Key Takeaways:
- A custom cipher or crest can become the visual anchor of the whole wedding — and outlast it. Unlike a single illustration, a wedding logo can appear discreetly across every piece from the save the date to the wedding invitation, then carry on afterward as personal stationery, bookplates, or a monogram on dinnerware.
- Different pieces of the suite don't have to match — they just need to feel connected. A couple might pair a Second Line illustration on the save the date, Kissing Gators at the rehearsal dinner, and a more formal design on the wedding invitation itself, unified by a consistent cipher, ink palette, or typography rather than a single repeated image.
- Plan for a minimum six-week production window, ideally starting six months out. Custom wedding invitations require six weeks from deposit and finalized wording (plus ~2 extra weeks for finishes like beveled or hand-painted edges), with invitations mailed six weeks before the wedding — eight for a destination wedding.
New Orleans Wedding Invitations With Original Hand-Drawn Art
In New Orleans, an invitation is more than beautiful paper. It is the first act of hospitality. Before the champagne is poured, the brass band strikes its first note, or anyone steps into the courtyard, your guests have already been given their first glimpse of what’s to come.
I’ve been drawing and designing stationery in my New Orleans studio for more than 30 years, and much of my artwork comes directly from the city I grew up in and still call home—its architecture, gardens, creatures, traditions, pageantry, wonderful eccentricities, and very particular sense of humor.
My New Orleans wedding invitations often begin with one of two things: an original illustration or a custom wedding logo, such as a cipher or crest created specifically for the couple.
A cipher can be as simple and elegant as two initials intertwined into one distinctive mark, but once we create it, it can become the signature of the entire wedding. It might first appear on the save the date, then make its way onto the formal invitation, rehearsal dinner invitation, menus, place cards, cups, cocktail napkins, programs, welcome bags, door signs, stickers, and favors.
And unlike so many details created solely for the wedding weekend, a beautifully designed cipher can follow you into married life—onto personal stationery, bookplates, embossers, dinnerware, labels, holiday cards, and correspondence for years to come.
I love that idea. What begins as a wedding logo can gradually become a family mark.
New Orleans Wedding Stationery Begins With the Art
I’ve never been particularly interested in trends. I love old-world luxury—the kind that feels collected, timeless, and beautifully made, and will look just as elegant in thirty years as it does on your wedding day. To me, the most distinctive wedding stationery begins there: with original art, beautiful paper and printing, and a point of view that is entirely your own.
Every Alexa Pulitzer illustration starts as an original drawing. Over the years, I’ve created my own visual world inspired by New Orleans— regal alligators and pelicans, palm fronds and live oak trees, characters, Second Lines, architectural details, old-world crests, and quite a few animals who are better dressed than most people I know.
Explore my New Orleans Collection and you’ll get a sense of the archive. You may discover an existing copyrighted illustration that immediately feels like you, or we can draw something completely original.
I can illustrate you and your fiance, your wedding venue, family home, beloved dog, a meaningful landmark, a botanical, or some wonderfully specific detail that belongs only to the two of you.
Or we can begin with a custom wedding cipher or crest. Perhaps it combines your first initials, architectural details from the venue, a flower with personal meaning, or symbols drawn from your families and history. Sometimes the simplest mark ends up becoming the most enduring.
The wedding logo should tie everything together.
Creating a Wedding Logo That Becomes Your Signature
I think of a good wedding cipher as branding the wedding—but in the most personal possible way. The point isn’t to make your wedding feel unique. A custom cipher gives the celebration a visual signature that is uniquely yours.
We might intertwine two first initials into an elegant monogram, build a crest around a new family name, or pair initials with one of my hand-drawn illustrations. The finished mark can then appear as boldly or as quietly as you like.
On the formal invitation, it might be engraved at the top of the card. On a cocktail napkin, it can become a small graphic beneath a glass. It can be embossed into an envelope flap, printed on a menu, added to a welcome bag, or turned into a wax seal.
And once the wedding is over, there is no reason to retire it.
I especially love seeing a wedding cipher live on through personal stationery, bookplates, custom porcelain dinnerware, house stationery, holiday cards, gift tags, cocktail napkins, embossers, etched barware, and family entertaining pieces. Years later, that little mark can become part of the visual language of the household.
That, to me, is when a wedding logo becomes much more interesting than decoration.
Custom Wedding Stationery From the First Invitation to the Final Toast
Once we find the visual language for the wedding, I like to think about the celebration as a whole.
That might include save the dates, wedding invitations, rehearsal dinner invitations, programs, menus, place cards, personalized cups, cocktail napkins, guest towels, welcome gifts, and eventually the thank-you notes.
Sometimes one original illustration travels through the weekend. Sometimes the custom cipher is the constant, while the artwork changes from event to event.
For example, your save the date might feature one of my Second Line illustrations, the rehearsal dinner could have Kissing Gators or a pair of Party Animals, and the formal wedding invitation might be much more restrained. Put the same cipher on each piece, however, and suddenly they all belong to the same wedding.
That is the sort of cohesion I love—connected, but not relentlessly matched.
A Custom Wedding Invitation Should Feel Like Your Wedding
A Second Line through the French Quarter is an entirely different affair from a black-tie fete in a grand ballroom, and the invitations should be different, too.
When I begin a custom wedding invitation, I want to know about you. Where are you getting married? What does the venue look like? Is the wedding formal, eccentric, romantic, exuberant, restrained—or some wonderful combination of all five?
Some couples fall in love with an illustration from my archive. Others know immediately that they want a wedding cipher or custom crest to become the anchor of the stationery. And sometimes we do both.
A cipher can be especially useful when you want the visual identity to continue throughout the wedding weekend without repeating the same illustration on every surface. It gives us a mark we can use on virtually anything while still allowing each event to have its own personality.
And yes, if your Labrador is essentially your first child and has been included in every major family decision, I see absolutely no reason he shouldn’t join the artwork as well.
Paper, Printing & All the Delicious Details
I am a detail oriented person. I notice the weight of an invitation, the impression left by a letterpress plate, the crispness of engraving, the opulently burnished metallic ink, and how an envelope liner looks when you open it.
Depending on the invitation, we can print using engraving, letterpress, thermography, or digital printing. Then comes the fun part: choosing paper, ink, typography, envelope treatments, and finishing details such as round edges, beveled or hand-painted edges.
A wedding logo or cipher becomes particularly beautiful when translated through these traditional techniques. Engraved into a heavyweight card, blind embossed into an envelope flap, letterpressed into paper, or repeated discreetly on an insert, it begins to feel less like a graphic and more like something that belongs to you.
I can also create a bespoke envelope liner using one of your photographs—perhaps the wedding venue wallpaper, a family home, iridescent feathers, a mountain vista, swampy landscape, or an image that means something to you. It’s one of those details guests discover rather than see immediately, which I love.
Mardi Gras Wedding Invitations and Debutante Invitations
New Orleans has never had much trouble combining elegance with revelry. If you’re getting married during Mardi Gras or Carnival season, we can reference that world without covering everything in purple, green, and gold. A Carnival motif, family crest, custom cipher, mask, Fleur de Lys, or Second Line illustration can give the invitation a wonderful sense of place without making it feel like a theme party.
A cipher can be especially useful here. Rather than repeating Carnival imagery everywhere, we can let the seasonal artwork have its moment while using your wedding logo quietly across the rest of the suite to keep everything connected.
The same is true for krewe balls and debutante presentations. I can incorporate family crests, krewe colors, custom artwork, and traditional printing techniques in a way that feels appropriate to the occasion.
There can absolutely be pageantry—we are in New Orleans—but I prefer a knowing reference to something overly literal.
Bridal Shower Invitations, Engagement Parties & Everything Before the Wedding
The wedding may be the main event, but there are plenty of wonderful reasons to gather before it. Engagement parties, bridal showers, luncheons, welcome parties, and rehearsal dinners each deserve a personality of their own.
I love giving these celebrations their own artwork rather than making every piece of stationery look like a smaller version of the wedding invitation. A bridal shower can be feminine and playful, the rehearsal dinner a little more spirited, and the wedding invitation beautifully formal. A custom wedding cipher can quietly connect them all—appearing on an envelope flap, cocktail napkins, cups, menu, or a place card, without making everything feel overly matched.
And the cipher doesn’t retire after the wedding. It can move naturally onto your Notecards, thank-you notes, and personal stationery, becoming something you continue to use as a married couple for years to come.
Wedding Menus, Place Cards & the Table
I love designing menus because they live on the table all evening. They become part of the flowers, china, linens, silver, and candlelight rather than simply another piece of paper.One of my favorite solutions is to combine the menu and place card into a single personalized menu—each guest’s name is printed directly on the menu, so it serves both purposes beautifully while saving valuable space on the wedding reception dinner table.
A custom wedding cipher is especially lovely here. It can sit quietly at the top of the menu, above each guest’s name, or reappear on a cocktail napkin or guest towel. Artwork from the invitation can join it—a Second Line alligator here, a botanical there—but the cipher provides the visual anchor that keeps everything connected. My Place Cards Collection offers additional ideas for finishing the table with the same thoughtful attention to detail.
Second Line Wedding Invitations & Entertaining Pieces
I don’t think there is another wedding tradition that captures New Orleans quite like a Second Line dancing alligators and I have two versions: Second Line and Second Line Wedding.
My Second Line Wedding Alligators feature an elegant alligator bride and her rather dapper groom dancing their way through the celebration. It’s become one of my most beloved illustrations because it has romance, movement, humor, and just enough celebration to feel completely at home here.
For couples planning a Second Line, I can carry the artwork from the invitation into cups at the bar, cocktail napkins, custom tote bags, stickers on welcome bags, place cards, favors, and other pieces.
Or we can pair it with your custom wedding logo, allowing the dancing gators to have their fun while the cipher ties the entire weekend together.
Second Line Wedding Cups
My Customizable Second Line Wedding Cups feature the alligator bride and groom leading family and friends behind a jubilant brass band. They can be personalized with your names, wedding date, custom wording, or—depending on the project—your wedding cipher. The 16 oz. White or Frosted shatterproof cups (3.5" W × 4.5" H) are screen printed on one side, top-rack dishwasher safe, BPA-free, recyclable, and made and printed in the USA. They are printed in increments of 50 and made to order, with approximately 14 business days required for production. You can see additional custom cup designs in my Custom Personalized Cups Collection.
Second Line Wedding Napkins
My Customizable Wedding Second Line Gators Beverage Napkins bring the same artwork to the bar on White or Ivory 3-ply cocktail napkins measuring approximately 5" × 5". They can be personalized with your names, wedding date, or custom wording. They’re made to order and printed in the USA, so please allow approximately 14 business days for printing and processing before shipment. Cocktail napkins may be a small detail, but they’re a very good place for a fabulous logo. You can see additional customizable napkin designs in my Custom Personalized Napkin Collection.
Second Line Wedding Stickers
My Customizable New Orleans Second Line Stickers are digitally printed in Olive Green on White Matte Crack-n-Peel stock. They measure 3" × 5", come in sets of 50, and can be personalized with your own wording. I love them on hotel welcome bags, gift boxes, favors, and the little surprises guests discover throughout the weekend. My Gift Boxes Collection offers more inspiration.
Poppin’ Bottles With Models Wedding Invitations & Entertaining Pieces
For a wedding that calls for a little more glamour and a lot more celebration, I love my Poppin’ Bottles With Models illustration. It has that wonderful sense of anticipation when everyone is dressed, the champagne is cold, and you know the evening is about to become a very good story. This artwork is perfect for the Welcome Party or Rehearsal Dinner invitation and then make its way through the wedding weekend—onto cups at the bar, cocktail napkins, custom tote bags, welcome bags, stickers, place cards, favors, and other entertaining pieces. I especially love pairing it with a custom wedding logo or cipher. The illustration brings the personality and wit, while the cipher becomes the elegant signature that ties everything together.
Poppin’ Bottles With Models Wedding Cups
My Customizable Poppin’ Bottles With Models Cups bring the artwork straight to the bar and can be personalized with your names, wedding date, custom wording. The 16 oz. White or Frosted shatterproof cups (3.5" W × 4.5" H) are screen printed on one side, top-rack dishwasher safe, BPA-free, recyclable, and made and printed in the USA. They are sold in increments of 50 and made to order, with approximately 10–14 business days required for production. You can see additional designs in my Custom Personalized Cups Collection.
Poppin’ Bottles With Models Wedding Napkins
My Customizable Poppin’ Bottles With Models Beverage Napkins are another way to carry the artwork into the celebration. Printed on White or Ivory 3-ply cocktail napkins measuring approximately 5" × 5", they can be personalized with your names, wedding date, custom wording, or a coordinating wedding logo.
They’re made and printed in the USA and made to order, so please allow approximately 14 business days for printing and processing before shipment. I happen to think the bar is one of the best places to have a little fun with your wedding artwork—particularly when the artwork involves popping bottles. You can see additional designs in my Custom Personalized Napkin Collection.
New Orleans Wedding Stationery for the Entire Weekend—and After
When I design stationery for a wedding, I don’t think of each piece in isolation. I think about what your guest experiences from the first envelope that arrives in the mail.
The invitation gives them their first clue. The cipher might reappear on the rehearsal dinner menu. A Second Line illustration turns up on a cup at the bar. The same wedding logo might be embossed on a welcome note in the hotel room.
By the end of the weekend, guests have seen the mark several times without feeling as though it has been stamped on everything in sight.
And then something lovely happens: the wedding ends, but the cipher doesn’t have to.
It can become the mark on your first set of married stationery, a bookplate inside the books in your home, a monogram on custom dinnerware, an embosser for correspondence, or a detail that appears on family holiday cards years later.
For me, that longevity is part of what makes creating a wedding logo worthwhile. It begins by branding one extraordinary weekend and can quietly become part of your family’s visual identity.
Create Your New Orleans Wedding Invitations & Wedding Logo
At the beginning of a custom project, you don’t need to have everything figured out.
You may already know the illustration you love. Perhaps you know you want a cipher using your initials, or a crest that can live well beyond the wedding. Or maybe all you have is the venue, a family story, an heirloom, your dog, or some wonderfully peculiar detail that means something to the two of you.
That’s enough for us to begin.
Whether the wedding calls for engraving and old-world formality, a jubilant Second Line, Carnival pageantry, a candlelit French Quarter courtyard, a Garden District mansion, an existing illustration from my archive, or something I draw especially for you, I want your New Orleans wedding invitations and wedding logo to feel personal—not like something that could belong to anyone.
I’ve spent more than 30 years drawing New Orleans, and the city has given me an endless supply of inspiration. It has also taught me there is no particular virtue in making a forgettable entrance.
Begin Your Custom Wedding Invitation
Frequently Asked Questions About New Orleans Wedding Invitations
Can I Use Alexa Pulitzer Artwork From My 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 save the dates, invitations, programs, menus, and place cards to cups, cocktail napkins, guest towels, door signs, tote bags, caps, flags, stickers, favors, and other custom details.
This allows the artwork to remain beautifully consistent from the first envelope your guests receive to the final celebration.
Can My Guests’ Names and Addresses Be Printed on My Wedding Invitation 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 wedding invitation suite.
For white ink, guest addressing is $3.50 per envelope.
Can the Illustration From My Wedding Invitation Carry Through the Entire Wedding Weekend?
Absolutely. In fact, this is one of my favorite ways to approach a custom wedding stationery project.
An original illustration created for your New Orleans wedding invitation can become the visual thread running through your entire wedding paper trousseau—appearing on the save the date, rehearsal dinner invitation, menus, programs, place cards, thank-you notes, and entertaining pieces such as cups, cocktail napkins, guest towels, flags, door signs, stickers, and welcome gifts.
You don’t have to use the same illustration everywhere, either. I love mixing different Alexa Pulitzer illustrations and unifying them through paper, typography, or a consistent ink color.
Cohesive doesn’t have to mean identical. It should simply feel unmistakably yours.
Can I Choose an Existing Alexa Pulitzer Illustration for My Wedding Invitations?
Yes. Any existing copyrighted Alexa Pulitzer illustration can be considered for your custom wedding invitations, provided the artwork is appropriate for the format.
Perhaps you’ve fallen in love with Kissing Gators, Second Line Wedding Alligators, a Fleur de Lys, Preservation Hall, St. Louis Cathedral, a botanical, a crowned creature, or even one of my Party Animals. We can explore adapting that illustration into a custom wedding invitation designed around your celebration. And if the artwork you imagine doesn’t yet exist, I can draw something original expressly for you. Existing artwork begins with my archive. Bespoke artwork begins with your story.
Can You Create an Original Illustration of My Wedding Venue, Home, Pet, or Something Personal to Us?
Absolutely. Bespoke artwork can be inspired by you, your wedding venue, family home, beloved pet, meaningful New Orleans landmark, garden, architectural detail, vintage textile or piece of lace, family heirloom, or a collection of symbols that tells the story of the two of you.
We can also create a custom wedding crest or cipher intertwining your initials into an elegant personal mark. What begins as an illustration on your wedding invitation can ultimately become the visual signature of the entire wedding.
Can I Order Matching Cups, Napkins, Guest Towels, Place Cards, and Welcome Gifts?
Yes. Your wedding artwork can continue well beyond the wedding invitation. I can create coordinating pieces for the wedding weekend, including Personalized Notecards, Customizable Napkins, Customizable Guest Towels, Customizable Party Cups, Gift Tags & Place Cards, welcome gifts, stickers, flags, door signs, and other custom entertaining pieces.
The artwork can remain the same throughout, or we can mix and match illustrations in a consistent ink palette for something that feels collected rather than overly coordinated.
Can Kissing Gators and Second Line Wedding Alligators Be Used During the Same Wedding Weekend?
Absolutely. They work beautifully together without making the wedding stationery feel overly matched.
For example, Kissing Gators might appear on a rehearsal dinner invitation or place cards, while Second Line Wedding Alligators could introduce the wedding on the save the date and later reappear on cups, cocktail napkins, stickers, or welcome gifts.
The illustrations don’t need to match. They simply need to feel as though they belong to the same beautifully imagined world.
Can I Use Different Alexa Pulitzer Illustrations for the Save the Date, Wedding Invitation, and Rehearsal Dinner Invitation?
Yes—and I particularly love this approach.
Your save the date might feature a distinctly New Orleans illustration, the wedding invitation might introduce a custom cipher or bespoke artwork, and the rehearsal dinner invitation could become a little more playful with Kissing Gators or a pair of Party Animals.
A consistent ink palette, typography, paper selection, or recurring cipher can connect the pieces without making every event look identical.
The goal is a wedding paper trousseau that feels collected, not matched.
Can I Order Just Wedding Invitations Without Ordering a Complete Wedding Stationery Suite?
Absolutely. Your custom wedding invitation can stand beautifully on its own.
While many couples choose to carry their artwork throughout a complete stationery suite, there is no requirement to order save the dates, rehearsal dinner invitations, menus, programs, or entertaining pieces at the same time.
Simply complete my Custom Wedding Invitations Inquiry Form to begin the design conversation.
How Far in Advance Should I Begin My Custom New Orleans Wedding Invitations?
Wedding Invitations should be mailed six weeks ahead of the wedding. If it’s a destination wedding, mail your wedding invitations eight weeks in advance.
For a truly custom wedding stationery project—particularly one involving original artwork, specialty printing, or multiple pieces—I recommend beginning the conversation six months before the wedding.
Custom wedding invitations require a minimum of six weeks from receipt of your 50% deposit and finalized wording. Beveled or hand-painted edges require approximately two additional weeks.
Bottom line: Earlier is always better. Beautiful paper dislikes being rushed!
Is Rush Service Available for Custom Wedding Invitations?
Rush service may be available depending on the scope of your custom stationery, our current production schedule, and your required delivery date.
The sooner you ask, the better our chances of making a little stationery magic happen. 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.
Is Wholesale Pricing Available for Custom Wedding Invitations?
No. Because custom wedding invitations and personalized stationery are created specifically for the client, wholesale pricing is not available on custom or personalized orders.
Wholesale pricing is available exclusively to qualified retailers purchasing stocked Alexa Pulitzer products for resale through their brick-and-mortar locations.
For wholesale inquiries, visit the Wholesale Account Portal or email sales@alexapulitzer.com.
