Paper Heart

"the art of a people is a true mirror to their minds."
- jawaharlal nehru 

{source}

So I've already shared with you how we've ranked our photographs as our no.1 priority and splurge for our day. Love!

And now it's time to dish about another big love of ours....

Here's a hint - it has 4 sides and lots of colors ;)

{hello! lucky hawaii invite}

The invitations!!

I mean, what's not to love about them? They are like little pieces of art for a wedding. Everything - the font, paper, color, images and words - can be a great way to give your favorite family and friends a sneak peek to the style and mood of your special day. 

And they are soooo pretty!

And, sometimes, they can be soooo pricey. Ummm, the first time I inquired about a letterpress invitation suite, the cost was so outrageous, I burst out laughing....seriously.

"How much for a piece of paper and an envelope??" 

"Is it made of gold?!"

"Could it clean our house and cook us dinner??" 

I laughed, shrugged it off and was convinced that letterpress was not in the cards for the Ostrich duo.

So Mr. O and I moved on to the wonderful world of Etsy, the home of charming things at an amazing price. Best. Shop. Ever.

One of the first lovely invites we discovered was this carved initial tree designed by a shop named ellothere. Sweet and simple and perfect for a neo-traditional duo like Mr. O and me....

{ellothere invite via source}

Then, we clicked, clicked, clicked through the rest of ellothere's shop until we found this gem - a vintage 45 record wedding invitation. Whoa! It's way too cool and so ridiculously awesome. And perfect for aspiring dj's like Mr. O and yours truly!

{ellothere invite via source}

And along our invitation shopping trip, one of my best pals, B, tipped me off to hello!lucky's destination wedding invites, where I found that groovy vintage hawaii invite in the 2nd photo.

So now we had a few options to consider that A) had sweet, unique designs and B) were thoughtful nods to Mr. O and I as a duo. 

But even with these choices, Mr. Ostrich and I kept going back to the very first invite we saw....the one that, like Max, I've had a wedding crush on many moons before we even started planning one!

It's playful, whimsical and clever in all the right ways....

And it's designed by the fantastic Rifle Paper Co.

 {rifle paper co. invite}

Each piece is like a little wedding painting. And Mr. O and I are such suckers for illustrations and funny animal critters...mariachi dudes and sparkly lights.

 {rifle paper co. invite}

But I wasn't a fool - Rifle's work is 100% custom...which makes them 100% expensivo. 

SAD FACE.

It was almost a total invite fail until I clicked along their site and saw this:

Collection?!? As in, templates?!?

So now I was really obsessed. I decided to email them and inquire to see what this was all about. And lo and behold, I received the 2nd email that made me do cartwheels down the hall...

Rifle had begun offering an affordable invitation collection and would be happy to do our invites! HOORAY!!!!

The templates ARE much cheaper than their custom work, but still more than our Etsy invites, because we opted for a bit of hand calligraphy for our names and a couple illustration on the invitation. But like our photographer, we've prioritized the more creative parts at the top of our list. The rest? bargain, vintage and flea market shopping and endless d.i.y-ing!

So the contracts have been signed, the color palette and pictures have been passed off and Mr. Ostrich and I are eagerly awaiting the final proofs for approval. But in the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, here is the template for our invitation set. The only changes we made were to the colors so they matched our palette, the addition of a few beach critters here and there and a rsvp postcard instead of a card & envelope {go green!}...but it's fun! And Mr. Ostrich and I love it to pieces.

{rifle paper co. invitation}

Now it's your turn, bride-to-bees. what invitations have you fall in love with for your wedding? Is it one of your top investments or were you a diy diva and created your own? I look forward to hearing all of your awesome ideas!