Wedding
Invitations
Available
Stationery
There is such an amazing variety of wedding
invitation styles and stationery types available
today. Your wedding invitations are important
because they will be the first impression your wedding
guests will have of your wedding day. Your invitations
speak volumes about the style of your wedding.
They give clues to wedding guests as to what
to expect at your wedding and even what they
should wear to it.
How
Many Invitations Will We Need?
You can estimate the number of wedding
invitations you will need by ordering half of the total
number of wedding guests you are inviting since
one invitation usually includes at least two people. To be on
the safe side, order an additional 25 wedding
invitations.
Check
and Check Again
Make sure you have all the correct information
and details when you go to order your wedding
invitations, including the full names and addresses
of the place of wedding ceremony and reception.
Always
double check your spelling and wording before placing your order
or when ordering through a stationary provider. It wouldn't hurt
to have someone else check over your writing just to be sure.
Addressing
Invitations
You should include children's names on
the inside envelope of your invitations if they are invited. This
way there is 
no
confusion as to whether children are invited or not.
Try
to find out the names of people who will be attending your wedding
as dates to the people you are inviting. They will appreciate
it and will also feel more welcomed to your wedding.
Sometimes you just can't get their names or it may just be more
appropriate to write "and guest" on the invitations,
this is still good etiquette.
The
Big No No
Wedding invitations
should never mention a particular gift you would like or store
you would like gifts bought at. Be discreet about gifts that you
would prefer. To get the word around notify your parents of your
wishes and the places you are registered. Bridal shower invitations
may list where you are registered or you can insert cards in the
invitations from where you are registered. Many
large department stores have a bridal
gift registry.
Budget
Tip
If you're making wedding invitations
and other stationery on your own, stationery
corner punches and corner cutters are a fast and easy way to add
special detail. Most craft supply stores will carry stationery
cutters and punches in many designs. You can even use plain invitations
to save money and embellish them yourself with different stamps,
stick on decals, ribbon and more, to personalize them and make
them special.
Tips
If you are placing additional
information in some of the wedding invitations,
for example local hotel information, be sure to take one of these
to the local post office to make sure you are
using the proper postage to send your wedding
invites. This will ensure that there are no postal
delays. Wedding invitations can get quite heavy and thick. You
don't want to go over the allowed weight or thickness for the
postage provided.
Postage
stamps should be supplied on the reply envelopes. Also, make sure
there is a return address on your outer envelopes incase invitations
don't make it to their destination. This way they will be returned
to you so you can find an alternative way of getting the invitation
delivered.
Send out invitations to wedding
guests who have to travel a long distance to your wedding at least
8 weeks prior to your wedding date especially
if you have not sent them a save the date card. It's nice if you
can send out hotel business cards and/or brochures of hotels that
are close to your place of wedding reception.
Contact local hotels to see if you can reserve a number of rooms
for your out of town guests or for members of your bridal party.
Often you can get a discounted rate when booking several rooms.
Don't
forget to send wedding invitations to your parents,
the wedding party and your officiant. Don't forget
to count these people into your total wedding
guest tally.
For
those wedding guests from whom you have not heard
from by your specified "reply by" date, give them a
follow up phone call asking if you can expect them at your wedding.
You may want to ask your parents to help you with this task if
there are a lot of unresponsive guests.
It's
a good idea to include a detailed photocopied map with your wedding
invitations showing the location of the place of wedding
ceremony and the place of reception so there is no confusion.
Just make sure the map is clear, accurate and to scale.
Sprinkling
a few wedding cutout confetti in the
wedding invitations can make them a little special and
festive. There are also foil stickers, punches, stamps or wax
seals available to help dress up the envelopes on the outside.
If you have a wedding website, putting the website
address on the wedding invitations is a great
way to inform people of where to get more information about your
wedding. Offering online RSVP's is a great feature
of a wedding website. Electronic RSVP's can save
you money and time.
Invitation
Wording
Your wedding invitation
wording depends on who is hosting the wedding.
It could be the Bride's parents, both sets of parents, step parents,
the wedding couple, others or any combination. If the wedding
is being put on by and being paid for by the Bride and Groom then
the invitations should reflect this. The invitation
should have the host of the wedding personally
inviting the guests. Always spell out the dates and times on your
invitations, especially if your wedding
is very formal. Most wedding stationery
books have many examples of invitation wording.
The internet is another great source for this. Your stationery
supplier can also help you with proper etiquette for invitation
wording.
Example
of Wedding Invitation Wording
Mr.
and Mrs. Charles Pride
and
Mr. and Mrs. Mark Winford
Invite you to share in the ceremony
uniting their children
Mary Elizabeth Pride
and
Zakary Mark Winford
on Saturday, the second of July
Two thousand and Five
at three o'clock
at the Church of Christ
50 Amaranth Street East
Peaceton
Save
the Date Cards
Save the date cards are a great idea
especially if you are getting married during
the busy holiday season or during the summer when many people
take their vacations. Save the date cards are a little note sent
to your wedding guests well in advance of the
wedding invitations so they can reserve the date
and attend your wedding. They are usually sent
out 6 to 9 months before the wedding date. Sending
save the date cards will add to your budget because of the cost
of stationery and stamps, but if you have people
that are traveling a long distance and/or people that it is very
important to you that they attend your wedding
it is a good idea to send them a card. The style of the cards
should reflect your wedding formality and match
your wedding invitation stationery
as closely as possible. If you can, use the same font that is
use on your wedding invitations.
The wording may go like this:
Thank
You Cards
Thank you cards should be sent out as
soon as possible. Your thank you note should mention the gift,
how much you like it, and how you plan on using it. For wedding
guests, it is also nice to mention how much it meant to you that
they could attend your wedding, or how much you
missed them if they were unable to attend.
It's
also nice to give any extra thank you to those special people
who helped you put your special day together. It takes a lot of
work and organization to put on a wedding. People
will love to see how much you appreciated their help.
One
of the easiest ways to keep track of who has given you what is
to write the gift items on the back of gift cards as you open
them. Keep your cards together in an accordion folder so you don't
loose any of them. Use a sleeve for shower gifts and one for wedding
gifts. This is also a great way of keeping track of the gifts
you have written and sent out thank you notes for. Just simply
move the cards that have been responded to into another folder
sleeve for sent cards. Also use our Gift
Tracker Form to stay organized.
Other Wedding Stationery
Wedding
ceremony programs are a nice memento of your special day for your
wedding guests. The information in them can include
the date and time of the wedding ceremony, the
location of the ceremony and reception, the order of how things
will proceed during the ceremony including any special songs,
poems or readings. You can list the wedding party
and their relationship to the Bride and Groom. Also include any
special thanks to family, friends and attendants. You may wish
to place them on the guests' seats or have someone hand them to
your guests as they arrive to the wedding ceremony.
You can make them yourself using a computer with special stationery.
You may wish to tie them with a little ribbon or gluing on a small
bow to dress them up. You can also have wedding
ceremony programs professionally made by a printer or stationery
supplier. Have all your wedding stationery
paper corresponding if you can.
Shower
invitations are a great time to be amusing and
whimsical. You can have great fun with the design of invitations
especially if the shower has a special theme.
It's
a good idea to put some time into making up a Wedding
Day Schedule to help keep everyone informed. Write down how the
day is planned, at what time events are planned
to occur, and where everyone needs to be and when. You may want
to include everyone's phone number for easy reference. Give a
copy to each member of your wedding party, your
parents, and all your professionals.
Another
romantic idea is to place cards on your wedding
guests' dinner plates that have a special poem or story on them.
You can tell the story of how you met, describe your love for
each other, or dedicate some words to someone special in your
life that as passed on or has touched your life in a unique way.
The cards are usually decorated to compliment your decor and make
a nice keepsake for everyone. They also give your wedding
guests something to read while they are waiting for you to arrive
at the wedding reception.You
can have them professionally made up or make them yourself on
your computer using specialty paper.
If
you plan to use paper napkins at your wedding
reception some stationery printers can have them
printed with your names, date of wedding and even a picture to
go with your wedding theme. They come in many
different colours to match your wedding colours and can be used
for your dinner, buffet and/or bar. Don't forget to put one away
to keep with your other keepsakes.
