Inspiration for a minimalist wedding: the invites

Styling and photography: Cate St Hill, Invite design: Nat’s Paper Studio
(I received a small press discount)

In four months time I’m getting married (eek!!) and while this blog will always retain its interiors focus, the big day is such a huge part of my life this year that I wanted to dedicate a couple of posts to it, if you’ll allow me the indulgence. And I thought the small independent brands and makers I’ve found in my pursuit of a minimalist wedding might be helpful in your search too. Because it’s surprisingly hard to find the tasteful, considered and simple among the girly froth and cringe wedding paraphernalia.

Even if you’re not into weddings and aren’t getting married, this first post dedicated to minimalist stationery and invites, might provide some inspiration for other events or even your own creative branding.

While we’re getting married in a church, I don’t want my own wedding to be too traditional. I want it to feel relaxed, informal, cosy and laid back. The style we’re going for is simple and elegant, with a colour palette of white and grey, with fresh greenery to reflect the countryside surroundings of where we’re getting married and monochrome accents to add a modern touch.

Pinterest was my first port of call for minimalist wedding inspiration (see my dedicated board here). I’ve found it really useful to use it as a mood board of my ideas. Then I went to A Most Curious Wedding Fair in east London, which markets itself as a wedding show for the style savvy couple. There were lots of designers and independent companies catering for alternative weddings that put an emphasis on creative expression.

At first we thought we would send the invitations digitally but there’s something nice about keeping the design as a momento of the day.

I found the designer of my invites on Instagram, another rabbit warren of digital inspiration. Nat’s Paper Studio was founded by freelance graphic and web designer Natalie. She has a passion for packaging and typography, and shares a similar minimalist style to me. Nat has a collection of nine house designs that you can semi personalise, from Classic Monochrome to Scandi Chic. She also offers some lovely extras such as wraps around the invites and wax seals (even hangover kits for guests!). We’ll also be getting our order of service and menus from her.

I chose the Boho Edit – a simple invite with classic touches. I love how understated the design is, from the refined, printed names on the back to the capitals running down the side. The font reminds me of my favourite design magazines, Cereal and Kinfolk. I wanted something that would reflect our style and suggest some of the values – namely simplicity and honesty – behind the big day.

We chose a details card in contrasting black with white ink. I bought the envelopes on eBay and the striped paper clips on Amazon (I had to get some Breton stripes in there somewhere!). I love how Nat even sent the invites wrapped in striped tissue paper, it couldn’t have been more perfect!

It’s been lovely sending the invites out and it’s got me even more excited for September to come. I’m looking forward to sharing more of our plans with you shortly, especially the table settings as that’s the bit I’m really enjoying at the moment – I’m all about the details and the styling!

Here’s some other suggestions for minimalist invites if you’re also looking for something simple and contemporary:

– Sixfold Studio
– Stylish Creative
– You could design your own and get it printed on MOO postcards. They also do stickers!
– Paperless Post – we used this for our digital Save the Dates
– Nicety Studio
– Euni + Co
– Tom Gautier

Let me know if you have any other recommendations in the comments below!