Today we continue sharing great tips and expert advice with our Invitation Trends Series featuring The Event Essentials. This invitation company is well-known not just around Arizona but around the globe thanks to their beautiful designs and quality work. With people like Kimberly McDowell, owner of The Event Essentials, at your fingertips, there is absolutely no excuse to have anything but fabulous wedding stationery!

Kimberly tells us what she is seeing in  2011/2012 Wedding Stationery trends:

• The Royal Wedding is definitely going to set the bar for stationery trends. Rustic chic and vintage will still remain popular, but I feel brides are going more for glamour and sophistication. 

     (Images Courtesy of Siegel Thurston Photography)

• Pieces will feel more simplistic with a modern aesthetic look, but with an emphasis on lux essentials. For example a beautiful heavy-weight paper with rhinestone buckles or brooch. Think Audrey Hepburn!

 (Images Courtesy of Erica Velasco Photography)   

Pretty gorgeous stuff, right? Kimberly McDowell works tirelessly on custom stationery designs all while keeping a smile on her face and a little bounce in her step. She’s passionate about her work and her clients- what a winning combo!

For Part I of our Invitation Trends Series, click here.

Chatting Soon~Kelly

Let’s face it, it’s nearly impossible for weddings to be boring these days. There are multitudes of fabulous dresses, a huge arrray of linens to chose from, rental options to blow your mind, bands that get any crowd going and cakes that inspire greatness. But let’s not forget paper products which have been elevated to “Stationery Suites” that set the tone for your wedding via save-the-date cards and invitations and create a sense of fashionable design throughout your wedding day with ceremony beverage signs, reception escort cards, reserved seating signage, photobooth banners, menu cards, specialty drink signs, candy bar cards….the list goes on!

Your stationer is someone you can grow very close to during your wedding planning as you dream up paper designs and he/she makes the magic happen. It’s definitely a team effort so you want someone by your side that “gets you”. We asked invitation experts Rene Showalter, Kimberly McDowell and Erin Burkhard for their trend forecasts and we got so much information from them that we are posting their tips in a 3 part series. Today we hear from Rene Showalter of Celebrations In Paper- she works tirelessly to make your invitations personal and beautiful.

 Here’s what Rene has to say about Invitation Trends for the  2011/ 2012 Wedding Seasons:

• Brown is rarely used anymore unless it’s used in a more organic look 
• Bright colors or softer tones are more popular
• We are seeing a lot of Chartreuse/Purple/Papaya and lots of Navy such as  Midnight/Chartreuse or Navy/Cream
• And since Vintage Weddings are still very popular, romantic softer tones like Mocassin & Gray Taupe or Soft Pink, Champagne & Creams are holding steady.
• Pocket Card Invitations are super popular (the invite is on one side and the details are in a pocket attached to the back). Here’s a sample of one:

(Image Courtesy of Emily Carroll Photography)

Rene wanted to show us these color blocks that she saw on Invitation Crush- they are super helpful for those of us that are visual!

 Here are some samples of Rene’s work for you to oooh and aaah over:

(Images Courtesy of Emily Carroll Photography)

(Image Courtesy of Keith Pitts Photography) 

And for those of you that know me, you already know I love me some Pantone. Here’s a link to their Top 10 Fashion Colors for Spring 2011 (which always influences wedding color trends for the upcoming seasons).

Thank you Rene for sharing the 2011/2012 Invitation Trends with us!