Wedding stationery is one of the thousand small details that has to be just right in order to make your day a perfect one. A seemingly small thing can make all the difference, not just to how you see your wedding day, but also to how other perceive it.
For some guests, this will be the only contact they have with you before the day, so it’s an important detail to get right. That’s what this post is all about. We’re going to discuss the latest trends, what’s hot, what’s not and anything else we can discover about wedding stationery that might help you on your day.
Latest Wedding Stationery Trends
The trends this year seem to be still influenced by the economic climate, but in very different ways. We go from vintage, recycled, fantasy, lace to floral, to birds and retro. All influenced by the nostalgia that comes out whenever times get tough.
Vintage
First up is the home-made look that encapsulates vintage, homespun and rustic look. As a wedding theme, this can work really well as there are lots of designers creating some amazing products around vintage. The whole industry is ablaze with vintage everything and it can create an amazing day if planned right.
The look is so mature now that you could design a whole wedding day around it and not be left wanting. In terms of stationery, real home-made invitations and table decorations are really in. As are designer vintage themes. As long as they are done well, they are right on trend.
Recycled
Let’s be honest, at first glance, the idea of a recycled theme isn’t going to excite anyone but the most committed eco-warrior. But, there are a huge range of really good recycled-themed wedding stationery and designers continually putting out some high quality products. This availability has brought them more into the mainstream and into the popular consciousness.
There are a number of great designers out there that create a range of collection using either recycled materials, or pseudo-recycled themes. Each offers a great opportunity to do something a little out of the ordinary, while not using up too many resources at the same time.
Fantasy
We’re not talking orcs and dragons here, but fairytales. Think medieval, princesses, maidens, lords and ladies at court and so on. Oscar De La Renta is leading the charge with his 2013 collection of medieval style wedding dresses and the movement is gaining momentum from there.
Movie releases such as Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror provide the backdrop for some very good and very moving fantasy-themed weddings. There is also a wide variety of matching wedding stationery to set the scene which seem to be doing very well indeed.
Lace
Lace is a classic material and design that never seems to go out of fashion. The Royal Wedding is still fresh in the minds of many brides and is influencing their own theme. Rather than splashing the Union Jack everywhere, many are electing for a more subtle homage in lace.
Done well, lace is a very flexible and feminine fabric that adds a timeless elegance to proceedings. Whether the theme is designed around it, or whether you use it sparingly on your wedding stationery and dress, lace is bang up to date and very much on trend right now.
Floral
Floral designs in anything are timeless like lace. It’s one of those design themes that never goes out of fashion and seem to be reinvented each season. The 2013 design season is no different with a range of floral wedding dresses appearing on catwalks around the world and a huge array of wedding stationery to match.
Pick a flower, pick a range and run with it. You can incorporate floral into other themes too like vintage, retro, rustic, to thoroughly modern. The only limit with a floral design is your own imagination and selling it to the groom of course!
Birds
Bird themes are a very popular theme right now. Either the birds themselves adorning wedding stationery, sitting atop a wedding cake or inspiring a wood-themed wedding or something a little more country. Done well, a bird theme can bring a very relaxed, down to earth atmosphere to any big day.
Similar to the recycled trend, a bird theme is a simple but very effective one. You can put birds anywhere, from the wedding invitation itself, birds nest table decorations, themed lights and so much more. It’s a lovely theme to use if you can carry it off.
Retro
We’re all over the retro theme right now. It’s everywhere, from the TV programmes we watch, to the fashion we see in the shops to the latest cutting-edge designs coming out of Paris. It’s another by-product of austere times, where we look back at how things used to be because the now isn’t so great.
Using a retro design in your wedding stationery could be everything from a simple geometric pattern from the 70s, a disco theme and right up to the decade that fashion forgot, the 1980s.
All these are what we see as the major trends in wedding stationery for 2013. Each offers a huge scope for your big day and, when integrated into an overall theme, can contribute hugely to how your day looks and feels and is perceived by all who attend.