One of my favorite things to design are invitations. Parties and get-togethers are fun, and the invitation is your first glimpse into the theme or the tone of the event. Is the invitation san-serifed and monotone? Seems classy. Bright colors and illustrated? Enjoyable.

I often end up designing the invitations for friends’ events, and have even done the invitations for several my friends’ weddings – as well as my own. But don’t be mistaken, I usually get to do this because I ask them to let me. “Oh, you’re having an event of any kind, I’ll design your invite! If you want. Please let me.”

The latest example: my friend Whitney asked me to be one of three friends to help plan her upcoming bridal shower. First, yes! Second, we’ll need an invitation! Before the four of us could even schedule a lunch to brainstorm, I had something sketched out.

With Whit on board, I went to the computer. Add in some color and text and we have a winner.

This is my first illustrated text invitation, so I’m pretty excited about it. And Whitney’s bridal shower, obviously.

Final product