We know while you were scouring Pinterest for wedding invitation inspiration you came across one of those really pretty flat lay photos of a gorgeous invitation suite. (Anyone else LOVE the idea of capturing your invitation suite this way??)

The Invitation Sets the Tone

The invitation sets the tone for the entire wedding and we love having it photographed along with the rest of the wedding day details.

If your wedding is really formal, the invitation should reflect that. If it is an urban or woodland setting, that should be a reflection too. If it is completely non-traditional, feel free to be completely non-traditional with the invites. But no matter what they look like, add them to the details for photography because it is great to see them captured right alongside the rest of the day.

(Confession: sometimes the photographer takes the invites home and shoots the suite later when they have time to style it)

What Do I Need to Style an Invite?

• Start with all the elements of your suite (invite, envelope-inner and outer, envelope liner, RSVP card, details card, save the date, and any day of paper goods).
• Add some extras like ribbon, flowers, ring boxes or any other special details.
• Have one or two envelopes hand-lettered to be photographed (even if it isn’t in your budget to do all of them.)
• Pick up some special stamps just for your keepsake and the photographed invitation.

Invite Flat Lay Styling Tips

• Find an interesting surface to lay your suite on. We sometimes use a pillow from some of the furniture being used on wedding day or bring along “styling board” or piece of fabric to put the invite on. A table linen can work for this too.
• Lay all your elements out so each piece is showing. (Sometimes we use two envelopes–one to put behind the invite and one to show the calligraphy.)
• Try to balance it a bit so you don’t have all the elements in one space or too many of the same colors in one area.
• Add embellishments like flowers, greenery or your rings. (It is really easy to overthink this so start by putting out the main elements and them moving them around until you find a grouping you are happy with. Also, we overthink it every.single.time.)
• We try to put some things that have similar colors in the arrangement so they complement each other but give balance to the overall design. Flowers or a silk ribbon can be really great elements for this.
• Create depth by elevating some of the elements. You can actually fold small pieces of paper to put under some of the pieces so they have a bit of “height” and stand out.

One Suite, Two Ways

When we do a styled shoot we have a bit more time to play around with the invitation suite (and therefore more time to overthink it.)

Sending the suite home with your photographer can be a good way for them to capture it in good light and spend a bit more time on styling.

For this suite we took the elements and played around with them in a couple of different ways for multiple, interesting layouts that highlighted the elements in different ways.

Don’t feel like you have to try to squeeze this into your wedding day, your agenda is pretty packed already. If this is something you would like captured talk to your photographer about it and try to make time for it with detail shots or after the wedding.

For more wedding invitation tips check out Planning + Prosecco or our blog on invitation wording.