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You should give high priority to ordering your stationery as soon as you have confirmed your ceremony and reception locations. Ordering early gives you a buffer should anything go wrong or your order be delayed because the printer is suddenly very busy.
When you are ready to think about stationery, plan to spend a couple days just learning about what is available. If you enjoy searching on the internet you can start there. There are sites that offer all sorts of wedding invitations in many styles and colors. You can even order online, making your task easy.
If you do not like using the internet or in addition to looking on the internet you can visit a library or bookstore and browse through wedding magazines to get a good idea of what is available. Most stationery shops will have books of invitations and other stationery that you can browse. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time as looking through books can be very time consuming.
Your wedding stationery should reflect your wedding theme. Formal weddings should have formal invitations; theme weddings can have invitations that reflect the theme. You may also choose to include your wedding colors in your invitations.
If you need to save money, you can make the invitations yourself. There are templates you can download from the internet where all you need to do is fill them in and print them on special paper that is available at many paper and office supply stores. If you are artistically inclined you can make your invitations from scratch. I have seen beautiful invitations made from specialty papers and then stamped with rubber stamps. The stamped impressions can then be enhanced with paint and glitter.
Looking at samples will give you ideas about words as well as style. When you find something you like, write it down or if you feel creative, write your word completely from scratch. More formal weddings should follow traditional wedding invitation etiquette. You will find plenty of examples for formal invitations in all the sources mentioned above. For less formal weddings you can be much more creative and word your invitations pretty much any way you want to. Just be sure the invitation is clear so your guests know exactly where the wedding and ceremony locations are and the correct date and time for the wedding. Also be sure it is clear if they are invited to both ceremony and reception or to the ceremony only.
While looking at samples, you will also find a wide variety of papers and fonts to choose from. It is a good idea to choose your paper first. Paper is available in every imaginable color so one possibility is to match your stationery colors to your wedding colors. Once you have selected the paper and color of paper you can select a font and ink color that will match and enhance the paper.
Traditionally, wedding invitations are delivered with two envelopes, the outer one being larger and heavier with the smaller envelope containing the actual invitation. Many couples still follow the double envelope tradition. If you are a free spirit who does not mind, or even enjoys breaking tradition, you may choose to use a single envelope for your wedding invitations and save the money it would have cost you to purchase them.
When selecting your wedding stationery, there are a number of items to consider in addition to your invitations. Including a reception card with the invitation is one way to make it clear your guest is invited to both the ceremony and to the reception. The reception card should include the invitation to the reception and also the address of the reception along with directions for how to get there.
It's important for you to know how many guests are coming to your reception. Including a reply or RSVP card with your invitation gives your guests an easy way to let you know. Be sure to include a place where they can check if they are coming or not and how many guests will be in the party. You can also include an addressed reply envelope to make it even easier for them to reply.
If you are planning a very large wedding you may want to use pew cards. Pew cards are often used when you want to seat close friends and relatives in reserved sections, usually designated by ribbons. The pew card is mailed after the guests have accepted the invitation and is handed to the usher who seats them. The pew card should include the guest's name, which side they are to be listed on (Bride's or Groom's) and the pew number. Of course, pew cards can be adapted to ceremony locations other than places of worship by simply changing the word pew to row.
If you are planning an outdoor wedding, you may want to have an alternate location available in case of rain. It could be a friend's house or a restaurant meeting room that you know is usually not busy at that time of day. If so, the best way to let your guests know the alternate arrangements is by including a rain card with the invitation.
Other stationery items you may like to have are announcements that can be sent to people you are not inviting to the wedding, at home cards that are included with your invitations to announce your new address and when you will be moving there, thank you notes to send to everyone who helped make your wedding a success and to everyone whoave you a gift, and wedding programs.
Wedding programs are great keepsakes for your guests, and they serve a practical purpose as well. They show the order of your service and songs, introduce the participants in the wedding, and thank your guests for celebrating with you. A wedding program is a perfect place to thank each of your attendants with a short statement about why each is important to you. Some wedding programs include the entire spoken ceremony, including the officiant's address, any statements and the vows. If your ceremony will include any unusual traditions or rituals, the wedding program is an excellent place to describe and explain them.
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Source by Kathy A. Miller
