Midsummer Night’s Wedding – The Invitation

Today we start a series of posts dedicated to the various aspects of what it takes to create and organize a BiniChic wedding. Jacopo and I will be getting married this summer in Tuscany (where he’s from), and thought you might enjoy seeing the making-of of our Midsummer Night’s Wedding. Let’s start with the invitation:

The concept and production were a group effort, with everybody in our families contributing their expertise and time in one form or another.

The first element you see of the invitation is a 17x17cm folder made of hand-made linen paper. On this folder we printed a scan of a silk tulle embroidered with a motif inspired by a Modernist cast iron lamp that hangs in the kitchen of Il Cicaleto, the villa where we’ll have the wedding.

This is the beautiful lamp, whose design inspired the embroidery below, which will also be making an appearance on my dress (but don’t tell Jacopo!) The drawing for the embroidery was created by my mother Susan and our talented friend Shezi.

The folder, along with all the other hand-made paper elements of the invitation, were made by my step-mother Núria in her Menorcan workshop.

We thought it would be a nice touch and a good contrast in color to close the folder with a wax seal. When designing the “icon” I went through many designs, finally realizing that our “logo” had been right front of me the whole time:

This is the beautiful vintage engagement ring Jacopo picked out and gave to me on October 9th, 2011 (incidentally, it was also my birthday). The ring is a Modernist piece from the early 20th Century with rose-cut diamonds set on a gold band. He found it in a quaint little antique shop in Barcelona’s Passeig de Gracia.

The process of putting on the wax was long and tedious, and we only really got the hang of it after many practice runs (and botched efforts). We learned the following about applying sealing wax: 1. close the lid well while applying the wax so it doesn’t go under the flap 2. Let the wax cool a bit before putting the seal, otherwise they will probably stick together (a good trick is to dip the seal in ice water when it gets too hot) 3. Burn the wax from the top, not from under to avoid the unsightly black smoke 4. Use a good quality kitchen lighter so as not to burn your fingers.

Once the seal is broken, you open up the invitation to find an original linoleum etching made by my father, Marcel, on the left inside face of the folder. The etching represents Jacopo and I as turtle doves perched on a tree under a full moon.

Fresh, original and fun, we thought it would be nice for our friends and family to have as a souvenir of our wedding.

Opposite the etching, we placed a sheet of hand-made linen paper with the details of the event. The paper was folded in half, and on three of its four facets the information was printed in Italian, English and Catalan — which was the only way all of our guests would understand it.

The font I used for the text was Mrs Eaves, and although it was designed in 1996 by Zuzana Licko, it has the antique feel of the 18th century fonts designed by Baskerville (after whose wife MrsEaves was named). For our names I used the display face font, Lafitte.

We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing and reading about our BiniChic wedding invitation. In the coming installments we’ll cover the making of the dress, the reformation of Il Cicaleto, the flower arrangements, the event design and many other things! Stay tuned.

And here we leave you with our own little version of the assembly line:

Thank you Susan, Marcel, Núria, Isa, Pietro, Carlos and Shezi for helping make this invite so special.

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11 Responses to Midsummer Night’s Wedding – The Invitation

  1. Lia Cini says:

    Ciao Cari Ona e Jacopo, non ci conosciamo o quasi,( Jacopo era molto piccolo) ma ci vedremo al vostro matrimonio .Sarò felice di abbracciarvi e complimenti per questa bella iniziativa: carissimi saluti Lia

    • BiniChic says:

      Ciao Lia! Grazie mille! Siamo contenti che ti piaccia l’invito e di vederti presto al matrimonio. Un abbraccio, Ona & Jacopo

  2. antonio g monjo says:

    GENIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Karen Hester says:

    Exquisite!! Ever so special. Thank you for sharing your treasured steps along your journey to a marriage of souls filled with love … all my very best to you both! xo

  4. cuca guixeras says:

    Muero de emoción y ganas de ver esa invitación realizada por tan gran team. Y me encanta ver que el fruto del paso del tiempo es crecer y crecer.
    Os envío toneladas de ilusión y ánimo para trabajar la belleza durante vuestra larguísima vida juntos Ona y Jacopo

  5. Lana says:

    Ona!! I had no idea you guys were tying the knot! How absolutely fantastic and exciting. Your invitations are breathtaking and gorgeous—the fact you printed them in 3 languages is so ballaaaa!! You’re a classy, worldly lady, Miss Ona 🙂 xoxo

  6. Annie Allan says:

    Everything you write, photograph, draw is so inspiring and dear….I love looking at it and reading it time and again….
    There are tears because I must miss the Mid Summer Nights Wedding……
    Amore e felicita per sempre fr voi due

    PS Wedding present will be late…hasn’t arrived yet

  7. Pingback: Midsummer Night’s Wedding: The Dress, Part I | BiniChic | Mediterranean Lifestyle

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