Unique Wedding Stationery By Gemma Milly

I'm thrilled to introduce you all to Gemma Milly and her beautiful wedding stationery!

Gemma Milly's designs are a delightful mix of romantic, whimsical illustrations, free flowing watercolour and playful, swirly calligraphy. She uses an array of different materials, mediums and creative techniques (copper foil, wooden invites anyone?) to create truly unique designs.

With a flourish of her calligraphy pen and a sprinkling of glitter, Gemma Milly works closely with each couple to create the wedding stationery of their dreams. (Evidence below.)

She also creates custom, hand drawn maps, wedding portraits, darling cards (which you can find in her shop) and helps to ‘prettify' logos and websites.

Gemma is the lady behind this cute illustrated workout and, most exciting of all, she's our first ever ‘Real Bride' on Bridal Musings! Yayness!

She'll be giving us an exclusive peek into her diary over the next few months as she counts down to her big day. Sharing her musings (and unique ‘wedding industry insider' perspective) on all the ups, downs and ins and out that come with wedding planning.

So let's get to know the girl (and bride to be) behind the pretty paper…

Describe your work in three words.

Romantic, hand-drawn, painterly

How did you get started?

My mother gave me a colouring set for my first birthday, and I've been drawing and painting ever since. Although my first degree was in French and management, after working in design and ad agencies for the subsequent six years I realised my passion lay in illustration, so I went back to university to study for an MA in Illustration. About a year after graduating, one of my best friends asked me to design her wedding stationery, and after doing some research I saw that there was a real lack of unique, hand-illustrated wedding stationery around. It was then I realised I'd stumbled upon my dream job!

What/who inspires your art?

I am most inspired by the brides and grooms I meet and all the little details that make them and their wedding unique. I always meet with couples at the beginning of a project, so I can get to know them as people, their interests, their style…I find design concepts comes pretty naturally once we've had a good long chat over a cup of coffee.

What's your favourite medium to work with?

Apart from good old fashioned pencils, I use a lot of watercolour in my work. I love the soft, fluid nature of watercolour – it has a really romantic feel which lends itself perfectly to wedding stationery.

What's the most unusual project you've worked on?

I would probably say my own wedding stationery! As a stationery designer, there was definitely the expectation that I would do something that little bit different. But luckily my obsession with interesting materials and finishes and my fiancé being a designer, means we managed to design something that even my closest friends we're surprised at! Our Save the Dates were American walnut veneer with copper foil . We've got some exciting ideas for our wedding invitations which I'm currently designing.

What colour palette is floating your boat at the moment?

Metallics. I am all about copper and gold at the moment.

What graphic / typographic trends do you think we'll be seeing more of at weddings in 2014?

My style is based more in classic design and illustration than purely wedding-industry trends. So for me, a big graphic trend this year is for simple, sophisticated design – less busy/vintage and more considered. Clever use of typography which really communicates your couple style and compliments your wedding branding is also on trend right now. There's a lot more to typography that pretty fonts!

Describe yourself in three words.

I'd like to say fun-loving, passionate & sincere.

What's your guilty pleasure?

Glitter!

Where is your favourite place in the world?

Paris. I lived there for a year and fell in love with the city.

What was the last book you read?

‘The Corrections' by Jonathan Franzen and ‘Plate to a Pixel' by Helene Dujardin.

What's the last image you posted to Instagram?

A montage of my work for the homepage. (See the first image on this post)

Press ‘shuffle', what's on your playlist?

‘Ocean and a rock' – Lisa Hannigan
‘Late night tales' – Bonobo
‘Like the Dawn' The Oh Hellos
‘Skinnybone' See of Bees

What are you enjoying most/least about planning your wedding?

I have loved every single element of wedding planning so far! I'm my best and worst client…on one hand I have some wonderful suppliers and contacts which has made the whole process stress-free and so much fun, but on the other hand I know too much! Too many choices do not a decision make!