This last month seems to have had a digital theme running through it and it has had me thinking a lot about wedding invitations and their future in an age which is moving more and more towards digital relations using email, texts and websites like Facebook.
In fact this week there has even been a couple in Tokyo who were married by a robot that conducted the wedding ceremony rather than a human. With the majority of our time being spent interacting via texts and on sites like Facebook and Twitter and less and less time spent using traditional mediums like writing letters and sending cards how can this possibly strengthen the value of wedding invitations you might ask?
Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust
Well scarcity is one of the key drivers of value. Take, for example, the sale of Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust which sold this month for $106.5 million. The less widespread and less available something is the more valuable it becomes. If you want to show your lover how important she is to you, a beautiful handmade card or a bunch of the best flowers go a lot further than a text, an email or a Facebook poke. Anyone can do those in no time. Likewise, by posting wedding invitations to your guest you are signalling to them the importance of your big day. A luxury handmade wedding invitation takes this a step further and really sets the tone for a wedding that’ll be a cut above the rest.
Vintage Garden wedding stationery by Ivy Ellen
It’s not just how easy technology is that strengthens the value of the more time consuming floral or card purchase though. It seems that we still have a strong pull towards the tangible things in our life. Hewlett Packard recently surveyed 1,000 British consumers 16-60 and discovered that, whilst 86% have access to digital media, 68% still prefer physical photographs to digital and 95% prefer books to ebooks. In fact, in a recent survey by the Greeting Card Association, the vast majority of people, even 16-24 year olds, would not feel very happy if they did not receive a card for our Birthday. When your guest holds that beautiful luxurious wedding invitation in their hand they feel a stronger connection to the day and to you. This works in much the same way that holding a vinyl album brings a greater feeling of closeness to the artists and their music than looking at an image of the same album on your ipod.
Ivy Ellen's Wedding
Lastly, the tangible tells a story in a far more powerful way than the digital. Take Picasso’s Nude as a case in point. The painting tells a tale of Picasso’s all consuming passion for his muse. It’s powerful because painting it took him time, because it’s crafted, considered, it painstakingly captures a moment in time and because there isn’t another quite like it in the world. We feel that our handmade wedding invitations will tell your children and your grandchildren about the special importance of your big day and what it meant to you. We named our company Ivy Ellen after Jo’s nan because of this and partly inspired by her wedding photograph. Ivy Ellen has a story to tell (Interestingly, there is only one original copy of this photo so it has heritage and beauty in its very fragile nature). Ivy’s story reminds us that our weddings are the story of our existence, of love, of passion, of relationships, family and of people caring for one another.
When you think of how powerful a beautiful wedding invitation can be in this context its value seems to far outweigh all of the practicalities and efficiencies of eternal lasting digital alternatives. It’s because of the proliferation of the internet, email and texts that they have become so much more valuable. When a card or an invitation arrives through your letterbox, you know it’s special.
To browse Ivy Ellen’s beautiful handmade wedding stationery and see how they can add more value to your wedding click here.
