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Inviting Ideas

Amber Cambridge discusses tips, trends and paper traditions

WHEN FIRST MEETING WITH A PAPER STYLIST, everything a bride brings to the table is important, says designer Amber Cambridge. “Sometimes it can just be one word or a picture of something the bride pulled out that she liked,” says Cambridge, owner of Amber Chic. The smallest of ideas can set off a trigger in a designer’s mind— “Then all of a sudden you can run with it,” Cambridge explains. Of course, the more information a bride can share, the better. “Giving as much detail as possible about the event will help the designer create something very tailored and custom for a particular bride,” Cambridge says. She suggests brides take 30 minutes before their first stationery meeting to jot down some basics—their color palate, general theme and style, and any signature pieces they’re considering. They could even note favorite fashions or their home’s décor. “Just spending that little bit of time can make a huge difference in the finished product,” says Cambridge, whose company offers a customizable product line that lets brides create a unique paper package all their own. Here, Cambridge tells Exquisite Weddings what’s new in wedding paper design and gives brides some ideas they can run with as they brainstorm their ideal wedding suite.

What trends are you seeing in the approach to paper design?

In the last couple of years, it’s been more common for people to order a complete trousseau that starts with the save-the-date, goes to the invitations, and then [includes] all of their “day of” pieces—their programs, seating cards, escort cards and menus—giving that really personalized look. When you have everything coordinated from start to finish, it gives a very personal feel to the wedding. And it doesn’t go unnoticed. Everything has a fluid, consistent feel to it.

What general advice do you give brides about invitations?

Really lean on your designer for advice. If you use a darker envelope, you may need a tissue liner so it doesn’t bleed onto the invitation. All designers would advise on anything like that. I’d hate for [brides] to not take that advice and then have their invitations get spoiled once they go out. [Lean] on the guidance of your designer to make sure that [your invitation] is mailed in the best way and packaged in the best way, and that it stays intact from the time you pick it up to when it’s delivered to your guests.

What color trends are you seeing?

So far [in 2008, brides are] going a little bit bolder on their colors, opting for the orange and white or other colors that fit with their season. [And] a lot of them have some form of an underlying brown. It’s not as harsh as black is in print; it has a much warmer feel to it. We [also] do a lot of the dusty, more vintage-looking colors—steel blues and dustier pinks and greens, that dusty color palate. [And we do] a silver metallic on cream paper, which is really pretty. You get that cool tone in the ink and the warm tone in the paper.

You mentioned seasons. How can a bride capture a seasonal feel?

I really like to see—in whatever season you’re getting married— picking the colors that best suit that season. They may not be your absolute, 100 percent favorite colors. But say pink is your favorite color: There are so many varieties and shades of pink. The same thing with orange: You can pick a different orange [for] a spring, fall, summer or winter wedding. And picking a hue that really goes with that particular season just evokes such a great feeling. Typically in the fall, [brides] do a lot of browns and rusty oranges and deep reds, like cranberries. You can still do a sage green [traditional for spring], but a darker, richer sage green.

What are some options for the more eco-conscious bride?

For our invitations, we’ve switched to 100 percent cotton papers, so no trees were cut down. Another great way to be more eco-conscious: We do a line of Flash-media wedding Web sites that all coordinate with our invitation suites. You [post] the details about the wedding, where people can stay and a to-do list, so these are things you can eliminate from the [printing]. It’s [also] a great way to showcase photos. It’s just a nice added piece.

What trends in invitations have you noticed this year?

There’s something about this generation that embraces the time period [of their parents or grandparents]. We find that instead of trying to be so far outside the box, most of them want to stay fairly traditional with a little bit of a modern flair. It’s taking some of the old things and tweaking them a little bit. They might get a little bit more fun for the day-of items, but for their invitations it’s been fairly traditional.

What are some creative save-the-date ideas?

No matter how formal your wedding is, you can be more fun and off-the-wall for your save-the-date. For a bride [with] a lot of out-of-town guests coming, we did a travel ticket for her save-the-date—an old-fashioned ticket stuck inside a ticket sleeve. For a beach wedding, we did them in a box with a real, dried starfish attached at the top with the save-thedate information on the bottom. We’ve done a box that has a nest with feathers, and says, “Birds of a feather flock together.” If you’re getting married or sending your save-the-dates around the holidays, you can do an ornament inside a box and make it your holiday card/save-the-date.

What about escort and seating cards?

You can play with these a little bit. We did a wedding that had an old-world, beachy theme to it. For the seating card, we did a glass bottle tied with a ribbon and a card that was calligraphed with the guest’s name; and inside, rolled up, wrapped with copper wire, was the table assignment. And they were set in boxes of sand. I [also] try to encourage brides to do a card-and-envelope combination, just to keep it stress-free. If you have a last-minute change—once we had a couple break up and we had to seat them at different tables—you just switch out the cards. You don’t have to get a last-minute calligrapher involved. You want to think of things that are going to be low-stress.

Do you have tips on thank-you cards?

Order your thank-you cards early, even with your save-the-dates—certainly, at the latest, with your invitations. And order more than what you’re ordering for invitations. If you have 100 invitations, go for 150 or even 200 thankyou notes. You’re going to get gifts all along—throughout your engagement party, your showers—[and] they’re wonderful to send throughout that year. And then even in your first year of marriage, it’s nice to have a set of thank-you notes with both of your names on it. You don’t have to include the date of the wedding; just do your first names. That way it’s a timeless piece for you.

What advice do you give for signing off on final proofs?

Absolutely give it to somebody else to look at: parents, friends, [your] fiancé— anybody. The bride typically has looked at it so many times that sometimes [her] eye brushes over it too quickly and may not catch something. [You need] at least one other set, if not two other sets of eyes, to take a look and read it through.

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