eb1

This is the Hurley collection from eb1 and is perfect way to set a grand tone to your wedding day.  The simple floral pattern looks striking in this colourway but all their  designs are available in 28 colourways.  You can choose to have the wedding invitation supplied with a luxury wallet which features a matching satin ribbon as pictured above, or choose the simpler version of the day or evening inivation which also features a matching ribbon on the invite but without the wallet.  The invitations will have the guests names printed on them which I personally think is a brilliant idea when the text is part of the design of the card, the last thing you want to do is make any mistakes or worry that your handwriting isn’t up the the job!  What I also like about this supplier is that you can coordinate the entire wedding stationery range including a choice of name place card designs and napkin rings that have been designed to fit the style of the ranges perfectly.   

eb1

I am not sure the reasoning behind the change of name as ido-print.co.uk becomes ido-personalise.co.uk recently. The name is owned by leading wedding stationery publishers CCA Occasions and I guess the brand name change was made to underpin the key selling point behind the trading name. The thing that sets ido-personalise.co.uk apart from the rest is the way that the customer can personalise their stationery online. CCA Occasions have invested a lot of time and money into developing Pageflex technology. There are many companies that let you personalise your stationery online but these almost always rely on some manual proofsetting after you have placed your order. These suppliers will usually have to send you a pdf to show you the exact layout and spacing and to show you what your chosen font and ink colour will look like. Some may even need to mock up an actual card for you with your chosen design and wording. This is not the case with ido-personalise.co.uk where they really do leave the work to you when it comes to preparing your cards for print.

Invitation self proofing at Ido-personalise.co.uk

This is of course not to everyones taste and some people may prefer the personal touch and some feedback as to their choice of wording and etiquette. For those however, who want a no fuss, order and forget about it approach, to ordering their stationery then sharing the proof burden up front may be the perfect option. Ido-personalise does give you a handful of suggested wording layouts and covers the popular choices of parents hosting or bride and groom hosting their own etc. You then have the tools to drag, drop and add text etc and convert your work into a printable pdf for proofing more carefully. There is no going back and once you have approved your proof and paid for your order there is a good chance it will be running through the digital presses in CCA Occasion’s Preston factory within a few hours. It is doubly important therefore to check for spelling and grammatical errors again and again. Let your partner or friend check for you as well because it is so easy to become proof blind to an obvious error even after checking through yourself several times. Another paid of eyes reading your wording for the first time can save you a costly reprint bill down the line.

All of the designs at Ido-personalise are printed on a digital press and have a glossy finish. Many of them let you incorporate the bride and groom’s name on to the front of the card in “Moonpig style” fashion. This an original approach to wedding card design but unfortunatly there is little originality between different items with a range and you will tend to find that the only thing that may differentiation an invitation, reply card and Order of service is that size of the board it is printed on. There is also no finishing touches or extra processes on offer so you will not find any foiling, embossing, die cutting, laser cutting, raised ink, ribbons embellishments etc etc that other companies often use to add a luxury finish. CCA Occasions will be quick to point out however that they do have a portfolio of other brands that cater for these tastes more than adequately and Ido-personalise cater for quick printed contemporary designs at a reasonable price. In fact, price is one thing they are generous with and this is no surprise since they are leaving a lot of the hardwork to you when it come to proofing your order. Ido-personalise.co.uk is a recent addition to our Wedding Voucher Codes site (click on the banner to the right) where we may have a promotional code running to save you even more on your stationery.

We have featured Cardlab on these pages before and there is no better time to grab a bargain than at the moment with many wedding stationery companies feeling the credit crunch pinch and coming up with wonderful discounts.  Cardlab have a 20% discount until the end of October which can add up to a significant saving on your overall stationery costs.

Their beautiful autumn brown and gold Hattie design above is embossed with a contemporary cord texture and the chocolate brown cover is finished with a personalised wrap.  My quick calculations showed that you can save around £100 on a purchase of 50 Day and Evening invitations.  That is a serious saving and it unlikely you would have found a similar deal at this time last year.

The Hattie design comes with a choice of 4 internal insert colours to compliment the Choco cover :- Soft Ivory, Pistachio, Candy Pink and Fuscia Pink.  I must admit I cannot quite picture Chocolate and Fuscia Pink together and my imagination likens it to a Black Forest Gateaux.  But I have been pleasantly surprised with unsual colour combinations before and Cardlab offer a comprehensive sample service so you do not have leave any bold decisions to chance.

The Doo – Gerbera Set
A funky Cerise Pink version – I like the intentional soft focus (or more specific out of focus) effect on some of the text and particularly the flower itself. It creates the illusion of depth to the card.  

Comet and Cupid – Pink Gerbera
The matching cerise organza ribbon adds a soft touch this striking pink Gerbera range of wedding stationery.  Comet and Cupid have added just about every coordinating item under the sun in this collection but I am not sure I would choose the whole lot – your guests may get a bit dizzy by the end of the day.

Millbank and Kent - Pink Gerbera
We are moving away from the bright cerise shades now towards a more traditional pink.  ‘Traditional’ is perhaps the wrong word here because the style is still very much contemporary.  This self titled design is from the Millbank and Kent ‘Fresh Blooms’ range which reads a bit like a botanical encyclopedia because as well as Gerberas you will find just about every other conceivable type of wedding flower you can think of (and a few you have probably never heard of)

Cammar Designs – Santa Monica
Now I am cheating a bit with this one.  Cammar designs actually decribe this flower as a Raffia Daisy.  I guess they are right but I thought it was a Gerbera at first sight and unless you are inviting Alan Titchmarsh to your wedding I dont think any of your guests will argue with you.

The Handcrafted Card Company - Guild Gerbera
It would be unfair to say I have left the best to last.  This one just happens to be my favourite from those I have featured.  I guess I am not quite brave enough to go ‘full on’ contemporary.  I think this design strikes the perfect balance between traditional and contemporary.  Also, you know you are in safe sands for the matching Table Plan too, as I featured this company before and was particularly impressed with the finish on what is all too often the ‘let down item’ in many a stationers portfolio

This Taupe Gatefold Invitation from Vera Wang is the epitome of simple, minimalist elegance.   It features a taupe shimmer gatefold card with the opening offset to the right which is beautifully tied with ribbon, inside is a square of oyster white paper with the wedding details.  There is a design to suit most tastes from traditional to contemporary and I personally love this Red invitation with its gold ink for an opulent Christmas wedding.
  

The Vera Wang wedding stationery is available from just a few outlets in the UK including Harrods.

A bit of a cheeky title to this article for which I apologise but a flick through the web pages of Devon Based printers Wedding Stationery Etc and you will soon realise that this company have got the hot foil invitation sector of the market well and truly foil covered.  They have scores of designs all with their trademark foil lettering so if you do not like the selection of designs in the image above you are unlikely to warm to any of the designs from this company.

I happen to like this contemporary style of invite.  I am not sure I would choose it for my wedding but they would certainly make my shortlist.  Now, I am no expert here but I do know that there are two types of foil printing… hot foil and toner foil printing.  I am pleased to here that Wedding Stationery Etc use the hot foil method which in my opinion produces superior results.  I suppose you would not expect anything less from the experts in the field.

If foil printed invitations are not your cup of tea for the whole stationery shebang then you might consider a look at this company’s Save the Date Fridge Magnets.  These too are foil printed (of course) but I do think that this one kind of novelty item suits the hot foil printing style far better.  What do you think ?

Dreamy heart clouds with your names printed in them sit on floral and spiral designed card to give a pretty and romantic wedding invitation from Pink Tulip.  The fully coordinated stationery is shown in six colours on their website, but if you have a specific colour you would like your stationery, then for a £10 charge you can send them a swatch and they will match it for you.  The pricing is split into quantity bands with the cost for 50-74 cards being £2.50 each for the wedding invitations which includes a white envelope.  Table plans are very reasonably priced at £18, so if your looking for unique and contemporary wedding stationery that can be tailored to your liking, have a look at their website.  

When I first saw this Floral Script design from Christian Graffiti is reminded me of the Jasper invitation that we featured earlier this month.  Both designs feature a translucent wrap that opens at the centre with the wording printed on a card inside held together by a ribbon bow.  What I particularly like about the Christian Graffiti design is the swirling pattern on the cover which has taken its influence from Turkish fabric patterns.  It has a more contemporary feel than the Jasper design and the choice of ribbon colours means that brides are not restricted to any particular colour theme.

The card insert is flat ink printed as standard and the only pricing on their website starts at quantities of 100.  I am hoping that they are able to offer lesser quantities because there are not many couples who require this number of invitations for their wedding.  I have asked Christian Graffiti for clarification and hopefully they will post their comments on here shortly.  A raised print (thermography) or engraved text is also available for an additional cost.  You can request a free sample of this design from the Christian Graffiti website

The Classic Stripe wedding stationery range from Heavenly Stationery has a very classic feel with the heavy patterned damask style card and name surround, but it has a wonderfully contemporary edge with the boldly coloured funky stripes which together gives it a really ecclectic feel.  The wedding invitations cost from £2.20 for flat cards printed on one side, through to £3.20 for folded cards.  There are optional slipcases available too at £4.50 to keep additional information in for your guests such as directions or hotel details.

Invite your guests to your wedding and capture the essence of spring with these beautiful scroll invitations from Lily Dove.   Using an array of translucent colours, embossed Lilydove petals and organza ribbon, these eye catching invitations have real wow factor.  The price for the scroll invite which includes the postal tube is £3.80 which I think is really good value for money.  The Floribunda collection is available as a fully coordinated set including reception items such as place settings and table planner.