Wedding Thank You Note Etiquette
Thank you notes are perceived as being one of the last stops of the wedding train.
Wedding Invitation Kits: Why Use Them & How to Word Your Invite
Using a wedding invitation kit is a great idea if you are looking for a way to create a beautiful wedding invitation on a lower budget.
The Wedding Invitation: How to Pick the Perfect One
Wedding invitations are kind of a big deal in the world of wedding planning. Why?
Wedding Invitation Trends
You have seen them all come through your mailbox. The glitter filled ones, the polka dot print ones and the ones that come with a special treat.
Spotting Easy Invitation Kits
No one starts a search for invitation kits looking for a difficult or clumsy experience.
What to Look for in 2013
Here are a few wedding trends we’re looking forward to seeing more of in 2013!
Figuring Out Casual Wedding Invites
With wedding invites, couples often agonize over how they’ll say, “We’re getting married, want to come?
The Secret behind Inexpensive Wedding Invitations
It’s a complete myth that you can’t find quality elegant inexpensive wedding invitations for your upcoming nuptials that fit your style.
Getting the Wording Right: Formal Wedding Invites
More couples worry about the wording of their invitations than they do over any other detail of their wedding day.
Using Style and Design in Sophisticated Wedding Invitations
Set the Tone with Sophisticated Wedding Invitations
Sophisticated Wedding Invitations
Though backyard barbeques and events featuring mason jars are becoming more and more popular, there are still brides working to create weddings that highlight the finer things in life. If you really don’t want guests showing up to your high-class to-do, think about utilizing the services of sophisticated wedding invitations. Sophisticated wedding invitations will feature high-quality materials with simple designs and understated elegance. Sophisticated wedding invitations will often employ some of the more traditional elements of wedding invites, such as thin segments of tissue paper between the invitation and the RSVP, simple cream envelopes, and elevated wording.
While black and white dominate the aesthetic of many sophisticated wedding invitations, there are some modern twists to the classic design. Many sophisticated wedding invitations employ the use of bold blocked colors to make an elegant statement. Shop around and don’t think that you don’t have options for your sophisticated wedding invitations.
Your sophisticated wedding invitations will set the scene for your wedding, and they’ll let guests know what to expect before they arrive. Most guests look to the invite for clues to the formality of the event, so let your sophisticated wedding invitations lead the way with grace, simplicity, and understated beauty.
Invitation Tips, Dos, and Dont's
You shouldn’t send tiered invitations (B-listing) or hold a tiered reception (where certain guests are only invited to certain parts of the reception), but you should tier your first draft of your guest list. Who must be invited, and who can’t be invited without inviting three other people? Immediate family (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles) may be one tier while cousins and great aunts and uncles are another. Instead of cutting individuals (which can cause some family tension), try to cut your guest list off at a tier. Maybe you invite family but not friends – it all depends on what your guest max is. Invite all significant others
If one of your adult guests is in a relationship, you should invite the significant other. While some people may say that it’s okay to not invite someone who is only a “casual” boyfriend (or you should only invite couples together if they’re married), you begin to tread in dangerous waters when you start making those decisions and distinctions yourself. Your definition of a “serious” relationship may be different from someone else’s, and you don’t want to split up a couple who identifies as a unit in social situations. They may be offended, and you could end up with a “regretfully declines” from someone you really wanted there.
Decide about +1s nowIf you allow your single friends to bring guests, prepare for your guest list to grow significantly. You may alter who gets a +1 depending on various factors, such as how far your guest is traveling or if they’re attending with their families, but whatever you do, decide now what your plan is before you deliver any numbers to vendors or venues. You don’t want to quote 100 people to your venue when adding +1s would bump your guest list to 150. Be clear on your invites
The best way to guarantee a final guest list even close to the original number you intended is to be clear in your invitations. If you aren’t inviting children to your wedding, only write the names of the adults invited on the invite, and be sure to add “(2) seats reserved in your honor” to the RSVP. If someone RSVPs with more names than you intended, make a quick phone call to your guests to clarify who the invitation was for. Most people will understand, though you should be prepared for a few “regretfully declines” when you aren’t willing to invite everyone.
Keeping your Wedding Deadlines Straight
When you start your wedding planning, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with all the various deadlines. How long do you have to write a thank you note if someone sends you a gift six weeks before the big day? Is a year too early for a wedding website? Save-the-dates? Here’s a quick run-down on some of the more important wedding deadlines you don’t want to miss:
Your Wedding Website – 8-12 months before
A wedding website is a great way to organize the details of your wedding in a way that your guests can access and enjoy as soon as they get their save-the-dates. The website is where you’ll put details about local hotels, directions to venues, registries, and even your unique proposal story, so feel free to make one as soon as any of those details are nailed out. You can always add information as you progress in your planning and spend the extra time tweaking details.
Your Save-the-Dates – 6-8 months before
Save-the-Dates are for letting your guests know to make travel plans ahead of time. If you’re having an entirely local wedding, don’t even worry about sending them. If not, it’s important to balance when you send them out. Your guests need to book hotels, find a way to get time off of work, and maybe even book an extended stay babysitter. If you’re planning a summer wedding (high traffic vacation time) or a Christmas/Thanksgiving date, send them out as early as eight to nine months ahead of time. Just don’t send them out so early that everyone tacks them up on their refrigerators and forgets about them.
It’s also important to note that you should have your guest list (mostly) finalized before you send them out. A save-the-date is as good as an invitation, and guests will be confused and potentially offended if they don’t “make the final cut” and receive an invite.
Your Registry – 6 months before
You can bump that registry deadline up if your circle is into engagement parties (as the point of a registry is to let everyone know what you want and need for gift giving occasions), but there really isn’t any reason to put together a registry until someone offers to throw you a shower. You don’t want your favorite items being discontinued way before your wedding date, especially if they’re part of a set and you end up with half a stemware set.
If you do end up setting up your registry early, avoid registering for sets of things and just throw some items on it that can be purchased singularly. You can always go back and add/remove items at your convenience.
Your Invitations – 8-10 weeks before
It’s important not to send your invitations out too soon, as you don’t want them collecting dust on a desk for three months. If you didn’t do save-the-dates, however, it’s equally important that you let your guests make plans well ahead of time. Be careful, though - any more notice than10 weeks and your guests are going to forget about their RSVP date.
Your RSVP cards, by the way, should carry a date of about two weeks or so before the wedding. Ask your caterer when they need the final headcount by, and give your guests a few days of a buffer zone; you want plenty of time to make a few calls to guests who missed the deadline.
Your Thank You Notes – within 2 months… within 2-3 weeks if it comes ahead of time
Get your thank you notes done as soon as you can – trust me! Any time between a month and two months after you return from your honeymoon is fine, but you can only help yourself by doing them as soon as you can. If you wait much longer than a couple of months, a note will just draw attention to the fact that it took this long to send a note.
If you receive a gift before your wedding date, you generally have a few weeks to send a note out, but don’t wait too long; your guests like to know that everything arrived in one piece.
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