Early 2006. Friday after work. On I-10 heading towards New Orleans.
Out of the blue I decide I want a stuffed monkey (preferably one with Velcro hands and feet) to carry around the French Quarter and take pictures of and with. The entire weekend (only one night of which was spent in the Quarter) I could find no such monkey. I found monkey beads and at least 2 monkey signs but no stuffed monkey I could name George. And then my friends, after we got home, called me up to say I’d left something in their car. I was pretty sure I hadn’t, but whatever, they stopped by my apartment that evening and presented me with just the stuffed monkey I’d been looking for.
Ever since then, I’ve had a thing for monkeys.
And Mr. RT frequently indulges my monkey obsession by bringing home the odd stuffed-simian on any given day and encouraging me to decorate our Christmas tree with monkey ornaments (along with cocktail-themed ones).
We even call our home Monkey Creek (monkey for my obsession, creek being the Dutch translation of his last name).
So a monkey theme seems a natural one for our nuptials, right?
personal sketch
Wrong.
As quickly as the idea occurred to me (driving home from work one evening) and a potential invitation design popped into my head, colors and all, I immediately thought back to my early years working at the printing company and seeing the wedding book updates each year. There would be at least one if not a handful of designs featuring children playing dress-up and cutesy animals (teddy bears, for instance) in wedding wear and Mom (we work together) would always say “Anyone who picks that for their invitation isn’t old enough to be getting married.â€
Sources (clockwise from top left): Etsy seller Passion Arte, Licorice International, Sock Monkey Party (from Oh My Gluestick), Fresno Weddings, McKnight Foundation and Walker Art Center (photo by Gene Pittman of Kingfisher Photo) , Etsy seller Bubble City Soap, Florida Weddings and Special Events (photo from JungleIsland.com), Preston Bailey (Photography by Beach Bonita)
I’m not sure I 100% agree with that, but it did give me pause. And even though the monkey licorice we found in T’s hometown would have made such cute favors, I really think trying to incorporate monkeys into the event would skew towards being either too childish or too jungle-y. And we’re really not the outdoorsy type.
Was there ever a theme you considered
that might have been fun but not quite right?