If you love the hand painted, artisan look, illustrated wedding menus are a great option for your wedding. These highly artistic, hand-painted pieces combine guest names and personalised menu choices with decorative borders, watercolour illustrations and personalised touches that make your wedding stationery feel extra special. Far from a simple list of dishes, they’re miniature works of art that double as keepsakes for you and your guests.
Why Choose Hand Painted Wedding Menus?
Hand painted wedding menus are super creative, adding a splash of character and personality to your place settings. Each illustrated menu design is completely original and unique, designed in line with your colour palette, theme and overall wedding styling. Unlike a standard card, illustrated menus feel special and provide something guests will want to take home as a memento of your day. The watercolour design can be inspired by the menu itself, venue or location and I can incorporate special illustrations that are personal to the couple too.
The design options are endless…
With hand painted wedding menus, there are no templates holding you back. Backgrounds such as watercolour washes, stripes or patterns can be combined with shaped borders and finished with watercolour illustrations of your choosing. Fonts can be kept elegant with calligraphy style fonts, or more playful and handwritten looking fonts for a more hand-rendered aesthetic. Of course, I can include illustrations of dishes, herbs, ingredients and drinks pairings for your chosen wedding menu too.
How are Illustrated Wedding Menus Printed?
If you are wondering what the design process looks like... I hand paint the wedding menu – sometimes all in one piece, or sometimes I paint the components individually and then edit them together afterwards. The illustrations are then scanned, digitally edited into a menu design and printed onto premium textured card. You receive digital proofs to approve before the final menus are printed and I have templates to submit all the relevant menu information.
Hand Painted Wedding Menu Shapes
There are lots of beautiful choices when it comes to the shape of your menus. Traditionally they are rectangular, which could be 5" x 7" or a more slim, narrow shape. Narrow wedding menus are ideal for sliding into napkins, while the rectangular ones sit better on top of the napkin or with the napkin to the side and tied in a knot.
Or, you can get creative by introducing shaped menus - this could be arched, wavy, round or a custom die cut shape. I created the hand painted wedding menus below for Lauren and Laurie’s Lake Como wedding. The design features pasta, mushrooms, vegetables and herbs, seabass and the iconic millefoglie wedding cake which is popular with Italian weddings.
Or take the menus below, which were part of a bespoke stationery package I created for Katrina and Brandon. The border was inspired by illustrated playing cards they had commissioned for their escort card wall and the border features items from the wedding menu. The place settings were absolutely stunning with bold floral napkins that they had printed and cute scalloped plates.
Tips for Hand Painted Wedding Menus
- Stick to your overall colour scheme, but don’t be afraid to let extra shades shine through for a natural, hand-painted aesthetic that’s free flowing and not too rigid.
- Look to the dishes and ingredients on your menu to inspire the border, but don't be afraid to mix it up with other illustrations inspired by the location, venue itself or your personal interests.
- Printing guest names essentially combines the wedding menu and place card into one, making your stationery budget go further and cutting down the cards you have on the table.
- If your stationer provides a template or spreadsheet to submit your menu information, use it. Each system they have put in place has been designed to make the overall process quicker and easier, and minimise mistakes, it keeps the project on track and avoids extra data handling fees.
- Double-check spelling and grammar before submission and once you receive the proofs. Ideally 2 pairs of eyes will check spelling on proofs, so don’t be afraid to recruit a trusted family member or friend to help you proof artwork.
Please contact me here to chat about hand painted wedding menus or bespoke stationery packages.