Inspiration, Suppliers

Gorgeous Rustic Stationery by LouPaper

by Vicki | May 12th, 2022

Wondering about your wedding stationery for the big day? Well we recently had the pleasure of getting a first-hand peek at the gorgeous designs by Louise at LouPaper and wanted to ask her a little more about the stationery she designed for James and Alex’s beautiful wedding at Tythe back in September last year. With a gorgeous colour palette of green and gold running through all of the stationery this worked so well with the rustic backdrop of the barn…

Tythe Invites is back and today we have another fabulous supplier – Louise, founder of LouPaper – gorgeous modern luxury wedding stationery and calligraphy. Louise founded LouPaper back in 2015 after a degree in graphic design and with a decade’s experience in the wedding industry. After attending a calligraphy course, Louise knew hand-lettering was going to play a big part in her designs and now all her calligraphy is totally bespoke! A question she gets asked a lot is “What’s the font you use?” – Well it’s just Louise’s very own handwriting…

So Louise, where does it all begin between couple and stationer and tell us a little more about what James and Alex wanted for their own designs?

I think it’s important to click with your stationer, so they understand you and the look you’re going for within your save the dates, invitations and any on the day stationery. A couple might have a really clear vision on what they would like or they may need a bit more guidance or inspiration. I strive to create something that’s truly unique to each of my couples, reflecting their personality and interests, complimenting the theme, styling and colours of their big day.

James and Alex were a fab couple to design for! The venue can often help guide a couple into a particular style so with The Tythe Barn being rural and having a gorgeous rustic feel, the rustic theme was the inspiration for the wedding stationery.

James and Alex were drawn to green and gold, to tie in with the rustic theme and foliage and florals they’d chosen for the big day. We worked together to create the stationery combining two designs from my collection to ensure it was truly them.

After discussing their ideas with you, could you talk us through the designs that James and Alex chose?

The invitation for James and Alex’s big day combined crisp white modern calligraphy on a green card. The couple chose a bellyband and a beautiful gold foliage wax seal to add a luxe finishing touch. The details card contained everything the guests needed to know before the big day.

For the day itself they chose the must have stationery items; table plan, welcome sign, place names & an order of the day. I absolutely loved that they bought their dog Coco to the wedding and she got a big shout out on the order of the day.

I adored the styling on their big day with the stunning blooms, statement bicycle and wicker basket, it was the perfect space for my Perspex welcome sign to be displayed. A real statement welcome to the wedding! The welcome sign had a hand painted green background with gold lettering. I always love working with other suppliers like the fabulous Sian Ryan, to ensure the couples vision is bought to life, and that everything ties together on the big day.

James and Alex chose a stunning rustic floral masterpiece by Sian Ryan Designs which was the main styling amongst the rustic wooden beams of the barn and all set against the beautiful backdrop dressed with romantic fairy lights.

They chose our banqueting table layout which allowed for a gorgeous foliage runner to decorate the length of the tables and combined with tea lights this continued the romantic atmosphere.

We love the elegant place names for the tables, where did the inspiration come from?

James and Alex wanted to go for something a little different for the place names. The inspiration for these came from a wedding I’d previously done where I’d played around with different shapes and angles. I created diamond shaped place names in green, with each guest name hand calligraphered in gold, completed with a gold tassel for a luxe finish.

This was quite a large wedding and so needed a table plan that could fit in a lot of guest names, tell us about the design for this?

In keeping with their wedding colour palette, I used a simple white font for the guest names, with a gold calligraphy ‘seating for eating’. The table plan was displayed on a wooden easel in keeping with the rustic styling. We reflected the layout of the tables on the table plan so guests could easily locate their seat.

Do you need to work with any of the other suppliers leading up to the wedding day?

The wedding industry community is full of some amazing and inspiring people and I’m so lucky to call some of them friends now. Sian Ryan actually recommended me to Alex & James after they booked her for the florals & styling. I often work with wedding planners and stylists to ensure the couple’s stationery matches the styling and vision of the day. Stationery works hand in hand with the florals and styling for the day so my clients often share moodboards and proposals from their other suppliers.

James and Alex opted for a very pretty 4-tier wedding cake by Wealden House Kitchen which was positioned on our gorgeous rustic log and accessorised with foliage and delicate florals by Sian Ryan Designs.

Does the venue play a large part in assisting with the design and colour palette and do you ever get to visit the venue for yourself?

The venue generally helps with setting the tone for the day, specific colours and themes usually work well at different venues, however each couple is so unique that it’s really important that the day is truly them. I always recommend using colours and themes that they’re drawn to, at the end of the day, it’s their special day and every ounce of it should be filled with their personalities and likes.

Yes, I love visiting local venues to get a feel for what they are like and for inspiration for designs. I work closely with only a handful of venues as I think it’s so important to have a strong connection. I post all stationery to my clients so I don’t attend on the actual wedding day.

Do you often have to give advice to your couples and help them visualise what it’s all going to look like or do they have a clear plan?

It completely depends on the couple, some couples are very clear on what they are looking for whereas others aren’t sure. This is why I created a curated collection of stationery designs which can all be customised to the couple, such as changing the colour palette or fonts. It’s a great starting point to give couples some inspiration of what a full stationery collection looks like. My designs are simple, considered and crafted with love. For those couples seeking something completely different I also have a bespoke service. I also offer samples of wedding invitations available to buy on my website to help couples make their decision.

Once couples have chosen their stationery I would imagine it’s very important to follow some deadlines for ordering?

The design process usually takes 4-6 weeks, including print. I send design drafts out to the couple for their approval before anything is sent to print and I include 2 rounds of amendments within my costs to ensure everything is just right. I advise sending stationery out to guests;

Save the dates – 12 months before the big day
Invitations – 6-9 months before the big day

On the day stationery – I usually start this 8 weeks before the big day (the guestlist and menu for the day needs to be finalised before some of these items can be started).

Thank you cards – up to 3 months after the big day – whenever you get your photos back!

If you’d like to know a little more about choosing your stationery, Louise has a very useful free wedding stationery guide which can be downloaded here – it’s full of lots of useful hints and tips!

Louise thank you so much for all your incredible knowledge and insights into choosing wedding stationery. Can you share some final pieces of ‘must have’ info for our couples?

I always recommend to check the postage before sending out invites, for instance, if you’ve multiple cards tied together with twine this may require a large letter stamp. You don’t want your guests being charged before they receive your invites.

Also, for quantities of invitations, a very common mistake to make, is thinking that each guest needs an invite each. When working out how many invitations you need, remember that you only need to send one per couple or household. Typically, the total number is about 60% of your final guestlist total. When deciding on your guest list, it’s also really handy to create a spreadsheet of your guests’ for easy envelope addressing!

Love James and Alex’s stationery and their gorgeous wedding style? Here’s some more beautiful images from their day…

If you’re feeling inspired by James and Alex’s day and love LouPapers designs you can get in touch with her here. Alternatively, head over to her Instagram page or her website for a great source of inspiration which covers all of the collections with lots of information about the stationery process and price lists. For more stationery inspo you can also see her blog here – www.loupaper.co.uk/loupaper-blog