What to Consider When Choosing Your Wedding Stationery
There's so much to think about when choosing your wedding stationery - make sure you don't miss anything!
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Colour or plain, sophisticated or unconventional, civil or religious, there are so many types of weddings these days and an overwhelming variety of stationery to suit every style and budget. Whether you decide to employ the skills of a professional stationery supplier or create your own personal designs, there are some things you may want to consider when it comes to choosing wedding stationery for your big day.
The Style
Your invitations should exhibit something about the personalities of the bride and groom whilst portraying a little of the wedding theme itself.
Consider…
Your Wedding
Will your wedding be a romantic affair, chic, funky, formal, relaxed… Couples who go for mainly traditional style weddings usually opt for the elegant white or ivory card with black or grey print.
Church or Civil
Your venue you marry in may determine your choice of design; you will also want to consider this for the more unusual locations such as waterfront, garden, hotel and so on.
Eco Friendly Weddings!
For many, considering the impact of the environment plays an important part of everyday life. This can be shown in your wedding too and can start with your invitations. Using recycled paper, organic detail or going even further and creating your own web page for your wedding will certainly reduce the amount of paper you use.
Seasonal Thoughts
The time of year plays an important part of dressing your wedding, from venue to the bridal party. Why not carry this through to the design of your invitations? You can add warm reds and golds for Christmas, ice blue for Winter or fresh green and yellow for Spring time weddings.
Made by Me!
Creating your own invites can be more personal, fun and satisfying to see the end result. However, allow time to research and develop and keep to your wedding theme and venue when designing your invites.
Planning
Whether it be a large affair or a simple event, careful planning of your wedding is a must and will help alleviate any undue stress. Once you’ve decided on your theme and have agreed the guest list with all relevant parties (financial contributors) you should be ready to look for a stationery supplier or, if creating your own cards, researching magazines, craft sites and shops for inspiration.
It’s wise to research suppliers. Start collecting brochures and search their websites and stationery directories to see what’s out there. Look for testimonials. Brides who have used the service before are usually happy to tell you what went well or what didn’t when they used the service for their big day!
Wedding Fayres are also a great way to see what experts have to offer and you can have a look and feel at some of their creations.
Only go with a supplier who will not add a charge for draft copies of your design and who will not start a ‘new’ order, thus costing more, for any extra you add to the original number you ordered.
Ordering — When & What
Once the design has been agreed and numbers priced, you should consider when to order and what to order, to keep the cost at a minimum and also so that any other items you order can be created using the same theme.
As well as envelopes to go with your invitations, you may want to order:
When ordering your invitations, be careful not to make the common mistake of ordering for each individual guest if some of these guests will be arriving as a couple or family. So, if you have 80 guests, check how many of these fall in that category. Children under the age of sixteen can be added to a family invite. Don’t forget to send invites to the wedding party, including mums and dads!
It’s recommended that you order a few additional cards on top of your required number. This allows for any mistakes that may happen when writing the invites and also for the extra people who you may have forgotten to add to your original list. And don’t forget you will probably want to keep one as a reminder of the day!
Plan in time for stationery to be printed and addressed allowing more time if you have a calligrapher doing handwritten work. Your invites should be posted at least two to three months in advance of your big day.
Stationery Printing & Wording
Calligraphy, meaning beautiful writing, is exactly that! However, this art can take time so it may be best kept for smaller weddings, unless you have the time and budget to allow it for a larger affair. While engraving creates a striking textured effect, it can also be expensive. You can produce almost the same result by using a method called Thermography. This is very effective and is less expensive than engraving. Something to keep in mind when looking for a supplier.
When you’re ready to word your invitations, you may have to give some thought to family circumstances and relationships. This may have a bearing on what needs to be written on your invites. Your suppliers will be able to help you with this if you have any concerns or questions.
Before you seal the envelope, don’t forget to include your R.S.V.P. cards at the same time! In terms of style for your response cards, the manner can follow that of your invitations. Nowadays, many wedding couples choose a more creative and personal approach.
Information You Need for Invite Printing
Your wedding date, time and place
Wedding reception venue and timings
Parent’s names / name of hosts
Full names of the bride and groom (including middle names)
Signed, Sealed and Ready to Post?
Wait! It’s always worthwhile spending time carefully proof reading your invites. Even better, have a friend give them a look over to check the wording too for anything you may have missed!
Allow your guests time to receive your invite, plan for it and accept it. Send your invitations at least two to three months before the big day. Plan extra time for guests living further afield to receive theirs and where possible, add extra time for any impending postal strikes that may impact on deliveries!
Choosing and designing your wedding stationery should be fun! Once you have established your theme, agreed on your guest list, selected your stationery style and supplier, with your careful planning and research you can now sit back and take pleasure in watching your creations come to life!
