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Real Wedding | Hampton Court Palace, London

Hampton Court Palace Wedding Stationery

A Bespoke Invitation Suite for Leanne & James

Pale Blue Letterpress | Cotton Card | Sisley Painted Envelope Liner



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Babooche Calligraphy designed and produced the bespoke Hampton Court Palace wedding stationery for Leanne and James, who married in the Little Banqueting House at the palace on Friday 21 June 2024 and held their reception at The Mitre Hotel in East Molesey, for one hundred guests. The suite was letterpress printed in pale blue on off white cotton card, kept deliberately quiet against the painted rooms, and lined with Alfred Sisley’s 1874 painting of the Thames at Hampton Court.

Where It Began

The Brief

This design existed before the enquiry did. We had been going through our archive of vintage artwork in the public domain when we came across Alfred Sisley’s 1874 painting of the Thames at Hampton Court, and set it aside without a use for it.

Weeks later the couple’s wedding planner, Emma Westacott, got in touch about stationery for Leanne and James. When she said the wedding would be at Hampton Court Palace, the painting was the first thing we thought of, and it went into the design proposal.

The commission was confirmed about six months before the wedding and covered everything from the outset, invitation suite through to the tables. The rest of the design followed from the painting. Nothing competes with it, because the rooms at Hampton Court already give a guest more to look at than any invitation could.

Envelope liner printed with Alfred Sisley's 1874 painting of the Thames at Hampton Court, the impressionist view that set the palette for the wedding stationery

On The Thames At East Molesey

Hampton Court Palace As A Wedding Venue

Hampton Court Palace stands on the Thames at East Molesey, about forty minutes from central London. It is really two palaces joined together, Henry VIII’s Tudor range in red brick with its twisted chimneys at the west front, and the baroque apartments William and Mary added at the other end, looking onto the Privy Garden. Weddings take place in a handful of rooms across the estate, and couples reach them through gardens the public are walking around the same afternoon.

Leanne and James married in the Little Banqueting House, a small pavilion by the river with a painted ceiling, gilded panelling and grisaille panels on every wall. It is one of the most decorated rooms available for a ceremony anywhere in the country, and that decides the stationery before anything else does. A room like this does not need a suite with ornament in it. It needs a suite that stays quiet and lets the room be the ornament.

The other thing the palace gives you is the river. It is why Sisley came here in 1874, and it is the view guests see as they cross Hampton Court Bridge on the way in.

The Tudor west front of Hampton Court Palace with its red brick gatehouse and ornamental chimneys, a royal wedding venue on the River Thames

Detail of the painted and gilded ceiling in the Little Banqueting House at Hampton Court Palace, with cherubs, garlands and grisaille panels
Hampton Court Bridge crossing the River Thames at East Molesey with narrowboats moored along the bank, the view Alfred Sisley painted in 1874
The non tidal River Thames at East Molesey, wooded banks and moored boats near Hampton Court Palace

Restraint As A Decision

Printing And Materials

Close view of the wedding invitation for Leanne and James, letterpress printed in pale blue on off white cotton card beneath an oval LJ monogram
Full Hampton Court Palace wedding invitation suite laid out with invitation, wedding day details card, RSVP card and the Sisley lined envelope

Thick Cotton Card

We printed the suite on thick off white cotton card. Cotton has no wood pulp in it, so the surface is soft and slightly open rather than coated and hard, and it holds an impression the way a coated stock cannot.

Off white rather than bright white matters here. Against the cream and gilt of the palace rooms, a brilliant white card reads as modern and slightly cold. A warmer sheet sits with the building.

Pale Blue Letterpress

Letterpress prints from a raised plate pressed into the sheet, so the ink sits below the surface rather than on top of it. You read the wording and you feel it at the same time.

The ink is a single pale blue, mixed to sit with the Sisley rather than to match it exactly. One colour across every piece, no foil, no second pass. On soft cotton card a pale ink with a deep impression reads as quiet and expensive at once, which is the whole effect this suite is after.

The Monogram

We drew an oval monogram for Leanne and James, the two letters interlocked inside a fine ruled cartouche. It is the only ornament in the entire suite.

Because it is the only mark, it can carry the whole wedding. It sits at the head of the invitation, on the menus, on the table numbers and at the top of the seating plan, and it is what makes a plain card read as theirs rather than as a template.

The Printed Envelope Liner

The liner is the one place colour is allowed. It is printed with Alfred Sisley’s painting of the Thames at Hampton Court, made in 1874 and in the public domain, reproduced in full colour inside a cream envelope.

Letterpress cannot reproduce a painting, so the liner is printed digitally in full colour while everything else is impression and a single ink. Closed, the envelope gives nothing away. Opened, the river appears.

One Monogram, One Ink

The Day Of Stationery

The commission covered the tables from the start, so the day of pieces were drawn at the same time as the invitation rather than matched to it afterwards. Same cotton card, same pale blue letterpress, same oval monogram at the head of each piece.

We made menus for every place, table numbers, hand written place cards and a seating plan for the entrance. With a blush and cream room, sage tapers and gold flatware already in play, the stationery had one job on the table, which was to be the coolest thing on it. The blue does that without raising its voice.

Wedding menu letterpress printed in pale blue on off white cotton card, set among white roses and lisianthus at a Hampton Court Palace reception
Place setting with the pale blue letterpress menu and hand written place card on a scalloped charger, with gold flatware, blue glass and sage taper candles
Pale blue letterpress table number on off white cotton card with the LJ monogram, standing in an acrylic holder on a Hampton Court Palace wedding table

Large letterpress seating plan in pale blue on off white card with the LJ monogram, displayed on a wooden easel at The Mitre Hotel
Long reception table set with blush linen, gold flatware, sage tapers and white florals running the length of the room at a Hampton Court Palace wedding

21 June 2024

The Wedding

Leanne and James married in the Little Banqueting House on the longest Friday of the year, with a cello and guitar playing and an aisle lined in white roses, delphinium and stocks. Portraits were taken afterwards on the Kings Staircase and in the Privy Garden, with the palace gardens still full of visitors.

Dinner followed at The Mitre Hotel on the riverbank opposite the palace, a few minutes from the gates and looking onto the same stretch of the Thames that Sisley painted.

Bride and groom walking through the Privy Garden towards the baroque south front of Hampton Court Palace
Clipped box parterre and lily pond in the Pond Gardens at Hampton Court Palace, with the Tudor chimneys and Banqueting House range behind

Wedding ceremony set in the Little Banqueting House at Hampton Court Palace, gilt chairs and white floral aisle beneath the painted ceiling, with musicians to one side
Gilded urn of white roses, delphinium and hydrangea beside the ceremony table in the Little Banqueting House at Hampton Court Palace
Bride in a tulle gown and veil with the groom on the Kings Staircase at Hampton Court Palace, the ironwork balustrade and painted murals behind them

Bride and groom on the Kings Staircase at Hampton Court Palace beneath Antonio Verrio's painted walls and ceiling
Wedding flowers in white roses, delphinium, stocks and blush astilbe with trailing greenery at a Hampton Court Palace reception
Three tier white wedding cake dressed with sugar roses and wafer petals in front of a white and blush floral installation

What Was Made

Hampton Court Palace Wedding Stationery Specification

Invitation, thick off white cotton card, pale blue letterpress with drawn oval monogram

Wedding day details card covering attire, transport, accommodation and the wedding website

Reply card with its own envelope

Cream envelope with a full colour printed liner, Alfred Sisley, The Thames at Hampton Court, 1874, public domain

Menus, letterpress in pale blue on cotton card

Place cards, written by hand

Table numbers with the monogram

Seating plan for the reception entrance

One ink and one monogram across every piece

The Team

Credits

Ceremony Venue

Little Banqueting House, Hampton Court Palace

Reception Venue

The Mitre Hotel, East Molesey

Stationery

Babooche Calligraphy

Planning and Design

Emma Westacott

Photography

Philippa Sian Photography

Flowers

P and P Flowers

Cake

Anna Lewis

Furniture and Tableware

Options Greathire

Linen

Just 4 Linen

Envelope Liner Artwork

Alfred Sisley, The Thames at Hampton Court, 1874, public domain

For Couples Planning Their Own

Commissioning Hampton Court Palace Wedding Stationery

How far in advance should stationery for a Hampton Court Palace wedding be commissioned?

Six months worked here because the design was settled quickly and the printing was a single ink. For a suite with custom dies, illustration or several print passes, allow ten to twelve months. Invitations are usually posted three to four months before a UK wedding.

What stationery does a Hampton Court Palace wedding need?

An invitation suite with a details card, because guests need parking, rail and accommodation guidance for a working visitor attraction, then menus, place cards, table numbers and a seating plan. Ceremony rooms at the palace are already fully decorated, so signage is rarely needed.

Can a historic painting be used in wedding stationery?

Yes, where the work is in the public domain, as Sisley’s 1874 paintings are. It is worth checking the status of the specific artwork and the reproduction you are printing from, and crediting the artist. We keep an archive of public domain artwork and propose it when a piece genuinely belongs to a couple’s venue.

Does a simple suite cost less than an elaborate one?

Usually, yes, because cost follows the number of processes rather than the amount of design work. A single ink on good cotton card with one drawn monogram is less than a suite with die cutting and foil, and at a venue like this it is often the better answer. If you would prefer a drawn venue, see our venue illustrations.

Let’s Create Something Beautiful

Planning A Wedding At Hampton Court Palace?

Every bespoke suite is drawn and made for one wedding, from the first proposal to the final envelope.

Tell us about your wedding in the United Kingdom, France or Italy. We will review your enquiry personally and come back to you with availability and the most suitable next step.



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