A marriage proposal floating atop the heavenly waters of Hawaii – how could I possibly not include this in illustrating Susan & Stuart’s story?
Well, turns out, I really could have.. I mean, cut that part out about Hawaii at least.
Oh my, how quickly my aspirations of combining tropical glam with refined elegance take on a dejected life of its own! After what seemed like hours of doodling, I looked down and from what I could make out amongst the mess of a page, there was – in order of terribleness – palm trees (the kind you learn how to draw as a kid, sporting hugely disproportioned coconuts and leaves like lightning bolts), cocktails in various glass offerings and, dare I say it, surfboards. Yep, that stylish design I’d promised was looking about as close as Susan’s head to a paper bag after seeing her initial designs – if she’d seen them. This is just a little insight into why showing ‘rough’ sketches is more like playing a game of Draw Something to me.. ‘And that’s meant to be what??’.
Anyways, stepping away from the design massacre and starting from scratch, I started thinking about what really struck me most about the couple. Honestly, it was the fact that Susan & Stuart were high school sweethearts. It did genuinely astound me – not so much the length of commitment – but.. I guess, just to have found that one person you were destined to marry at such a young age.
So, in the spirit of young love and sailing on through life together (don’t hate me for saying that), here is the wedding invitation I ultimately designed for Susan & Stuart!