Real Weddings: Choosing An Invitation With Seasonal Sensibilities

So many factors go into the design of a wedding invitation suite: a couple’s personal style, time of day of the wedding, how formal it is (or isn’t) and even, yes, the weather. A bright pop of yellow may not feel right for fall nuptials, while metallics may not resonate for a summer camp soiree. So when couple Amanda and Michael sought a design that would carry through their entire invitation suite, their winter wedding was top of mind. Here, Amanda talks to us about the benefits of stationery store work experience and why a few good editors are always a plus.

How did you and your fiancé meet, and how did he propose?

We met at a bar on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and immediately started seeing more and more of each other after that first ‘date.’ Mike proposed to me in our home 13 months after that initial meeting. The proposal came a week after I had foot surgery when he got down on one knee in our living room and proposed in the most heartfelt and intimate way. There were some tears and a lot of excitement, including me saying to him, “You didn’t actually ask the question,” before I happily said, “Yes!” We then called our parents and siblings to share the good news.

Tell me about the process of choosing your wedding invitations and did you have something in mind going into your first appointment? Did that change?

I worked at a local stationery store through high school and college helping customers pick out and order invitations, so I already had a good feel for the process. There is so much to choose from, so I was very thankful for that experience as we started to look for our wedding invitations. We went to Papyrus a few times before narrowing it down to a couple of options. We didn’t have anything specific in mind going into our appointment, but we knew we wanted something classic and elegant that would at least be a little reflective of a winter wedding in New York.

Describe the invitation suite you ended up with and why you fell in love with that design.
We picked a beautiful large white card with a simple wintery wreath design on top that framed our initials. That wreath motif carried throughout the whole invitation suite, and we liked that we were able to customize colors, liners and fonts to our specifications. The whole suite was printed in metallic and black thermography on heavy card stock, and we had a beautiful metallic liner to accompany it. We knew we wanted something classic and elegant that was also reflective of a winter wedding, and this invitation suite turned out to be perfect for that!

Was there anything about the process of choosing your invitations that you weren't expecting?

Thankfully, no! We were well prepared and gave ourselves plenty of time, so the process was as smooth as could be.

Do you have any advice for brides-to-be on the invitation process?

Have at least a vague idea of what you’re looking before opening up every invitation book in the store. There are so many choices, so you can easily get derailed if you don’t stay focused. And get a lot of good editors to proof the invitation to avoid mistakes!

Tell me about your wedding! What was your favorite moment?There were so many amazing moments on our wedding day, so it’s extremely tough to pick just one, but we’d say the few moments after saying ‘I Do’ when all of the happiness really sunk in and we could just be together in the moment and in an almost private setting (we needed our amazing photographer there to capture some really sweet moments!).

We loved having our first dance near the end of the night and without any attention drawn to it. It was one band playing one song for one very happy couple. Beyond that, it was simply amazing to be able to enjoy the best day of our lives with the people we love most in the world.

Are you a bride, bride-to-be or stationer who ordered William Arthur or Vera Wang wedding invitations? We'd love to feature you in our Real Weddings series! Email us at submissions@crane.com for more info.