How To Design Invitations for an Irish Wedding
Some couples choose to celebrate their nuptials with an Irish wedding to honor one or both partner’s cultural heritage and ancestry. Others plan an Irish wedding because of the simplicity, elegance and powerful themes of love and devotion. No Irish wedding is complete without carefully designed invitations invoking the grandeur of Ireland.
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Things You'll Need
- Stationery
- Calligrapher
- Home computer graphic design program
- Irish symbol
- Irish border
- Irish fabrics
- Dried flowers
- Envelopes
- Sealant
- Stamps
Instructions
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Choose Irish wedding stationery. Irish wedding invitations have a substantial feel, so choose heavy, quality stationery. Paper can be textured, marbled, faintly crumpled or creamy smooth. Classic Irish wedding colors can include gold, burgundy, olive, green or rust. Burnt-paper edges are a romantic touch.
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Select Irish wedding script and wording. Choose between Irish or Celtic wedding calligraphy, both aesthetically appealing and culturally correct choices for Irish wedding invitations. Those with larger wedding invitation budgets may hire a calligrapher, but some home word processor or page design programs will have attractive Irish wedding fonts, too. Choose fonts that are elegant, but readable.
Irish wedding invitations tend toward formality, so traditional salutations and word choices are appropriate. The names of the people hosting the wedding–whether the groom’s parents, bride’s parents, or the couple themselves–are listed first.
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Pick an Irish wedding symbol. Irish history and artistic heritage are full of symbolism, which make great additions to wedding invitations. The 16th century Irish “claddagh” heart symbolizes love, friendship and loyalty, and the Irish “eternity knot” symbol may represent a couple’s never-ending devotion. The Celtic Ring Cross or Long Cross make good choices for religious Irish weddings.
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Pick an Irish wedding invitation border. Irish wedding invitations are often bordered with depictions of repetitive pearl chains, symbolizing the couple’s unending love. Printed Celtic knot borders make another attractive choice.
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Decide on final touches. Tie invitations with Irish fabrics, including damask, silk or organdy. Consider tucking a dried Irish blossom, such as foxglove or Irish eyebright, into the invitation. Seal envelopes with wax and a stamp depicting an Irish-themed subject, such as a map of Ireland, shamrock, Celtic cross or other image.
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Tips & Warnings
Keep the Irish wedding invitation theme going even in the details, like choosing postage stamps depicting shamrocks, the color green, or other traditional Irish symbols.
Considering using Irish spellings to make the invitations feel authentic. Change spellings to read “honour,” “city centre,” and so on.
Wedding invitations should match the wedding’s themed colors, even if they are not traditional Irish wedding colors. Avoid using colors on the invitation that do not correspond to colors that will be used in the wedding.
Be careful when using religious imagery on Irish wedding invitations if the couple is not particularly religious. It should be clear that a couple is honoring Irish traditions and not flouting or mocking them.
References
- Photo Credit invitation mariage image by Christophe Thélisson from Fotolia.com
