Features

The custom invitation and stationery market has had quite a ride since the 21st century dawned. For many brides, ordering them went from perusing invitation albums in independent stores in the 2000s, to scrolling through Pinterest and Instagram and ultimately purchasing them online from roughly 2010 onwards.

However, the invitation tide may be turning. The Financial Times recently reported that the bespoke invitation segment is blossoming. “Today’s offerings have become a more extensive and elaborate range, with maps, menus, ceremony programmes and signs contributing to the whole coordinated package,” wrote Clara Baldock. “The process — involving consultations, moodboards and then sketches — can take many months.”

But while personalized coats-of-arms, velvet-lined boxes, illustration commissions and even handwritten invitations are becoming the norm at “super-weddings,” they remain out of reach for most couples. However, the “360-degree wedding” — where every last design element speaks to a grand vision — is not. Achieving this well typically requires professional help.

“Custom wedding invitations are selling really well and I think it’s because people in that market want a more personal experience,” explained Karla Ebrahimi-Camens of Sky of Blue Press & Papery, who offers custom wedding invitation suites as well as “day of” pieces, plus corporate and family holiday cards and event invitation design from her Rockaway Beach, California, space.

“They want to be able to see different options in person or even change their minds about the size or the fonts without having to place a new order or just have to settle for something that they aren’t entirely happy with,” she added. “I usually develop a close friendship with my wedding clients and when it’s over, we both kind of get sad that our beautiful work together has come to an end.”

Rhonda Warren of Color Box Design & Letterpress offers an enormous range of components, many of them also letterpressed: invitation suites for all occasions, save-the-dates, menus, place cards, escort cards, itineraries, napkins, cups, social stationery and custom confetti. Since she meets her brides in person, she has a hard time imagining how she’d replicate the process online.

“I feel like [designing] the invitation is so much fun, it’s at the beginning of the planning process when everyone is still fresh!” Warren described. “We have so much fun at our meetings with brides, there are so many options you can choose to include in your invitation suite. It is interesting to walk a bride through all the pieces and get her reaction to each style, and then take that information and create a wedding invitation that fits the couple’s style.”

“Everyone who comes into my studio/shop sits down with me initially, and we just have so much fun figuring out everything,” echoed Ebrahimi-Camens. “One of my most recent wedding clients, a mother-of-the-bride, was meeting with me at our first design meeting and she got a text from her other daughter asking to speak to the family that night. We both looked at each other and grinned. Later that evening the mom texted me and said, ‘Well, my other daughter is getting married now too, so you’ll have another invitation suite to do.’ I was thrilled about the work ahead of course, but more than anything I was so happy for their family, so I replied, ‘It would be an honor.’ I absolutely love what I do and love these little vignettes of love and happiness — it’s so fulfilling.”

AN EVOLVING CLIMATE

Makers who produce these components tend to see their wholesale clients selling their wares in both real and virtual spaces. Dawn Feldman, aka “Aunty B,” is the owner of Hawaii Fine Stationers, which offers heavyweight, all-cotton invitations and a wide range of stationery components featuring vibrant imagery in the Hawaiian spirit and with multilayered embossing on heavy papers. Every last sheet is best appreciated in real life.

“Most sales are still conducted online,” Aunty B noted. “Product information online can’t always convey the vibrant colors and embossing relief that is available in person. A dealer or retailer should invest in and work with a talented professional photographer when they showcase items online. The lighting and production artwork really brings the product to life online, which cannot be achieved with a snapshot via iPhone.”

While nothing can truly replicate the in-person meeting, there are work-arounds, detailed Ebrahimi-Camens, but these do lengthen the timeline. “Online designers can offer face-to- face meetings on Zoom, but it’s hard because the client is not right there to touch and feel a paper sample. There has to be a lot of mailing of samples back and forth, so they have to build the time it takes for that into the whole process.”

In the absence of in-person, Warren recommended filing in the blank spaces with copious information from both sides. “I feel like a detailed questionnaire would help online designers,” she underscored, “and lots of images of options available.”

ELEVATING THE PERSONAL

These days, in-person retail is all about experience, which is reflected in Ebrahimi-Camens’ approach to her custom clients. “We meet in person several times, sometimes over a cup of tea or a glass of champagne, and we really talk through their vision, their budget and all the details — from the color of wax seals, to fonts and the weight of the paper. They get to go through my wedding samples and paper samples and Pantone swatch books, and it’s an incredibly immersive experience for them, which they really enjoy. They also get my cell phone number, and we can work through the entire process so thoroughly and quickly with a quick phone call or text.

You can’t get any of this through online services. They feel really safe [knowing] I will make beautiful pieces for them that will set the tone for the most special day of their lives. They feel like they are in good hands.”

Much of the power of in-person revolves around merchandising, pointed out Aunty B. “My dear friend who owns a shop called Pagoda on Kauai is a master at display. Her store invites you in just from the window displays, and once through the door, there is a kaleidoscope of color and unique objects, all beautifully displayed. It makes you want to linger and take in all the offerings. One can’t help but leave the store with a purchase — or maybe even several.”

Discerning personal taste and expressing them for clients through the veil of larger design trends is one of Warren’s specialities. “I’ve had my business for 18 years now and it’s interesting to watch trends come and go,” she observed. “I love color, so the new trend of including more full-color watercolor images of venues, crests and florals makes my heart happy! Other trends I’m seeing are translucent paper wraps with watercolor images, bows, deckle-edge papers and watercolor crests. One item that is very popular right now are paintings of the couple’s pets on acrylic stir sticks.”

It’s worth noting that even on the extreme upscale end of the segment described in The Financial Times, pets and cocktails remain prevalent themes as fans come into fashion. However, every nuptial take on them will be as individual as the couple itself.

For Ebrahimi-Camens, invitation design is but a small detail of a much larger process, but when well-executed, it brings the entire event into clear, glorious focus — both beforehand and for posterity. “Despite the ease of ordering online, there is a growing segment of the market looking for a more personal experience. They are looking to connect with someone who gets them and understands what they have in their minds. They are looking for someone they can trust, have fun working with and maybe even get to express some of their own creativity along the way.”