Key Takeaways:
- The rehearsal dinner invitation can have its own personality, separate from the wedding invitation. Whether the wedding suite is formal and restrained or the rehearsal dinner calls for something bolder — a Second Line motif, Kissing Gators, or a Party Animals character — the two don't need to match to feel connected.
- Choose from three signature illustration collections — or commission something original. Kissing Gators (romantic), Second Line Wedding Alligators (celebratory), and Poppin' Bottles with Models (glamorous) each set a different tone, and coordinating cups, napkins, and place cards let the artwork carry from the invitation to the table.
- Plan for a 4–6 month lead time. Custom invitations require a minimum four weeks of production after deposit and finalized wording (plus ~2 extra weeks for finishes like beveled or hand-painted edges), so it's best to start once the venue and date are confirmed.
New Orleans Rehearsal Dinner Invitations With Original Hand-Drawn Art
The rehearsal dinner may come before the wedding, but it doesn’t have to feel like the opening act.
In New Orleans, the rehearsal dinner is often the first moment when the people you love most are finally gathered in one place. Whether you’re planning a candlelit dinner in a secluded French Quarter courtyard, cocktails beneath the galleries of a Garden District mansion, a spirited Creole restaurant fête, or an evening that ends with live jazz and a Second Line, your New Orleans rehearsal dinner invitation should give guests their first delicious glimpse of the unique celebration to come.
For more than three decades, I’ve created original, hand-drawn artwork from my New Orleans studio, inspired by the architecture, gardens, traditions, characters, humor, and unmistakable joie de vivre of the city I call home. Any existing copyrighted Alexa Pulitzer illustration in my collection can be considered for your custom rehearsal dinner invitation, provided the artwork is suitable for the format. Or, if you want something that belongs entirely to your celebration, I can draw an original illustration expressly for you.
The result is more than a rehearsal dinner invitation. It’s the beginning of a visual story that can travel from the envelope to the table, the bar, and throughout the wedding weekend.
The wedding may be tomorrow. Tonight deserves a fabulous invitation of its own.
Why Your New Orleans Rehearsal Dinner Invitation Deserves Its Own Personality
The formal wedding invitation may set the tone for the ceremony, but the rehearsal dinner invitation has permission to reveal another side of the celebration. Traditionally hosted by the groom’s family, the rehearsal dinner can have a personality entirely its own.
Perhaps your wedding invitation is formal, engraved, and beautifully restrained, while the rehearsal dinner calls for something witty, colorful, or unmistakably New Orleans. Or perhaps you want the entire custom wedding stationery suite connected by a cipher, crest, ink color, typography, or illustrative style, while allowing each event to have a character of its own.
I particularly love the latter approach. Cohesive doesn’t have to mean identical. The most beautiful wedding paper trousseaus feel collected rather than matched, with each piece contributing another layer to the story of the weekend.
New Orleans Rehearsal Dinner Invitations Inspired by the City
New Orleans gives us an extraordinary visual vocabulary. A rehearsal dinner might unfold in a private French Quarter courtyard, hidden behind the façade of an elegant Creole townhouse, where weathered brick, climbing jasmine, flickering gas lanterns, and the sweet sound of New Orleans jazz create a setting that could belong nowhere else. Or perhaps you’re gathering everyone at a Garden District mansion, where gracious galleries overlook palms, magnolias, and ancient live oaks.
Your celebration might instead be an intimate dinner at a favorite Creole restaurant, a music-filled late night fête, a crawfish boil, or Preservation Hall followed by a brass band leading everyone into the street. Whatever the setting, your custom New Orleans rehearsal dinner invitation can take its cues from the place, the evening, and the two of you.
My archive includes original New Orleans illustrations such as Preservation Hall, Jackson Square with the Cabildo and Presbytère, The Napoleon House, The French Quarter, Arnaud’s, Congo Square, the New Orleans Crest, Kissing Gators, Second Line Wedding Alligators, Second Line Carnival Alligators, Lush Tropical Foliage, and a collection of elegant Fleur de Lys, along with an extensive collection of New Orleans imagery created for my New Orleans toile wallpaper.
My New Orleans Collection is a wonderful place to begin exploring the visual world I’ve created over the past 30 years. You’re not simply choosing a New Orleans theme. You’re choosing which New Orleans feels like yours.
Choose an Existing Alexa Pulitzer Illustration—or Commission Something Entirely Your Own
Bespoke Invitations begins with your love story. One of the pleasures of creating custom rehearsal dinner invitations is that we don’t have to begin with a predetermined invitation design. Any of my existing copyrighted Alexa Pulitzer illustrations can be considered for your invitation, provided the artwork works beautifully within the format. Perhaps you’ve discovered a crowned animal, botanical, sporting motif, New Orleans icon, or wonderfully eccentric character elsewhere in my collection that feels precisely right for your evening. We can explore adapting that artwork into a custom invitation designed around your event.
And if the illustration you imagine doesn’t yet exist, I can draw it for you. Bespoke artwork might be inspired by your rehearsal dinner venue, a beloved pet, family home, meaningful landmark, vintage textile or piece of lace, a shared passion, or a collection of symbols brought together into a custom wedding crest. We can also create a custom cipher, intertwining initials from your first or last names into an elegant personal mark.
From Second Lines to Party Animals
A New Orleans rehearsal dinner is the perfect moment to have a little more fun with the artwork. If your evening includes a brass band or Second Line, one of my two Second Line Dancing Alligator illustrations can introduce that beloved New Orleans tradition before guests ever arrive.
For something a little more irreverent, I especially love my Poppin’ Bottles with Models artwork for rehearsal dinners. It belongs to my larger Party Animals Collection, an illustrated world of impeccably dressed human animals with distinct personalities, polished manners, and a very convincing appreciation for a good party.
You can even create your own cast of characters by pairing two different Party Animals—perhaps Madame Bunny with Leopold, or Madame Cheetah with Tiger Toast—and combine them with your custom wording to create a rehearsal dinner invitation that feels witty, glamorous, and entirely your own.
From the Rehearsal Dinner Invitation to the Table
The artwork doesn’t have to stop when the invitation is mailed.
Once we establish an illustration, cipher, crest, typography, or ink palette, we can carry that visual language throughout the rehearsal dinner and wedding weekend. Your artwork might reappear on menus, place cards, cocktail napkins, guest towels, custom party cups, welcome bags, door signs, flags, stickers, and other entertaining details. Or we can mix and match different Alexa Pulitzer illustrations and print them in the same ink color, creating a collection that feels beautifully cohesive without making every piece identical.
Explore my Customizable Party Cups, Customizable Napkins, Customizable Hand Towels, and Gift Tags & Place Cards for ideas. My Host with the Most Collection offers even more inspiration for carrying the celebration beyond the paper.
How a Rehearsal Dinner Invitation Fits Into Your Custom Wedding Stationery
The goal isn’t to make every piece match. It’s to make the entire wedding feel as though it came from the same beautifully imagined world. Your New Orleans rehearsal dinner invitation can stand beautifully on its own, or it can become part of a larger custom wedding paper trousseau.
Perhaps the cipher from your save the date reappears discreetly on the rehearsal dinner invitation. An illustration introduced at the rehearsal dinner might turn up again on a cocktail napkin or welcome bag. Or each celebration can feature a different Alexa Pulitzer illustration, unified through paper, typography, and a consistent ink palette.
This is one of my favorite ways to work with couples: creating a visual language for the wedding weekend and then deciding where each element should appear.
Paper, Printing & Finishing Details
Once we’ve chosen the artwork, I’ll guide you through the details that transform it into a beautifully finished custom rehearsal dinner invitation. Depending upon the design, aesthetic, and budget, we can consider the crisp old-world elegance of engraving, the tactile impression of letterpress, the raised finish of thermography, or the versatility and more approachable price point of digital printing.
From there, we’ll consider paper color and weight, ink color, typography, envelope treatments, and finishing details such as beveled or hand-painted edges. We can even create a bespoke envelope liner from one of your own photographs—perhaps an image of the venue, a family home, a meaningful landscape, or another personal detail that becomes an unexpected discovery when the envelope is opened.
Choosing the Artwork for Your Rehearsal Dinner
These three collections are merely a beginning. Any existing copyrighted Alexa Pulitzer illustration can be considered for your custom rehearsal dinner invitation, provided the artwork is suitable for the format. A botanical, crowned creature, New Orleans icon, or Party Animal you discover elsewhere in my collection can take on an entirely new life for your celebration.
And if what you imagine doesn’t yet exist, I can draw something original expressly for you—perhaps your venue, beloved pet, family home, meaningful New Orleans landmark, or a collection of symbols that tells the story of the two of you.
The goal isn’t to make every piece match. It’s to create a visual language that feels personal, beautifully considered, and unmistakably New Orleans.
The Kissing Gators Collection
There is something wonderfully New Orleans about two crowned alligators caught mid-kiss. Drawn by hand in my signature old-world etching style, Kissing Gators is perhaps the most openly romantic thing I’ve ever drawn—Southern charm, a little regalia, and just enough wit to keep things interesting.
For a New Orleans rehearsal dinner, the illustration can travel beautifully from the invitation to personalized cups, cocktail napkins, place cards, and thank-you stationery, creating a visual thread without making the evening feel overly coordinated. Explore my Custom Personalized Cups, Custom Personalized Napkins, Place Cards, and Personalized Notecards to carry the romance through the celebration.
- Drinkware: My Customizable Kissing Gators Cups can be personalized with names, your wedding date, or custom wording. They’re screen printed on one side of 16 oz. White or Frosted shatterproof cups (3.5" W × 4.5" H), top-rack dishwasher safe, BPA-free, and made from recyclable #5 polypropylene. To top it off, they’re proudly made and printed in the USA. Please keep in mind that these take approximately 10–14 business days and ship separately from any ready-to-order pieces. Feel free to browse my Custom Personalized Cups collection for additional options to sip in style.
- Napkins: The Customizable Kissing Gators Beverage Napkins feature the same beloved illustration on White or Ivory 3-ply cocktail napkins (5" × 5"), personalized just for you with names, dates, or an inside joke. Made to order in my New Orleans-based studio, they take approximately 14 business days. Check out my Custom Personalized Napkins collection for additional elegant options for the table—wonderful additions to any party, whether you’re hosting 2 or 200.
- Place Cards: Add some flair to your table setting with my Kissing Gators Place Cards, flat printed with environmentally friendly, soy-based ink on premium USA-made Ecru textured Laid paper. You’ll receive 10 place cards per pack (3.5" × 5" flat; 3.5" × 2.5" folded), and they’re ready to ship. Use these romantic gator place cards to guide guests to their seats or as charming food labels for buffets and special events. View my Place Cards collection for the full range.
- Correspondence: My Customizable Kissing Gators A6 Notes include 25 digitally printed, flat A6 notecards (6.25" × 4.5") with 25 plain envelopes (6.5" × 4.75"), printed on premium Ecru Classic Laid 80# Cover Stock in Olive and Antique Gold ink. Made to order and ready in approximately 14 business days, they’re a lovely choice for a note left at each place setting or for the heartfelt thank-you notes that follow.
The Second Line Collection
Few traditions capture the spirit of a New Orleans wedding quite like the Second Line. My hand-drawn Second Line Wedding Alligators bring all the pageantry, humor, and joie de vivre of the city to a custom rehearsal dinner invitation.
In New Orleans, the Second Line is the moment everyone becomes part of the celebration. For couples incorporating a brass band or Second Line, the artwork can reappear on personalized party cups, cocktail napkins, welcome gifts, and other wedding-weekend details—sometimes boldly, sometimes as a knowing little nod.
For destination weddings, I particularly love introducing the artwork in the hotel room through a thoughtfully assembled welcome gift. Explore my Gift Boxes collection for inspiration.
The Poppin’ Bottles with Models Collection
For a rehearsal dinner requiring a little more glamour—and considerably more champagne—Poppin’ Bottles with Models is one of my personal favorites. Part of my Party Animals Collection, it features an impeccably dressed cast of human animals who appear to know their way around a very good party.
I love Poppin’ Bottles with Models for a rehearsal dinner invitation because it feels celebratory without being predictably bridal. Or choose two favorite Party Animals—perhaps Madame Bunny and Leopold, or Madame Cheetah and Tiger Toast—and we can create an invitation with its own wonderfully unexpected cast of characters.
Carry the artwork onto cups, napkins, place cards, and other entertaining details, and suddenly the invitation hasn’t simply announced the party. It has introduced the guest list.
If Kissing Gators are for romance and Second Line Wedding Alligators are for revelry, Poppin’ Bottles with Models are for the couple who knows how to throw a party.
When the Rehearsal Dinner Stationery Does Its Best Work
The most successful New Orleans rehearsal dinner stationery doesn’t simply coordinate. It creates an atmosphere. The invitation establishes the mood before anyone arrives, while the pieces that follow allow that visual story to unfold naturally throughout the evening.
- The Second Line Welcome Bag: For a New Orleans destination wedding, the celebration can begin the moment guests check into their hotel. Consider creating a beautifully curated welcome gift with a tote bag featuring my Second Line artwork, then tuck in coordinating personalized cups, a pack of cocktail napkins, and a notepad. The artwork introduced on your wedding stationery becomes part of the guest experience—and several of the pieces travel home with them as a charming memento of the weekend.
- The Invitation That Sets the Tone: A rehearsal dinner invitation is often the first indication that this evening will have a personality distinct from the wedding itself. A Second Line illustration, Kissing Gators, Party Animal, or another original Alexa Pulitzer design, such as Preservation Hall or Jackson Square, can immediately suggest whether guests should expect candlelight and champagne, brass bands and dancing, or perhaps a little of both.
- The Kissing Gators Table: A Kissing Gators place card at each setting, personalized napkins at the bar, and coordinating cups appearing once the cocktails begin create a visual rhythm rather than a matching set. The effect is considered, romantic, and distinctly New Orleans.
- The Mardi Gras Rehearsal Dinner: A rehearsal dinner during Carnival season invites a little more theatre. The secret is not to turn every surface purple, green, and gold, but to borrow from the elegance and pageantry of Mardi Gras itself. My Kissing Gators illustration is particularly charming for Carnival season and can be carried selectively from the invitation to the bar and table, keeping the celebration festive, sophisticated, and completely at home in New Orleans.
- The Jazz Fest Rehearsal Dinner: A day at the Fest. An evening around the table. A weekend that could only happen in New Orleans. A rehearsal dinner during New Orleans Jazz Fest comes with its own extraordinary soundtrack. Rather than make the evening feel themed, borrow from the festival’s spirit—exceptional music, fabulous food, and the unmistakable joie de vivre of New Orleans. A musical, Second Line, or other New Orleans illustration carried selectively from invitation to bar and table keeps the celebration elegant, spirited, and beautifully rooted in place.
And these collections are merely a starting point. Any existing copyrighted Alexa Pulitzer illustration in my collection can be considered for your custom rehearsal dinner invitation, provided the artwork is appropriate for the format. Perhaps you’ve fallen for a Fleur de Lys, a botanical, a crowned heron, a New Orleans scene, or one of my Party Animals that wasn’t originally created for wedding stationery. We can give it an entirely new life.
Or, for something that belongs only to you, I can draw an original illustration expressly for your celebration—inspired by your venue, a beloved pet, a family home, a meaningful New Orleans landmark, a treasured object, or the wonderfully particular details that tell the story of the two of you. I approach the rehearsal dinner with the same care I bring to the wedding itself because it isn’t simply the evening before. It’s that delicious moment when everyone you love has finally arrived, the wedding is still ahead, the champagne is cold—and New Orleans has the night shift.
Frequently Asked Questions About New Orleans Rehearsal Dinner Invitations
Can I Use Alexa Pulitzer Artwork from My Rehearsal Dinner Invitation or Wedding Invitations on My Wedding Website or With Another Vendor?
No. Alexa Pulitzer artwork is copyrighted and may not be reproduced, copied, digitized, or provided to another vendor for use on a wedding website, signage, merchandise, or other products. Purchasing custom wedding stationery does not include the rights to reproduce the artwork elsewhere.
If you’d like to carry your illustration throughout your wedding weekend, I’d be delighted to create coordinating pieces for you—from invitations, programs, place cards, and menus to day-of-wedding needs such as koozies, cups, napkins, guest towels, door signs, tote bags, caps, flags, stickers, posters, favors, and other custom details—so the artwork remains consistent from the first save the date to the final celebration.
How Do I Start a Custom Rehearsal Dinner Invitation?
Every custom rehearsal dinner invitation begins with a conversation about the celebration—your venue, theme, aesthetic, and the artwork that will set the tone for the evening. To begin, complete my Custom Invitations Form to share your vision and event details and request an estimate.
Because each rehearsal dinner invitation is designed and produced to order, pricing is based on the artwork, printing technique, paper selection, size, quantity, number of inserts, finishing details, and overall scope of the project. Once we’ve established the creative direction, I’ll prepare an estimate, and upon receipt of your deposit, we can begin creating a rehearsal dinner invitation that feels distinctly yours.
How Far in Advance Should I Order Rehearsal Dinner Invitations?
It’s time to start creating your invitation as soon as you’ve secured a venue and confirmed the date. I recommend reaching out four to six months before the wedding date. Earlier is always better for larger or more elaborate custom projects.
Can My Guests’ Names and Addresses Be Printed on the Front of My Rehearsal Dinner Envelopes?
Yes. I can digitally print each guest’s name and mailing address directly on the front of the envelope for $2.50 per envelope. You may select from any of these available ink colors to coordinate with your rehearsal dinner invitation suite.
For white ink, guest addressing is $3.50 per envelope.
Can the Kissing Gators Place Cards Be Personalized With Guest Names?
The Kissing Gators Place Cards are stocked and ready to ship with the original illustration printed on each card. You can hire a calligrapher to add each guest’s name, or, for an additional fee, I can print the names after purchase using one of my fancy fonts.
Can I Order Matching Cups, Napkins, Guest Towels, or Thank-You Stationery?
Yes! Your wedding artwork can continue well beyond the invitation. I can create coordinating pieces for the wedding weekend—and beautiful stationery for everything that follows—including place cards, favors, tote bags, caps, Personalized Notecards, Customizable Napkins, Customizable Guest Towels, and Customizable Party Cups.
You can carry the same illustration throughout or mix and match different Alexa Pulitzer designs in a consistent ink color for a suite that feels collected, cohesive, and entirely your own.
Can the Rehearsal Dinner Illustration Carry Through to the Place Cards and Other Custom Pieces?
Absolutely. The original illustration from your rehearsal dinner invitation can become the visual thread that runs throughout your entire wedding paper trousseau—appearing on the save the date, wedding invitation, shower invitations, thank-you notes, menus, programs, place cards, and entertaining pieces such as flags, door signs, cups, cocktail napkins, and stickers.
You don’t have to use the same illustration everywhere, either. I love mixing and matching different Alexa Pulitzer illustrations and printing them in a consistent ink color, creating a suite that feels collected and beautifully cohesive rather than overly matched.
This is one of my favorite ways to work with couples: developing custom wedding stationery with its own visual language and personality, then carrying that story through the entire wedding weekend. Cohesive doesn’t have to mean identical. It should simply feel unmistakably yours.
Can I Order Just Rehearsal Dinner Invitations Even if I Do Not Order Wedding Invitations?
Absolutely. Whether we begin with an existing Alexa Pulitzer Party Animal illustration, a cipher, or entirely original artwork created for your celebration, your rehearsal dinner invitation can stand beautifully on its own. While many couples choose to carry their artwork through a complete custom wedding stationery suite, there is absolutely no requirement to do so.
Simply complete my Custom Invitations Form to begin the design conversation.
How Long Does Production Take?
Please allow a minimum of four weeks from receipt of your 50% deposit and finalized wording for custom invitations. Special finishing details, such as beveled or hand-painted edges, require approximately two additional weeks.
Because every custom project is created specifically for you, I recommend beginning the design process well in advance of your desired mailing date.
Is Rush Service Available?
Rush service may be available, depending on the scope of your custom stationery, our current production schedule, and your required delivery date. Please email sales@alexapulitzer.com with your desired in-hand date so we can determine what is possible.
If we can accommodate your timeline, rush production and expedited UPS shipping fees will be quoted separately. The sooner you ask, the better our chances of making a little stationery magic happen.
Is Wholesale Pricing Available for Rehearsal Dinner Invitations?
No. Because rehearsal dinner invitations are created specifically for the client, wholesale pricing is not available on custom or personalized orders.
Wholesale pricing is available exclusively to retailers who resell my stocked products at their brick-and-mortar locations. For wholesale inquiries, visit the Wholesale Account portal or email sales@alexapulitzer.com.
Can the Kissing Gators and Second Line Illustrations Be Used During the Same Weekend?
Yes. Many couples use the Kissing Gators illustration for the rehearsal dinner and the Second Line Wedding illustration for the save the date, creating a visual narrative across the full wedding weekend. Both illustration families are available in coordinating formats.
