Basic Planning

Choosing the Perfect Wedding Date | Once you've made the decision to get married, you'll have another momentous decision to make: on what day should you tie the knot. While the decision is, of course, important for personal reasons, it will also have practical implications, as well. That means you should choose ...

Wedding Invitation Checklist | When you're planning a wedding, there may seem to be so many components, so many decisions to make, so many vendors to work with, that you'll feel overwhelmed. And, unfortunately, that's often when important elements are overlooked. One of the elements ...

Planning Your Guest List Before Purchasing Wedding Invitations | After you set the date and select the wedding party, your next important decision will be how many people to invite. Now at this early stage you won't know specific numbers, but you should be able to set a range, such as 200 to 250 guests or ...

Ordering Wedding Invitations | Ordering wedding invitations is an important part of your wedding planning. In fact, you should begin thinking about the style of invitations you want as soon as you begin setting a date and choosing locations. Below you'll find some guidelines ...

How To Choose Unique Wedding Invitations | Your wedding invitations may represent only a small portion of your overall wedding expenses (in comparison the reception represents more than 50%, on average), but if you want every element of your planning to be perfect then you're going to want to carefully ...

Budgeting Wedding Invitations | If you've already started planning your wedding, then you already know that it's going to be an expensive affair. The average wedding in the United States today costs more than $20,000 that's about what the average automobile costs! However, you have to remember ...

For Wedding Invitations, Why is Embossed More Expensive than Flat? | There are numerous types of invitations to choose for your special wedding day. Aside from design and detail, the method used to create each invitation is entirely unique. Before you start looking at invitation types, it is wise to settle upon a budget regarding your wedding stationery. Create Your Budget - As with all other aspects of your wedding, creating ...

Paper Choices For Wedding Invitations | As you are choosing your wedding invitations, one of the most important decisions has to do with the paper you choose. Although your decisions are going to be guided by whether you are choosing traditional or contemporary invitations, you'll still have plenty of choices ...

Wedding Stationery | Wedding stationery is an umbrella term used to cover all of the printed materials you'll need for your wedding. While not a significant part of your wedding budget, your wedding stationery is important and should not be forgotten when you are determining how much to ...

Keeping Up the Consistency in Your Wedding Stationery | As you probably already know, your wedding stationery consists of more than just your invitations. Wedding stationery refers to the invitations, reception cards, response cards, save-the-date cards, thank you cards, wedding programs, and ...

Personalized Wedding Invitations | When you are choosing invitations for your wedding, you want something that says “this is who we are” not “we're just like every other couple who has ever been married.” One of the easiest ways to personalize your invitations and to make them your own ...

Custom Made Wedding Invitations | All couples want every aspect of their wedding to be unique, including their invitations. However, when you go to a commercial printer, your chance of having completely unique invitations is not likely. You'll probably end up choosing from a selected number ...

Choosing Fonts for Wedding Invitations | When you begin making choices about your invitations, you'll probably first be thinking about the design, the paper color, the ink color, etc. Chances are the one thing you won't give much consideration to is the font ...

Common Mistakes in Wedding Invitations | Like every element of your wedding, you want your wedding invitations to be perfect. Unfortunately, mistakes do happen. The good news is that common wedding invitation mistakes can be prevented, especially if you know what's most likely to ...

The Do’s and Don’ts of Wedding Invitations | When you're planning your invitations, there are some things you should definitely do and some things you should definitely not do. Here are some tips to help you avoid making ...

Why Paper Wedding Invitations Still Win Over E-Wedding Invitations | Modern times call for modern measures. These days the email trumps the handwritten letter by far. It’s a matter of convenience, it’s forward thinking, it’s easy. In fact, these days, many young ones don’t even know what a mail box is. For them it’s an obsolete relic, a play thing even. Yet, even ...

The Debate & The Questionaire

Should My Wedding Invitations Be E-Wedding Invitations? | Today, most of us check our e-mail at least once a day and wouldn't know how to stay up-to-date with the fast paced world without our computers. Our dependence on the convenience of the Internet and technology might make it seem obvious ...

Should My Wedding Invitations Be On CD? | All couples want their wedding to be something unique. Maybe they choose to have the wedding inside a cave or in a hot air balloon. Maybe they choose to dress up in Halloween costumes instead of dresses and tuxedos during the ...

Should You Order Wedding Invitation Samples? | When you’re shopping around for wedding invitations, you’ll probably be confronted with the decision of whether to buy invitation samples. If you’re already on a tight budget, you may be debating whether or not the extra cost is worth it. Let’s look at a few points that might help you make that decision ...

Do Your Wedding Invitations Need the Touch of a Professional Printer? | When you’re looking at the costs of planning your wedding, those estimates from professional printers may seem to eat up an enormous chunk of funds that might be better spent on catering, wedding attire, even the honeymoon. However, before you decide to ditch the professional printer altogether you should keep a few things in mind ...

Should My Wedding Invitations Include Photographs? | One of the latest trends in wedding invitations are the photo-invitations. This style of invitation includes photographs of the couple, along with the rest of the necessary information. The photographs are usually similar in style to those found in engagement ...

White Or Ivory Wedding Invitations, Which One To Choose? | If you’re choosing very traditional style wedding invitations, then you’ll need to decide whether they should be white or ivory as these are the two most common options with formal ...

Is It Necessary To Have Bilingual Wedding Invitations? | As the world becomes more connected thanks to the Internet and the global marketplace and as countries become more diverse, our wedding ceremonies are becoming more likely to stray into other cultures. For example, some couples have opted ...

The Pros and Cons of Websites Advertising Free Wedding Announcements | “Free” is a word that fits into any budget – and companies know how enticing this motivational word can be. Often faced with no other option, young couples take advantage of an offer, only to learn that it is nothing like it appears to be. “Free,” a loosely translated word, suddenly takes on a different meaning ...

Creativity, Uniqueness, Finishing Touch, & Other Ideas

Addressing Wedding Invitation Envelopes | While choosing the wording for the invitations may be the more challenging, you should still use care when addressing the invitation envelopes. After all, the way the envelopes are addressed is going to give your potential ...

Feng Shui Your Wedding Invitations | Feng Shui is a very ancient practice that developed in China centuries ago. The underlying idea of feng shui is that the arrangement of items around a person can influence their success in life. The ideal arrangements allows the Qi (the flow of energy) to move ...

Choosing the Right Embellishments for Your Wedding Invitations | Whether your invitations are formal or informal, you're probably not going to send them out without adding a little flair. One of the most common wedding invitation embellishments is a satin ribbon, usually chosen to match the wedding colors ...

Graphic Designer & Calligrapher Tips

Choosing a Professional Graphic Designer for Your Invitations | Couples who want something truly unique for their wedding invitations may want to consider enlisting the assistance of a graphic designer. However, before you reach that point, you need to understand how to choose that ...

Hire a Calligrapher for Your Wedding Invitations | When your invitations are printed and ready to mail, you'll be facing another task – addressing the inner and outer envelopes. Some couples choose to handle this task on their own, especially if their budget is tight. However, other couples love the idea of having ...

Wedding Invitations Knowledge, Test Your Wedding Invitation Skills

General Wedding Invitations Knowledge, Basic Level | At this point, wedding invitations may not seem like the most important part of planning your ceremony and reception but without them you won’t have many guests arriving to share your special day with you. But how much do you already know about ...

General Wedding Invitations Knowledge, Advanced Level | When you think about saying “I do,” you probably don’t imagine an empty church behind you or rows of empty chairs. Without wedding invitations, that’s exactly the scenario you can expect. However, wedding invitations are more complex than you might ...

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Important Considerations in Planning Wedding Invitations

Planning your wedding inevitably means you must choose and send appropriate wedding invitations. Incorporate these planning tips to help you choose your perfect wedding invitation – and ensure that it arrives to your guests on time.

Choosing Wedding Invitations

You will soon find out that choosing wedding invitations isn’t a simple process. If you already have a color scheme in mind, this will help narrow down your search to incorporate your colors. If you have a signature flower, keep this in mind, as you may see wedding invitations with an embossed rose, for example, and decide those are perfect.

If the only information you have is that your wedding will be formal, or it will be casual with a tropical theme, then make sure the wedding invitations echo that tone. For example, for a formal wedding, you might choose wedding invitations printed on linen or parchment paper for an elegant feel. If you want to modernize your formal wedding invitations, choose a bold ink color like dark purple or blue. If you’ll have a breezy, tropical wedding, then your wedding invitations might be the color of the ocean with a seashell motif, or light blue with coral accents.

Ordering Wedding Invitations

Once you’ve chosen your wedding invitations, whether they are custom wedding invitations or print your own, there are still decision left. For instance, along with wedding invitations, you will need to order response cards with envelopes and thank you cards. You might also want to order additional enclosures like reception cards, wedding programs, menu cards, place cards, and pew cards.

In general, these additions should coordinate with your wedding invitations in style, material, color scheme, and tone. Ordering these items with your wedding invitations ensures everything reaches you at the same time and has a uniform look.

Addressing Wedding Invitations

Hopefully, it is at least nine or ten weeks prior to your wedding, and you’ve just received your completed wedding invitations and stationery. You have checked everything over to make sure the wedding invitation information was printed correctly and names are spelled correctly. Since the goal is to have the wedding invitations in the mail six to eight weeks prior to your wedding, give yourself a two week cushion to ease the pressure.

It is customary to hand address each wedding invitation, instead of using computer-generated labels. Weddings are intimate, personal affairs that warrant equally personal wedding invitations. It is acceptable, however, to hire a calligrapher to hand address your wedding invitations, particularly for a formal or semi-formal wedding. This ensures a beautiful yet legible finish, but retains the personal touch. If you have difficulty writing legibly but are having a casual wedding, you could still hire a calligrapher, but ask her to write in a less formal style.

With a little planning and some extra decision time, as well as making sure you order your wedding invitation package well in advance of the big day, you will have your wedding invitations in the mail on time – and will beautifully walk down the aisle to a full house.

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Popular Wedding Invitation Designs

Wedding invitations are available to suit every whim and desire of the happy couple. The sheer number of wedding invitation choices, however, can be overwhelming and actually make the decision more difficult. Following is an analysis of today’s most popular wedding invitation choices.

Popular Wedding Invitation Designs

For a timeless wedding invitation, you could select a single panel with the wedding invitation information printed on the front. These wedding invitations are simple, elegant, and can be accented with a sheer overlay and a satin bow.

If religion plays a large role in your life, you might want to choose wedding invitations that reflect your beliefs. For example, the wedding invitations might feature a cross or an open Bible to denote a Christian ceremony.

For a more contemporary wedding invitation, your choices are almost limitless. You could choose a square instead of a rectangle, a tri-fold or greeting card style instead of a single pane, and incorporate any color or pattern you can conjure. You could choose, for example, turquoise wedding invitations with a light turquoise wave pattern on the front for your destination wedding in Hawaii.

Some couples want a romantic wedding invitation to symbolize their upcoming marriage. These wedding invitations might feature two hearts entwined in the background, a border of tiny hearts, or your invitation information contained inside a heart. Another romantic theme is a floral wedding invitation. If roses are your signature flower, you might choose wedding invitations featuring a bouquet of roses or a rose border.

Popular Wedding Invitation Paper and Ink Choices

Most often, wedding invitations are available only on a specific paper, meaning if you select a wedding invitation, you won’t need to worry about paper choice. If you do get a choice, such as cotton, recycled, linen or parchment, keep in mind the type of wedding you’re having. If it’s formal, you should choose linen or parchment, while a more casual affair warrants cotton or recycled paper. Vellum makes an attractive overlay and can be used for formal or casual weddings.

You will almost always have a few ink color options, with black and dark gray ink being the two most traditional and common. For formal weddings, you could consider a metallic ink like silver, copper or gold for a bit of elegant shimmer. Casual wedding invitations could incorporate one of the wedding colors, such as dark red or blue, as long as the color shows up well on the paper.

Popular Wedding Invitation Enclosures

In all but the most rare circumstances – usually an ultra-casual or very intimate wedding – response cards are enclosed with the wedding invitations. Typically you also include a self-addressed stamped envelope to accompany the response cards, making it simple for guests to RSVP. Another common enclosure is accommodation cards for guests traveling to your wedding. These often include hotel suggestions or the name of a hotel you reserved a room block or a have discount with, as well as a local map with important locations highlighted. Some brides also list airline details and local tourist destinations.

Once you decide what style best suits you and your upcoming wedding, choosing the right wedding invitation will not only enhance your wedding, but will serve as a lasting keepsake.