20 Fab Elopement Wedding Announcements

Elopement Announcements | SouthBound Bride

Credit: BHLDN

*Updated for 2018* A few years ago, when my friend Sarah and her lovely fiancee stopped in London after a round-the-world trip, a group of us girls threw her a fairly impromptu hen night. All night, we drank trays of flavoured vodka and toasted their lives together, and sent them off back to Joburg expecting them to set a wedding date. Instead, as soon as they’d had a chance to tell their parents in person, we got an announcement – the sneaky minxes had in fact eloped while on their trip. And you know what, we loved it! There were all these gorgeous pics of the two of them, so in love and sharing this special secret moment on the other side of the world. I still think they looked like one of the most relaxed couples I’ve ever seen on their wedding day. So ever since then, I think elopements are pretty awesome. Sure, they’re not for everyone (and there can be hurt feelings from family members and friends who want to be included), but there really is something special about a wedding with a guest list of ‘just us two’. BUT here’s the thing – if you’re going this route, you’ll want a classier way to let your nearest and dearest know than just changing your status on Facebook. Something to let them in on the excitement, to let them know they were in your heart if not at the ceremony. Maybe even something to invite them to a party that you throw back at home. And that’s where the elopement wedding announcement comes in. The good news? There are tons of sweet, fun and pretty elopement announcements for you to say ‘we did’. Here are 20 of my favourites from the makers at Etsy.
*Links in bold denote affiliate links. The cost to you remains the same, but SBB may receive a commission for any sales made.

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20 Perfectly Pretty Printable Bridal Shower Invitations

For those of you planning a shower at the moment, one of the details that can really be a pain in the pachanga (unless you’re actually a designer) is the invitations. The last shower I organised, I spent DAYS making them from scratch, complete with fabric envelopes (nobody even commented on them, gah). Frankly, I would have been better off going with one of the gorgeous printable bridal shower invitations you can get these days – Etsy in particular is full of these lovelies. The best part is that printable invitations are either an immediate download, or are sent to you once customised, so they’re quick, reasonably priced and can be bought from anywhere in the world. All you do is take them to your local printshop or online print service, or even send the file via email (for extra eco points) and you’re sorted with your DIY shower invitations! There’s loads of choice too – in fact, so much choice, that it can be time consuming to sift through all the options. That’s where today’s post comes in, because we’ve picked out 20 of our absolute favourite Etsy printable bridal shower invitations for you to choose from. Yay!
*Links in bold denote affiliate links. The cost to you remains the same, but SBB may receive a commission for any sales made.

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Supplier Spotlight: Seven Swans Collection

Four years ago, not long after I started out, I got an email from a brand new, super enthusiastic stationer, the very lovely Anelle of Seven Swans. We immediately clicked, and over the following years she became our first real life bride and the designer of the SBB logo and indentity, while I had the pleasure of regularly featuring her work and watching her business grow. It’s no secret I’m a HUGE fan of the Seven Swans brand, so I was super excited when Anelle told me about a stationery collection they had put together in addition to their continuing work on the bespoke suites I always love to see coming out of the studio. This is the Seven Swans Collection, and it’s already been bringing happy smiles to brides and grooms around the world! The concept is brilliant – a selection of patterned sleeves (customisable by colour scheme) combined deliciously with two kraft paper inserts to make little packages of lovely that are not only beautiful and quirky but budget friendly. I couldn’t wait to show you!Read More

Spring Printable by Mocholoco

Happy Friday, lovelies! With the equinox coming up, we have such a lovely little spring printable for you today from the talented Vicky at Mocholoco. As well as being an awesome stationer, Vicky is also one of our real SouthBound Brides (her gorgeous DIY beach wedding was one of my favourites of 2013), and is also about to relaunch her website, so to celebrate, she created this gorgeous watercolour-style poster –  the perfect addition to your desk (or desktop). I’m not sure if brides and grooms always realise the huge amount of thought and process and creativity and hard work  that goes into producing bespoke stationery pieces, and I’m personally pretty fascinated by how it’s done. So instead of just presenting the finished product, I asked Vicky to give you all a little glimpse behind the scenes into her process. Blood, sweat and glitter! Thank you SO much, Vicky – be sure to click through to her site to see more of her lovely work.

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Supplier Spotlight: Rifle Paper Co. at In Good Company

A few weeks ago I spotted a little item on my newsfeed that got me really excited. Over the last couple of years, I have become more than a little obsessed with the gorgeous stylings of Rifle Paper Co., an American stationery & gift  company that doesn’t just make beautiful things, but has influenced wedding styling in the same way as brands like Kate Spade and Anthropologie. The whimsical hand-painted illustrations (many of them botanical) and hand lettering manage to be both nostalgic and modern – if I were planning my own wedding right now, I have a feeling the Rifle look would feature pretty strongly. I must admit, I haven’t talked about the brand all that much here on SBB, because I know what it’s like when you love something and can’t find a local supplier, but that’s where I was wrong. Turns out that one of my favourite SA shops and online stores, In Good Company, is a treasure trove of Rifle goodness! YAY.Read More

Ruby Bride #3: The Stationery

Choosing our wedding stationery was daunting. The fonts! The illustrations! The envelopes! There were so many beautiful options; I had no idea where to turn. All I knew was this: we wanted something simple and beautiful.

Gideon’s dad is a hard-core corporate lawyer by day who paints stunning watercolours in his spare time and, because we both love watercolour pieces, we asked his dad to paint us a wreath to use in our wedding design. He did a stellar job and I did a quick DIY-design for our Save the Dates, which we emailed.

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Colour Story: Peach Blossom

Afternoon, SouthBound brideys – oh, and by the way, a very happy Thanksgiving to our American readers! This afternoon we’re continuing with our day of everything peachy, following the Peach Watercolour shoot I featured this morning. It’s time to take a second look at the gorgeous Peach Blossom Bride stationery suite created for the SBB Collection by Magpie Collections. The shoot itself wasn’t based on one inspiration board, but we’ve featured loads of peach ones here on the blog – here are just a few…Read More

Colour Story: Toile & Rose

Hey lovelies! Following my feature of the Toile & Rose shoot this morning, I wanted to take another look at the Toile & Rose suite created for us by The Invitation Gallery. Canvas Stationery Boutique did a brilliant job in interpreting the inspiration board that started it all…

Full inspiration board credits here

I might have mentioned this before, but I LOVE it! And along with the suggestions I gave earlier for recreating the French country look at your own wedding, I’ve put together some pretty toile items to inspire. Now, obviously, you are not going to use EVERYTHING toile in a wedding design – as with all prints, less is definitely more! But there are some really pretty touches, from bridesmaid gifts to fabric (with a South African twist, nogal) and even a to-die-for Claire Pettibone toile de jouy wedding dress. Dying over that one!

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How to Create a Toile & Rose Wedding

Hello lovelies! Today we’re not featuring a wedding, but instead a shoot that was styled by little ol’ me, and that I am still so in love with even though it was put together over a year ago. In that time, it’s had a huge spread in SA wedding magazine, Wedding Inspirations, and been featured on two of my all-time favourite blogs, Magnolia Rouge and b.loved. I consciously don’t style a lot of shoots, and it’s been an honour to have those I have done featured so widely. So you may have seen Toile & Rose in one of these places before. But I thought it was high time I showcased the shoot here on SBB, along with my top tips for recreating the look for your own wedding.Read More

Introducing Summer Rain {The SBB Collection by Invitation Gallery}

A few months ago, I asked you all to head over to the SBB Facebook page and vote for your favourite inspiration board of 2012. This was far and away the one you liked best!

Full inspiration board credits here

The bright, fresh combination of coral and mint really hit the right note, so in designing the latest invitation suite to join our SBB Collection from The Invitation Gallery, our designer focused on these lovely colours, marrying them with two trends that are very much of-the-moment! Watercolour has been a big design shift in the last year, and it’s all kinds of soft prettiness for a wedding day, so I absolutely love the watercolour background to these invites. Calligraphy fonts are another of my faves, and we have that too! Ladies and gents, allow me to present Summer Rain! (And just in case you can’t get enough of that gorgeous colour combo, I’ve put together a few lovely colourboards to inspire!)

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