Your stationery can be just as important as the wedding venue, your beautiful dress, or even the floral decor. Your stationery is your guests first glimpse into what to expect at your wedding. Your paper goods can introduce a theme, colors, or even just an overall feel of what your wedding will be like. You want your guests to be excited and intrigued about you wedding and your stationery is a great way to do that.
Lets start with Save the Dates
You should send out save the dates when your wedding is either a destination wedding or if your wedding is at a peak travel time like during summer months or near a holiday. They should be sent out anywhere between 12 and 6 months of the wedding. If you are having a destination wedding and the location is particularly pricey to get to you should give your guest ample time to plan for the expense. Use your discretion to judge when you should send your save the dates and know that your guests will be excited to see a peek at what to expect at your wedding.
The Wedding Invitation
Your wedding invitation is where your guest get all the details of the wedding weekend. You will obviously want to include wedding and reception locations, hotels for out of town guests, and maps so they know where to go but what else should you include? How about things to do in the area or landmarks that shouldn’t be missed for out of town guests. Are you inviting all of your guests to the rehearsal dinner? What about an after party? Are you planning a after wedding brunch on Sunday? If so, you could include this information on a card titled Other Events or you could send out separate invitations depending on your wedding style. Wedding invitation should be sent out two to four months in advance. Again, if it is a destination wedding, consider giving your guests ample time to make their travel arrangements. If it is a local wedding two months is just the right amount of time. People can put it on the calendar and they won’t forget about your wedding.
Give Thanks
Thank you cards are a must for all weddings. Ladies, please hand write your thank you cards and hand address them as well. Even if you handwriting isn’t perfect. Your guests will know that you took a few moments out of this busy time to say a special thank you for the gift and it really does mean a lot. Order these when you order your wedding invitations so that as you receive gifts you can quickly mail out a thank you note. You should mail them out with in ten days of receiving a gift, including showers. Wedding thank you cards should go out within two weeks of your return of the honeymoon.
Wedding Day Paper
On your wedding day you will need all kinds of beautiful paper. Programs are a given. Place cards, table numbers, menus, food labels if you are doing a buffet style dinner or hors d’œuvres, favor tags, signs to direct traffic… really I could go on and on. These paper items really are part of the details that pull the whole wedding together. These should be ordered one to two months before the wedding. Many companies charge a rush fee so plan and order ahead to keep from incurring additional charges.
Announcemets
Typically you send out wedding announcements to those people you want to notify of your wedding but that you weren’t able to invite. Let’s say you are off budget and you decide to edit the guest list to stay on track. You obviously wanted those people to attend but just couldn’t make it work or you decided to have a very small wedding and want to notify extended friends and family of your nuptials. These are examples of when you might want to send out announcements. These are not required but are nice to do if you can. You should order these with your invitations and your stationer can design these to read as an announcement rather than a invitation.
Wow! I know that is a lot of information but hopefully I have answered some of the questions you have about your wedding stationery. If I haven’t please feel free to give us a call or send us an email and we will get your questions answered!