Invitations set the whole tone of your wedding. Just by looking at them guests can tell what kind of wedding you will have. Formal, eco friendly, destination. These choices are set as you lick the stamps and send them off. A few months ago I wrote a post showing how to make a wedding invitation with the help of the Graphics Fairy. Today I want to show you one destination wedding invitation from one of my clients Brittainy van Enoo. Brittainy will be getting married this May in Costa Rica. (I can’t wait to share those photos with you, but for now lets concentrate on her invites.)
But first a little background about destination weddings. (They aren’t as expensive as you may think.)
Choosing a to have a destination wedding is a big decision, but they aren’t unattainable, even if you are on a budget. Cost of Wedding.com says that for Reno couples getting married the average cost is “between $18,887 and $31,478 total. The totals above are based on the average number of guests estimated between 119 and 133. A single guest could add between $180 and $220 to the overall cost of your wedding.”
While Destination Weddings & Honeymoons put the price of an average destination wedding at $21,800. That is with in the ballpark for the average Reno wedding. The difference usually comes with the amount of guests that attend. These weddings are usually smaller and more intimate than local weddings, with only the most important family and friends attending. And you don’t have to pay separately for the honeymoon, because you are already there!
Brittainy wants just this sort of small intimate wedding on a tropical beach. So in keeping with the theme of her wedding she created these adorable wedding invitations. I call them invitations, but they are so much more. You arrive home to a little blue box with a white ribbon tied in a bow. If anyone has bought or been given anything from Tiffany’s this is very similar to how they wrap their wonderful wares. Everyone should be excited to get such a box, even if you don’t know what it contains.
You open the box and under the lid reads, “We look forward to celebrating with you.” So you open the white tissue paper and find on a bed of white sand: sea shells, pearls, two silver rings and a long with a blue piece of paper rolled into a tube and tied with twine. Now you know not only are you in for something special, but it has to do with the ocean. You are very excited, because you love the ocean.
You life the paper out of the sand, feeling its gritty texture and slide the twine slowly down one end. It comes off easily and as you unroll the shiny teal paper you see that it is a special destination wedding invitation.
With this invite Brittainy has taken you straight from your couch (or where ever you are reading it) to Costa Rica. The colors, textures and items that make the invite remind you of the ocean. The only things that are missing are the sea breeze and the sound of the waves.
You may think that an invitation like this would cost quite a bit of coin, however if you remember the DIY rule number one: if you make it yourself it will cost less. All of these elements can be purchased printed and assembled from your living room. According to the Cost of Wedding site the average spent on wedding invitations is $659. These invitations are not only within that range but remember as a destination wedding you are probably inviting less people, so these invitations still leave enough money in your pocket to buy drinks at the swim-up bar.
So get creative brides! Are you planning your destination wedding? What feelings do you want to evoke with your invitations?