It's just going to go in the bin anyway... Isn't it?

I’ve heard this so many times since becoming a wedding stationer, “people are just going to put the invitations in the bin anyway.” However, this proclamation always surprises me. I have kept the wedding invitations of five cousins and my brother, plus the order of service of another cousin. Over half of these weddings took place well before I’d even considered becoming a stationer so it isn’t because stationery is my ‘thing’ either.  I haven’t got a single favour or any other momento for most of these special days, and I certainly wouldn't expect to be given something, but the invitations make a lovely keepsake in place of such things. 

Perhaps I’m just sentimental but I like having the stationery which documents such an important day.  It seems to me that an invitation or order of service is the perfect keepsake for your guests and family, they document all the important details of your day, your names, the date, the time, the venue. They’re also easy to keep. I know a number of people still have their invitations to my wedding and one even kept my wedding R.S.V.P. card and bought us another one purely because she wanted to keep the set we sent out with our invitations as a keepsake. Some family even still have our engagement invitations. I genuinely like having this little bit of traditional evidence of the weddings I have been invited too.

In fact, I’m very disappointed when I don’t get a solid invitation (or even a phone call or text message in some cases). Two wedding invitations recently have come via word of mouth through family. We missed one of those weddings because the time had been mis-communicated by an hour and we had no invitation to double check the night before. In both cases we’ve been left feeling a bit, well, unimportant? Unwanted maybe? Like we aren’t really worth an invitation (or even an email).

Perhaps this was a cost saving exercise, and fair enough, not everyone can afford luxury wedding invitations. The concept that wedding stationery is ‘disposable’ and therefore the ideal choice to cut from the budget doesn’t really ring true with me, though.

In my experience the invitations don’t just go in the bin. Some will, sure.  Just the same as some people will bin your favours, some will leave your meal or parts of it and some won’t drink the champagne you’ve chosen. However, your stationery could be more of a lasting momento for many of your guests than any other part of your wedding. Guests can’t keep a carefully decorated cupcake, a lottery ticket doesn’t usually mean much to anyone unless it is the winning ticket and most guests don’t end up with a copy of the professional photography to remind them of the beauty of your day.

However, your invitations last and not only that they also give your guests a sneak peek at your day. They can give a hint of style, a clue as to a colour and these hints then serve as reminders for years to come. They can serve as the prompt that accesses memories of your wedding whenever your stationery is seen.

Alternatively invitations can be totally personalised to the couple, they can be a celebration of you as people. A good bespoke wedding stationery designer will be able to incorporate your style and personality into your stationery and create a design that screams who you are almost before the names are read. I have been known to spend more than 30 hours in a week illustrating a single bespoke design, just to get it perfect and create something completely personal to the bride and groom but also using skills informed by years of training and professional experience that can’t just be picked up. And that’s just to illustrate a design, never mind proof it, print it and assemble it.

I don’t create stationery to be binned; I design your stationery with the intention of giving your guests something worth keeping. I want to create something that is perhaps worth more to your guests than the champagne on arrival or the whiskey miniatures on the tables, even if they only realise it when they find the invitation again in a year, two years or five years time and it sparks a memory of just how much fun they had celebrating your big day with you. A good invitation can remain cherished long after the flowers have wilted, the champagne flutes have been tidied away and the wedding hat has been packed away in its box in the attic. 

My aim with every design I produce is to make something that will be cherished, and I’m sure many other professional stationers feel the same.

Angela McGurk

www.graphic-embers.co.uk

WINNER – The North of England Wedding Awards 2012.

Bespoke Design

One of my favourite things to do is design a set of stationery which is truly unique, something that no other couple will have. It's not always (or ever) easy to get a truly bespoke design right, because more often than not it means starting with nothing but a hazy concept or theme. Often the couple also have a strong set of expectations which cannot easily be expressed, especially if the conversations are happening at a distance, over email or telephone calls, without being able to sit down together and discuss requirements.

However, part of what I enjoy about bespoke design is the challenge and the ability to say yes, I can do that for you. From snow leopard print to autumn leaves, I like to be able to give every couple I work with exactly what they are looking for. Sometimes that means making revision after revision as we experiment and narrow down a concept, sometimes it means spending a lot of time drawing or researching something very specific. Producing something unique rarely includes the use of pre-made parts, either illustrations or embellishments, and that's where Graphic Ember's ability to illustrate and laser cut comes in useful.

So what bespoke design have we done previously and how did we come up with a design?

One of my favourite pieces of bespoke design so far was for a wedding last month. The bride contacted me initially for her invitations (which I unfortunately didn't photograph). What we were given was a theme; autumn. This theme influenced the colour scheme, which in the case of the invitations became brown and orange. From the theme we designed a tree with falling oak leaves, which became the cover design. Oak leaves also featured on the inside of the invitation.

We wanted to have a strong level of contast between dark and bright, which we felt suited the season. After creating a few artists impression images in a few different colours the couple settled on a brown and orange. Honesty to materials played a part in the design, paper comes from wood and we wanted paper, not ink, to be what brought the design to life. This gave the perfect reason for using the laser cutter to cut a silhouette of the design into a brown cover sheet and have an orange insert sheet shining through the cover to create the contrast.

This design then became the bases for the couples Order of Service booklets as well.

Honesty to materials also gave us an idea for a table plan. Why not get to the heart of the autumn material and make the plan from wood? Having discussed an initial concept with our laser cutter we came up with an idea, the table plan was to be laser cut into a wooden plank and inlaid with mahogany. Not the cheapest table plan in the world, no, but something that really embodied the concept, something that would be a piece of artwork and something that could be kept forever as a reminder of the day.

Again, the initial invitation design informed the imagery used for the table plan although it in itself became something truly unique.

The couple made the decision to name their tables, rather than number them. The theme for this would be leaves. With this in mind I began researching leaf shapes, looking for the most distinguishable silhouettes to give each table it's own character which could then be carried through to table name cards and even to the individual menu/place cards. The couple then narrowed down a list of leaves to their favourites, Red Oak, Hawthorn, Horse Chestnut and Maple.

The table names themselves were laser cut from the same brown card that had been the predominant colour on both the invitations and order of service but the templates for these became the inspiration for the combined menu and place cards which alternated colours between orange and brown at each place setting.

This whole bespoke range was developed from one word, 'autumn'. We worked closely with the couple, keeping in constant contact even though we didn't meet the bride until we hand delivered the table plan in the weeks leading up to her wedding. We took a concept, looked at not only the imagery and colours relevant to the theme but also the materials in order to come up with something completely unique, something that no other couple will ever have.

The set took work, it took revisions, brainstorming, a good bit of time. It was also one of the most enjoyable sets of stationery I've had the pleasure of working on. And in return, we've received some of the most lovely comments we could ever have dreamed of getting.

“As a bride-to-be, who has been planning 'my' big day for 18 months I've felt a little let down at the fact
I've never experienced 'The One' feeling that so many other brides have. BUT!!! I can now say I have had my 'The One' experience!!! I am shaking, I have an aching jaw, I want to cry, I'm dizzy with excitedness. Why? Because my amazing bespoke autumn theme invites have arrived!! If you're waiting on an order you will not be disappointed!! Thank you so so much, you have been brilliant, the customer service is as good as the  products you have supplied, I look forward to part two in the summer!” - Sara

There is nothing better than knowing we got it right, we created a collection that worked with the couples idea of their wedding and will hopefully be kept forever as important keepsakes.

We have of course worked on numerous bespoke designs (most of our work is either bespoke or heavily customised). While the autumn stationery above is currently my favourite, with the wooden table plan being the inspiration for our upcoming signature range, I will include a few other images showing some of the other bespoke work we've done.

 Hot Air Balloon - Laser Cut Invitation

 Snow Leopard Print Invitation

 Gerbera Invitation

 Christmas Hand Made Wallet

 Invitation Using Client's Artwork

 Snowflake Invitation

 Las Vegas Travel Wallet Invitation

Indian Save the Date

Of course, the benefit of doing our own illustration and cutting is that we can modify and customise standard designs to suit a specific couple. We're currently working on a variation of our Midsummer Night's Dream laser cut wallet where the butterflies on the inserts have been changed to dragonflies and the colours have been modified. We might show the set in the future once the couple have their order. However, you can see some of our other customised pieces below. 

 Wishing Tree Tags

 Customised Laser Cut Lace Pocketfold

 Customised Damask 002 Invitation

Customised Elegance Wallet

We really do love getting each set of stationery perfect for each couple, that often includes incorporating a bit of their personality, whether the couple wants something completely bespoke or customised. So if you want stationery made specially for you why not contact us at enquiries@graphic-embers.co.uk?

Also, if you like what we do please vote for us (Graphic Embers) in the stationery category of the Wedding Ideas Magazine Awards 2013, there's only three weeks to vote! http://www.weddingideasmag.com/wedding-ideas-awards-2013-voting-form/

Thanks for reading,

Angela McGurk

www.graphic-embers.co.uk

WINNER - The North of England Wedding Awards 2012

FINALIST - The Northumberland Business Awards 2012 (Winner to be announced on November 15th 2012)

Our Inspiration...

I recently found a quote that really called to me, so much so I'm thinking of getting an inspirational poster to go up in the studio. "No dreams come true until you wake up and go to work." This is very true of any wedding industry professional; stationers, dress makers, venues and events dressers, everyone from the cake maker to the car company plays a part in making a dream come true. It's a nice thought that I spend my days creating dreams and when combined with knowing that I can only do this through getting to work, the idea is very motivational. I love my job, I love creating something perfect for my clients. I think all wedding industry professionals should be inspired to go that extra mile because they are trying to create someones dream, something that can only happen once.

Of course, putting the hours in isn't enough. Enthusiasm is essential to creating the dream. I live and breathe my work. If I'm not busy with a client project then I'm designing a new range or making the website better or attending fairs. I don't fit my work as a wedding stationer in around another job, this is what I am and I am truly passionate about it.  I want to develop my skills as a wedding stationer, I want to get better and better at what I do and I want to be able to offer something perfect to each and every client.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

If the wedding professionals you hire are enthusiastic, skilled and truly want to help you create your dream wedding I think you are probably onto a winner.

Angela McGurk
www.graphic-embers.co.uk