my best friend Nuria got married three days before we eloped (hehe). I was lucky to be one of her witnesses, and, on top of this, had the honor to create their wedding invites. I've done a few now, and I absolutely love doing them. It's such a special thing, to create something so personal for what's one of the most important moment's in people's lives. Needless to say, I was feeling the pressure, but I'm actually pretty proud of how they turned out.

For the 'Save the Date', we decided to base it off of the location in South America (Point Pirulil on Isla Grande de Chiloé to be exact) where (her) Jochem got on one knee and proposed. My friends are big travelers and the proposal came near the end of their 9-month trip around the world. Awww...

The invites had to have a weddingish food-theme - traditional but fun, and mostly delicious. They hosted their wedding at a gorgeous historical farm / restaurant in the middle of nowhere, and got married amidst the zucchini flowers growing in their organic vegetable garden. Fitting, as we're dealing with two total vegetarian food snobs here. The farm is in the background here.

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Nuria & Jochem's Wedding Invite © Anna Denise Floor

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Nuria and Jochem's Thank You Cards © Anna Denise Floor

The food was marvelous, as was the wine, and we turned the thank you card into a food fest as well. Nuria and Jochem left for their Italian honeymoon right after, so we included some more food, pasta, and a Fiat 500 in the design.

Overall, I'm happy with the result, but mostly - I'm just so glad I got to do this for my dear friends and helped to make their special day. It's such an honor. 

Ok. That made me feel the feels. I'm out.
Have a fun weekend everyone, and see you soon!