Telling the World: Your Wedding Invitations

You’ve set the date and picked your dress but now it’s time to tell all your family and friends the details of your special day. To do that you need your invitations. These days, invitations run the gamut from the classic embossed invite to the super chic scroll. But what’s the perfect fit for your and your wedding theme? This is where your chosen stationer will be an invaluable help to you.

With so many options and terms, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Do your homework before you head to your stationer. Try to find colours and examples of the feel you want for your invitations for your stationer. Your invitations tell your guests what type of wedding you are having. You don’t want an extremely formal invitation for a backyard BBQ or vice versa. Do you want embossing (a printing technique the forms the letters and images with a raised “relief” surface) or would you prefer off-set printing (“flat” printing used on everyday flyers, letterhead, etc)? Embossing will generally cost more and you are usually limited to one type and colour of ink, but is a great detail for a more formal wedding, whereas off-set printing is more casual with a lot more colour and price options.

The company you choose for your wedding stationary should be able to give you exactly what you want to help reflect the feel and theme for your wedding day. Don’t forget about thank-you cards, programs, placecards for your table settings and all the other stationary that goes along with your wedding day.

If you’re the crafty type, there are also a lot of do-it-yourself kits out there. Head out to places like Michaels or even Staples and you will see a lot of wedding invitation kits that you can print right at home. Keep in mind that these do-it-yourself kits might not look as professional as a stationers’ will, but they can be a great fit for the couple on a tight budget or the wedding that promises to be a small and intimate affair.

To get ideas for wording your invitations, click here.

Electronic invites are becoming increasingly popular. For the eco-conscious bride, this helps save on paper and the environment. For the modern bride, this is a great way to invite your family and friends to your special day in a trendy and chic way. E-vites can also save you a lot on postage, depending on the avenue you choose. E-vites can be DVD invites you send out – these can include a slideshow of your favourite pics of the two of you, a brief re-enactment of how you met – you have unlimited options. Another e-vite is to send out an email version of your invitations, which can also include a picture of the happy couple and all the information your guests will need. A lot of people are also doing responses via email or a save-the-date webpage, where your guests can reply to your invitation and write a little note to the happy couple.

Often it is the small choices and details that will influence the overall look of your wedding invitations. For example; if you choose a smaller typeface or font (the style and appearance of the overall letters) it will give your invitations a more modern feel. Try to avoid too much clutter on your invites, keep them clean. There’s no limit on the materials that can be used; things like vellum paper (made from a cotton blend with a translucent, frosted appearance and a smooth finish) to metallic papers, to ribbons and coloured envelopes. You are limited only by your imagination…and your budget!

Thank You Cards: A Small Gesture That Means A Lot

Your wedding. You thought the day would never come, that the rollercoaster of parties and planning would never end. But, now your wedding is over and you’ve come back from the honeymoon, it’s time to express your gratitude and appreciation for your guests’ and for their wonderful wedding gifts. You may think that the task seems daunting, especially if you’ve had a large wedding, but it is a necessary step. Plus, the experience of reflecting on the gifts – both material and spiritual – that your family and friends have given you is a wonderful way to bring your wedding adventure to an end.

Thank you cards don’t have to be novels, but each card should convey your sincere gratitude for their generous gifts and attendance at your wedding. Here are a few pieces of advice that can help make the process of writing and mailing thank you cards a lot less stressful:

1. Make sure that you have everyone’s correct mailing address. Some people may have moved since you sent your initial wedding invitations. An easy method to ensure that you have everyone’s correct mailing address is to set up a simple box to the side during the wedding dinner (with pens and individual sized papers). Ask your master of ceremonies to inform guests to write down their name and mailing address and place it in box if they have moved since you sent your wedding invitations. This gesture will be welcomed and appreciated by your guests as it shows that you genuinely appreciate their support of your wedding.

2. At your gift opening, appoint someone to be responsible for writing a log of who has given each gift. This is not something you should do yourself, nor is it something that you should count on yourself to remember.

3. Once you have a log of all the gifts you have received, put that information into an Excel spreadsheet. Excel is extremely useful and can help simplify many tasks. An Excel spreadsheet containing the contact information of your guests should be maintained throughout the entire wedding planning process. By keeping an organized list of your guests, you can easily keep track of their contact information, current mailing address, RSVP, and the gift they gave you (this is essential as you can then mention how useful or how much you love their gift in your thank you cards and address their gift specifically).

4. Many times, guests that won’t be able to attend your wedding will still send you a gift to show their joy and support for you and your big day. It’s important to remember to thank these guests as well.

Once again, thank you cards don’t have to be too long. They just need to contain a few sincere and simple words that will express how grateful you are. The card should address the person or people that gave you the gift, mention the specific gift that they gave you, and perhaps how useful the gift is to you.

Thank You Cards: One Of A Kind Keepsakes

Thank you cards give you a wonderful opportunity to share your favourite wedding or couple photos. Say thank you with a personalized image of the two of you at your wedding, or in a more casual setting. A card with your picture can be a beautiful keepsake for family, and an inexpensive wedding favour for friends and acquaintances.

Go big with a corner to corner couple’s collage, or keep it subtle with a small picture of the two of you. Either way – your smiling faces will add a personal touch to a classic wedding tradition.

Another way to personalize your thank you cards is to consider using different materials. Handwriting on one-of-a-kind postcards or crafting your own card from recycled paper are lovely, although time consuming, methods to show appreciation to your guests.