Luxury Wedding Invitations: The Elements of Elegance
If you are considering modern and elegant wedding invitations, you’ve come to the right place. At Azure, we design custom invitations that represent your relationship.
From your style and your culture to your interests, we want to know you. And we want to work with you to design elegant wedding invitations that will more than impress your guests. They will show that you care (and that this is an event not to miss!)
When designing wedding invitations, we take pride in our approach. This means adhering to five key elements of design. Our experience has taught us that each invitation needs to be designed with these elements in mind. And while they are all crucial, we personally feel like number five is the most important one.
Once you have your venue chosen and your date is set, you are probably considering how to create elegant wedding invitations. Formal wedding invitations are the heart and soul of your wedding stationery.
And like your wedding itself, luxury elegant wedding invitations should be unique to your style. But creating an invitation that embraces your story and also carries an elegance that perfectly sets the tone can be tricky.
So, what makes truly unforgettable, luxury wedding invitations? How do you make sure your modern, elegant wedding invitations express your style, culture and personality? How do you set the tone with taste and class? We can help!
If you are considering hiring a custom design studio, you may be wondering how they bring your vision to life. Azure is a Los Angeles CA based, full-service design studio specializing in custom wedding invitations and event branding. We know a thing or two about the elements of elegance in luxury wedding stationery. And we are so happy to share!
Here are the expert guidelines on how to make your elegant invitation unforgettable.
1) Wedding invitation design and typography
The design of your suite plays a huge role in giving your an elegant, refined and luxurious look. There are a few main elements to consider when it comes to design, from motifs to typography and color. Here is an overview of these design aspects:
• MOTIFS, BORDERS & GRAPHICS:
If your wedding or your personal style is ultra-modern, you may want to avoid a vintage style border. While this might sound obvious, it is common to gravitate toward a more “classic” style. Trust us when we say there are ways to create modern elegant wedding invitations that still have a classic feel.
If you have a cultural element to express (or two), you may want to include motifs to express those elements. Your invitation design can also include some well-placed symbolism to bring in your religion, culture, or wedding theme.
When we work with clients, we identify parts of their personal story, their styles, their culture and their wedding details. These details can often drive inspiration for elegant invitation design elements. After all, elegant Invitations include relevant and meaningful motifs that help express the style and story of both families!
• COLOR & METALLICS:
When it comes to your color palette, you may be matching something in your wedding decor or wardrobe. However, this is not necessary. It doesn't mean you can't choose a classically elegant color scheme.
Your invitation is sent months before your wedding. The connection to the event design is made through the overall style. If you aren't sure of the style and colors yet, you can rely on AZURE to help narrow down options. We can help you navigate some of these details based on your elegant invitation designs.
You can also choose a classic and timeless palette with neutrals and gold. Let’s face it, when it comes to weddings, you can never go wrong with gold.
On the other hand, you might want to incorporate color but not on your invitations. If this is the case, envelopes and other accessories are a great place to bring color in. Details like ribbons, wraps, envelope liners and pockets can add a splash of color while keeping your invitation clean and classic.
The key is to make sure everything fits together well. And if you want to make it colorful, or follow a certain color palette, we can make it work. Simply let us know the colors that are on your mind. Your designer will be able to make recommendations and pairings that work with your vision.
And if you are interested in making sure the invitation matches the overall event, we can do this. We can align your elegant invitations through any of the design elements, from color to type to motifs and materials!
• TYPE:
Using carefully designed typography (fonts) or calligraphy will help give your wedding invitations beauty and gravitas.
You might remember seeing an invitation that had a nice border and colors, but it still somehow didn’t look refined. Chances are the weakness was at least partly in the typography of the design. Your text is the substance of the invite. Therefore, it should reflect the same elegance the rest of your invitation does in the way it looks.
It's important that the fonts are curated well and paired like the perfect meal with wine! The type design should reflect a spatial sensibility as well as the style you are conveying with your elegant wedding invitations. Legibility is also important. And keep in mind that since the words are relatively few and likely fancy, you are going for a clean display.
We suggest limiting the number of fonts to keep a continuity throughout all pieces. Fonts and typography can carry a lot of your style - whether you are more of a modern block font or clean type person, or prefer the traditional heavily flourished and serif type.
The most traditional calligraphy-driven invitations are all “script” or cursive style fonts, but for legibility, you may chose to either mix non-script and a script font.
• FORMAT & COMPONENTS:
There are many different ways of putting a luxury elegant wedding invitation together. The format you choose should be both functional and design-driven. Classy Wedding Invitation suites are rarely just a card and an envelope and may include any of the following pieces.
- Invitation
- Reception Card
- Response card / online RSVP info card
- RSVP envelope (or postcard or digital RSVP information card)
- Info Card
- Schedule Of Events
- Pre-Wedding Event Inserts and Enclosures
- Sponsor card / Wedding Court
- Registry Information & Logistics card
- Directions / Parking Information
- Extra Event Enclosure Card
- Envelope Liner / double envelope
You may choose to bring all these pieces together in a folio (folder) or Invitation pocket. You can also choose to use a "belly-band" or a wrap or ribbon to layer the pieces together. While a large multi-piece suite can really rev up your elegant invitation, it's not necessary. Unless, of course, you have different guest lists or other logistics to consider.
Having a professional help you design your invitations takes the weight off your shoulders. Additionally, a professional designer can help you decide what information really needs to be included in your invitation. The goal is to achieve a classic, elegant look, while not overdoing any aspect. High-quality, expert printing is also a must to make your wedding invitations absolutely perfect.
2) Don't overlook the materials for elegant wedding invitations!
Don’t ever make the presumption that “no-one will notice.” The way the card stock and the envelopes smell, feel and look will affect how your guests experience your invitation.
When your invites arrive in the mailbox, among bills and circulars, your invitations will stand out. And this is precisely the point! If you are hand-delivering the invitation, this is even more critical. Your guests will feel the importance of the event when they hold your invitation in their hands.
The impression begins even before they read the words on your fancy wedding invitation. Firstly, your guests will notice the weight of the paper. Then will then quickly notice the smell (or lack of). And they will notice this with each piece of your suite.
Paying close attention to detail when it comes to materials for your invites will make a difference in that first impression. Here are some helpful tips when selecting paper.
- Cover stock weight is measured in several ways:
- GSM (Grams per Square Meter)
- LBS (Basis Weight in lbs)
- PTS (Caliper thickness in points).
We recommend choosing a cover weight that is over 100 lbs or at least 300GSM. This will ensure that your wedding invitation feels classy.
If you are trying to limit your invitation budget, you can go lighter with other elements of your suite. For example, the RSVP card and Information Card are popular pieces where clients scale back.
When we create customized wedding invitations, we often use papers with weights above 300GSM. Some of our letterpress designs, like The Talavera & The Alefiyah, are in letterpress on ultra-thick 850 GSM cardstock. This option provides a beautiful pillowy cotton texture.
THE BEST PAPERS:
We pride ourselves on using paper that is both drop-dead gorgeous and milled in the most eco-conscious way possible. Our card stocks are certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council and the mills we use are sustainability focused. However, these papers are the best in the world and are made to make a luxe and elegant impression.
"Tooth" or Surface texture:
All paper products have a finish whether it's smooth, textured or structured. Some of our favorites have actual minerals. For instance, crushed Micah has a smooth and refined texture, which offers a shimmery elegant invitation look. Others, which we love equally, have a tactile cottony finish that is perfect for letterpress and foil stamping.
The decision of paper style is generally based on the design of your suite and availability. Yet, we do think it's important to consider this factor. Your designer should include careful curation of the materials to make sure they are in line with your style and design. Additionally, the materials should provide optimal surfaces for the printing you have chosen.
Keep in mind that papers are available in limited color options. If you’re going for a look in which the base paper is a specific color, you should know about “flooding.” This occurs when you print, or "flood," the surface of your chosen card stock.
Flooding will often change the surface texture of your card stock - besides changing the color. But it can still lead to beautiful wedding invites, like these.
3. Made With Care: Printing & Finishes
"Finishes," or the type of printing methods you choose, will affect the overall feel of your luxury invitations. But it's also important that these finishes are crafted well!
Consider what you might look for when hiring painters to paint your home. Craftsmanship is important. With short-run, custom classy wedding invitation printing, it is the same. This is why we work only with artisanal printers who are masters of their craft.
Generally speaking, the fewer "luxe" finishes you include, the more affordable your luxury elegant wedding invitations may be. However, the "luxe" finishes add to the design of your invites through texture, metallics and a sense of craftsmanship. So it's important to make sure you consider the balance and combination of these finishes. We divide most of our finishes into three categories:
LUXURY WEDDING INVITATION FINISHES ($$-$$$):
- silk folios & other alternative boxed pieces. (require set up and fabrication, adding to the cost)
- laser cut or filigree design and cutting
- laser engraving (on card stock or on materials like acrylic, glass, wood, stone, agate etc.)
- 2 or more mixed or multiple applications of high-end finishes are considered luxurious. Multiple finishes (like gold foil + black Letterpress) require setting up and running 2 different presses for each piece.
- brooches and other embellishments
