The Berry House

Planning life’s most delightful moments!

How to Incorporate Watercolor in Your Wedding

Watercolor, watercolor, watercolor! Our couples can’t get enough of this painting technique–it’s soft, dreamy and romantic which makes it the perfect medium for wedding stationery. There are  many different watercolor styles, from an extremely saturated color to a loose wash. So, where do you begin? What are your options for creating custom watercolor wedding invitations that showcase your story?

We checked in with one of our in-house watercolorists, Taylor Crossland, to learn more about her methods and the trends she’s noticing for nuptials. Here are her answers to our most frequently asked questions!

watercolor wedding invitation
Grit & Grace

What are the most popular ways to incorporate watercolor in wedding stationery?

Watercolor Floral Crest

Watercolor works especially well for floral details. We create custom watercolor monograms or family crests that add pops of color to a classic invitation! These are often based on the couples’ planned bouquets from soft peonies and exotic orchids to the classic rose.

This personalized design element can be incorporated throughout the save the dates, invitations and day of items (think napkins, favors, welcome signs, you name it!)

watercolor crest

Venues

To build excitement for the big nuptials, we illustrate a church or a reception venue and incorporate the art into envelope details or give it a curtain call on the day-of paper!

watercolor on wedding program
Pineapple Productions

Watercolor Typography

We often create type with a thin paintbrush or fill an outline of type with color! We see this most often in monograms or used to provide event details (reference the blue banner below!)

watercolor typography

More or less watercolor?

People request the incorporation of this painting technique in varying degrees – some more, some less.  However, most people tend to think of watercolor as an accent on a formal invitation. Couples often save the splashier moments for the envelope details or for a bigger bang on the save the date. One of our favorite watercolor locations? It’s a really fun addition to an envelope liner.

Subtle Use of Watercolor through Icons! 

subtle watercolor wedding invitation
Calder Clark

Watercolor Galore! 

lemon themed watercolor invite
Kate Harlan at Simply Chic Events

What are the different styles of watercolor?

You can achieve a different look and feel with watercolor based on a variety of execution factors (the paintbrush, the amount of water used in the paint, incorporating line art, etc.) We can mirror almost any style that couples use as a reference. But, the below can serve as a guide as you dream up your watercolor wedding invite.

Very Detailed & Saturated

The below reply envelope shows a very-detailed, saturated approach to a barnyard watercolor scene.  From the windows on the venue to the mowing stripes in the grass, the venue stands out with bright, vivid colors!

rustic wedding invite with watercolor

Loose Watercolor

We also love doing a loose watercolor technique. This is where we incorporate more water in the paint and white space intermingled with the colors.

grenery watercolor

Sketch + Watercolor Wash

We also frequently create line art to “house” the paint color. Then, we incorporate washes of color with varying degrees of negative space to create a soft, fanciful effect.

london watercolor skyline

It’s no wonder that watercolor has taken over the wedding world. Do you have any questions as you think through how to incorporate it into your own affair? View our wedding gallery for additional ideas!