THE FULL STORY
It all started on New Symerna Beach...
After several years of dating, the day finally came. My high school sweetheart got down on one knee in the Florida sand and asked me to be his wife! I had been waiting for this day and was overjoyed to say yes. Of course, I dove headfirst into wedding planning, immediately going to Pinterest to create mood boards and pinning all the aesthetics I was envisioning for our special day.
But I ran into a problem.​ I kept seeing all the same invitation templates and designs everywhere I looked. I couldn't find anything unique that felt like the vision I had in my mind. The "customizable" designs weren't truly customizable, I wanted to be able to change more than the colors and text. Even the free wedding website template designs frustrated me so much. I wanted every part of our wedding to be an experience, cohesive and unique to us and our wedding aesthetic.
I decided not
to settle.
YOU ONLY GET ONE WEDDING!
My wedding just wasn't worth settling on some semi-custom designs I didn't really love. So I decided to make them myself.
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At that point I had worked as a graphic designer for almost 3 years and knew my way around the Adobe Suite pretty well. I started looking for fonts, colors, and piecing together the aesthetic vision I had in my mind and on my Pinterest board using these professional design tools. I even went as far to design my own wedding website on wix.com because I didn't like any of the "customizable" templates available. My dad graciously paid for a domain for it (maybe just a little extreme, but I was obsessed with the details being perfect. Thanks again, Dad!)
It all came
together perfectly.
THE BEST DAY EVER!
Wouldn't you know it, everything actually turned out pretty great! Have I grown a lot as a designer since then? Yes, of course. Would I design everything exactly the same now? Probably not. But that's the beauty of learning and growing in this journey.
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The summer following my wedding, I realized that other brides might be feeling the same way I had about the "customizable" design options out there. So I started offering to design invitations and signage for a few friends who were getting married that year. ​
and so,
Grace Riley Design
was born.
YAYYYY
I realized I actually really loved designing for other brides! From the initial stages of helping them refine their own unique vision, to creating stunning designs that they fell in love with, and every little moment in between.
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I officially launched Grace Riley Design in the Fall of 2023, and since then have served many brides by creating completely custom invitation suites, venue sketches, wedding day signage, and more!
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Some things you
should know...
JUST BEING HONEST
I'm just as obsessed over the design details of your wedding as I was over mine, so you can trust you're in good hands. My goal is to understand my client's aesthetic vision and bring it to life in the designs they choose to create with me, so they LOVE the final result and look forward to treasuring their wedding pieces for years to come.
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