Accessible wedding stationery: beautiful, and welcoming to every guest

Your wedding is a gathering of the people you love most, and every one of them deserves to feel included from the very first envelope. Accessible wedding stationery is stationery designed with all of your guests in mind, including those who are blind, have low vision, or other access needs. And here’s the best part, designing thoughtfully doesn’t mean designing plainly. Accessible and beautiful are not opposites; done well, they’re the same thing.

Allow me a quick hello, I’m Becky (she/her), the designer and illustrator behind Hawthorne and Ivory. Making couples, and their guests, feel truly seen is at the heart of everything I do, so this is a subject close to my heart. Let me walk you through how stationery can be warmer and more welcoming, and introduce you to a wonderful collaborator who makes braille wedding stationery possible.

Why accessibility belongs in your stationery

It’s easy to think of accessibility as something technical or clinical, but really it’s just hospitality. If a much-loved grandparent’s sight isn’t what it was, or a guest is blind or partially sighted, a standard invitation can inadvertently leave them out, needing to ask someone else to read their own invitation aloud. A few considered choices change that entirely, letting every guest read your words in their own time, independently and with the same little thrill everyone else gets.

It matters for the day itself too. Menus, orders of service, table plans and signage all carry information your guests need, and all of it can be made easier to read, or offered in an alternative format, so nobody feels lost or reliant on others.

Readable by design

So much of accessibility is simply good design, and it makes your stationery beautiful for everyone, not only guests with access needs. Here’s where I start:

Practical ways to make your stationery more accessible

Beyond the design itself, there are simple, generous things you can offer:

"I even had a request for an accessible order of service for one of our guests who struggles to see, and Becky executed this flawlessly and without any fuss... Hawthorne and Ivory has been worth every penny and you should definitely trust Becky with your wedding stationery."

Jess & Michael - married October 2025

Braille & Large Print wedding stationery, with Dot & Type

This is where I’m delighted to hand over to a specialist, because braille is a craft in its own right and deserves an expert’s hands. I’ve teamed up with Dot & Type, a UK accessible-format studio run by Tasha Molyneux-Smith.

Tasha set up Dot & Type on a simple, powerful belief- that accessibility is a right, not a privilege. She transcribes printed material into braille and large print, from menus and letters to beautiful greeting cards, always with independence and dignity at the heart of it.

For a guest who is blind or partially sighted, a braille invitation or menu is a genuinely moving thing. Their own words, under their own fingertips, no one reading over their shoulder. Together, we can make that happen as part of your suite. And rather than me speak for the experts, I’ve asked Tasha to tell you about it herself…

Hello everyone! I’m Tasha (she/her), the owner of Dot & Type.

The idea of Dot & Type was born whilst I was working one-to-one with a young blind girl throughout her primary and secondary education. During that time, I became increasingly aware of the huge barriers she faced every day, especially when it came to accessing text.

One moment has stayed with me ever since…

She received an invitation to a friend’s birthday party but it was printed in standard text. As a proficient braille reader, the invitation was completely inaccessible to her. Throughout her life, information has often been read aloud to her, with the expectation that she would simply remember it, or worse, she wasn't included at all because accessible versions weren’t available or hadn’t been considered.

The thought of that broke me! I knew something had to be done.

So, I took the invitation away and quickly transcribed it into braille. When I handed it back to her, her reaction was priceless. For the first time, she could independently read who had invited her, where the party was, what time it started, whether there was a theme and even the contact details. She wasn’t relying on someone else to tell her the information; she was experiencing something so many of us take for granted.

She told me she had never been able to read a party invitation before.

THAT was the moment Dot & Type truly came to life.

Since then, I’ve been driven by one simple believe: everyone deserves equal access to information. Whether that’s through braille, large print or other accessible formats, no one should be excluded from everyday life because text isn’t accessible.

But… Accessibility doesn’t have to be plain!

I also believe that everyone deserves beautiful, creative stationery and printed materials. Accessibility and great design can (and should) absolutely go hand in hand. Why shouldn’t accessible text be colourful, tactile and thoughtfully designed?

At Dot & Type, that’s exactly what we’re passionate about: creating text that is fun, vibrant, fresh, inclusive and above all else, accessible!

Photographs by Andy Jude-Williamson

If braille or large format feels right for one or more of your guests, we’ll weave it in so it sits beautifully alongside the rest of your stationery, part of the same lovely suite, never an afterthought.

Beyond the paper: BSL ceremonies with Proud Fox

Accessibility doesn't stop with your wedding stationery, of course. The ceremony is the heart of the whole day, and it deserves to feel just as welcoming, which is why I also want to introduce you to Martin Fox-Roberts of Proud Fox Ceremonies.

Martin is a wedding celebrant and a British Sign Language interpreter. Which means he can officiate a ceremony directly in BSL with no need to rely on a separate interpreter, or to provide BSL interpreting- so d/Deaf couples and their guests can follow each and every carefully crafted word.

I’ve asked him to tell you about it in his own words…

Hello, I’m Martin from Proud Fox Ceremonies. FOX BY NAME. FOXY BY NATURE.

I’m an independent wedding celebrant and the UK’s first certified drag queen celebrant, but it doesn’t stop there. I’m also a fully qualified and registered British Sign Language interpreter.

One of the services I’m incredibly proud to offer is wedding ceremonies delivered in BSL.

For many Deaf couples, weddings involve relying on interpreters to access their own ceremony. Of course, interpreting can be an incredibly valuable service, but your wedding should feel personal, emotional and natural - and for many people, that means experiencing it in their first language.

That’s why I created and deliver ceremonies directly in BSL, allowing couples to fully experience every moment without relying entirely on interpretation, especially after my own wedding experience.

As we all know a wedding ceremony is full of emotion, the little looks, laughter, nerves and those moments that you’ll remember forever. Being able to experience those moments directly, in your own language, can make such a difference.

For me, it’s about making sure Deaf couples feel seen, included and completely at the centre of their own wedding ceremony.

And accessibility shouldn’t end with the ceremony. There are lots of simple things couples can consider throughout the day to make their wedding more comfortable and accessible for Deaf guests too.

If you’re a Deaf couple planning your wedding, you shouldn’t have to settle for simply being able to access your ceremony. You deserve to experience it.

Photograph by Kelsie Scully

Photograph by Victoria Cadisch

Photograph by Relm Photography

Thanks Martin! And if you’re interested in what else you can do for d/Deaf guests at your wedding day, Martin also shared some more tips over here on my seating chart blog.

Between a braille invitation, a large-print order of service, and a ceremony signed in BSL, there's so much we can do together to make sure every guest, and every couple, is included in every moment.

Inclusive from start to finish

Accessibility sits within a bigger idea I care about deeply- stationery that makes everyone feel welcome. That might mean using your guests' correct names and pronouns, keeping in mind the people who are too often an afterthought, or simply writing with the warmth that tells every single guest they belong at your celebration. Inclusion isn't a box to tick, it's the whole spirit of a wedding.

Let’s make yours welcoming to everyone

Whether it’s stronger contrast, a large-print menu, a braille invitation for a treasured guest, or all of the above, I’d love to help you create stationery that leaves no one out.

Get in touch to talk through what your guests need, and we’ll design something beautiful that welcomes every single person you love. Because the best weddings are the ones where everyone feels seen.