As a graphic designer, wedding stationery has been by far my favourite thing to design and bring to life, the creative opportunities to mix beautiful type, custom illustration, and gorgeous materials such as handmade papers, dyed ribbon, etc. are endless.
Formal event stationery allows you to work with materials that most clients wouldn’t invest in for their business’ everyday marketing collateral…It really is such a treat!
Designing my own stationery was one of the most surreal parts of the wedding planning process. I remember sitting at the kitchen table assembling them and being overwhelmingly grateful for all the recipients and what a blessing they are in our lives. We are not doing this marriage thing alone! We have the most supportive family and friends backing us.
THE STATIONERY DESIGN PROCESS
I approach designing wedding stationery much like I would approach designing a brand. I envision how I want the entire event to feel, the emotion I want to evoke, so that from the very first impression the guests have of the day (in our case the save the date) the tone is already set.
Some questions you and your fiancé might ask in order to have clarity are:
- Any specific meaning you want the day to reflect? It could be religious, something shared between just the two of you, etc.
- What adjectives do you want to describe your day? These words will cultivate the emotion that people get when interacting with the stationery suite and through to the day of.
- List each place you picture design elements being used: For example, save the date, stationery suite, programs, menu, escort cards, seating chart, other custom elements.
- What makes your love story unique? Where you met, favourite dates, inside jokes, etc.
- Do you have any color preferences? Think about what colors you both gravitate towards. What colors dominate your wardrobes, decor preferences etc.?
- What three weddings have you been to and loved? Were they lighthearted, serious, sophisticated, whimsical, did you laugh? cry?
- Do you have a preference for typography? Bold san-serifs, elegant calligraphy, playful hand lettering?
Francis and I made a moodboard for how we wanted the look and feel of the day. Bouncing off of that we picked our colours: Navy, peach, olive green, and a whole load of white!
Though I did not create a detailed brand standards guide as I would for a business, I did pre-select colour hex codes, fonts, and designed graphics that I used consistently from the stationery to the program, table numbers, table names, etc. Doing this helps to make creating a cohesive look easy! It also makes for WAY less decision making, which any bride will appreciate!
We chose to do a digital Save the Date which I designed for email. We did this option mainly because we were rushed on time from nailing our venue to the date when they should be sent out.
OUR WEDDING STATIONERY DETAILS
I have a beast of a printer, the Canon Pixma Pro, which easily feeds through thick watercolour paper. All of our invitations were printed on this. After printing, I organically painted blue watercolour on the top and bottom and then tore the edges.
We wrapped vellum around each card. The translucency of vellum gives a lovely appearance and smooth texture as well as serves to protect the card.
I also had a custom rubber stamp made from the illustration I did of our venue, a vintage community hall. I hand heat embossed a small card that was hole punched and tied with gold thread around each set holding it all together.
I am so thrilled our photographer was able to capture the details of our stationery…Thank you Micaela Joy!
