Here’s Dan & Sarah’s lovely bunting themed wedding invitations:

The layered invitation is held together with a simple ribbon bow. Guest names were handwritten onto the Bunting Flags. When turned over, the additional information cards are displayed in a staggered format.

There was quite a bit of information that Dan & Sarah needed to share with their guests.

More stationery for Dan & Sarah’s wedding can be seen here.

Read all about Dan & Sarah’s Wedding here on Kate Fletcher‘s blog, The Stockman Diaries.

The Order of Service featured the names of the bridal party and were finished with a small Fuchsia Pink diamante.

Kelly & Damian chose to name their tables after bends on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit and we added a map of the circuit to the table plan.

The finished table plan measured 70x100cm… it’s a good job that Parkland’s easel is sturdy!!!

The Table Name cards also featured the map of the Grand Prix Circuit.

Kelly supplied us with retro sweets to fill the favour boxes with. These doubled up as place cards… pink for the ladies & black for the men.

The pocketfold was sealed with a front tag displaying the wedding day and a small verse that the couple liked. The envelopes were also printed to match the pattern used throughout the invitations.

Additional information inserts are staggered and feature the same use of colour, pattern and layout as the main invitation.

These invitations are created using Envelopments stock.

See more of Kelly & Damian’s stationery here.

WOW… what a start to 2012, it’s been CRAZY! But before we talk about 2012, here’s a very brief run down of what happened in 2011…

We were fortunate enough to work with some absolutely amazing clients and therefore produced some of our best ever work (which we are STILL yet to share with you!), we had the excitement of our own wedding (which we haven’t shared anywhere yet as it’s soon to be featured by a popular wedding blogger! YAY) and our beautiful daughter Eira Armande arrived at the beginning of December… so all in all 2011 was incredibly exciting, incredibly eventful and incredibly emotional!!!

Here’s Eira…

Eira Armande - Just a few days old

You can see more of her, and us here (thanks to Hayley Ruth, who by the way is the regional winner of the 2012 Wedding Industry Awards… Well done Hayley!).

So, what about 2012… well, the year has started rather manically (which, I guess you can imagine with a newborn to entertain). We’ve been inundated with a record number of enquires, and are now fully booked for consultations until March! So, if you happen to send us an enquiry, please bear in mind that it may take a bit longer than normal to reply…

In amongst consultations, exhibiting at Wedding Fayres, designing samples, creating the finished products, and the odd nappy here and there we hope to finally be able to catch up with blogging some of our 2011 work!

So… Happy 2012 to you all and we look forward to sharing it with you!

Emma

xxx

I spotted an article via a link on twitter earlier in the week which relates to this topic (entitled “Uncle Bob vs. A Professional Wedding Photographer“), it reminded me of several conversations that I have had with Photographer and friend, Hayley Ruth, in the past. So… I pushed her in the corner, twisted her arm up her back and asked her to jump on my “soap box”. Here’s what she has to say…

When Emma asked me to write about this, I rolled my eyes! Probably a very long and drawn out roll at that! It’s something wedding photographers are frequently asked, it’s well written about and causes huge debates amongst photographers and clients alike.

The value of photography is a really subjective thing, for one person it’s everything and for another not so.

So I thought I would write about why I value photography, and not from a photographer’s perspective but from a personal one.

Approaching it from a personal perspective, I’ve decided to approach this differently and change the title to: What value do you place on your memories?

When I was 20 my memory was great, I could remember everyone I went to school with, their faces and names, with no problem. I could remember all the mischief we got up to, all the adventures we had, with crystal clear clarity and full colour. So much so that they could still make me physically laugh or cringe!! It was nice to have a reminder when I had photographs to re-enforce those memories but I didn’t value them because I had a replay button in my memory which worked perfectly.

Fast forward nearly 20 years and well my memory is a very different story. Now before anyone panics I don’t have a problem, my memory is fine. Apparently this is just a side effect of getting older. So what do I mean? Events in my life that I used to be able to remember with crystal clear clarity, or any type of clarity, are now a bit fuzzy and patchy with bits missing. A bit like the what happens next films on A Question of Sport.

I think it’s just like a hard drive that is getting rather full, it takes a while and needs a few pointers to find the information you are looking for!

So when I want a trip down memory lane what do I do? I reach for the photographs!! Those gorgeous, aging, somewhat yellow and crinkly photographs, well some of my memories are really old, enable my aging memory to pull out the associated files and I can relive those gorgeous times all over again.

The beauty of having my memories captured as photographs is that they reboot the old gray matter, and it can fill in the gaps again. I feel like I was right back there, all young, fresh and with a fully functioning memory!

So when I got married 3 years ago, what value did I place on my photography? It was priceless! Yes I had a budget for my wedding just like everyone else, but I found the best I could afford. I got creative with other areas of the wedding so that I could ensure I had the photographs to support my memory so I could relive the best day of my life, for the rest of my life.

Why did I push my budget? I wanted someone I knew I could trust to capture those memories. I wanted photographs with creative style and technical skill, from someone with a proven track record of capturing wedding day memories in all types of weather and lighting conditions. By someone I knew we would both click with and who we wouldn’t mind sharing our wedding day with us. I didn’t want to risk not having them.

I’d recognised the value of photography to me. So my advice, before you decide on your photographer for the day, decide the value of photography to you.

Thanks for taking the stand on my Soap Box Hayley!!!! xxx

So… what are your thoughts? What value is the photography to you? Discuss…

All images by Hayley Ruth Photography

Website: www.hayleyruthphotography.co.uk | Email: info@hayleyruthphotography.co.uk | Phone: 07746 858554

The Place Cards not only included the menu that had been individually chosen by each guest.

The tables were named after the 12 Days of Christmas.

The Table Name Cards were displayed at table level so as not to detract from the floral centrepieces.

Venue: Down Hall Country House Hotel, Essex | Date: December 2010

The couple had more fun with their table plan, take a look here.

Getting married in December opens up the opportunity to have lots of fun with your theme and so Liz & Matt opted to name their tables after the 12 days of Christmas (in 2009 we played with Rudolf & Co… not forgetting Olive!!! for Marilyn & Norman). We did discuss the possibility of getting their guests to “sing for their supper” i.e. each table singing their particular part in the song… Liz, Matt… did that happen?

To add to the sparkle of the glossy print, we added diamante to the names of each table and amongst the stars on the Christmas Tree.

Liz & Matt are a fabulous couple, lots of fun, and we thoroughly enjoyed working with them!

Venue: Down Hall Country House Hotel, Essex | Date: December 2010

See more of the above here.

Our bespoke wallet wrap was decorated with the couple’s Logo and sealed with a lovely Dusky Pink Ribbon (which also held the content in place). Once sealed, the wallet was wrapped in tissue paper, and placed in a presentation box featuring the guests names. This was then wrapped in matching paper and the guests address attached on matching address cards.

2-colour (grey and dusky pink) thermo print is used throughout the content of the invitations giving a fantastic shine and texture.

Katharine had enlisted a graphic designer to create a logo for her wedding featuring a couple of aspects that were very personal to her and her future husband… a pitch fork (representing their farm and Nicholas’ livelihood) and a polo stick representing the sport that both are heavily involved in and passionate about. To simplify the design of the invitations, we omitted some of this detail from the logo leaving it to be brought into play for the on-the-day stationery.

This image of the logo shows off the shine of the thermo print beautifully!

Sleek… Simple… Traditional… Stunning… How would you describe them?

Venue: Couple’s Home | Date: April 2011

The Table Plan, measuring a whopping 76x105cm was placed in a frame that Jade & Liam hired from us for the day. It made a great focal point for guests as they entered the suite for the service of their wedding breakfast.

We created matching Table Number Cards in “tent card format” to enable them to be displayed at Table Level so they didn’t detract from the fabulous floral centre pieces created by Barbara from Big Day Flowers.

Jade chose place cards in a luggage tag shape which we attached to the favours she had bought (with lottery scratch cards enclosed).

Beautiful Floristry by Barbara from Big Day Flowers: Website | Facebook

Venue: The Three Rivers, Cold Norton, Purleigh, Essex | Date: April 2011

See Jade & Liam’s invitations here.

We created a square pocketfold style invitation complete with RSVP and additional information inserts. The design was finished with diamante details and a grey print (black print was far too harsh against the yellow tones).

Venue: The Three Rivers, Cold Norton, Purleigh | Date: April 2011

See more of Jade & Liam’s Stationery here (Table Plan, Table Number Cards & Place Cards)