Wedding Invitations - general guidelines

Selecting your invitations

1. Decide on a budget and be creative. There are beautiful expensive invitations,but equally there are also inexpensive but equally beautiful ones in the market.

2. Decide on awedding theme and color motif for your wedding. Your wedding invitations should suggest the theme or the color motif of your wedding.

3. Obviously you will need to prepare your guest list so that you will know how many invitations to order.

4. Choose a style that reflects your personality as well as the tone or style of the wedding you are planning.

5.Prepare well in advance. Begin as early as eight months before the wedding. This means that you will have plenty of time to perfect the wedding invitation wording, and should something goes wrong, you will have ample time to revise it and make sure that everything is to your satisfaction

6. Prior to you ordering your invitations, make certain that all of your wedding details such as the date, time and place of the ceremony and reception are already confirmed.

7. Consider asking help from professionals on the look and style of your invitation will help you pull your ideas together for a more beautiful outcome. Ultimately however your wedding invitations must be the way you want them , after all it is your wedding.

8. Regarding the wedding invitaion wording and etiquette, you will find articles in this section on wedding inviations wording and phrases.

9. Order more invitations than the amount that you really need. This will give you a few extras in case you miss anyone out.

10.When you have decided on your wedding invitation wording , give it to the printers in typewritten format so there is no problem with understanding it. It is also a good idea to get the printers to read the wording in your presence so that everyone is clear on what exactly is expected. When giving the shop your wording, it is best that you give it to them typewritten, so they can clearly read it.

11. Do it in such a style that there is at least a hint of your personality. Don’t be afraid to be creative, if your wedding budget permits it, and try to combine materials to achieve your own personal touch.

Wedding Invitations Etiquette

1. Where the ceremony and the reception are be held at different locations, you can enclose a reception card along with your invitation. The reception card should also be provided with an envelope and contain specific information about the reception.

2. Do not address envelopes as Mr. and Mrs. William Cooper and Family. This is not considered proper etiquette. The names of children under eighteen years old should be included in the invitation, while children over eighteen should be sent their own invitation.

3. You are able to use casual names such as “Uncle John and Aunt Jessie” or “Grandma” to relatives that are close to you, in addressing the inner envelope as this will show how much you mean to them, even if you are planning a formal event.

4. Mail your invitation six to eight weeks before your wedding date. If however, your wedding date is set on a holiday season or you are inviting a lot of guests that have to travel quite a distance, you should mail the invitations sooner to give them ample time to plan and make hotel reservations and organize their schedule.

5. Position the word “black tie” in the lower right hand corner of the invitation if you are planning for a formal wedding so that your guests can dress accordingly.

Don’ts when placing invitation wordings:

1. Don’t use nicknames. Always use the first, middle, and last name. Some people do not want their middle names included in the invitation; don’t use initials, simply do not include their middle names.

2. Don’t make abbreviations. Only “Mr.”, “Mrs.”, or “Dr.” can be abbreviated. All other titles should be written completely.

3. Don’t abbreviate dates, addresses and time.

4. Don’t write the word “and” as “&”.

Assembling your wedding invitations:

1. Place the invitation inside the large envelope along with its protective tissue and make certain that the invitation is facing you.

2. Place in the reception invitation on top of the invitation, also facing you.

3. Position the response card in, and leaning within the flap of the response envelope, which is facing down.

4. The last to go in are the directions or map which guides the guests.

5. When addressing the outer envelope, it is best that you use calligraphy.

These are only guideline and no longer is everything set in stone. It is your wedding and you have the right to determine just how you choose to have it, wedding invitations are no exception.

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