How to design personalised wedding matchboxes: the idea, your venue and the wording

Begin with one clear idea

Before choosing a motif, think about the evening. A candlelit city dinner asks for something different from a summer garden wedding. The box can be quiet and formal, playful and colourful, or somewhere between.

The wedding matchboxes we enjoy drawing most start with one idea: the venue, your initials, the landscape around the celebration or a small part of your life together. One idea gives the drawing room on a box of about 55 × 36 mm.

If you have several, give each its place: the venue on the front, the date on the back, a pet or a private symbol small beside the date.

Send references, not finished answers

You do not need finished artwork. A photograph of the venue, a scan of the invitation, the flowers, a fabric swatch and a few drawings you like are more useful to us than a rigid brief.

They tell us about proportion, tone and character, and we turn them into an original drawing made for the size of the box. A drawing by the studio is one fee of £100, charged once, whatever the subject, with revisions until it is right. If you already have print-ready artwork, sending it adds nothing.

Draw the place where it happens

A line drawing of the venue roots the box in the day. It might be the front of a London townhouse, a garden gate, a hotel on the coast or the window of the restaurant where you met.

Choose the view you have a connection with first, then decide which details belong in it. At matchbox size a recognisable outline often says more than a crowded architectural scene: a courtyard wedding might suggest an arch and climbing leaves, a city wedding the entrance and its lettering.

Send one clear photograph of the whole view and a closer one of any feature you want kept. A picture taken straight on helps us with proportions; a second angle explains a doorway or a roofline. Tell us which details matter and which we can simplify.

Use photographs you took or have permission to share. If they show different seasons, say whether you want bare branches, summer leaves or just the building.

Keep the wording short

The front of our matchbox is about 55 × 36 mm. Two names, a date and a small drawing sit there comfortably. Every extra word shrinks the lettering, and a matchbox is read at arm’s length, often by candlelight. If you need more words, use both faces.

Two names or two initials and the date are still what most couples choose. Decide early between first names, initials or a monogram, and whether the date is written out (Saturday 12 June 2027) or set in numerals (12.06.27). If you use a monogram, check it beside the lettering on your menus and invitations. It should feel related without being identical.

A short line works when it sounds like you: a match line, such as “Struck by love” or “A match made in Florence”; the venue or the town; a phrase from your invitation, or a word in the language of your families; a plain thank you, for guests to find when they pick one up. The best wording reads at a glance and leaves room for the drawing.

Decide what leads

Choose one thing to lead: the names, the drawing or the line. When everything is the same size, nothing is read first. We compose the wording and the artwork together, so tell us which matters most to you.

At matchbox size every line competes with the names and the date. One layout puts the venue on the front and the wording on the back. Another keeps a small motif above a short line of text. Choose one main subject so both stay legible.

Details guests will keep

The front can carry a monogram or the venue, and the back the detail that makes someone smile: the date, a small portrait of your dog, a line from a speech, a symbol only your table will understand. The box looks composed at first glance and personal once it is picked up.

Take the colour from the room rather than treating the box as a separate favour. A deep red can echo a menu ribbon, a soft cream can sit beside linen, a flash of coral can lift a quiet place setting. A coloured drawer adds colour inside for £2 a box, or £2.50 in your Pantone colour; coloured match heads are quoted.

Napkins and coasters can be made in the same drawing and paid for in the same order as the matchboxes. The wording can change between them: names on the matchbox, the date on the coaster, only the drawing on the napkin.

Choose the paper and finish

We print on G.F Smith paper: matte or gloss at 300 gsm, or a textured 400 gsm paper for 28p a box, at least £20. Matte is the quieter of the two smooth papers; gloss gives colour more shine.

If you are thinking about gold or silver foil (£75 set-up and 32p a box for each face), ask us how much of the drawing the foil can hold before the artwork is finished. Often the drawing is printed and the foil kept for the names.

If you would rather feel the papers first, the Sample Folio is £35 with delivery included, and the £35 is credited against a later matchbox order.

Where they go and how many

A box beside each menu reads as a personal gift. A small group near the candles invites guests to use them. A bowl at the bar becomes part of the late evening. With several tables, two or three related drawings make a small series to discover.

For a box at every place, start with the guest count and add a few for styling, photographs and keepsakes. Most couples land on about one per guest, often 100 to 150. For shared tables or a bar display you may need fewer.

With your own artwork, 100 boxes are £215 and 150 are £290; with a drawing by the studio, 100 boxes come to £315 and 150 to £390. These are safety matches, so keep any spares away from children after the day.

Check the proof at real size

We send a digital proof before anything is printed, and nothing is printed until you approve it. Read it aloud, slowly. Check the spelling of every name, the accents, the date and the order of the names, then the view and where the important details fall.

Look at it at roughly its real size on your phone as well as enlarged, then at the whole rather than every line. A screen shows the composition but not the feel of the paper. Ask for any change before you say yes.

Standard delivery is about three weeks from the order and is included, so leave time for a round or two of changes before your date.