So, we’ve been chatting this month about farmer’s market slash farm to table slash generally organic and rustic wedding style. We’ve spoken about decor, we’ve spoken about food – but there’s one aspect we haven’t touched on yet at all. Paper! Yep, stationery for a wedding with this theme is as much fun to think about as ever! I had a little wander around Etsy and Minted, two of our faves, and I found some suites that I think you guys are going to LOVE. Some feature produce like fruit or vegetables, some cultivate that farmhouse table feel, and others are just generally rustic and gorgeous. So whether you’re planning a full-on farmer’s market theme, or just want a feeling of farminess (not a word, but whatevs) in your invitations, you’ll find something here.
So as you all know, April is our month for intimate weddings, and one of the things we love about a small guest list is that you can allocate a bit more of your budget to extravagant details. Hands up, I’m a bit of a stationery fiend, and there’s also nothing I love more than sending and receiving little parcels, so when I see creative, elaborate invitations (especially those that require more than the usual envelope to send) I get really excited (yep, I’m dorky like that). The thing is, I know that those sorts of invitations don’t scale up well to 120 guests on a normal budget. So as I say, this is one of those details that’s absolutely perfect for a small, intimate, beautifully styled affair. Here are 10 of my all-time favourite wedding invitation packages, made by some of the most talented and creative designers in the industry!
Morning brideys, how was your weekend? This morning we’re shaking things up a little – instead of starting off the week with an inspiration board (although I do have a lovely board for you this afternoon) we’re launching straight into our first real wedding of the week, and this one was hand made with so much love by SBB reader, Karleyne and her husband. Karley is a chef working in Zim, and married her partner in food and life, HD, on their very own tennis court! Now that’s a venue I haven’t come across before… The couple DIYed every single sweet detail, from hundreds and hundreds of paper cranes to centrepieces made of folded books, linen napkins, stationery, signage, etc etc etc. If the work ethic that they demonstrated in putting it all together in their limited spare time is anything to go by, they’ll have taken over the culinary world in no time. The menu was obviously a big part of the day, with a gourmet take on laid-back comfort food, but Karley’s look was 100% glam in her dress made by Sunday Times fashion editor in chief, Tiaan Nagel. From their vows beneath a mosquito net canopy to eating steak and chips under the African stars, this is one wedding that really reflects the personalities who dreamed it up and made every corner of it from scratch.Read More
Get ready, paperlovers and stationistas, because we are about to have a gorgeous invitation FEST. We’ve spoken before about travel themed weddings, and how it’s one of the big themes that brides and grooms are loving (and personalising) at the moment. We’ve even had a few fun colour schemes for different travel wedding styles. While I was researching that post, I was struck by just how many gorgeous travel-style invitation suites there were out there, and I promised myself I would do a post on it to follow up. Now here’s what I especially love about this collection – each designer (amateur or professional) has combined a series of recognisable, stylish travel elements (mainly maps, postage stamps and cancellers, airmail stripes, postcards, luggage tags, and suitcase stickers) into a unique look with different invitation styles, colours, elements and textures. My favourites are the suites that use a few of these elements, and some unexpected ones too, so that all the different pieces come together in one gorgeous, jet set-style look. Whether you’re looking to DIY your invites or, better yet, working with a pro to come up with a suite that’s uniquely yours, you should find plenty of inspiration here. Even if you’re not having a travel theme as such, but planning a destination wedding or have a love for seeing the world together, you may like to include just one of these ideas in your stationery as a personal element.Read More
There’s a lot of gorgeous happening in wedding paper design right now – with letterpress on one hand and foiling on the other, and watercolour and calligraphy and hand drawn beauties in the middle, I don’t know which to call my favourites. But if there’s one trend that South African brides and grooms have been embracing for a while now, it’s lasercuts, and stationery is no exception. Just like letterpress and foil embossing, lasercut adds a really special texture to any paper product and its fine detailing allows not only for intricate detail but the use of unusual materials like wood or perspex as well as paper. The possibilities are vast, and I think we’ve only just begun to see the creative juices start to flow with this design form. Even so, there’s a lot of very beautiful invitations going around at the moment – here are ten of my personal faves to inspire you!Read More
I honestly thought that all my stationery-loving heart had beat its fastest when I discovered letterpress, especially when we started seeing letterpress combined with hand drawn calligraphy fonts. Amazing. But the latest big trend in wedding invitations has taken it one step further. Foil, you guys. It is the gorgeous-est. And from a few beautiful collections last year to an absolute explosion of foil stamped goodness for 2013, this is one trend that is absolutely made for brides. It’s pretty, it’s tactile, it’s classic… and every time I see a new foiled invite I have the urge to run my fingers over it and go ‘ooh, shiny shiny!’. I’m a magpie, what can you do.Read More
They say the Devil’s in the details. I love love love the details. If one looks carefully, it is precisely the little things that make a wedding unique. We all have a version of the usual formula: a dress, a ceremony, a reception and then dancing till the lights go out. A wedding wouldn’t really be a wedding without these things. But it’s the little bits of prettiness captured in the DIYs and personal touches that make people go WOW!
Happy Friday, my lovelies! And time for me to introduce you to another fabulous South African service provider. Essie Letterpress is one of SBB’s sponsors, which I’m thrilled about because I love their work so much – not just the beautiful letterpress printing they offer, but the designs they produce as well. It makes me want to reach into my screen and stroke the invitations (is that a publishing thing? an obsession with paper?) just so I can feel those delicious indentations and smell the ink. My love affair with letterpress aside, Vanessa and Ben of Essie Letterpress are just the nicest people to work with, so I asked them to share some behind-the-scenes info and advice with my readers.
Hi Vanessa – thanks so much for taking the time to answer a few questions about your business! How did you get into letterpress?
I was living in San Francisco twelve years ago, whilst studying interior design, when I first came across letterpress, as one of my housemates was doing a part-time course. I immediately fell in love with it! I went on to work as an Interior Designer, but when I moved to a farm from Cape Town two and half years ago and wanted to do something creative, I instantly thought about starting a letterpress printing company. There was also a gap in the South African market for letterpress, so it seemed like the perfect venture.
As well as straightforward letterpress printing, what other services or products do you offer?
We offer a design service, and on the printing side we have just started doing hot foiling as well.
The invitations….that first tentative step into the deep-end of wedding planning, often happens before you know exactly what your (fully fabulous) Big Day vision looks like. Which, of course, makes picking the ‘right’ invitation even trickier!
SAVE THE DATES SAVED THE DAY!
We had the added stress of getting our invites out ASAP, as many of our guests needed to book flights, and organise annual leave. This is where the American tradition of a ‘Save the Date’ came in handy. With our date and venue set, and and inspired by the fact that most of our guests would be travelling from London to SA, we decided to base our Save the Dates on that London Underground staple – the Oyster card.
We tweaked the design (with apologies to TFL) and printed them straight onto magnetic paper (no really, it is a real thing – look here) at home on our shke-donky old inkjet printer, and mailed them out with the Christmas cards. This not only gave our cross-continental guests no excuse not to come, but also gave us breathing space to send out the invites closer to the day, once we had some idea of styles and themes.Read More
It’s the ciiiiiiircle of liiiiife…. Okay okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic (and also? the last time you’ll hear me singing a song a) by Elton John and b) from a musical), but there’s no denying that a circle is an appropriate symbol at a wedding. It represents connectedness, eternity, the wedding rings. And when it’s made out of flowers – well, it’s just so gosh darn purdy. I’ve been noticing wreaths all over weddings for a while now, and every time I do they catch my attention, so today I thought we’d just bask a little in the eye candy.Read More
