The crescendo of three days of luxury floral masterclasses, hosted by world-renowned floral designer Karen Tran, will be the invitation-only gala dinner.

Taking place at The Savoy on Thursday, 18^th April, the dinner will embody the ‘Opulence at The Savoy’ theme that has inspired the three-day event, masterminded by luxury wedding planner Jane Riddell from Planned to Perfection, in association with cake designer, Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium, Karen Tran’s UK support florist, WildAbout, and The Function Band.

Commissioned to create a stationery suite fitting for such a spectacle was multi-award-winning Ananya, who created hand-crafted designs that combined contemporary and heritage processes for the ultimate finish and luxurious effect – hallmarks of the Ananya brand.

Tasked with setting the tone for the occasion to come, as well as influencing on-the-day styling, save the dates and invitations play a significant role in the aesthetic success of any event. Inspiring the entire suite designed for ‘Opulence at The Savoy’ by Ananya are delicate paper roses, which display exquisite craftsmanship.

“Roses are timelessly elegant and embody the universal language of love. Using ivory paper introduces a symbolic gesture towards both opulence and virtue,” explains Vaishali Shah, owner of Ananya. At a gala dinner celebrating an elite floral designer of the wedding industry in The Savoy’s glamorous ballroom, the symbolism is impeccably matched.

“We adore the three-dimensional effect the paper rose creates, which will be a key trend for 2019 and 2020 weddings, as well as the fact that the ribbon loop enables the rose to become an everlasting keepsake after the event.” Offering the opportunity to take away and treasure a piece of paperie ensures the event and all those associated with it remain at the forefront of the recipient’s mind in future – branding with perfection.

The paper rose is echoed in the invitations and save the dates, which showcase stunning illustrations. Demonstrating exquisite attention to detail, each invitation to the gala dinner is scented with floral notes of peony, lily and jasmine, before being tied to the paper rose, garnished with a hand-written, personalised gold calligraphy tag, encased in fragranced tissue paper and placed in a gold box.

Flashes of gold, which feature throughout the suite from invitation to packaging, complement the event’s ‘Opulence at The Savoy’ theme and the colour palette at The Savoy.

In another luxurious nod to perfect craftsmanship, each invitation is the finished product of a delicate screen-printing process.

“Screen printing is one of our favourite mediums of printing at Ananya – we love it!” comments Vaishali Shah. “Many of our designs, particularly those that use metallics, are created with this technique. Ink is pressed through a mesh screen using a rubber blade to move the ink across. When the blade is reversed back, the screen touches the paper and the print transfers to paper. It’s done entirely by hand, making it luxuriously artisanal.”

On the day, Ananya will continue to impress VIP guests with opulent paper goods, including place cards, table stationery and an abundance of romantic paper roses.

Ananya’s bespoke stationery designs will therefore create anticipation for this luxury event, as well as enhancing the aesthetic experience for attendees, with the paper roses a lasting memory of the quality, craftsmanship and attention to detail that embody Ananya.

ananyacards.com

Whilst you have already provided your guests with a feast and possibly wedding favours as part of your wedding day; it is important to send thank you cards as a formal way of showing your gratitude for their attendance and any gifts. Attending a wedding can prove to be an expensive day for guests – especially those that travel from far away and face accommodation costs. So a little show of thanks will certainly be appreciated and leave friends and family alike with a final happy memory of your wedding day.

There aren’t any specific rules regarding when your thank you cards should be sent out and people will appreciate that you are busy with the honeymoon. However, leaving it too long can be seen as a lack of appreciation or perhaps leave guests worrying that you don’t like the present they gave. So try and get the invitations sent out within the first few weeks of your marriage and certainly no later than six weeks after. It is a good idea to order your thank you cards along with the rest of your wedding stationery so that you have them at hand and can write a few at a time when you get a chance.

Finally, there are a couple of mistakes often made when sending out thank you cards that can easily be avoided. Rather than sending out or delivering thank you cards as and when you write them; instead, wait until you have written them all and dispatch them in one go. Otherwise, you run the risk of someone who has received a thank you card mentioning the fact to a guest who you haven’t yet sent one too – which could leave them feeling slighted. Also, be sure to add a handwritten heartfelt message to each card; thanking the guest or guests by name and giving mention to any gifts. If you shared a joke or memorable moment with them during the wedding day, then drawing reference to it is a great way of making the thank you a little more personal. I’m sure you’ll agree that the extra outlay in your wedding stationery really is worth it to add the finishing touches to your perfect day.

]]> https://5starweddingdirectory.com/blog/designer-wedding-invitations/feed/ 0 https://5starweddingdirectory.com/blog/10-tips-choose-wedding-stationery/ https://5starweddingdirectory.com/blog/10-tips-choose-wedding-stationery/#respond Tue, 10 May 2011 15:11:59 +0000 http://www.5starweddingmagazine.com/?p=18072 Laura Graham from GG Print currently runs her business and is enjoying watching it go from strength to strength.  Laura studied Classics at Oxford University and is determined to make sure that letter-writing is not lost in a world of emails. Here are Laura’s Top 10 tips on how to choose your wedding stationery.

1.   Make sure to budget for all your stationery in advance.  Things that you might need:

• Save the date cards
• Engagement invitations
• The invitations themselves with various inserts: reply cards, reception invitations and information sheets (including directions to the church or venue, accommodation and taxi details, and gift list information)
• Order of service
• Menus
• Placement cards
• Escort cards or a table plan
• Thank you cards

2.  Theme: if you have a theme, tie your stationery into this.  If not, think about what impression you want to get across to your guests, whether it be formal, traditional, simplistic or modern.

3.  There are so many different things that can affect the cost of printing, such as stock (card/paper), printing techniques, or quantities, so it’s always best to look at a quote in detail so that you can get exactly what you are after within your budget.

4.  Quantities: make sure to check your numbers carefully before you order – always make sure you have a few spares in case of last minute additions or calligraphy mistakes.  Also, remember that some of your friends will be in couples thereby only needing 1 invitation.

5.  Timings: to avoid a last minute rush think about timings in advance.  We usually advise sending out invitations 2 months before, and if the venue is abroad or a lot of the guests are coming from abroad, then 3 months before.  It generally takes 2 weeks to print.  The design process takes a little longer, so leave a few weeks for that.

6.  Order of service: we usually advise using a small size (A6 or a little larger) so that your guests can take away it easily and keep as a small memento of your special day.

7.  Your order of service will be in sets of 4 pages; so if you need to fill up a page, a quotation or poem is a nice idea.

8.  Thank you cards: a fun idea is to have a photo of the happy couple on the front.  This can then be used for Christmas cards as well.

9.  Directions: most people nowadays rely on satellite navigation, so don’t forget to write clearly a postcode of the venue or church.

10.  Calligraphy: if you would like to use a calligrapher, allow enough time for this.  As a guideline, to inscribe names and addresses on 100 invitations and envelopes, would take around 7-10 working days.  If you are not using a calligrapher, then think about ordering enough spares in case of any handwriting mistakes.

Big thanks to Laura for sharing her top tips with our readers.

Copyright 2011 5 Star Weddings

The Application shows a wedding invitation system where wedding party members could access maps, calendar reminders, gift lists and receive wedding invitations electronically through their smartphones. If brides and grooms and wedding planners start moving over to this new system it could be catastrophic for thousands of creative wedding stationers around the world.

“This could be a serious threat to our livelihoods and our staff’s jobs. We have put our life savings into our wedding stationery business, Ivy Ellen, which launched at the National Wedding Shows in October and recently showed at the prestigious Designer Wedding Show. The irony, of course, is that much of the artwork for our cards is prepared on Apple Macs, being a Mac fan I’m very disappointed in them,” – says wedding stationery, Jeremy Corner, Ivy Ellen Ltd.

One of the advantages of the new system is that it is could be more environmentally friendly as it uses a paperless system and therefore appeals to the Green Wedding sector.

“Three to four trees are planted for every tree cut down to make the paper for our wedding stationery. Our products actually grow forests. According to The Sunday Times scientists have found that performing two internet searches is comparable to bringing a kettle to boil. God knows what C02 those billions of daily internet clicks are really emitting, but online wedding stationery systems certainly won’t be planting trees like our FSC accredited suppliers are” – says Jeremy

He continues: “I think it will be a real shame if couples move away from traditional invitation sending. It feels so special to receive something personal like a wedding invitation or wedding thank you card through the post. Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life, it deserves more than an email.”

Read Ivy Ellen’s blog  http://ivyellenweddinginvitations.co.uk/weddinginvitations/

Details of Apple’s new patent can be found at patentlyapple.com

Details of Paper’s great environmental story can be found at twosides.info