Clare + Johnny's Whimsical Midwestern Wedding
On Clare and Johnny’s first date Johnny gave Clare the flu! How's that for a start!. The very next day, in a valiant act of redemption, Johnny drove several miles to pick up her favorite soup and came to her rescue. Needless to say, she was smitten from that moment on.
This suite was a lot of fun to put together. Clare and Johnny’s laid back approach coupled with their unique aesthetic "Whimsical Western" allowed me an opportunity to have lots of creative freedom. Before I begin designing I like to pull imagery that sums up the desired look and feel I have interpreted from my clients. Visuals are always the best way to get started so that I can make sure we are speaking the same language. Above, is the mood board we landed on. I then went on to create 3 concepts that I presented to Clare. She was torn between 2, but once Johnny had a look he knew the one he wanted. True to his roots/personality, he was drawn to the design that said "Let's Party".
The save the date was hand stamped onto chipboard and is available for customization in the shop as well as the return address stamp! (Check them both out here). The wedding invitations were the first letterpress invites I got to hand print myself, which was an amazing challenge and I absolutely loved it. I featured some of the ink mixing as well as running the machine on my stories this past summer. I used 110lb Crane Lettra pearl white paper which is 100% cotton and works so well with letterpress. We kept things simple with just two ink colors, black and a warm goldenrod. To complete the suite I used my signature wraparound address labels with the wedding hashtag, #oncloudnichols and “saddle up” on the tabs. Their favorite thing about a custom suite was “being able to sum up my wedding in a couple words and translating it into a unique suite that matched the whole style of our wedding”.
I always love when I get a chance to go to my client's weddings. It was so lovely to see my drink and dessert signs on their respective tables. Did you know “bend an elbow” was slang in the old west for "have a drink"? My personal favorite thing about attending though, was the chocolate cake with vanilla icing, so classic and simple but completely wonderful. Not sure if that had anything to do with being 9 weeks pregnant at the time but I generally like everything Clare bakes. Yes that’s right, Clare made her own wedding cake and cake topper to match their wedding logo.
And I will end with this, one of my absolute favorite shots from the wedding. Clare’s custom dress was made by our older sister Jill, of My Heirloom Bridal. All imagery by my good friend, Cassidy Parker Smith.