Tips for choosing your wedding stationery

Choosing your Wedding Style and Theme

Make sure it reflects your personality & style – it can be influenced by the venue or your interests as a couple. Also choosing a colour palette which matches the rest of your décor and vibe you are going for, e.g. pastels for a softer, elegant look or deep, rich colours for a bolder statement.

Wording

Traditionally, the bride’s name goes before the groom’s and formal invites might use the full names for both sides, or you want to mix it up! The wording sets the tone of your wedding, whether its traditional or casual. Working with your stationer can help clear any confusion you might have!

Save the Dates

Get them out early! Save the dates are becoming very popular, giving your guests a date allows them to work around planning their holidays or any other event – This is also the first glimpse into what to expect on your big day! They tend to go out about 9 – 12 months before your big day, but if you are having a destination wedding, we’d say send them out 14 – 16 months before.

Keep it Simple

Make sure the text is legible – usually your stationer would be in charge of this but if you are handwriting any elements, make sure your guests can read it, after all they need to know where to go and how many seats have been reserved for them. If you are posting them out, considering hiring a calligrapher to make a real big impact for your guests.

Get the RSVPs back early

An RSVP card tends to be mailed with the main invitation, which should be sent around 12 weeks before the big day, with RSVPs due back at least 4 weeks before, giving your guests enough time to mail it back to you and you enough time to decide the table plan and make the last-minute finishing touches. Make it easier for your guests but including a stamped envelope with your address on it already so all they need to do is pop it in the post or have them online!

Count your households, not the guests

You don’t need an invitation for every guest, just every household – you don’t want to order too many invites when you may end up sending 2 to the same household – but always order a few extra, just in case of any extra numbers and for you to keep as well as one for the photographer!

Get your ‘on the day’ stationery sorted

Once you’ve sorted your invites, start looking into the rest of the stationery; your table plan, welcome signs, menus, place cards and table numbers. You can have these designed similar to your invites or slightly different, depending on your décor of the big day – You can even get menus with double up as place cards, as well as combining a welcome sign and an order of the day sign in one. A good rule of thumb is to have all this ticked off 3 months before the big day!