Couples choose bespoke wedding invitations because they want that extra wow factor, lots of hand painted illustrations and gorgeous embellishments layered up to create an overall aesthetic that is utterly unique and personal to them. They want it to be clear from the finished invitation set, that plenty of thought, care and artisan craft has gone into both the design and finished product and they can rest assured that no other couple in the world will have the same bespoke wedding invitations.
And when you’ve hired a wedding stationer, there are plenty of ways to take things beyond the expected, adding the wow factor to your wedding stationery.
BESPOKE WEDDING STATIONERY : THE DESIGN
1. Go beyond the traditional venue illustration
A hand-painted venue illustration is a beautiful way to personalise your bespoke wedding invitations, but it doesn’t have to stop with just a painting of the front of your venue.
Think about the details that make your venue special. Perhaps there's an ornate entrance gate, a decorative fountain, an archway leading into the gardens or a particularly beautiful view from the terrace. These additional illustrations can be incorporated into the invitation design to add extra interest - perhaps printed on the inside, an envelope liner or even the back cover.
Jenny and Chris were getting married in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie - a breath taking, medieval village nestled in South East France. They chose beautiful folded invitations. For the cover I painted the charming French village that sit underneath the iconic limestone cliffs with the famous golden star hanging between them.
Inside was the monastery they were to get married in with some hills and cypress trees in the distance. Unlike most of my other designs, this was all about the beauty of the landscape and local scenery! The side panels featured an order of events and QR code for the guests to RSVP, and the bespoke wedding invitations were secured with the finest faux silk ribbon and dusty blue wax seals.
2. Incorporate a watercolour wedding crest
A bespoke wedding crest is another way to bring your personality into the design of your stationery. Some clients like a simple floral crest, while others like to add in lots of personalised illustrations, so it tells the romantic story of them as a couple.
Each wedding crest is unique and created with florals and colours to complement your wedding. I sketch out a monogram of your initials intertwined, which is then painted with watercolours. Personal illustrations can be incorporated around the wedding crest to represent your hobbies, favourite drinks, music, pets, places you've travelled or other details that are part of your story.
And unlike a single illustration used purely for your bespoke wedding invitations, a wedding crest can become a visual identity for the whole celebration, almost like your wedding logo. Use it on your welcome sign, menus, order of service and other day stationery to create a cohesive look throughout.
For Rebecca and Vincent's coastal wedding, their crest combined bright wildflowers with hand-painted lettering, an illustration of their dog and a lighthouse associated with their wedding venue. The final design was not overly complicated but it perfectly blended their sunset-inspired colour palette with coastal elements.
3. Add an illustrated border to your wedding invitations
If I was thinking of wedding invitations that were boring and mundane, they’d have a venue illustration slapped on the front / main card and not much on the rest. What makes bespoke wedding invitations beautiful, is the design filters through to every aspect of the invitation set and sometimes it's the smaller details that make a design feel special.
If you’re going for folded invitations, I can design an illustrated border to decorate the inside containing flowers and cute little illustrations that are special to you or inspired by your wedding theme or location. This could be shells, lobsters and hydrangeas for a coastal wedding; palm trees, camels and ceramic pots for a Moroccan wedding; or for Italian villa weddings a combination of flowers and citrus fruits is just the thing.
Liana and Ben got married at Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire. They were from the US but living in the UK and were Jewish, so having a Jewish wedding. The couple wanted the design to be fresh, modern and hand crafted while celebrating iconic parts of their heritage and religion. I created an illustrated border featuring olive branches, the Star of David, Hamsa, pomegranates, candles and florals chosen to complement their wedding styling.
When I was designing their day stationery, I used the same decorative border on their signage and itinerary cards to keep the stationery suite cohesive.
BESPOKE WEDDING INVITATIONS: THE FINISH
4. When it comes to shapes, challenge the conventional
Do wedding invitations have to be rectangular or square? Definitely not!
Introducing custom shapes can completely change the look and feel of a stationery suite, it adds interest and another layer to the overall design. Shaped cards are an upgrade, but help to add to the bespoke, luxury aesthetic.
The most cost-effective choices are shapes I already have set up such as wavy, oval and arch shapes. Or, I can create a custom shaped card such as a boat, shell or lighthouse for a coastal wedding; or flower or wildlife-inspired shape for countryside weddings in the UK.
For Shiva and Richard's destination wedding in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, the invitations were designed for their outdoor celebration. The main invitation featured a hand-painted illustration of the spot where they would marry, with large cypress trees and the city skyline in the background. The invitations were secured with ivory wax seals stamped with their initials and inside was a shaped card for their sunset welcome party, tucked inside as an insert.
5. Add luxury embellishments
The finishing touches are where the term ‘luxury’ comes into its own. Adding tactile embellishments such as ribbons, custom belly bands and wax seals transforms wedding stationery from a flat paper product into a tactile, multi-sensory experience.
Receiving a bespoke wedding invitation with a physical closure builds anticipation. When a guest slides off the ribbon, opening the invitation becomes a deliberate, slow, and memorable ritual. It signals that what lies inside is precious and worthy of their undivided attention. In addition to being practical and keeping all the cards together or holding the folded invitation closed.
The wax is available in an array of beautiful colours and I have several botanical and themed stamps to choose from, or I can have a custom stamp made for you - perhaps with your initials or a special motif.
6. Give your envelopes a glow-up
Wedding envelopes, a seemingly boring, functional piece of wedding stationery… but they don’t have to be! These are actually one of my most popular upgrades and one of the first things your guests see, so they deserve just as much attention as the beautiful invitation inside.
Envelope liners are one of my favourite extra details and can feature a repeat pattern, special motif, your wedding crest, your venue illustration or an additional illustration such as a fountain or another view of your venue.
I also offer a wedding envelope printing service, in which I print the guest addresses onto the envelopes with the typography carefully chosen to complement the invitation design. Not only does this make the finished stationery look polished and cohesive, it can save a considerable amount of time. Handwriting a whole set of wedding envelopes can take much longer than you might expect. I've had couples tell me it took them two weeks to handwrite all the envelopes!
The best bespoke wedding stationery isn't necessarily the stationery with the most embellishments. It's the stationery where every detail is thought out, personalised and unique, and has a reason for being placed where it is.
Your venue, your favourite flowers, your dog, the place you got engaged, the cocktail you always order, a family tradition or the destination you've travelled to together - these are the details that turn a beautiful invitation into something that genuinely belongs to you.
That's the beauty of working with a wedding illustrator, you are not confined to templates or a set list of design elements. And those details don't have to disappear once the invitations have been sent. Your illustrations, crest and artwork can be carried through your wedding day stationery and signage, creating a visual thread from the moment your guests receive their invitation to the moment they arrive at your wedding.
If you’d like a quote for bespoke wedding invitations or day stationery, get a quote here.