Happy Monday! We are always looking for vendors who are extremely passionate about their company! Today, we are going to share some amazing tips and trends from Ananya Cards. CEO and Founder, Vaishali Shah, tells us some of this year's biggest trends in wedding invitations! Not to mentions, she shares some of the Do's and Dont's with your invitations.
1. What are this year's trends for wedding invitations?
Soft, feminine pastel shades continue to be favored. Pinks in particular are popular - the subtlest hint of pink is what it’s all about. In fact, any dreamy, soft, misty and romantic hue is on trend.
Gold has always been in fashion, but in 2015 silver takes on an extra sparkle. Combined with soft grey and pearly white foil stamping, and embellished with crystals for added effect. Rose gold, copper, brass – in fact, metals of various hues combined with rich, deep colors such as claret and maroon give a sumptuous and exotic feel to the stationery and continue to find favor in 2015.
The romantic appeal of lace remains unabated in 2015. Lace exudes luxury, and designs with delicate and intricate filigree on a backdrop of your chosen wedding color; whether a soft pastel or bold and vibrant will mirror the style and tone of your wedding. Adding embellishments will take it up a notch!
If playful and fun is the impression you want to create for your wedding, then polka dots are the way to go! Dots can be adapted in many ways in your wedding stationery – large or small, colored or black and white, they make your invites come to life.
Fonts give you choices galore in giving the right look and tone to your wedding invites. They can be adapted to reflect your wedding style, location and your personality. If you are having a destination wedding, you can find fonts that mirror your location, such as San Serif fonts to reflect a more casual setting such as a beach wedding, or more elaborate fonts for exotic and luxurious locations.
The natural and rustic styles continue to flourish in 2015; we can always rely on nature to inspire us to create the right rustic look for our wedding stationery. Sunny colors, flowers, bees and butterflies can all be included in the design for an uplifting tone to the invitations. Earthy tones with textures such as jute and linen reflect a more rustic, organic and down to earth feel which is simple and not fussy.
Timeless and always in fashion, our fascination with animal prints continues to endure. Their neutral colors of beige, brown and black enable them to be paired with almost any design and color. Zebra prints are particularly popular; they are like strong strokes of an artist’s brush. Whether receding into the background or front and centre, whether on a white background or a bright and colourful one, they spell animal magnetism.
Influences from around the world continue to seep into wedding stationery. Incorporating aspects and themes, whether it’s the geometric shapes found in Moroccan tiles, traditional motifs from Indian fabrics or designs from African carvings, our fascination for exotic cultures continues unabated. Coupled with warm, jewel tones or rich earthy ones, they bring a touch of exotic vibrancy to your wedding stationery.
Named Color of the Year by Pantone, marsala looks is dazzling the wedding scene in 2015. The rich, earthy wine red is wonderful as a base color for wedding stationery, and can be complemented by warm jewel tones such as orange, gold and coral, which look fabulous for an Indian or multicultural wedding invitation. Marsala, blush and ivory is also an elegant color combination for classic and timeless wedding stationery. For nature lovers and those who like nature inspired and rustic themes, marsala’s earthy color will be a natural choice.
It is clear that whatever your style and personality, the stationery trends for 2015 give you plenty of choice and a lot of inspiration to fire your imagination.
2. What are some of the biggest mistakes you've seen brides make whenever ordering their invitations?
Not going for as high a quality of card as your budget allows. Your invitation is the first glimpse of your wedding and sets the tone for the whole event, expressing your personality as a couple. Invitations generally cost a lot less as a percentage of the overall budget than the venue, dress, wedding cake etc. so have the best quality invitation that you can afford.
Ordering the exact number of invitations required and not having any extras - for last minute guests or if you make any mistakes whilst writing out the invitations.
Underestimating the time that needs to be allocated from choosing the stationery to sending out the invites. If you are having bespoke invitations, speak to your designer as soon as possible. Ideally, you should allow about three months for the design process to be completed and you are ready to send out the invites.
For boutique or off the shelf invites, you should allow between four to six weeks before you send out the invitations.
3. Do you believe it's necessary to showcase attire requirements?
While it is not essential to showcase attire requirements, it does help to let your guests know if you have a particular theme or color to your wedding, e.g. if it is a black tie event. If you are having a destination wedding and it is on the beach, for example, you would want to let your guests know so they can be prepared. Announcing attire requirements helps you because you can be assured that everyone will come dressed appropriately, and it also helps your guests to plan in advance. At Ananya, we have included terms such as ‘beach chic’, ‘glamorous’ and ‘black tie’ on some of our invitations. It gives your invitation an overall look of professionalism and makes things clear for your invitees.
4. If a bride is on a budget, what's your best tip on how to save some money when it comes to wedding invites?
For a bride on a budget, planning in as much detail as possible well ahead of the wedding day can save money. Here are some examples:
Order the whole suite of cards at the same time as ordering wedding invitations, e.g. thank you cards, save the date, place name cards. You have a better chance to negotiate with the invitation designer/printer if they are designing and printing several items at the same time.
Use a less heavy cardstock which is cheaper than a heavy one, and avoid metallic inks. Have the invitations printed digitally rather than a specialist technique like letterpress or engraving. To minimize the cost of postage stamps for invitations and RSVP cards, send invitations out by 2nd class post.
Also, at the time of deciding on the invitations, ask your stationery designer what the approximate postage costs will be for the invitations, as reducing the thickness of the card may keep postage costs down.
For RSVP cards, you can use a postcard instead of a card and envelope to avoid paying for an envelope. Make sure you place the order for the invitations in plenty of time otherwise you might incur additional charges. You may also opt to send RSVP’s by email instead of paper, thus eliminating postage cost.
5. What is your favorite kind of wedding invitation?
While I love every invitation because it is unique and special, I particularly like designing multicultural invitations. From a creative point of view, combining two cultures in stationery is a challenge and a great opportunity to take the most meaningful elements from each culture and create a unique design that symbolizes the identity and personality of the couple and their heritage. At Ananya, we have certainly noticed an increase in the number of multicultural weddings.
We also love invitations that have embellishments like crystals and pearls and you will often see these hand finished on our stationery. They add that wow factor and an extra layer of glamour.
Please contact Vaishali Shah for more information.
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