The owner of Allyson Dupont Designs dishes on the latest wedding stationery tips and trends.
The Trends
This year’s trending invitation themes include botanicals, rustic romance and modern minimalism. Watercolor florals will be more vivid, or may be foregone entirely in favor of vintage botanicals with denser, deeper colors. For the rustic look, expect a lot less burlap as couples seek a more sophisticated expression with linens and frayed silk, muted metallics, natural tones and those richer colors, handmade papers and hand-lettered text. For minimal and geometric themes, stark whites with foiled or single-color accents are the standard.
Couples are also showing great interest in printing on alternative media like wood veneer or clear acrylic, or mixing matte papers with other textures —metallic, glitter, wood, marble, fabric, sheers, etc. Laser-cut elements continue to gain popularity, and those little details like envelope liners, tied ribbons, and wax seals are at the top of many wish lists.
Save-the-dates are taking the “less is more” approach. One trend includes
calendar-themed cards that emphasize just the wedding date (perhaps providing a mini sticker with which the recipient can mark their own calendar).Another trend combines a single, unique engagement photo with minimal typesetting to create a card that looks more like a high-end magazine ad.
The Tips
The most fundamental consideration when planning an event is the number of people attending. First and foremost, sit down with the parents, decide whether children will be attending, and write out a preliminary guest list. Be sure to include any partners and plus-ones, as applicable. This likely won’t be the final list, but it will provide a fairly accurate count for planning purposes — no one wants to get into the final months of planning only to discover that they’ll be spending 30 or 40 percent more than expected on their invitations, or worse, that they have more guests than the venue can accommodate. For me, an underestimated count means that I might not have enough materials to finish your order on time. On the other hand, if you significantly overestimate the count, I’ll have to charge for unused specialty materials when we might have otherwise been able to add that extra little touch instead.