Five tips for Fine Art Wedding Stationery

by Liz Baker Photography | Wedding planning

Fine Art Wedding Stationery = Pinterest Heaven (or Nightmare?)

Fine art wedding stationery is certainly not in short supply. BUT finding the right suite AND choosing from the thousands of lovely designs out there does present a challenge. Pinterest seems to be literally heaving with beautiful samples – you’re not imagining it! How will you possibly choose?

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I love to shoot beautiful stationery at weddings (oh alright, and I’m a design junkie) so I want to help you!  Here are my top 5 tips for working out what you want, and narrowing down the choice of fine art wedding stationery to a really good shortlist.

1. Set your budget.

First, decide how important it is to you to have a coherent set of paperie, or a unique one-of-a-kind design for your wedding invitations. Work out how much you want to spend. Then you will know whether you can look at completely bespoke designs or whether you need to hunt down a (more affordable) stylish semi-custom suite. Bespoke designs are utterly beautiful pieces of art that are a joy to behold and make a beautiful keepsake from your wedding day.  On the other hand semi-custom designs are great if you are on a tighter budget, or need them in a hurry. There are certainly plenty of handsome suites out there.

2. Put your stamp on it.

The next step will be to keep in mind the style, theme, florals or colours that you are planning for your wedding. You might be drawing inspiration from the venue, or the season of the year. Or elements of your romance that you want to thread right through your wedding. This is the stage where a wedding planner will come into their own and do all the hard work for you. So if you’ve booked one you can relax. Or perhaps you are a creative bride and groom who want to be hands-on in your wedding planning. In which case this is when you want to find a stationery supplier who will take your ideas and make them reality.

3. Keep it simple & understated.

Fine art wedding stationery is known for being at once modern and elegant. Often its a minimalist design although that can take many forms. It could be a traditional letterpress font and a thick cotton rag paper. Or it could be an elaborate handwritten design using pen and ink, headed up with an elegant monogram, detail or line drawing of your venue.  These could look quite different but they share simplicity and elegance by allowing plenty of space on the page. Further, these types of design rely on understated elements like the texture of the paper or the watercolour wash applied to it.

4. Think outside the box.

Try to think from the start about every aspect of stationery that you might want.  Save-the-dates, invitations and RSVPs themselves are the obvious essentials. However, here are a few other elements for you to consider. Will you want place-names or escort cards for your tables? Will you want a table layout plan or table names? What about menus, orders of service, ceremony seat reservations, an order of the day, welcome/directions signs, or signage for cards/gifts/signature cocktails? Beyond these items, have you considered handwritten vows or a penned love letter to give one another on your wedding morning? So many possibilities, but the key is to think it all through and decide at the start what you’d like.

5. Keep up with the paperwork.

Keep in mind timescales, since even semi-custom designs need to be ordered in sufficient time. A good rule of thumb is a minimum of 6 weeks before your print deadline for customisable designs, and 12 weeks in advance of printing for bespoke and handlettered designs. Once you’ve found your favourites, be sure to contact the designer and ask what their exact deadline requirements are before you place your order.

So, let’s recap.

Pinterest is a huge resource for fine art wedding stationery, but arm yourself first by remembering these top five: budget, style, simplicity, details, timing.

Help! I’m still stuck in the wedding stationery mud!

If you’ve followed these steps and are still baffled by the array on offer, or if you got stuck halfway through, then cut to the chase. Here are my best 5 tried-and-tested fine art wedding stationery designers that I have personal experience of. (You’re welcome!)

Laura Elizabeth Patrick (Bespoke)

Bureau Design (Bespoke & semi-custom)

Gemma Milly (Semi-custom)

By Moon and Tide (Bespoke & customisable)

De Winton Paper Co. (Bespoke & customisable)

Of course, stationery is just one stop on your wedding planning journey. Get my guide to planning your own fine art wedding sent to you completely free, along with your no-obligation, personalised quote.

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