Art Nouveau Letterpress Wedding Invitations for a Downtown Los Angeles Wedding

Luxurious wedding invitations designed in the Art Nouveau style

Wedding

When I first got on a call with Anne and Kristen to discuss their wedding vision, I instantly knew we were meant to work together when they said, “We want our wedding invitations to be reflective of the Art Nouveau movement—not Art Deco.” They continued and asked if I knew what they meant by that. Say no more! Luckily for them, Art Nouveau has always been one of my favorite art movements—don’t get me wrong, Art Deco is great and has a time and place for special events, especially weddings in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. But Art Nouveau’s intricate details and organic whimsical lines are more my jam. I’m obsessed with the design challenge of how much can be added before it is too much.

When it came to the wedding color palette, the venue, the Los Angeles Ahtletic’s Club, drew the most inspiration. The iconic early 1900s Beaux-Arts building nestled in Downtown LA was designed with rich, deep colors tones of reds, browns, and dark grays. To compliment the venue space, A + K wanted to have emerald green as the primary color. To balance it out to not make the overall look too moody, we brought in a light, more muted green for the print color and a neutral shimmery light beige envelope. 

One important detail, when it comes to designing a custom wedding invitation suite, is that it is truly unique to the couple, which can be accomplished with custom artwork. And we did just that for A + K’s letterpress suite. To personalize their design, A + K wanted to include their individual home state flowers: California poppies and Colorado columbines. With the Art Nouveau movement in mind, I illustrated a custom frame featuring both flowers, swirling stems and leaves, while being mindful that the final piece will be printed in letterpress. 

For typography, we agreed to use fonts that were stylistically Art Nouveau but made sure to be attentive of legibility. Afterall, how good is a design if guests have difficulty reading the important information?—The main purpose of wedding invitations will always be to make sure guests know who is getting married, when, and where.—We landed on a display typeface that had a touch of personality but wasn’t overwhelming with swashes and paired it with a simple, modern sans serif. Side note: my love for typography is how I started my graphic design journey and selecting fonts is also a delight for me. 

For the stamps, Kristen’s mom spent years collecting stamps and provided a huge stash of vintage stamps to use with their invitation suite. The California, Colorado, and Fitzgerald stamps perfectly matched the overall theme and told a story of the couple. We mixed a set of vintage stamps with a stamp design that was currently in rotation. 

To complete the custom letterpress wedding invitation suite, we added a rich, jewel toned emerald green pocket. With the cards perfectly in place, the pocket is wrapped with a soft mint green velvet ribbon and a custom letterpress monogram band. The invitations were sent off in a shimmery beige envelope with printed addresses. 

A + K’s invitation suite gave guests the first glimpses of what to expect at their wedding. Invitations set the tone for weddings and upon opening the invitations, guests knew they would be in for a treat with a fun, beautiful black, tie event. 

Paper goods + signage • @calligraphybymichellet

Venue • @losangelesathleticclub

Florals • @thebloomoftime

Planning + Design • @modernlaweddings

Photography • @thebeccamurray

Rentals • @pacificdreamco