A wedding invitation will give your guests the first glimpse into your big day and all its exciting details. It allows you and your other half to be as creative as you want, so it’s best not to skimp on this preview of the most important day of your lives.
Linda Curtis Kelly is the owner of Loving Invitations, a beautiful stationery boutique that designs invitations for hundreds of couples each year. We are delighted to have expert advice from Linda as part of our Wedding Tips Tuesday series.
She has compiled a list of her top tips to help guide you through the process of sending your invitations – minus any glitches.
Start Early
After ordering, it can take a few weeks for the invitations to be printed. Make sure you allow enough time to receive the invitations and mail them out. This should be done six to eight months before the wedding.
I would definitely recommend posting your invitations eight to ten weeks before your wedding date and giving a strict RSVP date of four weeks before your big day. This gives guests a chance to plan ahead and book time off work if needed. It will also reduce any last minute stress in relation to your final guest count and seating plan.
Wording – Get It Write
When you have picked your perfect invitation, next comes choosing the correct wording and invite etiquette. There are two questions you need to ask yourself before deciding on the wording of your invitation.
- Is your wedding going to be a formal, more traditional day or a more relaxed affair?
- Who is hosting or paying for the wedding – is it you and your partner or are your parents helping out with the final bill? If your folks are giving a generous helping hand, they may want to be mentioned on the invite. Let them see a draft before printing – it will save a lot of heartache in the long run!
Count Carefully
Be sure to count addresses — not invited guests!
Remember, many guests are invited as couples or as a family. If you have a total of 150 invited guests, you may only need 100 invitations. Add approximately 10% for extras such as last minute guest-list additions. If you have to reprint additional invitations after the order is completed, the printing company may treat this as a new order and it can be very costly and you may be waiting some time for those five extra invites. It is always safer (and much less expensive) to have a few left over!
Develop A Secret Code For Replies
Some people are so excited to send their reply card back that they forget to write their name!!
Or in some cases, their writing is illegible. A great fix is to number your reply cards so that when someone replies with no name you’ll know who it is. The most discreet way to do this is to write a small number in pencil on the back of the RSVP card and keep a corresponding list of guest names and numbers so you can check them off as you receive them. You will be surprised at how many guests forget to write their own names!
Double-Check The Postage
Buy the proper postage — this is one area where you should not cut costs!
If sending your invite abroad, check with your local post office for the correct stamps. Be careful with addresses too! Light colors and elaborate calligraphy can interfere with mailing. Run a test mail by posting an invitation to yourself before sending the majority bulk. This will confirm the envelope writing is readable.
– By Linda Curtis Kelly
Visit www.lovinginvitations.ie to see Linda’s wedding stationery designs.
