Wedding Stationary- To D.I.Y or not to D.I.Y

When planning a wedding there is so much to consider. From themes, budget and colour schemes.  All this comes into play when trying to choose wedding stationary. Do you splash out on matching save the dates, invites, name cards and table plans? Or do you go down the now fashionable route of d.i.y ing the day?

With all this too consider here are some different options which may help you when trying to decide.

Themes (I have made these invites using Canva)

Glamorous

Vintage

DIY

The great thing about DIY is you can source materials from pretty much anywhere these days.  Craft shops now seem to be popping up in every village, with a great supply of materials and workshops most weekends, this really is a great ways to do things cheaply. So why not get the wedding party involved and have a cutting and sticking (and wine) night.

If you want to make something yourself, but still want to keep the professional element. Canva is perfect for this.  I have just discovered this online design tool which allows you to create invites, posters and a lot of other graphic things for free.  With a select amount of backgrounds and images available free of charge this is a great way to try your hand at graphic design. – This is something which I am seriously considering as I love this sort of thing.  Here is an example I have created

Alternatively if you want to take the hassle out of making things yourself, here are a great selection of invitations from Nottingham based company Edward & Lace. All their designs can be fully customised, so you can really let you personality shine.  All the stationary is made form recycled materials. So a great way to keep environmentally friendly on the day.

You can find there website here http://www.edwardsandlace.co.uk/ or visit the shop on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/EdwardsandLace

Chevron Vinyl CD Favour

This vinyl style invite is perfect for any couple who might be going for a rock / music theme. You could then incorporate this into place mats and have it match other reception decoration.

Floral Watercolor Invitation Set // Blue

This simple but elegant theme can be fully tailored to suit any colour theme.  The water colour effect would perfectly match a spring wedding. I think this would look great in pastel pinks and purples. 

Remember this is the first chance your guests get even a hint of what the day will be like. So choose wisely.

Location dilemma

The first thing on the top of everyone's wedding checklist seems to be the venue.

Fifty years ago this would be quiet simple, you would be married in the parish of the village you live in and the reception would be in the church hall. 

But these days the possibilities are end less... Weddings at stately homes, outdoors, abroad on a beach, back gardens, you really can be married and hold a reception anywhere.

We have to decide between two choices, do we plan our day in York, the city we met, graduated University in and started our life together. Or do we go down the more traditional route and marry in my family's parish in my Grandma's church, she passed away a few weeks after we became engaged so this would be a way of having a part of her with me on the day.

For quite a while I found trying to make a decision on the location very difficult, my heart was being pulled from both sides. I just wanted to please everybody.

We decided to approach it from a different perspective, taking a step back for now and just have fun looking round venues and see what feels right.

Over the next few months we will be visiting venues across York and West Yorkshire, and here I will be sharing my honest (but kind) opinion.

We split our top venues into two lists, North and West Yorkshire and Sandburn Hall in York was top of our list for North Yorkshire. As we want to go down the vintage theme all the pictures I had seen on Pinterest and social media I instantly fell in love. 

When we arrived for our show around we where met by Lucinda, she was warm, welcoming and very knowledgable. It is fair to say this venue does not disappoint, the views over the golf course are amazing, we were lucky enough to visit on a sunny day and the weather really shows off the venue. The viewing started off with a great size reception room for the welcome drinks, equipt with its own bar, this room was intimate enough to hold our potential day quests and could even house a string quartet.

The stairs upto the main room where decorated with flowers for the days wedding, I could picture our bunting twirled around the banister. 

The first thing you notice when you enter the main room are the beams. Striped back to the bare wood it really is a big focal point.

This room really is a blank canvas for any theme wedding. We love all the DIY wedding ideas so could really imagine setting up the room exactly how we wanted it.

One thing I took away from the viewing was how accommodating the company seemed.  Nothing seemed like it would be too much trouble and they sounded really interested and positive about some of our ideas.

It is fair to say Sandburn Hall has shot up to the top of our York list, it really is going to be a tough act to follow.