Wedding invitations

Sourcing photographs and ideas for this blog took a gigantic amount of time! There are so many different designs and ideas for your 'Save the date' and wedding invitations, you may well feel a little bit lost. On the other hand, the more imaginative and creative brides and grooms will feel like a kid in a candy shop; with so many colours, patterns, fonts, shapes, words and finishes.

It's not just the aesthetics of your wedding invitations that need careful planning, you must brush up on your wedding invite etiquette. Head onto http://bridalguide.com/blogs/bridal-buzz/wedding-invitation-mistakes for the top six wedding mistakes that are commonly made or check out http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/wedding-invitations/articles/wedding-invitations-etiquette.aspx for the most frequently asked wedding invite etiquette questions.

Simple

We thought we'd start of with the simple stuff. Simple wedding invitations can still be beautiful and unique. A lot of brides and grooms opt for elegance and simplicity over patterned, illustrated designs. The invitation above is such a lovely idea, although it's extremely simple, it's unique; with the bride and groom's fingerprints.

Another example of elegant simplicity is this design from CMSStationary on Etsy.

Following the theme of having a small centre design, this wedding invite from Sillhouetteblue on Etsy features a venn diagram with the bride and grooms initials and a heart in the centre. It's such a lovely statement invitation, we love!

Romantic and elegant. 'Peonies' by Artcadia  features embossed text and one simple peony flower at the top of the invitation. This design would be perfect for a romantic, traditional wedding with a dusky pink or grey colour scheme.

ElloThere on Etsy has such a beautiful online shop. Her designs are so fresh and unique with such a variety. Now, you might not think that bold and subtle could be describing the same thing, but in this case they really are. The boldness of the clean cut, capital typography contrasts so well with the simple and subtle pale body text and delicate birds.

Illustration

Illustrated wedding invitations feature much more fancy typography, softer flowing lines and shapes, and images or patterns around the design. We love the curves and general flow of this wedding invite. The simple red image of the couple aren't too harsh against the black background as they're broken up by the calligraphy style text.

The illustration bordering this wedding invitation is so delicate and stunning.

Here's another design from Artcadia called 'Peaches'. Unlike the one above, where the border is more prominent that the thin and simple text, this design has a bold text banner, and a simple border. We love the beautiful subtle powder blue colour.

'Summer garden' by Artcadia; A bold, simple, statement wedding invitation. The illustration is much more funky and bold, but is just successful.

Rustic and vintage

This set of 50 wedding invitations by StunningStationary on Etsy feature a vintage doily wrapping up the wedding invitation, tied up in a jute bow. We love the rustic feel of this wedding invitation, it would be perfect for a vintage themed wedding with a vintage cake table. Lovely!

This unconventionally large text is the predominant design on this wedding invitation. Against the brown paper it looks so rustic and bold.

Themed Wedding Invitations

There are wedding invitations out there which are themed to your wedding. Whether that themed to a certain era, colour or season. Here are a selection of winter themed invitations. Themed invitations kick start the feel of your wedding, so that your guests have an idea of your big day before it happens. This could work hugely to your benefit; if your wedding was to be Art Deco, or Great Gatsby inspired, creating a wedding invitation in the same theme would perhaps make your guests inclined to dress within the theme, meaning perfect wedding photos!

Here's an example of an Art Deco themed wedding invitation from Not on the Highstreet. We love the corner borders and typography, and the peacock is such an icon of the era.

All of these wedding invitations are themed for a winter wedding, or could be interpreted to theme a rustic woodland wedding at Wasing Woodlands. The first is a design by EverAfterPapery on Etsy. It's such a magical and charming invitation, great for a traditional Christmas themed wedding with seasonal flowers and fir tree decorations.

The second design by RockPaperDove on Etsy is a more modern and less rustic invitation. On viewing the invitation, your guests will assume an autumn, wood and winter themed wedding.

The third wedding invitation is a very simple and subtle invitation. 'Frosty' by Arcadia, is another design which will immediately get your guests pondering tall firs and winter themes.

The Weird and Wonderful

This is such a fantastically unique idea by Ambient Studios. Their whole wedding invitation is inside a camera film. The bride and groom were both photographers, and their wedding was themed around cameras and photography. 

Another interesting idea; ElloThere on Etsy has created a wedding invitation that looks like an old record in a lovely bird covered slip. This would be a great invitation for a vintage wedding, you could use vinyl records throughout the wedding in different ways to link everything together.

We found this wedding invitation on Pinterest but unfortunately couldn't find the original source! It's such a shame because this is a really unique and clever idea. The invitation is folded up into a circular box and each individual circle features a photo of the bride and groom, and information about the event.

Another whacky idea for a wedding invitation is to have it as a puzzle, so that your guests have to piece it together to find out the details of the event. This invitation would be good for a summer wedding where you could set up outdoor games like giant puzzles and jenga.

The Little Heart Workshop

The Little Heart Workshop is a small online shop that sells beautiful hand decorated wooden shapes and gifts. Louise has a whole section for Weddings; whether you need a seating plan, place names or table names. She also makes beautiful wooden hearts for saving the date, that you can send out to your guests.

Such a unique and lovely idea; rather than a piece of paper that can get crumpled or ripped, you can hang these wooden hearts and keep them forever to remember the day.

Another big craze this year has been Chalkboard wedding invitations. Click the link to see more beautiful chalkboard wedding invitations https://creativemarket.com/blog/2013/07/16/design-your-perfect-wedding-invitations-chalkboard.

A lot of popular highstreet brands also supply really lovely invitations to you to hand write your wedding details on. Here are some beautiful designs from Paperchase;

This fun, charming design features a woodland theme with flowers and owls.

These wedding invitations are simple and romantic, with flowers, roses and ribbons.

Happy New Year everyone! Last year was host to many fantastic weddings and events that have made the year such a special one. However, we're extremely excited to see what 2014 has in store for us. We are using this post to sum up the themes and trends of last month, and speculate what exciting themes are to come in the new year.

Winter warmers seemed to be the main theme throughout wedding breakfasts and canapés. During the winter months, our guests seemed to crave comforting game and familiar, traditional dishes. Venison was very popular and often teamed with a classic - creamy dauphinoise potatoes. This often had our mouths watering! Clare and Dave's wedding at North Hidden Barn featured big rustic dishes of venison and dauphinoise on each table for their guests to share.

Venison and shallots with rosemary at Clare and Dave's wedding

Crispy and creamy dauphinoise potatoes

Another favourite was pork belly. Whether this be as a canapé with black pudding and apple sauce, or paired with caramelized apple as a hearty main course. Daisy and Martin's Japanese themed wedding also kept with traditional winter themes, and they too had pork belly and braeburn apple as an option for their guests to enjoy at the wedding breakfast in Ufton Court's Tithe Barn.

Pork belly was a popular option for guests at Daisy and Martin's wedding

Cheese towers were definitely very fashionable the whole way through 2013, but especially during the winter months. Everybody knows how important cheese is during December, we just can't get enough can we! Who doesn't love a great selection of local cheeses with a great red wine? We witnessed some truly artistic towers and hope that the theme doesn't die down in 2014, because we loved it!

This cheese tower was beautifully decorated with brightly coloured fruit

If you haven't witnessed the naked wedding cake of 2013, we're not quite sure where you've been? Especially popular over the last month, this cake doesn't feature any icing on the outside, just different flavoured sponges layered with butter cream and jams. We think this cake was so popular in the winter months because it is so beautiful to decorate in Christmassy decorations. We saw many dressed in icing sugar and winter fruit, and also some sprinkled with edible glitter and cream roses. At Daisy and Martin's wedding, there was a naked wedding cake that featured a spiced apple sponge; perfect for a winter wedding.

A stunning example of a naked wedding cake at a wedding at Wasing Estate's walled garden

Daisy and Martin's Christmassy naked wedding cake

Location, location, location. One of the first things on the to do list. During the winter we found ourselves very often in beautiful countryside barns. Yes, they are a fantastic venue for all months of the year. But they really do come to life in the winter, and there is something so comforting about enjoying each other's company in a barn covered in fairy lights and rustic timber.

Ufton Court's Tithe Barn is somewhere we found ourselves often in the winter months of 2013. Their Christmas tree and fairy lights are a stunning backdrop for your winter wedding.

Festive strings of fairy lights at Ufton Court's Tithe Barn

Sally and Lisa's ceremony at Ufton Court's Tithe Barn

Ufton's beautiful Christmas tree

2013 has been a very busy and exciting year. We have seen many trends that have held on throughout the whole year - including shabby chic crockery, pick n mix sweet tables, cheese towers, naked wedding cakes, vintage reception drinks and traditional game and British cooking. We are left wondering what this year will hold. Will we shy away from the whole 'shabby chic' craze or will it be so popular that it shines through 2014 too. Will we dress our naked cakes back up, or keep them going throughout the next year. A little birdy gave us a heads up for all the future brides and bridesmaids; this year, mismatched shades and styles of bridesmaids dressing are going to be very popular, so get ahead of the game!

We feel there are going to be big changes in the year to come, visit our twitter @potkilnanywhere and tweet us the changes you think are coming to the wedding and event scene of 2014.