The Wedding Gallery<\/a> is set\u00a0to officially open its doors next month and we are just so excited to be media partners for this unique concept.<\/p>\nBringing together the collections\u00a0of over 200 brand partners within 20,000 sq ft of architecturally designed\u00a0underground space, The Wedding Gallery is destined to be the go-to hub of wedding knowledge.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Wedding Gallery is sharing with us regular snippets of insider inspiration from\u00a0the brand experts and this week’s theme is how to put a personal style\u00a0stamp on your stationery.<\/p>\n
Keep it personal<\/h3>\n Starting with the invitation, the wedding stationery sets the scene for the whole\u00a0occasion and is the perfect opportunity to share your personal story as a\u00a0couple.<\/p>\n
Helen Sharland, co-founder of laser stationery specialists Cutture has some great advice, “\u0080\u009cOur main advice to couples when planning their wedding stationery is to\u00a0create something that is personal to you. This is an opportunity to tell a\u00a0unique story; be it literally through illustrations of your life or with\u00a0subtle details that maybe only you know. Keeping it personal is always the\u00a0best way to create something unique and memorable.”<\/p>\nChris Pollard, Business Development Director at Armorial Paris supports\u00a0this view. He says, “\u0080\u009cThere are so many possibilities to choose from so we prefer\u00a0not to try and ‘\u0080\u0098compete\u0080’ with what couples may have seen or liked,\u00a0although this will naturally influence the concepts. It is important to\u00a0reflect their personalities within the stationery. Anything that can be\u00a0incorporated – whether a colour or motif\/graphic – that truly means\u00a0something to them (and perhaps the recipients will ‘\u0080\u0098get it’\u0080\u0099 too) is\u00a0what will set them apart.”\u0080\u009d<\/p>\n
Ruth Kaye, Founder of Ruth Kaye Design agrees, “A personal touch is so\u00a0intrinsic to the way we work. The detail is often where we start our\u00a0discussions with the couple and the stationery is designed around it.\u00a0Detail can be as important as a complete colour scheme, overall branding for the event, a bespoke illustration or even the couple’s love story (and\u00a0we have really heard some good ones!). We have also been known to\u00a0incorporate a secret, nostalgic detail that only the couple know about or\u00a0are able to decipher hidden somewhere in the invitation.”<\/p>\n
Avoid the trend trap<\/h3>\n While it can be useful to look at trends to determine what you do and\u00a0don’\u0080\u0099t like, be mindful of not falling into the trap of choosing a\u00a0stationery style solely based on a current trend.<\/p>\n
Founder of Elmo Paperstories, Sadaf Michaelsen says, “Trends will always\u00a0come and go and you don’\u0080\u0099t want to look at your pictures in five or 10\u00a0years from now regretting your choices. If you have a vision in your mind\u00a0for your stationery then just go for it! This can be influenced by the\u00a0venue, your love for animals or astrology or perhaps your heritage.”\u0080\u009d<\/p>\n“\u0080\u009cWe always try to balance a couple’\u0080\u0099s wishes to be ‘current’\u0080\u0099 with\u00a0their own personal style and identity. For example, we worked with one\u00a0couple who loved minimalistic design but also wanted to incorporate their\u00a0grandmother’\u0080\u0099s handwriting so we created a bespoke stationery suite that\u00a0reflected this” says Sadaf.<\/p>\n
Designer Louise Richardson supports this, commenting, “\u0080\u009cIntroducing an\u00a0unusual colour palette can set your stationery apart and give it a unique\u00a0look. Steer clear of using pink or neutrals as this seems to be endlessly\u00a0popular and instead create a design that will never be repeated for anyone\u00a0else. The stationery will then become a very personal keepsake, both for\u00a0you and your guests.”<\/p>\nPush the boundaries of creativity<\/h3>\n Gone are the days of simple stationery printed in black and white -\u0080\u0093 new\u00a0print techniques are pushing the creative boundaries across all elements\u00a0of stationery design and now’\u0080\u0099s the time to embrace them.<\/p>\n
“A beautiful invitation we recently produced included a stunning\u00a0lasercut gate-folded outer cover, embellished with gold olive branches and\u00a0held together with a hidden magnet,” says Chris Pollard of Armorial.<\/p>\nHelen Sharland at Cutture advises, “We have created many invitations\u00a0which are full of specialist print processes as well as sensory elements\u00a0such as scented invitations, sound, video and recently, augmented reality.\u00a0Every bespoke creation is a huge undertaking as everything is individually\u00a0made and hand finished. One invitation could have 15 processes and then\u00a0that has to be multiplied by hundreds for the quantity required. We are\u00a0currently working on a beautiful snow globe wedding invitation with the\u00a0couple in a lasercut Christmas scene. That one is pretty special!”<\/p>\n
Less is often more<\/h3>\n “\u0080\u009cIt’s a clich\u00e9, but less is more,”\u0080\u009d says Chris Pollard at Armorial.\u00a0“\u0080\u009cAvoid overcomplicating the design and keep wording to a minimum. Of\u00a0course you need to have all the information there, but avoid clutter. Avoid\u00a0mixing typefaces too; use two, max (sometimes three will work) and keep\u00a0them consistent. The same with colour too.\u0080”<\/p>\n
“It doesn’\u0080\u0099t need to be overcomplicated” agrees Sadaf Michaelsen.\u00a0“\u0080\u009cUnless you know months in advance what your wedding day will look like,\u00a0you won’\u0080\u0099t be able to include all the details in your Save the Date\u00a0cards. The cards have a purpose and should be designed in an elegant and\u00a0luxurious way without too much distraction. Details are essential for your\u00a0wedding stationery, but avoid getting lost in them.”<\/p>\nTrust your stationery supplier<\/h3>\n Stationery is often assumed to be a simple part of wedding planning but in\u00a0reality is quite complex; so ensure you find a supplier you trust.<\/p>\n
Helen Sharland at Cutture suggests working closely with your designer, “Tell them your plans for your day and what you want from the look and\u00a0feel of your celebration. At the same time listen to them so they can\u00a0create a design that you love. A good designer should help you with the process. We suggest thinking about the invitation first, then work on the\u00a0day stationery closer to the big day.”<\/p>\n
Louise Richardson advises, “\u0080\u009cI admire those clients who take a leap of\u00a0faith in me and trust me to create something incredible. I worked on a\u00a0wedding on the Greek island of Chios a couple of years ago and the venue\u00a0was an old fruit pressing factory. As soon as the client told me this I\u00a0knew what to do and created a design that was inspired by vintage fruit\u00a0wrappers, it was a joy to work on, fun, vibrant and reflected the amazing\u00a0clients perfectly! I’m also working on a very interesting project at the\u00a0moment, we are printing onto leather, fabric and wood but my lips are\u00a0sealed on this one for now!”<\/p>\nSource samples & perfect the packaging<\/h3>\n Once the design is complete it’\u0080\u0099s important to not overlook the finished\u00a0product.<\/p>\n
Ruth Kaye advises, “The finish of a product and it’s quality is essential.\u00a0A poorly finished invitation will feel horrible, no matter how lovely the\u00a0design, however this can never be fully conveyed by simply looking at\u00a0images. Therefore my advice is to visit your stationer and to view samples\u00a0of past invitation suites, card stock and finishes available to establish\u00a0what you are comfortable with. Take the time – it may seem laborious, but\u00a0there is simply no other way.”<\/p>\n“\u0080\u009cIf you are planning on getting your stationery online, always insist on\u00a0seeing an actual sample first,”\u0080\u009d recommends Louise Richardson. “The\u00a0design may be exactly what you want but if printed on thin quality paper\u00a0it will negatively impact the end result. Even if you have to pay for it,\u00a0it’\u0080\u0099ll be money well spent in the long run.”<\/p>\n
Such good advice from the experts! We can’t wait to visit The Wedding Gallery when it opens and see just what it has to offer! Why to pop over to their website<\/a> for a sneak peek?!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Putting your style stamp on your wedding stationery The eagerly anticipated wedding retail, planning and inspiration\u00a0destination The Wedding Gallery is set\u00a0to officially open its doors next month and we are just so excited to be media partners for this unique concept. Bringing together the collections\u00a0of over 200 brand partners within 20,000 sq ft of architecturally designed\u00a0underground space, The Wedding Gallery is destined to be the go-to hub of wedding knowledge. The\u00a0Wedding Gallery is sharing with us regular snippets of insider […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":154382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,81,19,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-invitations-stationery","category-latest-blog-post","category-media-partners"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/5starweddingdirectory.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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