The Leaf Press had a lovely day on Sunday showing wedding invitation designs at the Glemham Hall Truly Vintage Wedding Fair. There were a large number of enthusiastic brides with their grooms, mums, bridesmaids and other family members. The marquee at Glemham Hall has recently been refurbished and looked wonderful, with a stylish new brick pathway leading to it (especially welcome when carrying heavy boxes and walking in heels!).

Popular on The Leaf Press's stall were the ticket wedding invitations, printed wedding seating plans, save the dates, wedding paper chains and, pleasingly, the new beach hut design wedding invitation.

UK Wedding Invitations by The Leaf Press at Glemham Hall Truly Vintage Wedding Fair

It was great to chat to other exhibitors and look at the fab products they had. Here is a round-up of my favourites.

The Tea Service offers a hire service for beautiful vintage china, which was on display in Glemham Hall last Sunday.

The Tea Service

The Decorated Cake Co had an outstanding cake as the centrepiece of their display but I also loved the decorated cakes and biscuits - the designs were so intricate and beautifully done.

The Decorated Cake Co

Lisa Marie's Sweet Creations was new to the fair and provides sweet buffets for weddings and other events as well as a candy floss maker (wow!) and sweet wedding favours.

Lisa Marie's Sweet Creations

Table Angels was as popular as ever with visitors and had a lovely range of stylish chair covers and table decorations.

Table Angels

Also popular but not photographed (had to keep running back to my stall when visitors appeared!) were JBD London with some exquisite vintage jewellery and the three photographers - Sara Thomas, Patrick Stockley and Lucy Hopegood - who had fantastic displays of their work.

This week I've been busy dismantling wedding paper chains and printing wedding invitation sample requests generated by the fair, which I'm now off to post ...

When to send wedding invitations

This is an issue I’m often asked by wedding invitation customers. I usually advise that about 3-6 months before your wedding date works for many couples but essentially there is no ‘correct’ answer and much will depend on circumstances particular to each couple.

Obviously there is certain information that you will need before you can send wedding invitations. This includes:

• The date of wedding.
• The wedding ceremony time and venue.
• The reception venue and time (although the time is only relevant for evening wedding invitations so not knowing would not prevent day wedding invitations from being sent).
• Gift list information, if applicable.
• Information about accommodation, taxis, directions etc if you wish to include this in invitations.
• A list of guests.

Wedding invitation etiquette should partly be based on what will work for your guests, as this will enable you to have the people that are important to you at your wedding. However, you should also consider what works well for you. You need to give yourself time to compile the information in the above list but also to be able to organise things once you’ve received RSVPs. This could include detail about the reception, catering, seating plans, stationery (e.g. orders of service and place cards), transport and accommodation. Make sure you can do this and are able to give information to your venues, suppliers and other relevant parties when they need it. You should allow 3-6 weeks for your guests to RSVP and a bit of extra time to chase the one or two that will forget. You will also need to allow time for bespoke wedding invitations to be designed and made – most UK wedding invitation suppliers will require at least two weeks to produce stationery.

Here is a list of issues which can affect timing of sending out wedding invitations. The more of these that apply to your wedding, the earlier you should send invitations:

• You have not informed guests previously what the wedding date is e.g. by sending Save the Dates.
• Your guests live abroad or in different parts of the UK.
• Your wedding is taking place in a popular location, or one where accommodation is limited.
• Your wedding is being held abroad.
• Your wedding is being held at a popular time of year e.g. Christmas, a summer bank holiday or during peak holiday periods.
• Your wedding is being held on a week day.
• Your wedding is going to involve a lot of expenditure for your guests, for any reason – they may need to save!
• You require information from guests to enable you to continue to plan your wedding e.g. relating to food, transport or accommodation.
• You are intending to send a second round of invitations, or ‘upgrade’ some evening guests to day guests, should people not be able to attend.

So to summarise, in deciding when to send wedding invitations think about what will work for your guests in order to make it as easy as possible for them to be part of your special day, but work out what works for you too in terms of your wedding planning schedule - after all, it's your big day!

Using inkjet transfer paper

This is a little side project I've been involved with ... Ages ago I purchased inkjet transfer paper, for a Save the Date idea. This never come to fruition but the paper has found a use in the production of personalised T-shirts for a stag do my brother was helping to organise.

We designed a picture, based on Pac Man, which showed the bride and groom in the holding pen the ghosts come from, with the slogan 'Game Over'.

Pac man in beard and ghost in bridal wear

The process was as follows:

• Design something. Probably the hardest part ...
• Reverse the design as it will display backwards.
• Print on to the transfer paper using an inkjet printer.
• Position on fabric. I used masking tape at the corners which I removed after ironing the centre of the image.
• Iron thoroughly from the centre outwards. The instructions said 90-120 seconds for an A4 size image, but it took longer than that.
• Carefully peel off the paper.
• Voila - a decorated T-shirt!

Here are my observations from using the inkjet transfer paper:

• The paper I used was for printing on light coloured fabrics only because it wasn't opaque. If ironed on to on a coloured background the colour showed through, as confirmed by a test print on yellow fabric! I think opaque paper is also available.
• Don't iron the masking tape if you've used it to secure the corners. It makes it VERY sticky. And not terribly removable.
• The instructions tell you to press down hard using the iron. This is essential as the transfer doesn't stick otherwise. But it makes whatever surface you're ironing on REALLY hot so it needs protecting e.g. a couple of tea towels. Ironing boards are no good as they're too padded.

Aside from the issues above, it was relatively easy to do. The end result looked good and everyone had a good time at the stag do :-) .

Travel quotes

Today's post features travel quotes used by customers in The Leaf Press's travel journals (all of which can feature a message of the customer's choice on the first page). Hopefully these will inspire you if you're planning an adventure this year, or help you with ideas if you're looking for a message to go in a travel journal.

'Stamp' travel journal

First page of a travel journal - an ideal place for an inspirational travel quote!

These are the most popular quotes used by The Leaf Press's customers in travel journals:

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
Saint Augustine

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
Mark Twain

"The journey not the arrival matters."
T S Eliot

"Not all those who wander are lost."
J R R Tolkien

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
John Augustus Shedd

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."
Marcel Proust

Here are some travel related quotes relating to travel companions:

"He travels the fastest who travels alone."
Rudyard Kipling

"Never go on trips with anyone you do not love."
Rudyard Kipling

"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them."
Mark Twain

And finally, here is a quote that can't exactly be defined as 'inspirational', but did make me laugh....

"The cool thing about being famous is traveling. I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff."
Britney Spears

Happy travelling!

Handmade wedding seating plans

I have been working on some new photos for the online shop to show The Leaf Press's handmade A2 wedding seating plans.

It's very difficult to illustrate to customers what their seating plan will look like as each seating plan is handmade and the customer can choose:

• The design used (from The Leaf Press's wedding stationery ranges).
• The mountboard colour.
• The colour used for the one or two layers of backing card.
• The layout - obviously this depends on the layout of tables there will be at the actual reception.

Here are the photos I have added to the seating plan product listing.

Seating plan in sage green and duck egg blue colour scheme using the Dots design. Horseshoe arrangement of tables with dessert/cake table in centre and labels to indicate where bar/cafe and dance floor are.

Seating plan in spring green and lilac on dark grey mountboard in the Bunting design. Long top table and six tables seating eight each.

Detail from a seating plan with light blue and silver colour scheme on an off-white mountboard in the Snowflake design.

Glemham Hall Open Day

The Leaf Press had a lovely time at the Glemham Hall Open Day last Sunday, chatting to lots of couples about their plans for their wedding and showing them The Leaf Press's wedding stationery ranges. Here are a few photos from the day.

A decorated table, with The Leaf Press's menu and place cards

Part of The Leaf Press's display

Cafe style tables with the brilliant Chris Woods greeting visitors in the background

Can you spot the dessert/cake table towards the right of the shot?

Everyone loved the FolkEast 'daffs in wellies' display!

Wedding invitation wording ideas - part 3 - How do you include the guests' names on your wedding invitations?

Welcome to part 3 of The Leaf Press's wedding stationery wording guide, which looks at how to include the guests' names on your wedding invitations.

Please refer back to part 1 of the guide to see an example of a wedding invitation layout.

Traditionally, the invitation wording requests 'the pleasure of your company' and the guests' names are handwritten in the top left-hand corner of the invitation:

If you don't wish to do this, or the design of your invitation will not allow it, you can consider addressing the envelope quite specifically:

Alternatively, you can choose to have a dotted line for writing the name(s) of the guests on. In this instance, the wording changes to 'request the pleasure of the company of' followed by the dotted line:

Finally, most wedding stationery providers offer a service whereby the guests names are printed, usually at an additional cost. The Leaf Press offers this for 25p per invitation. It's a way of making your guests feel special!

A note about children:

Some couples choose not to have children at their wedding. If this is the case you need to make sure that the names on the invitation reflect this e.g. don't put 'The Carters' if you don't want the Carter children to attend. It is worth noting that some may assume children are invited unless you state otherwise.


I hope you have found this guide useful. I would welcome comments and am happy to answer any questions you have. Click here to e-mail The Leaf Press or here to visit The Leaf Press website.

Wedding invitation wording ideas - part 2 - who should wedding invitations be sent from and how are they worded?

Welcome to part two of The Leaf Press's wedding stationery wording guide. This will look at who wedding invitations should be sent from and how this part of the text is worded. The text quoted in the examples below forms part of a wedding invitation, please refer back to part 1 of this guide to see a full wedding invitation layout.

You will usually start your wedding invite by saying who it is from. Traditionally, invitations were sent from the Bride's parents and this is still the case for many weddings. Some couples however, especially when already living together, decide to send invitations from themselves. Additionally, even when the invitation is being sent from parents, family composition may dictate that different wording is required.

Here are some examples of different ways you can phrase your wording. With any of the names, how the name is written is down to to personal choice – for instance, in the first example it could be Mr John Reynolds, John Reynolds or Mr J Reynolds. Whatever format you use, use this format for all names.

The invitation is sent from the bride's parents, who are married:

Mr and Mrs John Reynolds

request the pleasure of your company

at the wedding of their daughter ...

The invitation is sent from the bride's parents, who are divorced:

Mr John Reynolds and Mrs Sandra Phillips

request the pleasure of your company

at the wedding of their daughter ...

(if both parents still have the same surname it would be Mr John Reynolds and Mrs Sandra Reynolds)

The invitation is sent from one of the bride's parents:

Mrs Sandra Reynolds

requests the pleasure of your company

at the wedding of her daughter ...

The invitation is sent from the bride's mother/father and step-parent:

Mr and Mrs Stephen Reynolds

request the pleasure of your company

at the wedding of her daughter

The invitation is sent from both sets of parents:

Mr and Mrs John Reynolds and Mr and Mrs Stephen Hobland

request the pleasure of your company

at the wedding of ...

The invitation is sent from someone other than the bride's parents:

Mr Joseph Taylor

requests the pleasure of the company

at the wedding of his niece ...

The invitation is sent from the couple themselves:

Elizabeth Reynolds and Mark Hobland

request the pleasure of your company

at their wedding ...

or

Together with their families/parents

Elizabeth Reynolds and Mark Hobland

request the pleasure of your company

at their wedding ...

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email The Leaf Press.

Wedding invitation wording ideas

The Leaf Press is happy to help customers who require advice with wording their wedding invitations. I thought it would be useful to compile this information in a guide which I hope a wider audience will find useful.

The guide is in three parts:

1. An illustrated example of a wedding invitation layout
2. Who should wedding invitations be sent from and how are they worded?
3. How do you include the guests' names on your wedding invitations?

Part 1: An illustrated example of a wedding invitation layout

So you've chosen the design for your wedding invitations, sorted out the colour scheme and have a list of who to invite. All that's left to do now is decide on the wording to use on your invitations. This guide is intended to give you lots of ideas for wording and layout to assist you with writing the text for your invites.

The picture below shows a typical layout for wedding invitation wording. Note the following:

• The bride and groom's names are emphasised - this can be done by using a different font, capital letters, a different colour or a larger font.
• In this example the main text is centre aligned with the RSVP information left aligned. Depending on the design, you may wish to use different alignment. For example, with The Leaf Press's dandelion wedding invitations, the design is on the left hand side so the wording is most effectively displayed with right alignment.
• The RSVP address is in smaller writing and separated from the main text.
• This layout could also be used for an evening invitation. The venue location would replace the church location, the time would change and the the text from 'and afterwards at ...' onward would be removed.

Please click on the picture to view it in a larger size:

This example uses open punctuation, which minimises use of punctuation marks. Open punctuation is regarded as easier to read. Full punctuation - commas/full stops at the end of sentences and in names, addresses etc - is less commonly used. Whichever style of punctuation you use, the most important thing is that you are consistent and use the same style throughout.

Next week parts 2 and 3 of the wedding invitation wording ideas guide will be published, so please visit the blog again.