My Top Picks for Wedding Stationers (other than me!)

December 13, 2022 by Carly Dryhurst-Smith

It’s December 2022, and I’m closing my books until September 2023. I’m doing this for 2 reasons -

Firstly, I’m 7 months pregnant with our third baby. I do not know what possessed my husband and I to introduce more chaos into a year of relocating, looking after two children under 4 years old and me running a small business solo… BUT - We’re very excited to add a new team member to our family. Since this little one is going to have to compete with their two older brothers for attention as it is, I’m forcing myself to have a bit of maternity leave. I’ll be off from the end of January 2023 until September 2023.

Secondly, I’m lucky enough to have lots of lovely couples booked in for weddings next year. I want to ensure that they get the focus and quality they deserve, so I’ve decided not to take on any more until I have more headspace (and a bit more help with childcare!)

If you’re getting married in October - December 2023 and just need wedding day stationery, or you need invites for weddings from 2024, then please get in touch and I can get you booked in!

However, if you’re getting married before then and need a wedding stationer, you might have stumbled upon my site and thought, “Well thanks very much Carly, this doesn’t help me at all!” I want to point you in the right direction - whether I’m the right stationer for you or not. The wedding industry isn’t about competition, it’s full of small businesses who want to champion each other. So here’s a list of my fave stationers, curated just for you!

For Retro Cool Alternative Stationery

You gotta talk to my girl Sarah from Peach Wolfe Paper Co. Sarah is super talented, has an incredible eye for style and will bend over backwards for her clients. She offers an amazing array of customisable designs that will bring the party to your party.

Bespoke letterpress stationery from INK & PAPER LDN

For Luxury Stationery

Grania from Ink & Paper is the letterpress queen. She specialises is the highest quality stationery and calligraphy, hand crafting each invite with stunning finishes. If you’re looking for elegant, premium quality wedding stationery then this is it.

For Boho Stationery

Then you must chat to Nathasha at Mama Inc Studio. Her work is a great mix of boho, retro, pretty calligraphy and bespoke painted pieces. Everything is beautifully finished, often with foils and vellum and other lovely treats. She even hand paints leather jackets!

Bespoke banners by Daydreamer Creative Studio

For Banners and Signage

Look no further than Tanya from Daydreamer Creative Studio. Think texture, colour and stunning keepsakes - all handmade and beautifully finished. Worth it even if you’re not getting married, in my opinion!

I hope this helps you in your search - and if you like lists like these, let me know and I’ll create some more for my favourite photographers, florists and stylists. Of course I can’t guarantee that these suppliers will have availability for your wedding date. Get in touch with them quick if you like their style!

Merry Christmas, and see you next year!
Carly x

G+B-WBO-Favours-C.jpg — How do I choose a style for my wedding?

How Do I Choose a Style for My Wedding?

February 25, 2020 by Carly Dryhurst-Smith in Advice

It’s daunting to select just a single way of representing you both aesthetically for one big day. You’re complex, but the look of your wedding can pull out just a few parts of both your personalities without looking messy. It’s all about a balance of backdrop, details and atmosphere.

The Backdrop

By this, we mean:

The venue - the space you’re all going to occupy
The amount of people coming (and therefore the level of intimacy of the event)
The guest dress code, if you have one
The venue’s table, chairs, exterior, the walls and foundations - textured vs smooth walls, graffiti etc

All of these things will set the scene for the day. If you want a pretty summer garden theme, it might not work so well in an old warehouse by a canal. Selecting a venue you LOVE will give you some big clues as to what to choose for your day’s overall style. It’s the biggest visual tool you’re going to have!

Ashridge Great Barn in Devon. Photo by Clare Kinchin

The Details

These bits can cover:

On-the-day stationery like your welcome signs, menus, place names, table names
Favours, if you choose to have them
Decorations like a photo backdrop, bunting, pom-poms, wall-hangings
Practical objects like tablecloths, napkins, crockery, cutlery, glassware
The transport you choose
Your cake
Your outfits, shoes, accessories like jackets and jewellery
Your hair and make up choices
The flowers you choose
What you show of your usual day-to-day look: Tattoos, coloured hair, that necklace you wear and everyone recognises as yours etc.

These details not only overlay on top of the backdrop, but are the parts which are really from the heart and make the day feel like ‘you’. You can play with so much colour and texture here and really have some fun with it. You can DIY a whole bunch of it, delegate to the wedding party over a few wines or get some external help. There are 👏so 👏 many 👏awesome wedding suppliers who can help you with these finer details. Here’s a few of my faves:

Iridescent wine glasses by Anthropoligie

The Atmosphere

This is more than just the look - it’s how your day feels. It can include:

The music you choose, including if you have a band
Any other entertainment - magician, fire dancers, arial performers… Go wild!
The scent - many venues let you burn incense, candles or use diffusers if you ask them to
The food you choose and how it’s served. This could be food trucks, pizza boxes, grazing tables and buffets or a sit-down 3-courser. They all create the atmosphere - be it formal and fancy or super chilled.

Choosing a Style

Doing this brings all those visual cues together. Take the venue as the foundation, and then think what you like about the place. Brainstorm some things that really matter to you both and see how they’d play out in a style and whether they correlate with each other and fit well with the backdrop, too.

Try not to be literal - if one of you loves West Ham Football Club and the other is big into knitting, you don’t have to knit everyone a West Ham scarf as a favour. But, you know, you can! However you might like to have pops of claret, light blue and canary yellow in your flower arrangements and stationery instead, which give a nod to the Hammers but don’t dominate the day. You could knit some bunting or ribbons to hold knives and forks together and people will know this is made with love and genuinely represents you both.

The difference between a style and a theme is that a style mixes a combination of foreground and background visual inspiration to create an overall aesthetic and vibe, but a theme is more literal. For example, a style is something loose like ‘Celestial’, a theme is more direct, like ‘Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet’.

Here are a few more examples of how you might plan a style or theme:

Travel

As a theme: You might incorporate stamps, flags, airmail envelopes and maps

As a style: You might have more of a nod to land, sea, sky and time through floaty dyed tablecloths and using grass, tropical plants, sand, water, wood, shells and stones in your centrepieces

1950s

As a theme: Think petticoats, quiffs, Teddy boy jackets, Grease soundtrack, set in an old-school diner

As a style: More like a red lip and a netted birdcage veil, a retro car like a Chevrolet Bel Air, a 50s-inspired font like Syrup and pretty faded pastels for contrast

A Pink Table Setting by Otto Maya via Conde Nast — *A Pink Table Setting* by Otto Maya via Conde Nast

Disney

As a theme: That yellow Belle dress, tables named after specific characters, a Mickey Mouse cake, horse and carriage as transport

As a style: Flowers displayed under a glass bell, candelabras, pumpkin centrepieces, soft princessy linens, chiffons and silks

Sundried flower bells by Ginette et Ernest

Summary

To round it up, my advice is to find balance. Negative space gives the important details room to breathe. You don’t have to blast every element and plaster every surface to get the point across. No one will look at the forks and think, “That fork is SO Ashley and Joel”, y’know? Find colours and textures you BOTH like and create a mood board with something like Pinterest, which is packed full of inspiration.

You might have been able to tell that I’m more of a fan of style as inspiration rather than a cut-and-dry theme or scheme. For me, I think it leaves plenty of room for you both to shine - it’s the stage you set but not the show. However, as always, I fully support people doing their day their way, so take want you want from this and run with it!

If you’re stuck on the big picture, ask for help! There are loads of suppliers who are wedding styling experts who you could chat to at wedding fairs and on Instagram, and you can always email me on carly@withbellson.co.uk for some FREE chat and advice. I’d love to help!

A Northern Wedding

January 29, 2020 by Carly Dryhurst-Smith in Real Weddings

Amy and Oli met at a party when they both lived in London. After dating, moving in together and living happily in Stepney, they looked for new opportunities together in Manchester.

Oli is a composer and audio engineer - he worked at the Imperial War Museum in London and when they moved, he continued to do some days at the northern branch. One night she went to meet him after work. Amy walked in to an audio-visual explosion as, in the darkness of after-hours, Oli displayed photos and told the story of them (and their friends and family) across the walls of the museum. When she woke from the reverie, there was Oli, proposing 😍

So London was where it started, but Manchester means so much to them as a couple - especially that museum. They decided to incorporate that building, and other significant ones, into the aesthetic of their wedding day. I collaborated with them to make their stationery which embodied their love for the city.

Photography: Mark O’Brien
Cake: Piggy’s Pantry
Ceremony venue: Chester Town Hall
Reception venue: The Chester Fields
Amy’s dress is by Whiteone from Elizabeth Louise in Chester
Flowers: Wild Floral Design
Stationery: With Bells On!

Dreamy Wedding Transport 😍

November 15, 2019 by Carly Dryhurst-Smith in Style

Getting you and your guests to the right place on time is pretty crucial, and you’ll want to do that in style! Here’s a collection of my fave transport pics to swoon over.

.click4reg.co.uk/blog/alternative-wedding-transport/

Rainbow Wedding Inspiration

November 12, 2019 by Carly Dryhurst-Smith in Colours

Today has flip-flopped from an optimistic sun peeping out to grey and wet and all manner of things in between. Despite the rain, I’m super happy today because after a small hiatus working on some exciting apps and dashboards for my other business, I’m back full-whack in WBO-mode. Basically, I’ve returned, with bells on 😉So to celebrate my good mood and the combo weather situation, I’m looking at all things rainbow.

Herbal Wedding Inspiration

October 18, 2019 by Carly Dryhurst-Smith in Style

Often weddings incorporate flowers into the styling, but what about herbs? They have the added benefit of being particularly scented, competing with, or often complementing, their floral counterparts,. They offer a range of stunning shapes and colours, too. Best of all, they don’t wilt - Bonus!

If herbs are part of your theme, here’s a collection of ideas to help you weave it in to a consistent aesthetic throughout your wedding style.

Stationery

It may be an illustrative or photographic approach, or you may prefer the real thing! Whichever style you use, keep it as a common theme throughout your design decisions to keep it neat. Your guests will then come to know your ‘branding’ and know where to look for information.

Buttonholes and bouquets

Food and drink

Décor

It’s worth looking into the meanings of different herbs and flowers, as this can mean some sentiment is wrapped up in the style you choose. You can make the smallest details so special to you as a couple - and these nods to you both may even take centre stage. Happy planning!

Rainy Wedding Ideas

October 06, 2019 by Carly Dryhurst-Smith in Wedding Ideas

I know, I know - Rain on your wedding day would be a disaster, right? Personally I love all that winter has to bring, including a storm (but I realise I’m unique in this!). With all the wet weather we’re having recently, I’ve put together some ideas for those planning for rain on their big day.

Umbrellas (obvs)

I mean, its the go-to first choice to protect you from the rain. But you can also make it a big part of the aesthetic of the day. You could choose a rainbow, your chosen colours, or transparent ones might be best if your ceremony is outdoors, so everyone can see what’s going on! And if it doesn’t rain? Who cares - There’s a beautiful canopy of brollies. They could be given out as favours or rented for the day from somewhere like Brolliesgalore!

Wellies

For you, for the decorations, for the signage. If you’re getting married in the UK it might just rain, so make it your theme!

via offbeatbride.com/church-wedding-decor/

Raincoats and jackets

Style it up and show the rain who’s boss by embracing the waterproofs!

Pre-hot-booze rain dance (for the brave)

Yes, it’s a thing. Ok, so I just made it up, but hear me out. Get your guests to run out in the rain with you. The photographer can get some amazing stormy shots, puddle splashes and screams, and then you can all come back in to a table of blankets, mirrors for hair-and-make-up-checks, Bailey’s hot chocs, Tuthilltown Toddys or even mulled wine. Throw in some cookies, and what the hell, some shots. It’s a party!

by Schilling Photography via wilkieblog.com

Autumn

September 25, 2019 by Carly Dryhurst-Smith in Colours

As the weather is most certainly changing from bright-and-warm summer to, well, scarf weather, I’m looking more at the beautiful muted colours of the new season. I absolutely love when it gets colder, and all the homey comforts that come with it: Hot chocolate, wooly accessories and of course, that gorgeous timeless palette we know and love.

Whilst seeking out inspiration for my work, I’ve collated together some of my fave highlights from stationery designers, fashion photographers, fabrics and foods which embody the cosiness of Autumn.

© Photo: Daniele Oberrauch / Gorunway.com,Photo: Daniele Oberrauch / Gorun via vogue.co.uk — © Photo: Daniele Oberrauch / Gorunway.com,Photo: Daniele Oberrauch / Gorun
via vogue.co.uk

Photo by Dawn Charles via marthastewartweddings.com