Popups and papercuts

Probably too much work, but a popup card would be fun, I think. The rest of this black & white wedding photo shoot was a little too stark for me.

(from Style Me Pretty)

This invitation printed on kraft paper with line drawings feels much more comfortable:

(via Oh So Beautiful Paper)

It would be cool to figure out a way to design this kind of invitation so that it would just require being printed on 8.5" x 11" paper, front and back, and then just cut out and assemble together. Maybe two slits on the main section for the extra folding sections to slip into?

This one would also be too complicated, but I love the look of it and that you'd be able to mail it flat but it'd almost be a 3-D work of art when unpacked. I think Dan would object to this on the grounds that it's a bit presumptuous to send out something that would take up so much space when displayed, which is probably fair.

(via Oh So Beautiful Paper) 

More infeasible complexity: papercuts!

(via Oh So Beautiful Paper)

To simplify this one, perhaps I could get my mom to buy some papercut design in bulk in China? That would likely be on red paper, too.

Or perhaps buying papercut invites off of Etsy, like these:

(Papeles Picados in aymujer's Etsy shop, $175 for 25--probably beyond budget)

It probably would be pretty easy to get papercuts of the 'shuang- xi^' character, but if not, it would be nice to include them somewhere in the design, like so:

(by We Heart Paper, via Oh So Beautiful Paper)

Why is this symbol important? Quick Chinese culture lesson! (from Chinese Wedding Invitations)

The symbol of "Double Happiness" is something that cannot be missed during a Chinese wedding- whether it may be a traditional one or among those which have a more contemporary set-up.

It is usually printed on the invitation with the use of golden hot stamps. The symbol of Double Happiness is a declaration that the bride-to-be and the groom-to-be will be united. The symbol, which is composed of two standard Chinese characters used to signify "happiness", means that the couple and their families will now be "together".

Each of the characters that denote happiness is written as "hsi" or "xi" in Mandarin. In the case of the Double Happiness sign, the two "XI" characters signify the happiness of the newlywed couple that are about to spend their lives together. Pronounced as "shuang-xi", the sign generally stands for marital happiness. Note that the Double Happiness sign is not used in regular Mandarin writing, but is only observed for marital union invitations and declarations.