Wedding Tree:
This one's probably obvious, but: A melding of the lives of two individuals who wish the roots of their relationship to continually grow deeper, the joys of their love to continually grow more bountiful, and the strength of their bond to continually grow more steady in order to weather life's droughts and storms as one team.

True Lover’s Knot:
Before we became engaged, Carl mailed me a piece of rope for Valentine’s Day.  He had tied two identical knots on the rope.  The knots were separated by a couple of inches, but you could slip the two knots up and down the rope.  With the knot came no explanation, only a few vague clues in the included card.  After a lot of internet searching and a few additional hints from Carl, I finally figured out the riddle.  In the old tradition of sailors, Carl had sent me a True Lover’s Knot.  Sailors would send their sweethearts this true lover’s knot in order to learn the truth about what their sweethearts thought of them.  If the sweetheart untied the knots and sent the rope back, she was saying “Stay away, you have no chance with me.”  If she sent the rope back as it came, with the two knots separated, she was saying “It’s not hopeless, but don’t rush home.”  However, if she sent the rope back with the two knots slid together, it meant “Come home now.  We are true lovers.”  I sent Carl the rope back with the two knots slid together, and he has worn the rope around his neck ever since (or a version of it, as he did misplace it once or twice).

The untied knot within the text of the invitation is a diagram of the True Lover’s Knot that Carl sent me.  In the invitation the knot is duplicated, one the mirror image of the other.

As an additional answer to the knot, I made (or am still making, more than a year later) Carl a quilt with the True Lover’s Knot pattern.  This pattern covers the back of the invitation. 

 

On the back of the map insert card, Carl created an abstracted pattern based on the True Lover’s Knot.  The other patterns on the back of all the invitation inserts are just for fun.

 Insignia:
On the back of the invitation is an insignia, or seal or monogram.  This motif is based on my engagement ring, which Carl and I found at an antique jewelry store.  The ring dates back to about 1915.

We spent several months designing the invitation together, some weeks more intensely than others.  We then spent a weekend in Santa's Wedding Workshop (our dining room) printing, cutting, and assembling the invitations.