In our last blogpost, we told you about some of our favorite traditional elements in wedding invitation printing, their origin stories, and how they continue to give invitations a special look and feel even today. The other side of that coin, of course, is creativity! Here are a few ways that modern couples are creating modern invitation suites that bring new levels of beauty and elegance to their special event.
New Colors and Patterns
Couples even just a century or so ago didn’t have access to the amazing range of paper colors and ink types that are available today. In announcing her upcoming wedding, the modern bride can use any paper color and shade she can imagine, then choose from a range of beautiful, exciting ink varieties, from white ink to metallics and everything in between. Here’s a great example of a suite that utilizes beautiful blue paper and white ink for the invitation, reversing the pattern for the response card and envelope:
This suite also illustrates the ability to easily have any design, such as the Bermuda Moongate, professionally printed and included in your invitation as a representation of your wedding’s style.
Contemporary Response Methods
While many couples choose to use the traditional response card for an RSVP, others opt for an all-digital response method. This carries quite a few important advantages! Most people today find it much easier to navigate to a website and click their response rather than filling out a card, putting a stamp on the envelope, and putting it in the mail. It’s also much faster, giving the couple plenty of time to put together their plans based on the number of people who indicate that they will attend.
An online response method also opens up opportunities to gather other information from your guests ahead of time, such as their favorite memories of the couple, photographs that can be displayed at the reception, any special dietary restrictions, and other items that can be difficult to note on a physical response card.
Envelope Printing Options
Remember the last blogpost’s note about the tradition of handwritten addresses? While we love that highly personalized look, for a large wedding with a contemporary feel it can be a great option to go with printed envelopes instead. Of course, accuracy is much easier to achieve with address printing, and we can tell you about all sorts of fun, creative extras to add to your envelopes, like text that says “Please deliver to…”
We shared this invitation suite with you because it beautifully illustrates another one of our very favorite modern techniques: envelope liners! We absolutely love the way our clients’ faces light up when we show them how their envelope liner can carry a simple graphic, a color and pattern that reflect their wedding’s style, or a customized watercolor illustration of the wedding venue. Your guests will be delighted when they open up your invitation envelope and see this incredible complement to the invitation cards and other pieces in your suite.
Maps and More
We couldn’t end this two-part blogpost series without mentioning one of our very favorite creative ideas for a wedding invitation suite: fully customized maps. Whether it’s a map of the entire greater Charleston area with historic landmarks identified or a smaller-scale guide to the estate on which your wedding takes place, this element serves a practical purpose and also gives your guest a fun, unique souvenir that they will want to save for years to come.
As you can see, a watercolor map blends in beautifully with the rest of the suite and adds a lot of character. True, most people will probably just put the address into their GPS in order to actually navigate to your wedding venue, but the map can communicate lots of important information while also providing a helpful overview of the area.
What Are Your Ideas?
At Dodeline Design, we’re always excited to discover the next big idea in wedding invitation design. We talk with so many creative couples, and it’s fun to find out what they have in mind and how we can incorporate it into a wedding invitation that delights everyone and announces their big day in a truly one-of-a-kind way.
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