Congratulations to Lorien & John for their wedding across the pond this week! This lovely couple chose to use our Pictorial design with imagery to match their wedding at a beautiful country home. The soft blue-green and gray colors of this design have us dreaming of the English countryside in the spring.

Sticking with the monograms theme this month, we wanted to share some options for incorporating these on wedding stationery. Monograms are one of our favorite design elements to print. They add a decorative detail and a sophisticated elegance to wedding invitations. Plus, the design can be carried through all of the wedding stationery, from thank you note cards to programs and menus.

We recommend couples adhere to traditional etiquette, noting that the bride’s initials come first on the stationery until the wedding has taken place. After the ceremony, the groom’s initials may come first (on the menu, escort cards and thank you notes) and/or the couple can use their shared last name, if relevant.

Even simple initials like this L + A (below) can elevate items like escort cards or menus and give the stationery a personal feel.

This couple opted for the nautical flags in lieu of letters.

Sticking with our “March Monogram” theme, we’ve added a couple new note card designs to our collection. We always love an elegant script monogram but for many people, this may feel too formal for their style of letter writing. A card with custom printed initials is going to get much more use.

If you’re inspired to order some monogramed stationery of your own, visit our note card collection here: Sesame Note Card Collection

The simplicity of crisp, letterpressed initials always looks elegant. Monograms have been used for centuries from Roman era coins to modern era royal wedding invitations. We started looking into the history of monograms and here are some of the interesting things we learned:

• Initials/monograms symbols have been used for centuries, dating back to 350 BC. 
• Currency during Roman times featured the initials of the Greek and Roman rulers to mark their reign
• In the Middle ages, artisans used initials to sign or brand their work
• Early monograms consisted of just two initials. Around the 17th Century, it became more common to use the three letters. In the early 1600’s, Rembrandt signed his early paintings with “R” or “RH” but later added a third initial (and eventually moved on to signing his name).
• British Royals use the 2 letters and these are intertwined to form a cipher, which is a monogram design for the reigning sovereign.
• In the Victorian era, monograms were associated with the aristocracy and therefore, were perceived as a sign of prestige. 

If initials feel too minimalist, a small illustration can be added to personalize the stationery a bit more. Here are a couple we’ve printed and love this month!

Congratulations to Laura and Daniel on their wedding this beautiful, spring weekend! So often we use beautiful floral illustrations on wedding invitations, but this couple wanted something a little different. These ferns and fronds, printed in a mix of black ink and a blind emboss, are a nice alternative for an early Spring wedding.

These cards are an example of a way to convey the wedding weekend details to your guests and help them easily indicate which events they will attend. The info card is an information source for guests and the response card is the information source for the family handling the planning. If you have many events for your wedding weekend, it may be most helpful to you to have your guests rsvp for each event, as exemplified on this response card. It will make counting heads for each event much easier!

We printed these beautiful invitations for a New York City wedding last year. The cards were all a classic design, printed in rich, black ink, and then we added a surprise element in the form of a bold envelope liner. The NYC skyline printed on the liner was the perfect imagery for this rooftop wedding!

When it comes to response cards, you need to determine how much information you need from your guests. Often this depends on the type of meal you’re serving (if you need them to choose an entree), or if you are having multiple events and need a headcount. If you want to keep things really simple, you can have an open response card with just the reply by date. This is a nice way to encourage your guests to write you a fun note prior to your nuptials.

An rsvp card should always include:
Reply by Date (shown clearly at the top or bottom of the card)
A space to write your guest’s name(s)
A space for the guest to reply with Accepts or Regrets (unless you are doing an open response card)

Additional information you might include:
Entrée selection - Please initial an entrée selection for each guest
Headcount for events - Please indicate the number of guests attending each event
Accommodations - Please help us welcome you to New York City. Where do you plan to stay?
Transportation - Please indicate the number of guests requiring a shuttle to the reception
A fun question - I’ll dance if you play

You may also provide a space for guests to let you know of any dietary restrictions at the bottom of the card.

Wedding website cards are a great way to remind your guest of your website. We often print these as mini cards with a little bit of wording above the url, like this example. This card can have formal or more fun wording, and maybe an image to illustrate the style of your event. If you have a password, make sure to include that, also.