For a vintage-loving bride, wedding invitations are the perfect opportunity to give a gorgeous nod to the past. Whether your whole wedding is going to be inspired by a past era, or you’re just looking for a few vintage touches to mix it up, the invites are the first place to focus your attention. With this in mind, today I have the lovely Maddison of Paperlust with a suggestion for you……

Charleston Wedding Invitation by Chatham & Caron

Why not draw on royalty for your inspiration?!There are many reasons this is a great idea: 

1.. Worry no more about mixing decades (or centuries, as the case may be!) in your aesthetic choices: royal weddings are steeped in so much tradition that you can hardly tell the date of things. Take a look at our three sample invitations. They are from three generations of royals – Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Prince William – over a span of six decades.

2. A wedding is your opportunity to be a princess for the day! Since your wedding invitations are definitely one element of your wedding that you don’t want to scrimp on, why not make sure it’s fit for royalty?

Classic Letterpress Wedding Invitation by Chick Invitations

3. The aesthetics of royalty, particularly where weddings are concerned, often influence trends. In fact, the tradition of brides wearing white gowns began in 1840 when Queen Victoria wore white at her wedding! She had some white lace set aside that she loved, and decided to have it made into a dress for the occasion, and brides everywhere began copying the style, right up to today. (And of we all know who is responsible for our love of long sleeves lately!)

Lauren Suite by Feathered Heart Prints

But of course, just because there are good reasons to embrace the royal influence on your wedding style doesn’t mean you want the full effect! The more important question is how you can incorporate this inspiration, because let’s be honest: not many weddings are going to be a great fit for such a formal, old-school invite. Perhaps you’re going for more of a rustic feel, or a very sleek, contemporary edge? Believe it or not, both of these are perfect opportunities to get your vintage royalty on!

There are heaps of ways you can make it work for you. Here are some of our favourites.

1. Keep it text-only, but give it a contemporary twist

English royal wedding invitations tend to be text-only, with a simple monogram or seal at the top of the page. You can borrow from this, keeping your invitation minimalist or typographic, focused entirely on text rather than anything showy. Whether you keep the layout the same and simply change the font, or whether you play with sizing and colour, this is a great nod to tradition while still firmly on trend in the present.

Classic Wedding Invitation by Paperlust

Legacy Wedding Invitation by Papela

The Spearmint Blossom Suite by Dinglewood Designs

2. Do something fancy with your printing

The royal wedding invitations above feature goldleaf monograms, historically considered one of the most luxurious printing options available. Today, the option for gold foil stamped invitations remains (or silver, rose gold, bronze etc), alongside other premium printing options. Letterpress is another great choice, leaving an imprint on the paper that guests can run their fingers over to feel the quality of the paper and to add depth to the design. Of course, if you really want luxury, you might consider a combination of the two!

Elegant Wedding Invitation by Paperlust

The Marie-Claire Collection by Simplicity Papers

Letterpress Wedding Invitation by Sweetly Said Press

3. Replace a monogram with a cute illustration

A monogram might not be your thing, but you can keep the idea of a cute focal-point by choosing something else to feature as a motif throughout your wedding invitation suite. You might choose a small and subtle symbol or a bigger eye-catching illustration, but by repeating it throughout your wedding stationery you tie it all together and provide a little theme that will remind everyone of your day. Repeat it in other ways at the wedding for the full effect!

Cascade Wedding Invitation by Paperlust

Oak Wedding Invitation by Shine Paper & Press

Serenbe Wedding Invitation by Chatham & Caron

Whichever appeals to you, the trick is to combine some of the elements of the royal wedding invitations with other elements that are totally you. Mix them all together, and you end up with something unique to your wedding, but with that royal flair as a base. Perfect!

I couldn’t agree more! A big thankyou today to Maddison Wallace, who is head of content at Paperlust (she is a communications professional, postgrad student, part-time librarian, and occasional wedding photographer who loves words – and drinking cups of tea) for all of her words of wedding stationery wisdom.

As well as this fabulous inspiration, the wonderful folks at Paperlust have also kindly offered CVBs readers a 10% discount on ANY purchase from their site with the code ‘CHICVINT492’! That’s Invitations and everything you could possibly need on the day, as well as Engagement, Baby Shower and Birthday Invitations, Thankyou Cards, and Announcements – basically, when it comes to any kind of special occasion, Paperlust and their team of designers have you covered. So, be sure to pop across and take a look at what they have to offer and when you find something you like, be sure to enter the code ‘CHICVINT492’ at the checkout.

You can also find, and follow, Maddison and the rest of the Paperlust team on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for more wedding stationery ideas.

Amy

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