I have been dreaming about designing my wedding stationery for as long as I can remember! Wedding stationery gives your loved ones the need-to-know details about your once-in-a-lifetime event. It also acts as a keepsake that you will look back on for years to come. There are thousands of ways to make your wedding stationery special, and this post is all about my favorite personal touch – wax seals!
Our Wedding Stationery
While I love designing for other people, nothing compares to the thrill of creating the stationery suite for your own wedding. I found that the only downfall to this was that I had way too many ideas, which made me indecisive at times. I just wanted everything to be perfect! One thing was certain from the beginning though; a custom wax seal from Artisaire was a must to pull everything together.
Included with each stationery suite were a 5″x7″ double-sided invitation, 3″x5″ double-sided RSVP card, stamped and addressed RSVP envelope, and vellum sleeve with a wax seal to hold it all together. We also had printed menu cards for each place setting and double-sided ceremony programs (front was the order of the ceremony, back was about the wedding party).
Outer Envelopes
Now let’s get down to the details! For the outermost envelope, I used A7 sized kraft colored envelopes that matched the neutral color palette of our wedding. I got 300 of them on Amazon for only $32 (link here)! All the envelopes for our save the dates, invitations, and thank yous had peel-and-stick seals, which I’d highly recommend. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken if I had to lick each one closed (plus, yuck).
I used Photoshop to lay out the text and hand-fed each envelope through my Canon printer. Fun fact – my printer (Canon Pixma TS3122) claims that you can’t use it to print on envelopes. It took a little while to figure out the formatting, but it ended up working out perfectly. You can definitely print on envelopes with this printer! Yes, having to change the names and addresses on each envelope was tedious, but it was worth it. After printing, I added a postage stamp and our custom wedding rubber stamp on the front of each envelope. Our custom wedding stamp is from Modern Maker (more on that soon).
RSVPs
Next up, I worked on the RSVPs. I designed the cards myself and sent them to a professional printer. Something unique we added to the cards was a line for song requests. Not everybody filled them out, but it was really fun to see what our guests wanted to hear! I ordered 250 cream A1 sized envelopes from Amazon for $20 (link here). Like I did for the outer envelopes, I made a template on Photoshop to address them. I printed each person’s return address on the envelope in case they didn’t write their name on the RSVP card. I fed all of the RSVP envelopes through my printer, and then I added a postage stamp to each one.
Invitations
I also designed our invitations, and I’m so happy with how they turned out. We had two different invitations – one for the ceremony + reception and one for the reception only. We wanted our ceremony to be more private, so we only invited family and a couple of close friends. I printed off our two guest lists and sorted the outer envelopes into two piles. Then I had one of my bridesmaids match the RSVP envelopes with the corresponding outer envelopes, which made my life a lot easier! After that, I started to piece together each invitation in an assembly line fashion. It went a lot faster than I was expecting and I actually really enjoyed the process!
Wax Seals
Now for my favorite part, the wax seals! Originally I wanted to put wax seals on the outside of each envelope. However, I did this with our save the dates and was disappointed to learn that every single one of the wax seals got destroyed in the mail. It turns out, there are things you can (and should) do to give your wax seals a better chance of surviving the mail. Check out Artisaire’s post, “How To Mail Wax Seals,” to learn how. Anyways, I went the safe route and added our seals to the vellum band that held the invitation, RSVP card, and RSVP envelope. I love that the wax seal was the first thing our guests saw when they opened the envelope! It made such a statement and we got so many compliments on them.
Artisaire is my new go-to company to order anything related to wax seals. Their goal is to put the personal element of communication back into people’s lives with beautiful, professional-grade products. Artisaire has given the age-old tradition of wax seals a new, modern twist!
HOW TO MAKE WAX SEALS
Read on for a quick little tutorial on how I made our wax seals. These are the tools I used (all from Artisaire):
- Sealing Wax Sticks in the color Champagne (you can make about 60 seals from one pack)
- Low Temperature Sealing Wax Gun
- Classic Custom Wax Stamp
- Professional Grade Adhesive Backings
First, plug in your low temperature heat gun and insert a wax stick. Allow the gun to warm up for 5-7 minutes. While you’re waiting, grab a small bowl of ice water and find a surface to make the wax seals on (I used an acrylic tray). I did not make my wax seals directly on the invitations, and I don’t have any regrets about that. There was a little bit of a learning curve for me as a beginner with wax seals, so I messed up a handful of them.
When it’s all warmed up, grab your heat gun and make a quarter-sized wax blob on your work surface. I tried to make mine as round and even as possible, but raw edge wax seals can look really cool too! Set your stamp on top of the wax blob as centered as possible, apply light pressure, and leave it for about 10 seconds.
It’s easy to tell when it’s time to pull the stamp off because it comes off without much resistance! After you remove the stamp, set it in your bowl of ice water. This step isn’t necessary, but it makes the wax harden faster and also makes it much easier to remove the stamp when you’re using it over and over. Just make sure to wipe it off between uses so the water drops don’t mess with the design of the stamp.
When your seals are cool to the touch, gently peel each one off your work surface and add your adhesive backing stickers. Peel the other side of the sticker off when you’re ready to place it, put the seal where you want it, and apply gentle pressure.
Artisaire’s adhesive backings make it easy to apply wax seals to stationery. The adhesive peels off the sticker sheet easily and is strong enough to hold a wax seal in place. I made all our seals and applied the adhesive backings in one afternoon. It’s a relatively quick process once you get going! It can be a little tricky to get a feel for the wax seal making process at first, but once you do, it’s really easy. Don’t give up if you don’t get it right away. If you’re really struggling, check out this article from Artisaire for instructions and troubleshooting tips!
If you’re not feeling crafty enough to make your own wax seals, I have good news. You can actually order custom ready-made wax seal stickers from Artisaire! They do all the hard work for you and ship the finished seals directly to your door.
You don’t have to be a professional designer or calligrapher to incorporate wax seals into your life. Artisaire has all the tools you need to create sophisticated, elegant wax seals for any occasion! Presentation is everything, especially when it comes to your wedding day. Wax stamps are an “investment” (even though they’re surprisingly affordable). If you choose a stamp design that isn’t tied to a certain day or event, you can use it over and over again! I’m already looking forward to using our wedding stamp for our holiday cards.
Q+A with Artisaire
Maybe you’re still on the fence about wax seals, or maybe you have a few more questions about how to get started. This part of the post is for you! I recently chatted with Courtney, the Social Media and Community Manager at Artisaire. She shared her expertise on everything wax seals – read on for her best tips!
Q: HOW LONG DO WAX SEALS TAKE TO MAKE?
AAs a general rule of thumb, we recommend buying pre-made wax seals if you require more than 50 wax seals. If you require less than 50, then we totally recommend making your own seals and having fun with it! If you include the waiting time after you press your stamp into the wax, it takes about 30 seconds per seal. Therefore, to make 50 wax seals, it takes approximately 25 minutes. This is not including the time it takes to heat up your gun, swapping out envelopes, setting yourself up, etc. To assemble 100 pre-made wax seals, it takes approximately 10 seconds per seal, which means assembling for 15 minutes!
Q: DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR MAILING ENVELOPES WITH WAX SEALS?
AYes! We recommend hand-cancelling wax sealed envelopes. All postage has to be cancelled to ensure its one-time use. Typically, this is done by a machine. Hand-cancelling means that the postage will be cancelled by hand rather than machine. Every country, state, province, city has different requirements and regulations, so we always recommend checking in with your local post office and asking them so that you’re fully aware of the costs and requirements associated with mailing wax seals in your city!
Another option is to use an outer envelope, so that the wax seal is protected. This is absolutely not necessary, but it is an option!
Q: HOW SHOULD I PICK A COLOR AND DESIGN FOR MY WEDDING SEALS?
AFor color, we always recommend ordering Color Swatches because there is nothing like seeing wax colors in person and we want to make sure that you are in LOVE with the color of wax that you choose for your stationery. As for design, I think it’s totally just personal preference, style, and vibe. We have tons of beautiful designs and styles of designs, so there is an option for everybody!
Q: IS IT BETTER TO MAKE WAX SEALS DIRECTLY ON THE ENVELOPE OR MAKE THEM SEPARATELY AND ADHERE THEM ON?
ABoth methods are totally acceptable and mailable, as long as you are using a strong adhesive if you choose to premake. I think it really comes down to comfort levels. If you premake your own wax seals this will allow for only the very best wax seals to make it onto your invitations/envelopes and if you make a mistake, you won’t waste an invitation/envelope. If you make the wax seals directly onto the invite or envelope, then you do risk having an accident and wasting an invite or envelope. So, it really depends on the person and their comfort levels.
Q: IF I CHOOSE TO MAKE THEM SEPARATELY, WHAT IS THE BEST SURFACE TO MAKE THEM ON AND WHAT ADHESIVE SHOULD BE USED TO ATTACH THEM TO THE ENVELOPE?
AGreat question! We recommend making your seals on a silicone baking mat (it’s by far the best surface and usually pretty easy to find!). As for adhering the seals to your projects, we recommend using our Professional Grade Adhesive, which is perfect for mailing. You can purchase our adhesive backings here.
Q: WHERE CAN I USE WAX SEALS BESIDES WEDDING INVITATIONS?
ALove this question, because the options are endless. A few of the more popular places to use wax seals are on menus, place cards, escort cards, seating charts, save the dates, envelopes, on the actual wedding invitation, details card, and wedding favors.
If you have any questions about making or mailing wax seals, or about our colors or products, please send us a message! We are always happy to help! You can find us on Instagram here and TikTok here.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Although my husband Nick might disagree, I think I was relatively calm during the wedding planning process. Wedding planning is full of compromises, but there were some things I was not willing to negotiate on. One of those things was having custom wax seals from Artisaire in our invitation suite. Our wax seals were easily the most special element of our wedding invitations! I don’t know if our guests actually cared about how our stationery looked, but Nick and I definitely did. How great is it that our custom wax seal gave our guests a first impression of our wedding?! It was front and center on the invitation suite and was the first thing people saw after opening the outer envelope. Your wedding is not something to mess around with, so why wouldn’t you want the best of the best wax seals on your invitations?
Don’t forget to check out Part II of our Q+A where I answer some of Artisaire’s questions about how I designed the perfect wax seal for our wedding and more! You can read it on Artisaire’s website soon (I’ll update this post when it’s live).
And finally, if you’re planning your own wedding or just love everything related to weddings, the other posts in my Wedding Series are a great resource to check out!
