I enjoy like the way this invite helps you to connect with the couple getting married. It’s not your average faceless card with hackneyed antiquated language. Or even your average self-gratifying designer’s invite. You get a real sense of who they are as people (yes, I know you’d know them if you’d been invited, but not always that well). It also tells their unique story with fact, wit, and honesty. I like that. One day when I get married, I’d like an invite that tells a little story. A snippet of how we’d met, and the trials and tribulations that got us there. And at risk of mixing up my job and real life, It’s not much different to how you build a brand. Getting people to feel a little closer to who you are, how you got here, and communicating a personality. Everything is a brand, whether we like it or not. And we can all choose to let it ride or get involved with the story.
Anyway, here’s Jill and Matt’s invite. Oh and congratulations!
Graham.Creative. 
Dear Graham Creative, if I were to receive this I’d think ‘what the dickens is this supposed to be?’ It is neither clear at communicating its point nor is it beautiful. I bet they are the kind of people who write Christmas cards which contain 10,000 word essays about how well they are doing this year and their assumption that every one of their prospective guests will give a shit or not have had this information rammed down their throats endlessly by the self loving bastard who produced this self gratifying ugly faux newspaper ad. ‘OOoh, but isnt the type nice and it is clever’ – bollocks.
The last thing that this is, is honest. Where’s the part about where Matthew came in from the bar drunk and barfed on the cat and told Jill he couldn’t see a future for them? Or when they didn’t have sex for 3 months because Jill was depressed about her shitty job and had a little thing with Craig from the next office down the hall. They’ve cut all the bits that might have made this relevant and left a sanitised ‘aawwww’ essay based on lies.
News flash: your wedding invite should tell you when the wedding is. That’s it. If that’s not what you are trying to achieve it’s a failure – you can see this can’t you Graham Creative? Everything is NOT a brand and should not be approached this way.
Are you heart broken?? LOL.
Btw, the ugly facts you stated, had they ever been true, would make the story even sweeter. Since the whole idea of this invitation is just how ordinary, yet happily married, this couple is.
Btw again, graham creative, so far, this is the BEST and my most favourite wedding invitation… Love it! nice job… xD
Dear Graham Creative, why did you delete my response to your blog entry? It was neither offensive or aggresive, merely opinion. Why put yourself and your opinions into the public domain if you react this way to people who question your views? What do you do when a client asks you to change a design concept you have put forward, tell them they are wrong and then give up?
David, I’ve only just logged in, seen it and approved it, so it didn’t ever go live to be deleted! :-) WordPress lets you see how it will look before it’s approved (nobody else can see it ’til that happens)
But, It’s now been firmly approved, and thank you for getting involved and for your difference of opinion. Creativity can’t move forwards without push-backs and alternative points of view.
I’m glad you found the post engaging if not the invite!
My point that everything is a brand, whilst it leaves me feeling a little cold, means that everything that people interect with – and their subsequent perception of that – is it’s brand.
For example; people have their opinion of me, and over time, the majority of opinion and how I act becomes my ‘brand’ if you like. I can do things to control it, and put my own side forwards if this perception is false in some way. Or I can sit back and let my ‘brand’ be damaged…
Now I’m not for a second trying to say that everything should be treated as a brand in some robotic and up-the-arse corporate way. But everything whether we like it or not is seen in a certain way. And if public, quickly has consensus put upon it which is it’s brand.
I love this! i think it’s a lovely way to tell their story and as you say – not everyone actually knows the couple very well at weddings. Receiving a wedding invite isn’t just about the information – if it was everyone might as well just send an email or set up an fb group! f you can’t have a bit of fun and be a bit gratuitous with the design of your own wedding invite than when can you.
What I am interested to know is how was this printed? it’s a weird format, was it a scroll or folded or something.
I’m not sure how it’s printed, or how to find out. But personally I love the story-telling. But I’m a bit of a sucker for stories and ideas. Hope the freelencing’s going well. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve just blogged your Unicef ad!
Hey Graham – I really like this invite. It had me until eternity, which is a sign of good story-telling. It’s fun, different and stylized. It reminds me of a 1950’s American diner menu…
Look what I spotted at an exhibition last night:
crappy phone camera pic but I just had to show you!
(And it shows that the bottom folds up over the top so the main information is actually at the front. Therefore if any people like David above can’t bare to read the story they don’t have to.)
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[…] 2. Jill Marleah and Matthew Jesse’s Love Story Wedding Invitation (via Graham Creative) […]