Wedding Invites

Here at Wedding Stationery Gallery we showcase lots of different wedding stationery suppiers who supply wedding invitations in various styles, designs and price brackets.  Now if you have searched all the wedding stationery suppiers and haven’t quite found what you are looking for or you have a simmering desire you create your own wedding invitations, but you just don’t know how you would go about designing and making your own wedding invitations, then this highly informative magazine Wedding Invites could be the thing for you.  It’s packed with ideas, inspiration, and information about how to go about making your own wedding stationery.  It comes with a CD rom worth £14.99 that has templates and designs for your whole range of wedding stationery.  It costs £9.99 which at first may sound alot for a magazine, but when you think that you spend half of that on just one wedding magazine that is usually stuffed with adverts and most of the useable material accounts for about a third of the magazine, you see that this magazine is actually pretty good value for money since it contains templates and all the information you need to make all your wedding stationery.  I had a little play around with the CD rom earlier and found it exceptionally easy to navigate around and use, and I am quite a technophobe!  I’m not usually one to recommend brides make their own wedding stationery unless they really know what they are getting into as many do think it will be a lot easier and quicker than they anticipate, but if you are prepared to think ahead and organise yourself with the tools and get some advice via a tool such as this magazine then it will be much easier (and cheaper) than just going to Hobbycraft and buying anything that catches your eye.

Crystal Heart

Scouring magazines and trawling the internet as I do, to bring you some of the best wedding stationery designs on the market can sometimes be, franlky dull.  I often see the same old styles copied over and over again, with the same old bits and bobs stuck on cards that anyone could make, so it’s a real treat to find some refreshing designs such as this Crystal Heart wedding stationery range from Especiallymade.  It features a crisp white card with cut out heart from which a sparkling heart shaped Swarovski crystal dangles for maximum sparkle, finished off with a sheer organza ribbon.  The Swarovski crystal hearts and organza ribbon are available in a myraid of colours and there is a fully coordinated range of wedding stationery available.  A bespoke service is also offered if you’re after something specific and on their gallery of recent work is one of the most unusual inivtations I’ve ever seen based on a Paris themed wedding, take a look.

Paris Theme

If you went to a handmade wedding stationer to get something along these lines made, you would be looking at paying at least £3 each, and that’s not alot since they have to proof it, make it and try and make a profit.  But if you are trying to cut costs by making your own wedding stationery you can’t go far wrong with these ready to make packs which include everything you need including the card, handmade mullberry paper lilies, sparkly ribbon, blank insert and envelope and cost just £1 each.  The Mulberry Bush stock a wide range of quality craft products and I have personally used some of the card types they use which are genuinely  good quality.  If you’re having a black and white theme you must look at the Tapestry Black Broderie range which is quite stunning.

This is a really pretty and unusual wedding invitation from Baggaley Bergstrom made with delicately twisted wire and beads to form a bouquet.  It would be perfect for a vintage inspired wedding where you want to create an ecclectic feel and not be restricted to a set colour scheme.  The wedding invitations cost £4.25 each and there is a full set of coordinating reception items available.

These wedding invitations from artist Rebecca Stidson are truly unique, not just because they are all individually hand painted by her, but on each card the insert is printed parchment that is then sewn into the card with metallic thread for a really unusual look.  As she says, each card is a mini piece of art!  Because they are handmade, you can choose colours to suit you and she can design something especially for you.  What amazes me most though is the cost, I would expect to pay a premium for such time consuming work, but her invitations are priced at £2.20, with Orders of Service costing £2.50 and place cards just 80p. 

Envelopment wedding invitations.   They are all over the place but what are they you might ask ? Well,  there is nothing particularly clever about them.  Envelopments is the brand name behind an American company that churns out a huge range of innovative card blanks in an endless variety of colours and patterns all over the world.  There is nothing particularly clever about them.You might think I am not a big fan of envelopments….  on the contrary …. I do rather like many of the styles.  I am just a little jealous that I didnt think of such a painfully simple idea.

Envelopments hit our shores a few years ago and now there are quite a few licenced suppliers of the brand.  Many wedding stationers have tagged the designs on to their existing products as a quick and easy way of expanding their portfolio.  Because the novelty is in the card folds, shape and patterns there is usually not much more for the stationery designer to do other than maybe add a bit of ribbon,  a small embellishment and a personalised insert.  They have even devised some software (with Mountain Cow) to make printing inserts in the right shape and style (or recipe as they like to call it).  Easy peasy job done.  Needless to say they are ideal for diy wedding invitations too.To see what all the fuss is about we have hand selected some wedding stationery companies who have embraced the brand with gusto.  Either that or they have been indoctrinated by Envelopments inc who have brainwashed them in their quest to take over the word with cleverly folded patterned card blanks.  I might write to Russell T Davies because this would make a great Doctor Who episode.

Anyway….. on to the envelopment design nominees are (in no particular order) :

Wedding Paraphernalia- They certainly have a wide range of envelopment wedding stationery designs and they promise even more designs soon.  They also supply envelopment blanks for the DIY enthusiast and if you are in the North of England you can visit their shop in Northamptonshire.

XOXO - Some lovely striking Envelopment and Pocketfold designs (Pocketfold is just another brand by the Envelopment team… just another template style really).  There are some really funky designs in their portfolio and some beautiful wallpaper print wedding invites.

Purely Embelishments- This is more of a craft site but it does give you a good overview of the different envelopment card styles that are used to create wedding stationery such as Pocketfolds, Z Cards, Gate Cards, and dare we say plain old folded cards. 

There are plenty of others of course …. too many to list here but will no doubt be featured in future articles on this site because, for better or worse, it looks as though envelopments are here to stay.  Lets hope it doesn’t make our budding new wedding stationery designers too lazy in their creations.

If you are having roses on your wedding day then you can’t help but fall in love with this stunning range of rose wedding stationery from the Chapter One Pure Collection.  Each clay rose is individually made by hand and gently baked before the twisted silver wire stem is added to complete the flower.  The rest of the invite is equally jaw dropping and features a beaded silk paper (again by hand) which is mounted on a heavyweight textured board.This range on the Chapter One website shows a white rose on all the items in the set, but if you request their free brochure (or download it ) you will see that the rose can be produced in different colours or even colour matched to a particular shade of your choosing.  I personally like the white rose featured which will coordinate with pretty much any other colour scheme and looks crisp and clean.  I almost added ’simple’ among my list of adjectives in the previous sentence but if you receive a sample you will see that this intricate design is anything but simple and the work that has gone into each piece is quite remarkable.  Invitations, Thank You Cards, and Save the Date cards are also individually boxed to protect the flower when you send it to your guests.Chapter One have a fantastic offer on at the moment that gets you a free rose napkin holders with every place card ordered.  You do need to order 4 items from the range to qualify but with 13 items in the collection that is very easily achieved and you end up with a wonderfully beautiful coordinated display.  The hard part is choosing what items not to include from the range.

The great thing about handmade wedding stationery is that you can customise the colours to match your wedding.  I just love the Aura Crystal design from the Handcrafted Card Company.  The hearts are of course handmade and the colour can be changed to pick out any colour in your dress, flowers, or reception decor.  The other half of the heart is dipped in either silver of gold or enamel which creates a wonderful fire glazed finish.

I love the turquoise blue finish on the colour scheme shown and together with the twisted silver wire embellishment I think this design would be ideal for a winter wedding.  The sparkling diamante crystal symbolising a single snowflake.  There is a large range of items in the Aura Crystal collection so you can really go for a coordinated look and I was particularly impressed with the quality of the Table Plans.  The double frame around each table is cut to perfection and is great to see a table plan made to such a high standard.  Good quality handmade wedding stationery is often let down with ancillary items such as the table plan.  Not in this case.