INSPIRATION: ART & DESIGN: WEDDING STATIONERY
Stationery: www.carolelola.com Photography: hannahlillianphoto.com
INSPIRATION: ART & DESIGN: WEDDING STATIONERY
As a designer I’m always happy to lend my hand to friends and family to help them with their design needs. When I worked in a photo lab I was the go-to for printing and wow did it save me some cash - (I still use them by the way they’re great if you’re in London I thoroughly recommend these guys.)
Generally, every-day people don't need much designing, but over the years I’ve been roped into the designing of birthday cards, Christmas cards, thank you cards, invites for parties and inevitably the wedding stationery. (I’m a little disappointed more people haven't asked me to be honest but I think people often think of designing for designers as a busman’s holiday - in fact I love designing for people and wish they’d ask me more - it’s completely different from what I do as a job and I see it as a fun change!) Anyway, this led me to research the world of wedding stationery and I’d like to share with you some of my favourite designs.
As you can probably tell there are some really clear trends that stand out going into 2020.
Earth tones are big and will continue to be big for 2020 - not just in weddings where it’s going to be even bigger than it is now but also in-home decor and clothing.
Circles, arches and curves, as you know if you’ve seen from this post, are some of my favourite design elements - they’re everywhere in modern wedding stationery design - I love the arched signs and the semi-circular menus that fit perfectly on a round plate.
Tassels are a surprising new addition to the wedding trend - I love tassels so much I made a top five here but I might get so excited about tassels as a trend I’ll make a whole separate post on them and their wonderful applications in the world of design (watch this space…)
Flowers - now this isn't a very original observation - a wedding without flowers is an unusual affair but the question is what flowers and how are they used? - Dried flowers are a huge trend going into 2020 - Pampas and other grasses are fitting with the earth tone colour schemes and last without wilting - people are making extravagant arrangements with these less traditional plants. People are also incorporating flowers into their designs in a modern way with cut out images and sometimes even sending a real flower with their invites and save the dates. (See my Focus on: Pampas post here with more examples of pampas used in weddings…)
Rough edges fit in with the natural theme - natural materials like raw silk and handmade paper really lend itself to the textures of the modern earth-toned wedding. I especially like the new trend of layering these papers, the edges of the torn papers creating their own interesting shapes. How do they tear these shapes so elegantly - I don't have an answer to that except maybe practice…?
Fonts - Obviously calligraphy is still a major wedding trend, but this is slowly being taken over by more modern minimal sans serifs fonts and thin lined serifed fonts and a mixture of the two. My favourite font trend is the classic style serif font with a modern twist, maybe an exaggerated difference between thicks and thins or more stylised serifs. If you want some font inspiration head over to my Focus on: Typography post.
This Ultimate guide to all things wedding stationery spans across many styles and themes to inspire you when thinking about planning your own wedding. As well as the most obvious stationery like the Save the Date and the Invitations I’ve also included inspiration for the seating plan, table numbers, drinks and food menus, guestbook ideas and those additional signs and extra bits of extra-ness that might be included on your big day. Don’t forget to download the handy Wedding Stationery Checklist to make sure you don’t forget anything. I’ve also included a guide to correctly addressing your wedding invitation envelopes. You might notice that thank you cards (an essential wedding stationery staple) are missing from this list - they’re over on my Focus on: Thank You post here.
I’ve attributed photo credits where I can - click photos for links to sources.
If I’ve featured a photo of yours and you’d like to re-link elsewhere or have me take this down please let me know by sending me an email using the form here…
SAVE THE DATES
WEDDING INVITATIONS
ENVELOPES
WELCOME SIGNS
ORDER OF THE DAY
VOW BOOKS
TABLE NUMBERS, SEATING PLANS, PLACE CARDS AND ESCORT CARDS
MENUS
GUEST BOOKS
EXTRAS
FAVOURS
FOR KIDS
STATIONARY CHECKLIST
GUIDE TO ADDRESSING INVITATIONS
