Organise Your Wedding Stationery

The wedding stationery is one of the major parts of forming your wedding style. Wedding invitations are the guests first glimpse into your wedding and what to expect, so ensure you select something that reflects the rest of your wedding style.

These days there are so many different types and styles of invitations and wedding stationery to select from so take a look in a variety of wedding magazines and online to get some inspiration. Why not start by having a look at the Lissylane Pinterest of Inspirational Images, there may be that special something that you have been looking for.

Remember when deciding on your wedding stationery that the style you pick will not only be for the invitation but the RSVP card (if you chose to have one), gift registry / wishing well information card, map and directions card, other information card, thank you card and place cards for the reception tables. You may also like to follow through with this same style for your order of service booklet if you decide to have one for your ceremony.

Use a Wedding Stationery Supplier or DIY 

When selecting your wedding stationery you should decide if you are going to DIY or buy them pre-made from a supplier. You can also buy kits for DIY invitations and stationery which can be helpful and save you trying to find the craft supplies and quantities needed. However you may find it more cost effective to find the materials from a range of suppliers, whatever you decide make sure it is right for you.

I do suggest if you have a significant quantity of invitations and related stationery to make that you give great thought to the required time to complete them yourself. Sometimes paying for a professional to complete a job such as the wedding invitations can be worth the stress and time saved, especially when you have a great deal of other things on your plate.

Wedding Stationery Styles

The wedding stationery should reflect the style of wedding you are having, for example there are invitations that are lacy and pretty for a Victorian or Vintage style wedding. Perhaps you are having a theme such as a beach wedding; there are many options for stationery that will fit this style that include shells, sand and the ocean, etc. An elegant, bold pattern for a formal wedding style or a simple invitation for a casual wedding.

As I said this is the guests first glimpse of your wedding style, so try to match to your existing choices. Whether it is simply by using the wedding colours or the overall entire design of the stationery, bring out a taste of your wedding to get your guests excited and wanting more.

You may have to consider your budget if you have a great deal of invitations needed, this may restrict you from some additional embellishments on your wedding invitations as sometimes these can cost $3.00 or more each. Every little part of the invitation will add up financially so when considering style also be sure to remember the cost and budget.

Even the font is extremely important and can send a message to your guests, it can represent a formal or casual gathering just by its shape and detail. There are many fonts to select from and often can be found for free online to download if you do not have many in your existing software. It pays to take a look at friends and family members wedding invitations and ask why font they used. As there are so many it can be quite difficult narrowing the options down to your favourite.

Wedding Invitation Size – What is best for your wedding?

You may be wondering what difference it makes. Well the size of your wedding invitation will actually affect the cost to post it to your guests and therefore is something that should definitely be considered when sticking to a budget. It also can affect the cost of materials if you are planning to DIY all of the wedding stationery.

Certain sizes may mean more materials are needed in some areas, eg. ribbon and lace and which way it runs on an invitation (horizontal or vertical), or depending how you make the invitation you may have left over card stock for use on other parts of the stationery such as thank you cards. To help explain further think about an A4 piece of card stock, this will make one DL folded invitation with one third of the A4 piece of card (DL size) left over for use on something else.

Decide on Your Wedding Gift Registry / List or Wishing Well

Deciding on having a wedding gift registry/list or some form of a wishing well should happen prior to sending out your invitations. You should include as an extra in your wedding invitations information about gifts. One of the most asked questions from guests to the parents of the bride and groom is “what gifts do the couple want?”

To help your guests when trying to find the perfect wedding gift for the bride and groom it is a nice idea to either create a gift register with a department store or even just a personalised website listing gift options/suggestions.

There are of course couples that are at a different stage of life and it is not uncommon in this day and age for a couple to have lived with each other outside of marriage and even own a house together, therefore having all the household items required.

This may be where a wishing well is the perfect gift option for your wedding. Some brides and grooms also decide to do something similar to a gift registry but with a travel agent, where guests can donate to a fund for their honeymoon.

Extras to Include with Your Wedding Invitation

As mentioned previously there is not just the wedding invitation to consider when selecting stationery. There are some extras that you may decide to include with the invitation such as an RSVP card (and envelope), gift registry / wishing well card, map and directions card or other information card. Here is some more information about some of these options:

RSVP Card (and envelope)

RSVP cards can sometimes be considered a waste of money. It is a sad fact that no matter how hard you try there will always be some guests that do not reply to your wedding invitation for one reason or another. However, some brides feel that including an RSVP card can make it easier for their guests to respond and by doing so they will get a higher response rate than those that chose to not include one. Some brides even go as far as including a pre-paid, self addressed envelope just to ensure their guests respond (which of course is another cost to the couple on top of the postage for the wedding invitations).

Gift Registry / Wishing Well Card

The store in which you have a gift registry with will often have a card to include with your wedding invitation explaining to your guests how it works and where they go to select your wedding present. If you have decided that a monetary gift is better suited, then a wishing well card or information about a honeymoon fund that guests can contribute to in lew of a gift maybe the perfect option. There are little poems that explain the wishing well in a nice way that are often used for the wishing well card.

Map & Directions Card

No matter how simple you may think it is to find your wedding ceremony and reception venues, it is always a good idea to include a map and directions card for your guests. This will save having multiple people ask how to get to the venue and will hopefully eliminate guests getting lost on the day. It is also courteous for out of town guests that may not know the area all that well.

Other Information Card

This is useful to include details for overseas guests such as local attractions, accommodation options, important phone numbers, etc. It also explains in detail the extras that you do not want to include on the formal wedding invitation but guests need to know such as the wedding dress code. Maybe you are having something special at your wedding that requires the guests to prepare for, this can be included here as well.

Finalise the Wedding Guest List and Send Your Wedding Invitations

The time has come for you to finalise your preliminary guest list and ensure that everyone you want attending your wedding is included, and there are no people on the list that you do not want attending. One thing you should do is ensure that everyone who received a Save the Date will receive an invitation. It is bad etiquette to have told them about your wedding via a save the date then not send a formal invitation.

Depending on when and where you are having your wedding will depend how soon you send your invitations out. However, a general guide is anywhere from 6 (six) to 8 (eight) weeks prior to the wedding day. You may like to extend this if you are getting married overseas and likewise if you have guests living overseas travelling to your wedding. This will give your guests plenty of time to respond and RSVP officially.

Regardless of including an RSVP card or not, you will in most cases always have some people that you will have to chase up. After your RSVP date it is fine to call these guests that have not responded so you can finalise your numbers for the wedding. Ensure to give yourself approximately 3 (three) weeks before the wedding as a final time frame for knowing every-one’s response. There may be small alterations of the final count at the last minute, all wedding reception venues will understand. However do your best to always give your venue the closest possible number to save paying for empty seats on your big day.

Second Round of Wedding Invitations

This can come across as rude, however I have seen it done at many wedding. Sending out a “second round” of wedding invitations is an idea that is used if you have an extremely large amount of people to invite to your wedding and have therefore left off some people that under normal circumstances you would love to attend your wedding. This may have been because you were restricted in one way or another, such as budget or venue size.

Generally if you plan to do this you would set yourself a date that allows the “second round” to RSVP in plenty of time. Usually the best way to do this is sending out “round one” earlier than normal and therefore having an earlier RSVP date allowing plenty of time for the “round two” set of invites to be sent out. If you receive RSVPs in “round one” declining attendance at your wedding then this allows room at your venue to invite others in their place.

The only reason that this can be considered rude is if perhaps the “round two” guests find out they were not on the original guest list. If you decide to do this you should be extremely tactful and try to make it not so obvious when staggering sending out invitations. If your guests know each other, and in most cases they will, you will find that they will talk about your wedding when they receive your invitation in the mail. So tread carefully when sending out invitations in rounds.