Photo by Xiaoqi Li Photography 

A love of paper…pretty paper to be exact, is real. And when it comes to your wedding paper needs, hiring a team that has a true love of stationery is a must!  Luxe, beautiful paper that tells the magical story of your love is exactly what the team at Dandelion Patch offers their clients.  And aside from beautiful invitations, menus, place cards and programs, they offer you a lifelong friendship…often waiting with baited breath to see the photos of your special day.  

Their specialty is making things personal, stationary that is all about the couple. When your loved ones receive the invitation made by the Dandelion Patch, it is their first glimpse into what your wedding day will represent. Whether you prefer a traditional look or want a completely customized paper suite for your wedding day,  Dandelion Patch can bring your vision to life.  We sat down with one of our favorite stationery designers, Jill, to get the scoop on everything that you need to know about wedding stationery!  

How far in advance do you recommend that couples start the conversation for custom stationery?

I recommend getting at least two months before your mail out date. Traditionally, a couple should mail 8 weeks prior to the event or 12 weeks out for destination.

What is the proper way to address your invitation envelopes? 

There are many ways to address your envelopes! We always guide the client to be most proper based on etiquette. We will direct you on addressing married couples, unmarried couples, included or not including children, higher titles such as Doctor and Honorable and so on. As far as speaking generally, most formal addressing includes the guest’s titles (Mr. Mrs. Ms. Doctor etc) along with spelling out all details like road, street, state names, etc.

What is your favorite stationery splurge that you would recommend to couples?

Definitely adding in an envelope liner! This is such a great place for a pop of fun and excitement. Liners are extra special when they contain a personal element for the couple, like a watercolor of their venue or a map that indicates the location of where they met or where they will wed.

How do you go about inviting or NOT inviting your guest’s plus one?

The way you address your envelopes will indicate if your guest has a plus one or not. Using an inner envelope will help guide this too! By adding “and guest” (or the guest’s name if you know it) will indicate if a plus one is invited. If there is no indication such as “and guest”, your guest should know they do not have a plus one.

What are some stationery pitfalls that couples make and how do they avoid them?

Quite honestly, ordering stationery through an online only vendor has presented many problems for our clients. The benefit to visiting a stationer in person is the process is very hand held. We will guide you from start to finish on design, etiquette, timeline, printing process, paper type and more. In person you will truly get an education on the process and in the end will have a beautifully custom suite that is produced properly. Often we’ve seen couples print through an online source and when it arrives is just not what they expected. Using an in-person stationer will definitely save you the hassle of trying to create something yourselves that may not turn out as you hoped.

When a company’s passion is designing custom invitations to represent their client’s unique love story, you know that  you just hired someone that will curate a design that you will be proud of…and (quite honestly) obsessed with! We definitely recommend falling in love with The Dandelion Patch.