Vera Wang wedding invitations are stylish, elegant and simply stunning. They’re exactly what you’d expect from the renowned designer, Vera Wang. They combine elegant, beautiful designs with traditional printing techniques to create stunning wedding stationery.
So what makes Vera Wang wedding invitations so inviting?
There are four collections in total, each subtly different, appealing to slightly different tastes. Throughout each there is a common theme – classic script fonts, clean typography and delicate prints finished off with an optional grosgrain ribbon where desired. The quality of paper is second to none, usually a European import, almost always specially milled and she has a tendency to favour oyster white or just white although she’s not afraid of using coloured paper as well. She finishes them off with a matching lined enveloped, again made from high quality paper.
Of course, all her invitations are professionally printed. Many of them have engraved type and embossing, which is difficult to recreate when you’re making your own wedding invitations. But still there’s no reason why elements of her design style can’t come through in your creations. The paper and envelopes are in your control and you can create a designer feel by using high quality materials too – this will make a marked difference to your end result. It will also make a marked difference to your budget. My recommendation would be to use a 280gsm ‘smooth’ card. The smoothness is important, especially if you’re printing your invites on your home printer – as it will ensure the finish is much better. With Vera Wang wedding invitations though, there are plenty of ideas you can use to create a designer style yourself – or even your own designer style! So here I run through some of her key design elements to get you thinking and get your creative juices going!
Wedding invitation formats
The majority of the formats used by Vera Wang for wedding invitations are A5 single cards (i.e. there is no fold and they don’t open up). Some are custom sizes and there is the occasional tall card. The save date and RSVPs are usually A6. This is great for home printing as you can easily get hold of sheets of A4 card and cut them in half or to size. Since most of the designs are not folded, card blanks are a no-no, but you will get a better choice of card to use. Sheet card comes in more colours, weights and finishes – so if you want a more superior finish, you can easily choose one.
Typography and fonts
Many of fonts Vera Wang uses are traditional looking fonts, often script like or old style handwriting. There are many fonts around like this that you can use for free – try a search on 1001freefonts.com – that’s where I find all of the fonts I use. Typography is how the text is laid out on the page and spacing given to individual letters, lines of text and generally how the text looks. Vera Wang favours white space (as do most designers) as it trains the eye to focus on particular elements – where a print, a little emblem or the names of the bride and groom.
It’s this layout and the type of font that is used that really makes your invitation. A font can speak volumes about the tone you’re trying to create – whether that be traditional, modern, elegant, stylish, sophisticated. The typography then works with the font to really bring the essence you’re creating to life. Have a look at the collection of Vera Wang wedding invitations on her site: Verawang.com and start to see how she uses space and fonts to create a particular feel to an invite.
Prints, emblems and motifs
In her Modernist and Individualist collections Vera Wang uses little emblems within the text. You can easily recreate these or create your own which can then be printed direct on to your invitation. Sometimes these range from swirly lines to little palm trees, all depending on the style and theme of the wedding. In the above mentioned collections, sometimes she uses bolder prints – damasks, paisleys and lace patterns. Again, these are easy to recreate and you’ll find they turn out really well, even using your inkjet at home. Be aware though how colour is used in Vera Wang wedding invitations – usually these prints are muted tones – greys, browns and occasionally blacks.
Colors
The colors in Vera Wang wedding invitations are usually muted. There’s lots of simple black and white (both oyster white and white white) as well as muted colors as I explained above. It’s rare that you’ll find bold colors, although there are a couple of designs in the Modernist collection that bring in a splash of color. This is mainly created by soft hues and knocked back prints or delicate colors used for the fonts. Color is generally used as accent, rather than in totality. For example, the font color might match the envelope lining, a splash color may be bought in by a ribbon or a colored emblem or motif. Generally its all very subtle. When you create similar, you’ll need to experiment with the colors to find a balance that suits you and your wedding. A general rule of thumb would be ‘less is more’.
The finishing touches
Vera Wang wedding invitations are always finished to the highest standard as you’d expect for the price that you’d pay! High quality paper is used for the envelopes which are often lined in an accent color (this is optional). Some invitations are wrapped in vellum and tied with a ribbon or wrapped in a card outer – both of these would then be placed inside an enveloped. She frequently uses grosgrain ribbon (the ribbon with ridges) with no satin ribbon in sight! An important must if your wedding invitations are to have a similar style. So when creating your Vera Wang wedding invitations, don’t forget to carefully think about the use of space on the page, your choice of font or fonts, the accent colours you use and how you’re going to finish your invitation (if you need to).
