Earlier this year – Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty star Vanessa Williams was wed to NY accountant Jim Skrip. Vanessa and her partner met whilst cruising down the Nile in Egypt, and wanted their wedding invitations to reflect their unique and unforgettable love story.

Their ceremony and celebration was thus, a beautiful and lavish Egyptian themed celebration fit for a King and Queen.UK based design company, Adorn Wedding Invitations worked closely with Vanessa to make sure that her invitations were equally as glamorous and enchanting as the soon-to-be wedding.

For months, the Adorn design team worked tirelessly to create a design that truly reflected Vanessa and Jim’s incomparable romance.

Creating Magical Designs Fit for Egyptian Goddess

The Adorn team was content on taking advantage of this opportunity to produce the most extraordinary and impressive invitation suite to date; therefore no details were too little, or missed, regarding the couple’s history and wedding plans whilst compiling design inspiration.

As a result, Adorn gained a strong vision of colours and textures that would work perfectly for Vanessa’s wedding, and ended up collaborating with their wedding planner on colours and decorative elements for the actual celebration. From laser cut golden cupcake holders, to lavish table cloths and napkins, Adorn worked together with Vanessa and Jim to create an overall design aesthetic for the wedding that could be beautifully translated through their invitation design. 

The actual concept for the design was hugely influenced by one of Vanessa’s Carmen Marc Valvo gowns.  Adorn took some of the intricate detailing featured on the gown, and transcended that onto the invitation. No detail went unnoticed in the development of their final design.

Bringing the Invitations to Life

Everyone involved in the design process fell in love with the colour combination of gold and Marsala – Pantone’s color of the year. To create this vivid tone of Marsala – the design team mixed multiple inks and shades using Adorn’s vintage printing machinery that is quite rare to come across these days.

The gold foil used for the invitation shimmered and sparkled exactly like the gold decor in the wedding, perfectly emanating the luxurious future ceremony. Next up was the intricate and delicate laser cut detailing. By tying in the details from Vanessa’s gown into the invitations, the team thought that this would be a beautiful nuance amongst such a grandiose wedding. The actual laser cut detailing was first created by hand drawing the design, and once this was completed the image was scanned onto the computer.

The team wanted to create a singular shape which was then replicated on the computer to achieve the very intricate and unique final design. Using the latest technology – Adorn were finally able to laser cut the exact detailing onto every single one of the invitations.

However, the most exciting detail that was featured on the design was undoubtedly the 14k golden lotus flower that Adorn featured on the front of the invitation. During Adorn’s inspiration and design process they made comment of Vanessa’s unique engagement ring. Jim had this one-of-a-kind ring personally designed with a lotus leaf engraved onto Vanessa’s ring; it was explained that the very complex symbol represents spiritual awakening and divine beauty, a perfect tribute to the couple’s newly blossomed relationship.

Results – A Beautiful Piece of Art

The final design for Vanessa and Jim’s invitation was the result of months of collaboration and inspiration, and the couple could not have been more thrilled with the final outcome! Vanessa thanked the Adorn team on her social media for their ‘extraordinary work in creating a beautiful piece of art’.

Vanessa also stated that “The invites were a huge hit with our guests!” which wasn’t a surprise as Adorn had fallen in love with the final designs just as much Vanessa and Jim had.

So much so that Adorn later discussed the idea of recreating this flawless invitation (in a cheaper/versatile option) with the couple; and should soon have the design available to the public.

Head to adorninvitations.co.uk and be the first to get your hands on this sought after creation.