You may remember our recent posts on the Designer Wedding Show which I attended to feedback all the newest chic and unique finds to all our lovely readers, one of which focused exclusively on the beautiful stationery companies we scouted out there. One such company however deserved a whole post of its very own and our recent real Bride Victoria chose them for her own stationery too. (You can see her old school glamour wedding here and here)

I’m talking about Chartula, the couture stationery company based on Londons Portobello Road, who’s designs are so chic and unique in fact, that they have gathered quite a celebrity following. With expertise in traditional techniques such as engraving, whilst benefiting from founder Charlotte Hewson’s illustrating skills and design heritage, Chartula excel in making modern stationary of the highest quality. Fresh colour ways such as contemporary fuschia pink and dark chocolate, classic sage and ivory or bold violet and pistachio set the designs apart from every other wedding invitation that will be dropping on your door mat next summer.

In recent years Chartula have branched into cutting edge technology to create some of the prettiest invitations around, utilising laser techniques to cut delicate lace-like patterns into striking two tone cards. The results are lavish, romantic and best of all totally and utterly unique. With a White Christmas on my mind, it was the very seasonal and very lovely Snowflake design that caught my eye. On the Chartula blog, Charlotte imagines it paired with ‘flickering candles, ice blue table linen, crystal candelabra and a fabulous mirror table plan.’ Charlotte Hewson we like your style! I can feel an inspiration board coming on…

Best of all, as Chartula is somewhat of an, ahem, pricey option, they have recently brought out a credit crunch busting range called Chartula Create! This fabulous idea allows you to custom create your own colour scheme and laser cut design from a selection, then delivers everything you need to create your invitations. Another excuse for a bottle of vino and a night in with the girls me thinks….

Enjoy!

Yours Truly,

Contra
xoxo

So on a little RMW research mission ( we have these often) we discovered the very fabulous PrettyWild Design stationery company. Suzanne Osborne the designer and creator even let us have a sneaky peek at her new collection ( and let me tell you we felt very privileged indeed so we did)

The RMW Team picked some of our absolute favourites from the PrettyWild stationery fabulousness and Suzanne is going to tell us all about her delicious paper treats.

Over to the lovely Madam Osbourne…..

I love designing for weddings and never forget that it is always an honour to be chosen as a supplier for even a small part of a couple’s big day. I take the responsibility to my heart but also like to indulge my playful creative side, given the opportunity, and it is this aspect of my work that has proved increasingly popular as weddings and civil partnerships become more flamboyant or styled to reflect the personalities of the couple.

Candy buffets are very popular at the moment so we have often been approached to make gorgeous vintage style labels and signage for sweetie jars. A more unusual request this summer was for slider quiz cards on each table based on the couple’s movie theme. “

Gorgeous right?

Modern, quirky and whole lot cool.

Visit www.prettywild.co.uk for a whole lot more cool.

Charlotte xxx

We are thrilled to announce that we have finally chosen the winner (with some help form the lovely folk at Hello!Lucky) of our competition to win 50 personalised notecards. (I’m soooooo jealous!)

Our winner is Ashley, who wrote us this oh-so-clever poem and to be honest we were so impressed we thought she deserved a Christmas treat!

Here is her winning entry…

Hi Charlotte, Contra, and Hello!Lucky

Now with all these potential gifts
What’s a lady to do?
Well this is where I’d need this prize-
They’d be perfect for saying “Thank you!”

Ashley, we will be in touch shortly to fill you in on how to claim your prize! Better get checking the Hello!Lucky site for inspiration!

Yours Truly,

Contra
xoxo

Finding chic and unique stationery can be a royal pain in the you-know-what.

You know what you want.
Something representative of your wedding.
Something to really get people excited when they rip open the envelope and see the design inside.
Something ‘you’.

How about it really being you?

Rebekah Daley designs couture stationery by sketching an image of, well anything you like really. Rebekah suggests a cake maybe, if you are a shoe-a-holic your perfect peep toe Louboutins, or her most popular option, a custom designed sketch of the bride and groom.

The service doesn’t just extend to invitation suites but a whole range of gorgeous additional items, such as place cards as varied as the afore-mentioned shoes, to possibly the chicest bag ever made, the Hermes Kelly, or perfect-for-a-vintage-affair tea cups.

And if you don’t know where to start with bespoke or want to try and stick to budget, it needn’t be a compromise, with a range of 12 different gorgeous ‘off the peg’ designs ranging from couples in Vintage or Deco inspired gowns, to the butterfly adorned Papillon and New York inspired Liberty.

Even better, when the day is over, there is still something to be had to chase away the post-wedding blues. (This is one for all you marrieds who still sneak on here for a little guilty wedding pleasure! ) Rebekah cleverly offers a bridal portrait service, producing stunning sketches or canvases of you in your treasured gown.

Why not commission a bridal party portrait to gift to your maids or a one off sketch for your Mum as a stunning keepsake of the day? With tasteful options for displaying your wedding memories hard to come by, this is an option I may just have to pursue myself.

Finally, an original and stylish way to remember the dress of your dreams and the most perfect of days.

Go on, treat yourself!

Yours Truly,

Contra
xoxo

Boy oh boy, am I one excited wedding blogger today!

Although not a first on RMW (we had an e.l.f. give away last month) I am uber excited to share this fabulous competition with all the lovely RMW readers.

Hello!Lucky, the stationary company producing quirky cool letterpress and digital stationery, have been watching Rock My Wedding and got in touch to offer you a fabulous prize. This isn’t the first time Hello!Lucky have been featured on RMW, as we heart their fun designs for wedding stationery as noted at the DWS earlier this year.

Hello!Lucky are offering you 50, yes that’s the big five-o, personalised notecards form their spectacular digital personalized stationary range, as shown throughout this post. The designs on offer range from elegant scrolls, oriental chrysanthemum patterns, all manner of florals, outdoors-ey horseshoes, polka dots and my personal favourite, the birdcage design shown above. If you want to look at the whole so-darn-cute collection click here Hello!Lucky

The prize is worth more than £100 and you get to choose from 24 ultra cool Hello!Lucky colours. I can just see myself dashing of a quick thank you note or a heartfelt thinking of you on these super chic cards – I so wish I could enter….

So how do you enter?

Really Simple – we want you to send us the top five “must have” items on your Christmas wish list.

For example..

Contra’s Big Christmas Wish List:

Canon 450D SLR Camera
White Company Cashmere dressing gown
Some Jack Wills pyjamas
New Singulier YSL Mascara
Whistles Navy Lurex 80‘s jumper

Charlotte’s Big Christmas Wish List:

Holga Camera
All Saints military style leather coat
Tina Lilienthal resin cherry necklace
Subscription to Digital Photographer magazine
New Singulier YSL Mascara

( Yes we are both clearly loving the YSL flutter maker)

The wish list that we would most like Santa to send down the RMW chimney will win the prize. Send your entries to competition@rockmywedding.co.uk. The competition will run until Friday 28th of November and we will collaborate with Hello!Lucky to choose the winner. Our decision is final.

Get entering readers!

Yours Truly

Contra xoxo

Now I am without doubt a huge fan of the letter. Traditional though it may be, and internet addict though I am, nothing beats a satisfying thud of quality stationery landing on the door mat, especially if it’s a wedding invitation.

Now, while most people are wondering what the bride will be wearing, I’m wondering about the invitation. If I’m lucky enough to be clutching a save the date I’ll be tantalized by the tease of a subtle introduction to a theme, a colour scheme, a whisper of the day ahead. I breath in the quality, feel the weight in my hands, run my fingers across the embossing or letterpress. So you can see that an outing at the DWS sampling all that is invitation perfection was a small slice of heaven for me.

My first stop was Hello! Lucky, a San Francisco based company now extending their line to the UK. They bring the American trend for letterpress stationery bang up to date with super cute, super cool, invitation suites in up to the minute colour schemes. For the bride looking for a quirky alternative to the traditional invitation there is sure to be something to suit.
Designs range from modern skyline silhouettes for the city bride to vintage florals and country inspired patterns.

Wren Press used to be one of THE places to go to for classic traditional stationery with the highest quality card and engraving used to create a picture of elegance. They still do this well but in recent years have branched out into some more modern interpretations of the classic invitation featuring bold use of colour contrasting with traditional fonts. I particularly liked the lighter inks used on coloured cards, classic chic from the very first glance.

A new and exciting find for me was Dragonfly stationery, again offering letterpress stationery with a couture and bespoke option. Although offering some more modern designs and patterns that would be well suited to a multicultural wedding in vibrant jewel tones, for me the winners amongst the range were the delicate, 2 inked florals. The delicate letter press really set off the intricate yet clean motifs and there was nothing twee about these sophisticated florals. Innovative fonts and soft tones made Dragonfly Couture really stand out in a sea of superior stationery.

Lastly, and the most exciting find of all was Martine Rupert Designs. An illustrator and graphic designer, Martine offers the utmost in personalization creating a bespoke illustration featuring the colours, themes and even vintage photographs important to you as a couple. I was blown away by the complete and unadulterated prettiness of these invitations and the idea that each and every one would be completely different. Working perfectly with imagery of a local landmark or venue I imagined these invitations for a wedding in France or Italy, or a vintage tea party themed affair closer to home, oozing subtle elegance and originality.

Yours Truly

Contra xoxo