Playing it Koi

My cousin is getting married. Soon.

By soon I mean at the end of August. This year. Gulp.

She knows I still have much affection for all things wedding, so I have been enlisted to get things rolling. First matter of attention, after dress shopping of course, is to get some invitations in the mail. In this matter, I have a lot of opinion but little experience, and for our own invites hovered over Gavan's shoulder, playing director while he worked his Photoshop magic. This time he was in New Zealand, so I decided rather than wait for his return I could give invite-design a whirl myself. Uh-huh.

This is a second wedding for both, and they plan to host a casual celebration at their new home. They have an absolutely lovely backyard, and if the weather cooperates, that's where the festivities will take place. In coming up with some kind of theme or motif for the invitations, all the bride knew for sure was that they like orange and have many shared outdoor hobbies. We looked at mountains and trees, birds and flora, none of which really was hitting us quite right.

Then the perfect solution hit me. Or more like flopped about wildly in my lap. The newly-engaged couple has a gorgeous Koi pond in their backyard, and are becoming enthusiasts to this hobby that was really just thrust open them with ownership of their new digs. How did I not see it earlier.... backyard party? Orange? A meaningful motif? Well Koi of course. It seemed like a perfect place to start and I hope I've managed to pull all the elements together into a personal, tone-setting invitation.

(click to enlarge)

My photoshopping skills are still pretty rough, so my husband is probably very tired of hearing me ask, "how do I...??" over and over, but I have to say I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt, and was too excited not to share the first draft.