As much as I love living outside of Philadelphia, traveling is one of my favorite pastimes. I love experiencing new cities and states, seeing new landscapes, and taking note of how textures and colors combine in other parts of the country and the world. When couples announce they’re planning a destination wedding and their invitations will be flung far and wide to invite their guests to adventure with them, I’m always eager to get started.
Samantha and Ryan met at Penn State University, and they love watching sports together (football and hockey to be specific!). Plus, they’re avid players of backyard games, and they never say no to a concert. They’re fun to be around, and they’re drawn to experiences. So, S+R decided to plan a complete wedding weekend for their guests at Garden of the Gods Resort & Club in stunning Colorado Springs.
No matter if a couple is tying the knot in Philadelphia or a resort a bit further away, I always like to look to their venue as we search for inspiration. And, Garden of the Gods Resort & Club has plenty! They’re known for their outdoor activities that encourage guests to take in the sights around them. One look at the mountains that surround the resort explains it all! Plus, there’s plenty of palette inspiration too, thanks to the red rocks in the area. We wanted to offer a hint that nature would inspire much of their wedding day and its design, so sage green, beige, ivory, and gold was the palette that was decided on.
Not only did Samantha and Ryan want to highlight the landscape found at Garden of the Gods Resort & Club through their palette, they also wanted to highlight it through their wedding day details. They jumped at the chance to mail their guests one of my favorite types of wedding invitations – acrylic!
To create a clean and modern aesthetic, we used gold ink for their names on the acrylic invitation and printed the rest of the wording in white ink. Then, the inserts were printed digitally using sage green ink to match the envelopes. The completed pieces were held together with a gold band that matched the gold of their names on the main piece, and everything was tucked inside an envelope that also had one more touch of gold, an envelope liner.
Take a look below at the photos Haley Richter Photography captured of Samantha and Ryan’s suite! This is one that will keep inspiring me for quite a while. It’s also why Colorado Springs is at the top of my list of places to visit.
