Wedding Invitation Trends 2012

Guest Blogger, Christina Carnevale, Paper Rock Scissors
Christina Carnevale is a professional designer and owner of Paper Rock Scissors, a design firm located in Conshohocken, PA dedicated to creating original invitations and announcements for weddings, mitzvahs, corporate parties, and all other special events. 

As Winter is blasting us with its bitterness, Spring and Summer weddings are sitting on the horizon, just waiting to be announced.  Invitations have become the method by which couples introduce their guests to the overall theme, design, or colors of the wedding, often incorporating elements that will be used at the wedding ceremony and/or reception.  We’re seeing less and less of the “ivory card with black writing” invitation and watching our clients move into a fully designed invitation suite that truly reflects the theme of the event, and often, the personal style of the couple.

Since we begin booking clients for 2012 weddings in mid-2011, we start to see invitation trends earlier than many companies.  As a result, we’re seeing the following trends forming for 2012, and we’re happy to share them with you.

A Continuation of Jewel Tones

After the Royal Wedding, we began to see an infusion of jewel tones into many weddings.  Unlike the Royal Wedding invitations, which were a traditional ivory with a gold gilt edge, we’re seeing brides who are incorporating  the jewel tones into their actual invitations, choosing papers and ribbons that are deeply saturated with color.  Whether or not you choose to combine two jewel tones together, or simply ground your color with the jewel tone and add a brighter “pop,” you can’t go wrong with the luxe look of Jewel Tones.

Cobalt and Coral

Cobalt provides a backdrop to this invitation, while the coral ribbon and patterned paper gives it that pop of color.


Ruby and Gold

Ruby and Gold is always a beautiful mix of colors.  Whether the wedding be in December or July, using red and gold is a sure-fire way to add a bit of luxury to your wedding.


Blue Topaz and Gold

Blue Topaz (tiffany blue) paired with a gold grounds the color and focuses the eye on the important details that are accented and backed in the blue.

Sapphire and Hot Pink

Sapphire and Hot Pink is a popular combination for both ballroom weddings as well as beach weddings.  Depending on the colors that are used in the ink and in the pocket, an invitation can range from formal to fun.  The hot pink adds just the right amount pizzazz.

Handwritten Calligraphy

I’ve said it before in blog posts, and I’ll say it again.  There is nothing more formal that receiving an invitation with a handwritten guest name and address on it.  We’re seeing more and more brides return to the basic of handwritten envelopes, and we are excited about it.  When a piece of mail comes in that has been handwritten, it’s a show stopper…particularly, beautiful  calligraphy on a lovely envelope. 

Though we do quite a lot of work with traditional calligraphy styles, we’re also seeing more free-flowing calligraphy styles used on envelopes.  Brides are looking for something original and not so cookie-cutter, so a more unstructured script is appealing.  We are also seeing the use of white, silver, and gold inks on darker envelopes (again, going back to jewel tones) which gives the invitation a different look immediately upon receipt by your guest.

Whether you love the ideas of the trends we’re seeing, or if you are looking for something completely different, think about how you can make your invitation part of your overall design aesthetic for the event.  The possibilities only end where your ideas do!  We here at Paper Rock Scissors are happy to help should you require professional assistance in designing your very own ensemble.