If you love where you live, why not incorporate the essence of the place into your wedding day? You really can get married wherever you’d like nowadays – with the help of a celebrant you can say your vows on the beach, on a mountain top, on a boat, a lake… pretty much anywhere. I’m one of those lucky creatives who live close to the Lake District – and today’s blog post is all about bringing the spirit of a place into your wedding styling.
Regular readers will know stationery is close to my heart! As a calligrapher I’ve worked with some of the very best from Cutture to Print for Love – and one of the loveliest things about writing the English Wedding Blog is discovering new stationery designers and online wedding invitation boutiques.
I’m also a huge supporter of independent and local businesses, so I’m delighted to bring you my top picks of wedding stationery designers to watch (and buy from!) in 2018. In no particular order….
I’m pretty well acquainted with a particular wedding invitation designer and calligrapher whose eyes roll right back into her head at the first breath of “request the pleasure of your company…”. The thing is – it’s not a phrase anyone would ever breathe, or even dream of saying out loud. If you’re having a party, you tell your friends in person: “we’re having dinner & drinks at mine for New Year – would you like to come?” The only place we seem to use the horribly stilted “request the pleasure of your company” is on wedding invitations. And not the fun, exciting ones.
I’m a total paper freak. I love exploring art shops and specialist stationery suppliers’ little havens of handmade papers, running my hands along the torn edges of any new stock I can find. I know it’s weird.
Photo: Susan Arnold Photography as seen on B.Loved
But there’s a thing I can’t get out of my head: I read on a wedding blog a week or two ago that one of the key trends for 2018 wedding stationery would be paper.
Photo: Olivia Bossert for a shoot for Wedding Sparrow
Not card, not pocketfolds, not even transparencies. Good old earthy, natural, handmade paper.
Have you ever considered a destination wedding in the UK? Gathering up your nearest and dearest and spending a weekend somewhere beautiful, idyllic and romantic? There are so many spots you could discover and get married in without having to fly / transport all your wedding bits & pieces overseas – and lovely Tyn Dwr Hall is one.
I would love to travel more, to adventure to far-flung countries like some of my photographer friends do. It makes me smile to see my calligraphy heading to Australia, Norway, Italy, the States and Japan while I write away in my little home office! But I love the land I’m lucky enough to live in, and I’d always choose a UK destination to say my vows.