A "Boots and Beads" Invitation for a Debutante Party in New Orleans, Louisiana

Our Ceci Couture client, Corinne, reached out to Ceci New York looking for a unique invitation for her debutante / coming out society party in New Orleans! With the theme of Boots, Beads, and Outrageous Beats, the party was inspired by Mardi Gras, Corrine's heritage, and her love of music.

Using the vibrant costumes and colors of Mardi Gras as inspiration for our invitation ideas, Ceci and the design team got to work and started sketching after our initial consultation with Corinne. The invitation design process started as a Ceci Couture Concepts Presentation, which allowed us to dream up a variety of custom ideas at varying budgetary levels. Corinne has both a Texas and a Louisiana heritage, and she wanted an invitation that tied both of her backgrounds together. As a student at the University of Texas, Corinne also wanted to find a way to incorporate the longhorn logo into her event branding to reflect her school pride. Overall, our goal was to design an invitation that had a Texas cowboy meets Mardi Gras vibe, but still glamorous and polished.

We knew that we wanted to tie-in Mardi Gras beads into the design, so we created a beaded graphic element that stamped in gold foil on the front of the invitation. You can see how this design and idea evolved in the video below:

Additionally, we thought it would be fun to incorporate an actual string of colorful beads to wrap around the invitation, and then finished off the ends with brass metal fleur-de-lis, the iconic symbol representing New Orleans. A custom designed monogram for Corinne was stamped in gold foil onto the back of the invitation, which was a gorgeous orange-red, leather-like paper. The front and back of the invitation were held together with brass grommets in all four corners. All of the materials and textures combined to create a tactile and luxe invitation suite.

We also created a unique pattern using watercolors, graphic artwork and gold foil stamping, which was then featured as the lining in Corinne's purple custom converted envelopes. The pattern later made several appearances at the party to create a cohesive experience for guests from the stage to the table linens and more! 

Take a look at all the gorgeous invitation photos below and check out the video to see how we added those fun beaded ties to each invite!