Bespoke Stationery & Paper Goods
A small studio, a lot of paper, and one designer who takes your wedding personally.
Little Lovebird Paperie started almost by accident. In early 2013, Emma Griffiths was eight years into a graphic design career at a Bristol agency when a close friend asked if she would design her wedding invitations. Emma said yes, and by the end of that month three more couples had got in touch — all through word of mouth. By December she had registered the business and was squeezing commissions into evenings and weekends alongside her agency work.
The balancing act lasted two years. In 2015, with a growing list of couples waiting for her attention, Emma left agency life to focus on stationery full time. A small studio space in Wrea Green, just outside Preston, followed in 2016. She chose it partly for the light — it faces south and fills the room most of the day — and partly because the village setting is exactly the kind of quiet she needs to concentrate on fine detail work.
Emma works directly with every couple from the very first conversation through to delivery. There is no production team, no account manager, no one else handling your project. When you email or call, you are speaking to the person who will design and oversee the printing of your stationery. Each suite is built from scratch. She does not use templates, and she does not recycle layouts from one couple to the next. The starting point is always the same: a conversation about your wedding, the place, the mood, the things you care about.
More than a decade on, that approach has not changed. The studio is still small, the work is still personal, and the paper is still the good kind.
Every commission follows the same five steps, whether you need a full suite or a single piece.
We start with a conversation — by phone, video call, or in person at the studio. You tell me about your wedding: the venue, the colours, the feel you are after. I ask questions. We talk about paper, print finishes, and budget. No obligation, no hard sell.
Based on our conversation, I put together initial concepts. You will receive digital proofs showing layout, typography, and colour. Most suites go through two or three rounds of refinement — we adjust until it feels right.
Once the design is finalised, I prepare print-ready files and send a final proof for your sign-off. This is your chance to check every word, every date, every spelling of every name. I will check too.
Your stationery is printed using the method best suited to the design — whether that is letterpress, digital, foil stamping, or a combination. I work with a small number of trusted printers and oversee every run.
The finished stationery is carefully packaged and sent to you by tracked delivery. If you are local, I am happy to arrange collection from the studio. I always recommend ordering with a comfortable lead time — ideally three to four months before your send date.
Good design deserves good paper.
The paper stock you choose makes a real difference to how your stationery looks and feels in the hand. I keep a selection of samples in the studio — textured cottons, smooth unbuffered stocks, heavyweight cards with a soft, tactile finish — and I am always happy to order swatches if you have something specific in mind. Most of the paper I use is sourced from UK and European mills.
For printing, I work with three methods depending on the design. Letterpress gives that distinctive debossed impression and works beautifully with simple, typographic layouts. Digital printing is versatile and cost-effective, ideal for designs with photographic elements or watercolour illustration. Foil stamping adds a metallic or matte finish — gold, copper, silver, or rose gold pressed into the paper. Some of the best results come from combining two methods on the same piece.
I am particular about print quality, which is why I work with a small number of printers I have used for years. Every run is checked before it leaves the press.