Greek Wedding Journal: Save the Dates & Invitations

As a lover of events and parties (!), I believe that invitations are key to setting a mood and theme. You are inviting the guest into your world for a few hours, and the feelings that they bring with them are sooo important.

Do you want people to relax and socialize? Do you want the event to be formal and more elegant? All of this is expressed in what some would consider basic details, like the art & calligraphy on an invitation. The devil is in the details, and I love the details. 

Having looked at what was available, I quickly decided that I wanted to paint, create and print my own wedding stationary. Having a wedding Crete was so personal and special to me, and I could think of no better way to get my vision across than to do it myself! 

First, for the Save-the-Dates, I wanted to draw a map of Crete, with all of my favorite spots highlighted. However, no matter how much I tried...it didn't seem right. So, I finally stop and asked myself "what do YOU" want to paint? 

What came to me was an old olive tree, filled with mati (evil eye). Representing generations of family, strong roots, good fortune and Greece, it all seemed to resonated. Bingo! We were finally moving. 

For our August 19th wedding, Save-the-Dates went out in maybe the 1st week of February. While I used photoshop to edit the images, I did all of my layout editing and printing via Canva. If you don't know, Canva is a great tool for creating your own designs. It is super user friendly and I highly recommend it! 

Now, to the actual wedding stationary. Again, how does one convey so much meaning into a 5 x 7 in card? Since the previous approach of letting the paper speak to me seemed to work, I did the same for the invitations. And with it, I painted the stefana, or wedding crowns, surrounded by delicate branches and flowers.

The stefana are an integral part of the Greek Orthodox wedding service, as  you and your partner are crowned the King and Queen of your marriage. Tied together with a ribbon, the stefana must work in unison and are blessed by the priest. 

 Since this motif was simple yet elegant, it was easy to use it for our programs as well. I love an easy tie in!

Again, the invitations and programs were all created and printed via Canva. It's a great resource for creatives. 

What type of invitations did you have for your wedding? Are you a stationary lover like me? Let me know @withlovebybug or in the comments below!