Soft neutral hues never go out of style. Michelle of Honey Paper designed these soft neutral vineyard wedding invitations inspired by the gorgeous venue nestled in the California mountains. Add in some vinyeard-inspired botanical illustrations, gold wax seals, and curated vintage postage and you’ve got the recipe for one seriously elegant and refined wedding invitation!

From Michelle: Between the San Rafael and Santa Ynez Mountains the summers are warm and rainless, dense with thickets of shrub and stippled in gray pine, wild cotton and a long list of oaks. The narrow, steep ranges are considered young at five million years old. Alluvial soils of the valley bear the plants of myth: bay laurel, rosemary, grape and olive. The Santa Ynez Valley is vintner’s and an artist’s dream. Gravelly soil bakes white in the sun while the slender olive leaves shake and bristle like birds in flight. The villa at Sunstone Vineyards and Winery was built under a seafaring sky in the heart of this beautiful place.

When the Rice family founded Sunstone Vineyard and Winery it became one of the first organic vineyard estates in the region. Everything about their venture has remained true to the story of the land, from practicing sustainable viticulture to incorporating hillside caves among dense blankets of wild grasses and evergreen. Antique wooden beams, once privy to the smells and sounds of a Victorian lavender factory, were brought from England and integrated into the architecture. The villa is a testament to the materials and practices of the old world integrated seamlessly to meet modern standards. Thick walls of local stone were finished with imported French limestone and elegant terra cotta roof tiles. The villa is an architectural gem that simultaneously preserves the past and shapes the future.

We wanted the stationery to capture the essence of the light at Sunstone. We paired a pale clay-colored ink with soft white paper. Each piece of the suite and day-of details, including menu and escort cards incorporate the silhouette of slender olive leaves and branches. The subtle design is reminiscent of a sun print – light waves patiently breaking down the fragile color bonds leaving only traces of color. The envelope and invitation enclosure are a nod to sandstone – a rock whose only memory is of the sea. Each invitation was wrapped in a buttery white ribbon and completed with a golden wax initial seal.

Fine linens and freshly cut greenery were arranged on long tables with wooden benches and tawny pillows under the shade of the high walls. The wedding cake arrived: three tiered, quartz on sky on the softened teal of mountain bluebird. All of the details came together in this inspiring land of rocky outcroppings, sandstone, shale and limestone. A place where the sun leaves a trace of its brightness behind.

Thanks Michelle!

Design and Calligraphy: Honey Paper

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Ashley and Erik Fine Art Photography