08 Sep  Essential Wedding Invitation TipsYou Need to Know

Are you just starting to think about planning your wedding invitations? Find out all you should know to have them printed, sealed and delivered.

It’s important to remember that your wedding announcement is the first time guests get a glimpse into your wedding, So you’ll need to shine. With all the choices available, it may seem a bit overwhelming to pick the perfect invitations for your wedding–and ensure that they’re delivered to all your family members. Are you unsure where to start? We’ve got wedding invitation information and tips you should be aware of this essential stationery item.

• Wedding Invitation FAQs
• Wedding Invitation Tips

Wedding Invitation FAQs

When should I place an order for Wedding invitations?

It is recommended that your save-the-dates should be sent out between 8 and 10 months before the wedding. The process can range between a few days and several weeks, depending on how extravagant you want to print the cards. Save-the-date cards don’t need to be matched with your invitations. Choosing everything from one shop will save you cost and help make the process of arranging your invitation simpler for the bride. Therefore, start looking for stationers nine to eleven months before the wedding. It’s best to place your orders around four to five months in advance to ensure they’re sent out eight to ten weeks before the wedding. If you’re planning a wedding in a foreign country or are getting married during the holiday season, you can send invitations earlier (12 weeks before you get married).

How big is the normal dimension of wedding invites?

A 4.5-inch-by-6.25-inch rectangular card is the traditional size and shapes for wedding invitations. However, couples are embracing more fun or contemporary designs by using circular, scalloped, and square invitations. Be aware that going beyond traditional envelope sizes could make it more expensive to mail. Bulky or large invitations can be more expensive to mail.

What is the cost of a wedding invite set?

The price per invitation could vary greatly, ranging from just one dollar to more than $100. It’s all about the design, the ink typeface, the printing process paper, and the quantity. The top-quality papers, color inks, formal printing techniques (like engraving and letterpress) and custom design can increase the cost along with decorative accessories like envelope liners or multiple enclosures. It’s vital to look into your options before the date to decide on the most important items, such as advanced printing, a custom layout or multiple enclosures. If you’re planning to engage a calligrapher, take a look at the costs (think between $2 and $8 per envelope) in the same way you’re selecting your invitations to ensure you include it in the budget for your stationery.

What would wedding invitation invitations’ words be like?

Learn the guidelines to write your invitation. Typically, the person who is hosting the event is first mentioned in the invite. Typically, you need to write everything down in the invitation, including the date of the wedding ceremony. In traditional wedding invitations, there is always a line of request in the middle of the host’s name. It could be something such as “so and so request the honor of your presence.” The words may change depending on the host’s situation, and you should confirm that you’ve included everyone that should be listed.

Wedding Invitation Tips

How to Choose Wedding Invitations

Alongside mentioning the location and date of the wedding, The invitation, and specifically, the style of it–points to what kind of wedding you’re planning. Before you begin shopping for stationery, you must have a clear idea of the kind of wedding you’re planning–classic elegant and chic informal and casual, or glamorous and contemporary–so you can select an invitation design that strikes the same tone. Check out the websites of stationers and other couples’ wedding invites to get ideas so that you can provide your stationery with an idea of what you’d like.

Know Your Colors

Consider the color scheme for your wedding as well. You might want to incorporate your colors and a theme (if you already have one) into your wedding invitations and incorporate them into the other wedding papers (like the menus, escort cards and wedding programs) to create a cohesive appearance. While ivory, cream, or white card stock, paired with a gold or black font, is the most popular option to design formal invitations, you can also brighten up your invitations by adding metallic or vibrant designs, paper stock, envelopes, and liners. Make sure to keep the readability in mind when choosing the color choices.

Make Sure Your Invitations Are Legible

While you are considering the colors and patterns, Be sure to think about the text. The information you write on the invitation is the main reason for sending it. The stationer may be able to help; however, generally, avoid using the use of light inks on backgrounds with light colors as well as dark ink when you have a dark background. The pastels and yellows are difficult colors to understand, and if choosing to use them, ensure that your background has enough contrast to allow the words to pop out or incorporate them into the design, not the text. Also, be cautious of fonts that are hard to read, like a typeface that is too scripted–you shouldn’t reduce readability in exchange for beautiful letters.

Don’t Crowd the Card

Only include the essential information on your invitation card: the ceremony time and venue and the host, along with your and your potential spouse’s names in full and dressing codes (optional), as well as RSVP details. If you try to fit too much on the invitation card could make it difficult to read and will not appear like the elegant one. You can leave things such as directions to the wedding venue as well as information about the post-wedding events for the wedding’s website or print them separately on enclosure cards. One thing which isn’t necessary for your wedding invitations is where you’re registered. The best place to put your registry details is on your wedding’s website.

Get Your Dates Straight

Include your RSVP information on the right-hand side of your invitation or on an additional RSVP card. Set the deadline not more than two or three weeks following the date that guests have received invitations. Please consult with your caterer to determine when they’ll require to finalize the head number. Keep in mind that the longer guests have to answer you, the more likely they’ll forget, but you’ll require time to create the seating plan. Additionally, the final count will impact your centerpiece options, other decor elements, and your wedding vendors, which must be finalized several weeks before the wedding.

Have a Pro Address Your Envelopes

When you’ve placed your order for your invitations, make sure you’re able to bring your envelopes immediately (or as soon as you can). This way, it’s easier to have an outside party other than your stationary vendor (say an artist or the calligrapher) create the return addresses on the envelopes (most stationers print return addresses for a small or free or even included in the price of the suite) They can have an early start. Although you don’t need to employ a calligrapher in order to label your envelopes, we strongly recommend it as it looks stunning and creates a classy first impression. Typically, addresses are written in hand in the event of an error, so unless you’ve got excellent handwriting, you should let professionals address the envelopes. If you’re planning to make them yourself, you should tackle the task several times to avoid any sloppiness or errors. Printing labels is a simple (and inexpensive) option. Writing your own address isn’t just more formal but additionally more intimate. It lets your guests know that they are important at your wedding and shows that you’ve taken the time to write (or use a calligrapher to write) their names and addresses on the envelope. However, suppose your penmanship is more like chicken scratch, and you don’t have enough money for an expert calligrapher. In that case, you could print addresses on your computer with the digital software for calligraphy.

Triple-Check the Proof

After your invitation is printed, your printer will provide you with the proof (either an actual printed copy or an attachment to the email of your invitation mock-up). Do not just let your spouse and mom look it over. Have your principal English friend or proficient bridesmaid review your proof before signing off on it. You’ll be amazed at the details you might miss (pay especially close attention to specifics such as wedding date, timing, and spelling). Get a suggestion from copy editors, and read the proof word-for-word (to yourself and out loud!) from left to right, to ensure that you don’t gloss over any errors.

Count Your Households

It’s not necessary to have invitations for each guest. Look over your guest list and determine the number of houses that require invitations before you call your stationer a number. You might be in a position to cut your order by half. Couples living together get one invitation. For couples who live separately, it’s possible to send one invitation to the person you’re most closely to (and include both names on both the inner envelopes and the outer ones). You can also make separate invitations. Families receive an invitation (addressed at “The Smith Family,” for instance). The only exceptions are children who don’t have a home (like the college student) or anyone who is over 18 and is living at home, should receive an invitation of their own.

Order Extra Invitations

It’s costly to reprint to print invitations again after the actual event. You should order enough invitations for your guests as well as 25 extra if you have to send a new invitation and want to keep a few in a safe place to keep as souvenirs (trust us that your moms will need at the very least a few) or you plan to send invitations to your B-list. Tips: If you have A long list of B-listers, you might consider getting a second set of invitations with an earlier RSVP date. Even if you’re using an address writer to write your invitations, request additional envelopes if invitations are returned or address errors (calligraphers generally need an additional 15 % to 20%).

Don’t Forget the Rest of Your Suite

You can order your menus, program and thank-you cards with your invitations. So the stationer will have everything in one package, reducing costs and saving time. It’s also a great method to ensure that all stationery will have a consistent look regardless of whether you’d like to alter the style slightly for each piece (by changing the dominant color or switching with two designs, for instance). Don’t forget to include small items such as labels for favors and greeting bag notecards.

Remember Your Thank-Yous

You can track RSVPs when they are received by using RSVP tracking tools such as guest list management software as well as a spreadsheet. Include a space where you’ll have to note the gifts each guest brings you. When wedding presents come in, make thank-you notes to ensure you don’t get behind. If you received any gifts before the wedding, write a thank you note in two weeks. If the present was given before or after the wedding, Give yourself one month.

Put a Stamp on It

It might seem obvious; however, it’s very difficult to remember If you’d like your wedding guests to send back their cards with a reply, make sure you include addressed (and with a stamp) envelopes. This way, they don’t have to cover the cost of postage. Traditionally the envelopes for return should be addressed to the person who is hosting the wedding. However, if your parents are technically hosting the wedding, you’re keeping track of the guests’ names, and you’re able to use the address of your choice instead. Tips: Rates can vary every now and then, so be sure to check before adding the stamps to ensure you have enough postage.

Do a Weigh-In

Although you’re probably eager to put your wedding invitations into the mail and cross another item off your to-do list, look at an example invitation (enclosures and the entire thing) in the mailroom before you help you with a lot of other tasks in the future. We’re sure you do not want to go through the frustration of having your invitations rejected due to insufficient postage. While in the mailroom, inquire whether you can cancel your invitations by hand. This is done by stamping that indicates that your mail is processed (instead of putting your invitations through the machine that processes ordinary mail, which can be bent or even damage the invites). Although hand-canceling isn’t a cost, check with your local post office to ensure that the mail is stamped by hand. Be aware that many post offices strive to keep mail from hand-canceled letters separate from regular mail. However, it’s not a 100% guarantee that your invitations won’t get through the machine. To ensure they don’t have to go through, you can pay an extra fee not machine-readable to process them by hand. It can guarantee that your mail is sorted manually.