Vegas Invite - You are Invited

Retro Red Vegas

A guided tour has to start with the iconic Vegas sign in lights, which is a common choice of design from many wedding stationery designers.  I have chosen to showcase the design above  from You are Invited because it is available in a number of colours.  Once the invites are ordered, the company also offer Menu cards, Order of the Day/Service, table plan and place cards.  I think your guests may have a migraine by the end of the wedding celebrations if you choose the full compliment, but one or two items from the set will certainly set the scene.  You will find another couple of variants on this style on the You are Invited website, including a more subtle red retro version which I think looks much more stylish.  Mind you, that could just be an indicator that the a full on Vegas wedding isn’t really my cup of tea.

Las Vegas - I Do Personalise

Another Vegas sign but this time with the lights switched off.  The novelty with this one is in the custom personalisation.  I Do Personalise is brought to you by the same printers as the CCA Occasions design that we feature on our own Olivia Samuel site.  The designs are digitally printed and given a mirror gloss finish – pefect for some Vegas glamour.  This design really does put your name up in lights and the bridal couples names can be changed and proofed instantly on the I Do Personalise website.  Unfortunately, there is no variation in design between the other items of stationery in the set but then, as I mentioned above, maybe you only want to stick with the Vegas theme for the invitations anyway.

We Go Together Custom Design

This Stars and Stripes theme is a custom design from wedding stationery designers We Go Together.  Rather than have a stock portfolio of designs their approach is more personal and they will work with you to create a unique design just for you.  I love the two red stars representing I assume the married couple and the striking use of white on red text of the invitation wording to form the stripes of the US flag. 

Vegas Invitation from Dinkie Dynamo

After a little more research I discover a colleague here on the gallery actually blogged about a Vegas invitation a couple of years ago.  So this design from deserves another quick mention here.   You can read the full Gallery write up here

Vegas Zazzle Invitation Montage

We will round up this article with a montage of designs from Zazzle.  Zazzle is basically a printing company that showcase designs from thousands of designers.  They basically let the designers focus on their creative side by outsourcing the print and fulfilment.  Because Zazzle deal with all sorts of industries the one thing you may find is a lack of expertise in the wedding area and you may be limited somewhat by their online personalisation tool.  That said they have a large range of Vegas style invitation designs so it is worth a look.

Sophisticated stationery for a Wedding Abroad from Sweet Graphics. Paddington Bear would have approved I feel.

We have found it…. a set of wedding stationery for an overseas wedding that does’nt have a single cartoon aeroplane or tropical island on the front. This ensemble of stationery from Sweet Graphics is subtle, chic and beautifully coordinated.  The name of the range is Journey and the invitation shown above is printed on a champagne irridiscent 400gsm card stock.  One side shows a passport stamp design and the other side a chic suitcase design in champagne and ivory.  It is the extra touches that bring this design to life and the continuation of the passport stamps on the envelope means that your guests will be opening your invitation in anticipation.  Unlike many other wedding abroad designs this set adds romance to the wedding celebration and does’nt looks like you are wrapping your nuptials up in a bargain break package holiday.  

You can get a matching invite, reply card and personalised envelope for £4.00 which I think is a great price and if you wish to continue the coordination there is an information card, save the date, menu, place card, thank you and seating plan in the same set.

I Do Print

I have talked about CCA Occasions before. I sell them through our Olivia Samuel business so consider myself a bit of an expert. The reason for this article is that CCA Occasions have now taken a different route with their new range of stationery by moving away from their national network of reseller agents and high street stores to a web only direct sales brand.

Ido-print is a strange name for a site. I thought it was a play on words with the ceremonious “i do” but then the site displays not just wedding stationery but also a wide range of new home cards, baby announcements, christmas cards, business invitations among others.  The main selling point bhind the site is the flashy online proofing engine that powers the site.  Simply type the bride and groom’s name into a box and see it cleverly rendered into a number of images including a vintage car, the sand on a tropical beach, or a classic Vettriano Print (a mainstay design of the traditional CCA offering).  Those familiar with Moonpig and others will realise this technology is not new but this is the first time I have seen this from one of the big wedding stationery printers.

I have to say that this type of wedding invitation is not my cup of tea.  Its great for a fun 30th birthday card but I prefer something a little more traditional from a wedding invite.  Because all these cards are produced on a high end digital printing press you are unlikely to see any fancy details like clever embossing, intricate laser cut, die cut shapes or foiling embelishments which I think make an invitation stand our more than a digitally remastered image.

I am also a little dissapointed to see that on virtually all the designs there is no variation between the different items in each collection.  For instance, the bride and grooms name in the sand image that features on the design pictured above is copied through to the Save the Date card, Thank You, Reply Card and Evening Invitation.  Since the only thing that changes is the card size I feel this could get a little monotonous.  I suppose you could choose different items from different ranges but then you will start to lose some coordination.

A big plus however is the simplicity of the site.  The whole online proofing system makes these invitations incredibly easy to purchase so would suit a couple in a hurry who want to get their invitations ordered and out the way with minimum fuss.

I notice at the checkout that I do Print have a promotional code box so I will be creating an entry on our Wedding Voucher Codes site later today and contacting CCA to see if they can offer any deals for our readers.  Watch this space (or the one over at Wedding Voucher Codes )

These are the perfect invitations for a beach wedding, whether you’re inviting all your guests to the wedding itself, or to use to show you are getting married abroad and you’re inviting your guests to a party afterwards.  The Beach Heart invitations from Kardella come in a choice of card styles, either the square folded card which costs £1.30 each or the DL flat card which is printed on both sides and costs £1.20 each.   From the description on the website the DL card has a light blue hue and the actual photo on the card shows golden sand and sparkling water which isn’t obvious on the website, so I would recommend a sample if you’re interested in this range.

If  you are jetting off to a sunnier climate to get married (why wouldn’t you!), then you’ll want an invitation to set the scene.  This Scrumptious Palm Tree invitation from Bubbly Creations is the ideal way to invite your guests to your tropical celebrations.  It comes in an array of colourways which includes pearlescent effect and glitter colours and there is a fully coordinating range available from invitations through to table plans and keep-sake boxes.  Prices are very reasonable with invitations costing £2.80 each and they currently have an offer on their website for a free guest book with orders over £400. 

If you are getting married abroad or you are hoping for a glorious English summer (??!!??) to support a tropical theme, then this colourful Bird of Paradise invitation from The Alternative Invite Co will definately set the scene.   The day and evening invites cost £1.45 each and there is a full range available to fully coordinate your stationery.  For an extra £35 you can choose to have coloured ink which would be great for this range to really set it off.  Your reception venue could look really exotic and tropical if you picked out the pink, blue and green from this stationery.  Bright pink floral displays with blue or green table settings and similar coloured bunting would give a real party feel.  

Carolyn Mackenzie does some fantastic wedding cakes, the cupcake designs being perfect to get a fantastic array of colour.

I really like this Ocean Menu from Anemone Island which would be perfect for a wedding abroad.  Apart from the fact that it is hand beaded and the menu costs £2.70 that is as much as I can tell you about this range of stationery.  The website only has two pages, a home page to tell you a bit about the designs and what’s available and a page that shows you one of each item in the range.  You will need to telephone them or e-mail to request a brochure and there is no online ordering available, which is what most people want these days.  I do hope the brochure gives much better detail as I think these designs are really innovative and could be very appealing to those looking for chic, understated stationery.  

Whether you are jetting off to Vegas to get married or you just want a really funky set of stationery, this Vegas Wedding Invitation from Dinkie Dynamo is the perfect way to invite your guests to a fabulous wedding!  It has Swarovski crystals to give an amience of the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas.  Prices range from £1.20 for the place card to £2.95 for the wedding invitation.  I would definitely recommend requesting a sample of this stationery if you like the look of it as I don’t feel the picture does it much justice.  If you look on the collections page of the site you can see the card has a much more three dimensional feel with layering which you can’t really see in the close up image.

This blue shell wedding invitation postcard from Scissor Paper Stone is perfect for a beach wedding.  It comes in different colour options and as many different card options as you can think of.  I like the postcard version for a wedding abroad as it sets the holiday tone and the blue sets the ambience of sun, sea and sand.  The reply card is really sweet as well as that is set in the format of a postcard.  Prices range from £2.30 for the postcard and envelope to £3.50 for a wallet and envelope where the postcard is encased in a tissue lined wallet that is tied with ribbon.  There is a full range of stationery available including save the date cards through to table plans and thank you cards.

These funky flip flop wedding invitations are fantastic for a beach wedding.  The eylets used on the cards hold down the flip flop strap flaps (try saying that after a few margherittas) so they spring into 3D action.  The cards are entirely handmade by XOXO so they can be tailored to suit most colour schemes or patterns.

The design is called Flippity Flops and each individually boxed card costs only £3.75 each and I think they are just perfect for a fun overseas wedding.  If you are visiting the overseas destination before your wedding why not bring back some sand from the actual beach you will be on and enclose a small sachet of sand with each invitation.  It will remind your guests of what they have to look forward to when they look out the window and see the typical UK weather. 

PS.  If you are wondering why this company is called XOXO.  Well, its text speak for ‘kisses and cuddles’.  I knew that really.