Wedding Invitation Basics

To help you find your way amongst the gazillion-and-one stationery options out there, here’s a complete guide to wedding invitations. Stationery novices worry not – you’ll soon know your printed translucent from your thermography!

Rock, scissors, paper

Choosing the right paper for your wedding invitations is a bit like choosing the right base for your Sunday night pizza. If it is too thin or too thick, the end product won’t be so inviting. The key word here is quality – cutting corners with paper will only make your invitations look a bit ordinary.

But amongst the cream of the crop there are sill myriad paper options available to you – white, coloured, glossy, matt, thick, thin, textured, smooth, handmade, recycled… To narrow your choices down, decide on the style of invitations you’re looking for and your budget. Here are a few options you might like to consider:

• Recycled paper has a natural and textured look that can be rather classy in an earthy, casual kind of way.
• Handmade paper is a hip alternative. But we’re not talking about the greyish scrap of paper you made in kindergarten with newspaper. We’re talking about amazing handcrafted paper that incorporates decorative elements such as dried flowers, dried seeds or tiny shells.

photo credit: 2bsquared designs
• Simplicity is back in fashion. If this is the way you want to go, you might like to have a look at cotton or linen paper. These papers are the superheroes of the paper family – super strong and super ink-friendly. They have a rich texture to them that will make your invitations look and feel very classy. If you can’t afford 100% cotton or linen paper, you should be able to find cheaper versions blended with other recycled fibres.
• Printed translucent is a translucent high quality paper – a bit like tracing paper – that comes in many weights, colour and prints. When backed with a thicker card, it give a nice romantic touch to wedding invitations.
• Metallic paper is the newest kid on the block. It’s easy to print and comes in all the colour of the rainbow. Plus it gives wedding invitations this modern foiled look.

What’s your type?

Finding the right paper is important but it’s only the beginning – what’s a pizza without the topping? You need to think about the typeface and printing technique that will best suit the style of your wedding invitations.