Every time I get the chance to talk to Frances, I have to be honest—I squeal with delight. In this episode, I finally got to pick her brain about so many things I’ve long admired: how she’s continued to niche down in her business, how hospitality genuinely radiates through her brand, and why she’s chosen to build a personal brand when she could so easily hide behind her beautiful work.
If you don’t know Frances Ledgwood yet, she’s the owner of Ledgewood Fine Stationery, a wedding stationery studio specializing in custom invitations and handcrafted paper goods. Based in Alabama, her team works with clients from coast to coast to bring wedding visions to life, all with a mission rooted in intentional design and effortless elegance.
I wasn’t entirely sure where this conversation would take us, but I can confidently say Frances shared so much wisdom we can all apply to our businesses—whether you’re in the wedding industry or not. From creating meaningful analog experiences to turning down the comparison noise on social media, this episode is full of insight beyond whether you should niche down.
I truly believe this is a conversation every business owner needs to hear, and I can’t wait to share it with you. Let’s get into it.
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Table of Contents
Who is Frances Ledgewood?
My name is Frances Ledgewood, and I’m the owner of Ledgewood Fine Stationery. I’ve been in the wedding industry for over two decades, and for the past 11 years, I’ve owned my own stationery studio. We specialize in custom wedding invitations, save-the-dates, and all of the thoughtfully designed paper details that welcome guests into a couple’s wedding weekend.
Take us back to the moment you chose to niche down and only serve wedding couples?
I discovered my love for paper goods at a really young age, and for the first ten years of my career, while working at other stationery stores, we truly did everything: folded notes, birthday invitations, bridal showers, weddings—you name it.
So when I started my own business in 2015, that was all I knew. I offered everything, and people came to me for everything. In 2017, I had my first child, Sadie—I have three kids now—and after each birth, I found myself needing to slowly remove things from my business. Weddings had always been my passion. I love all of my clients, but weddings are where I truly light up.
After my second child, I realized I no longer had the bandwidth to do it all. I wanted to be able to fully focus on my brides. Then, after my third child in 2022, I knew it was time to make a clear decision: I needed to niche down and do weddings only. And that meant learning how to say no, which is hard for me, because I love pleasing people.
I honestly took it harder telling people no than they took hearing it. I shed a lot of tears, especially because many of the requests were coming from past brides asking me to do baby showers or first birthday invitations. I’m a very sentimental person, and I wanted to say yes.
What surprised me, and really uplifted me, was how supportive people were. So many former clients said, “Frances, we’re so proud of you and your business. We understand.” That support made it easier to accept that I couldn’t do everything anymore, because it meant I could pour all of my attention into the bridal clients I was serving in that season of their lives.
Choosing a word of the year to support the decision to niche down
For 2026, I have two words for the year: no and simplify. I need the reminder to say no, because I genuinely want to do every project—but there just aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the week. I’ve had to really accept that I have limits.
Because of that, I have to stay focused and intentional with the time I do have, and pour it into the clients I’m actively working with. When we work with brides, it’s never a simple project. It’s a fully custom wedding invitation suite, save-the-dates, and multiple paper details for an entire wedding weekend.
These projects take a lot of time, and we often work with brides for months—sometimes even years—leading up to their wedding. So it’s a significant commitment, and I need to make sure I have the space and time to show up fully for those clients.
Did you niche down gradually to weddings or decide right away?
It was definitely a gradual process. First, I stopped doing birthday party invitations, then baby showers—it was a slow weeding out. Today, I no longer offer fully custom stationery outside of weddings, but we do have an online shop with social stationery, where people can choose semi-custom note cards, calling cards, and notepads. I think of it as my safety net—it allows me to still say yes in a way that’s sustainable.
Before that, I’d spend hours designing custom stationery for projects that were under $100, and I had to be honest with myself: this is a business, and it has to be sustainable. As much as I want everyone to have the most beautiful, custom folded notes imaginable, I can’t spend that amount of time without charging appropriately.
Now, clients can order from our website, or—if they’re one of our brides—we can customize stationery to match their wedding crest, something we’ve already invested time designing. It creates a much healthier balance.
I remember after I had my third child, Sophie, my mom stood in the doorway of my office and said, “Just do weddings, Frances. That’s what you’ve always wanted to do.” And she was right… I knew I needed to.
What I’ve learned is that one closed door often opens a much bigger window. Once I devoted all of my time and energy to weddings and invitation suites, that’s exactly what I started attracting. Those are the clients I’m booking now, and I genuinely love it. It brings me so much more joy than constantly switching back and forth between projects that don’t align anymore.
Eventually, I had to fully own my decision and stick to it. The first time I said no, there were tears—and probably the second, third, and fourth time too. Now, it feels more grounded. I can kindly say, “Thank you so much, but we no longer offer that.”
At the end of the day, I’ve learned that I’m human, and there’s only so much I can do. Weddings are where my heart is, and that’s the business I want to build. I have a certain style—I love traditional design—but I also create a wide range of looks depending on each client. That’s what keeps the work fun, interesting, and truly fulfilling.
You’ve built a brand that feels very elevated but hasn’t lost it’s hospitality. How do you do that?
First, thank you—that’s incredibly kind. Growing up, I didn’t always feel welcomed or fully received, and because of that, it’s deeply rooted in me to make other people feel seen and welcomed. That sense of hospitality really shapes how I show up in my business.
When I was redesigning my website years ago, my designer asked where most of my clients were getting married. I’m based in Alabama, but so many of them were in California, New York, and New Jersey. We laughed because none of those places are traditionally “Southern,” yet that Southern hospitality is still very much what draws people in. I think clients who value warmth, friendliness, and connection naturally gravitate toward that.
My office and studio are both in our home, and that’s very intentional. I’ve worked in stationery stores and department stores before, but that’s not where I see my brand going. I want the work to feel personal, lean, and closely connected to me. It also allows us to take on a limited number of clients. Years ago, we were booking so many projects that I was doing everything and essentially drowning in my own success.
That experience is what led me to niche down—to focus on weddings, set minimums, and create real boundaries. Those boundaries allow me to work with clients who appreciate the experience I’m offering, because not every working relationship is the right fit. And that’s okay.
What matters most to me is that when you work with Ledgewood Fine Stationery, you’re truly working with me. It’s a very personal experience. Just today, one of my printing vendors checked in on my daughter while she’s been going through medical tests, and that meant so much to me. The wedding industry is incredibly relationship-based, and I care deeply about those genuine connections—with both my clients and my vendors.
That sense of care and connection is what I believe makes Ledgewood Fine Stationery special, and it’s something I never want to lose sight of. It’s incredibly important to me.
Do you think it’s important to show your face in your marketing? Did it come naturally to you?
Yes, I think it’s very important. People often ask if it comes easily to me, and the truth is—it didn’t always. I grew up very shy and pretty sheltered, living in my own little bubble. And to be fair, I still live in my own little Frances bubble sometimes—my husband is happy to remind me of that.
But this business has always been deeply personal to me. Before I had my three children, Ledgewood Fine Stationery was my baby. I truly love what I do. I love stationery, and it’s a genuine passion of mine. Because of that, I think it naturally comes through in my work. I could talk about it all day.
I truly have such a passion for this work, and I want to talk about it. I want people to know the face behind the business—and that face is me. I enjoy being on social media, connecting with others, and showing up in a welcoming way without putting walls up.
Every September, I host a collective for other wedding stationers here in Huntsville, Alabama. When I was planning the first one, I reached out to so many stationers. Most were incredibly kind and supportive, but a few were not—and those interactions hurt immediately.
My husband always reminds me, “You can receive a hundred five-star reviews, but if one person says something negative, that’s the thing you’ll fixate on.” And he’s right.
I remember one stationer responding with, “You can go to our website to read about it,” and I just thought, that’s not how I want to show up. My own experiences have really shaped that. When people are unkind, it sticks with you—and there’s just no reason for it.
That’s why I try to be welcoming and open. I know there will always be negative comments. Not everyone is going to love your work, especially on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where people can say things without much thought. I don’t have particularly thick skin, but I try to respond with kindness.
If someone comments that an invitation suite has too many pieces, I can simply say, “That’s okay—this one may not be for you. We do custom designs, and we can always create something simpler.” And most of the time, that completely shifts the conversation.
At the end of the day, people have different tastes, and that’s a good thing. I’m working on many different styles of weddings right now, and it’s okay that we’re not all the same. We’re not meant to be cookie-cutter—and that’s what makes the work interesting.
I think we can all relate to that feeling where the few negative comments stick around longer than the hundreds of positive ones.
I do this all the time. We’ll send out a design, and I’ll get an email back that says, “This isn’t what I was envisioning,” and my immediate reaction is, What? It’s amazing. And yet, that’s the response I remember—the one I end up talking about—rather than all the messages that say, “It’s perfect. You nailed it. No changes.”
And the thing is, those responses aren’t even negative. I have to remind myself, Frances, they’re not coming to slash your tires. They don’t hate you. They just want a revision. It’s not the end of the world.
But it is hard not to take things personally when this is such a personal business. The work is personal, so separating yourself from it feels almost impossible.
I was talking with another vendor recently about social media and the comparison trap. If something you’re seeing is upsetting you, sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is mute the account. You can still follow them—but social media isn’t meant to make you spiral or create stories in your head that aren’t even true.
You never really know what’s happening behind the scenes in someone else’s business. Sometimes, it’s just better to let it go.
Using the instagram mute button is a really helpful way to stay out of your own head. From talking with so many wedding vendors—and business owners in general—I’ve learned that we all do this. I’m just saying it out loud. People may not admit it, but everyone is insecure in some way.
Even something like going to a networking event—you think, I don’t want to go, and then you realize everyone else feels the exact same way. You’re not alone in that discomfort or self-doubt.
I also think confidence comes with time. As I’m approaching 38, I feel much more secure in who I am than I did ten years ago. If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be this: trust yourself, trust your abilities, and trust your design skills—you’ve got this. Don’t get stuck in your head.
Even the people at the top of the industry have insecurities of their own. The best thing we can do is stay in our own lane and focus on what works for us.
It’s so easy to compare yourself online and think everyone is more successful than you.
It’s so true. We work with so many incredible weddings, and it’s easy to assume everything is unlimited—budgets, resources, time—until you realize that’s not actually the case. Social media, for the most part, is a highlight reel.
Behind the scenes, there are school cancellations, sick kids, and real life happening. I’ve had moments where I’m trying to answer emails while my youngest is sitting on my lap watching 101 Dalmatians, and I’m thinking, I’m sinking in quicksand. Meanwhile, I’ve just posted a beautiful styled shoot online.
You just never know what’s really going on for someone. That’s why kindness matters so much. Everyone is doing the best they can to show up. It’s not about being fake—it’s about choosing what parts of your life and business you share publicly. We all get to decide what people see.
Do you have any advice on bringing analog experiences to our online businesses (as a stationery designer)?
One thing that’s really fallen by the wayside is the handwritten note—and the power it holds. If you’re a vendor, a friend, or someone who knows another person is going through something, taking pen to paper still means so much. Write a note, put a stamp on it, and drop it in the mailbox.
Trust me—I recently received a beautiful invitation in the mail. I’m so used to opening bills or flyers that the moment I saw vintage postage, I ran into the house to open it. I thought, Who is this from? What is this event? I’m going. That excitement came from something tangible, something held in my hands.
A text message or email thank-you is kind and thoughtful, and it absolutely counts. But when someone receives a handwritten note—something you clearly took time to think about—it feels different. Especially right now, when everything is online and we can’t ever fully turn our phones off, that physical connection is so meaningful.
Whether it’s for business or personal reasons, it also sets you apart. Someone opening their mail and thinking, Wow, they really took the time to do this, leaves a lasting impression. And you don’t have to be selling anything. You can simply show hospitality—Southern hospitality—by writing a thank-you note or a thoughtful message.
Connect with Frances Ledgewood
For anyone who wants to connect, my name is Frances Ledgewood, and I’m the owner of Ledgewood Fine Stationery. You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, @ledgewoodfinestationery, or on our website at ledgewoodfinestationery.com.
For wedding stationers, we also host a stationery collective retreat every September in Huntsville, Alabama. If you’ve been looking for a welcoming, supportive community, it’s truly a special place to be.
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Sign up for Frances’ next Collective for Stationery Designers
- Learn more about working with Frances
- Follow Frances on Instagram
- Learn more about working with our marketing agency here
- Follow me on Instagram
