Hey lady loves!

I’m excited to have a guest blogger joining us on the blog today! Enjoy Lauren’s fabulous insight on all of your stationery needs!

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I’m not good with being stationary. In fact, I’ll often take a lap around the building at work just to stretch my legs! But stationery – that’s my specialty! Give me a few beautiful fonts, pearlized paper and some rhinestones — boom, I’m in my element! So now you’ve learned the difference between stationary and stationery, but what’s the big deal over it anyway? Great question! Paper has a way with winning people’s hearts. Think about the smell of a new book, or the feel of really smooth paper… they engage your senses. It’s way more fun to receive a handmade card in the mail than to open an ecard. Custom invitations, embellished with bling and personalized to your heart’s desire, will set the tone for your event. They’ll end up on your guests’ refrigerators and posted in their scrapbooks… constant reminders of you and your amazing event!

It’s All in the Details

I love designing wedding and event invitations, customized to really match the event theme and host’s personality. Simple embellishments such as die cuts, embossed belly bands and pearls can add a touch of sophistication and uniqueness that set them apart and really tie together the whole event. Besides the standard invitation and save the date, here are a few of my favorite wedding and event stationery products:

Information Cards

If you’re throwing a formal event, it’s not proper etiquette to include RSVP information, your wedding website, registry listings, event attire, or accommodations on the actual invitation. Instead, create an information card to send with your invites or place them in a welcome bag as your guests arrive to town. Get creative with these and insert your personality into it — one of my favorites to design was a watercolor map with the bride and groom’s favorite places in town.

Name Cards

Escort cards or place cards… what’s the difference, and do I need them? They’re so similar, but oh so different! Escort cards are found at the welcome table and include the guest’s name and table number. Guests then take their card with them to their seat. Place cards are already found at the guest’s seat and are typically paired with a seating chart. I’ll let you in on a sneaky little secret… if you’ve offered meal choices to your guests, add color-coded calligraphy or other subtle embellishment to your name cards for your servers to differentiate between food choices — your guests will be amazed at their server’s telepathy!

Signage

Have you ever driven through a town with no street signs? No — that would be ridiculous. The same goes for your wedding… guests are always wondering where do I leave my gift, what’s offered at the bar, is this sugar or salt, where’s the restroom… needy, needy, needy! The less time they spend wandering and wondering, the more time they’ll spend on the dance floor. So do everyone a favor, and jazz up your wedding or party with custom signs. When designed to match your wedding or event theme and invitations, you’ll add a creative touch to a typically boring element.

Table Numbers

My two sisters and I all got married within two years of each other! With our Martha Stewart-like mother, of course we had tons of handcrafted elements! Although we all had completely different themes, one thing remained the same between them all: our table numbers! My mom carefully painted wood blocks with picture holders and embellished them with hearts, pearls, ribbons and rhinestones (see above)! They were so beautiful that guests tried taking them home after the wedding… oh no you don’t – we’ve got two other weddings to use these for! (And this was how my mother became my crafty business partner, who adds the handmade touches to all of our stationery!)

Menus and Programs

These elements are just another way to provide information to your guests while allowing your personality to show! I love when brides include how they met their bridesmaids or have quotes from their parents in their programs. Add funny stories about the birthday girl or bride/groom to give your guests something to do while waiting for their food or for the “I do’s.” It takes the edge off in case the guest of honor is running behind (which you know happens a lot!)

There are so many ways to add a personal touch to your wedding with custom stationery suites. Hop on over to www.LegacyLoft.com for more creative designs and stationery ideas! Thanks, DeNeitra, for letting me share my passion for stationery with your readers!

Lauren Black

Owner & Designer of Legacy Loft