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Making Inviting
Invitations
The invitation is the first indication to your
guests of the style and formality of your wedding.
Take the time to infuse your personalities so those
that may not know both of you can get a feel for
what to expect at your event. Adding a photo can be
a nice touch especially if many of your guests have
never met one or the other of you.
There are many ways of wording your invitation.
Google ‘wedding invitation wording’ for links to
many current samples of wording based on your
specific situation.
DON’T ABBREVIATE.
Traditionally, invitation wording is written out
including dates and times. More formal invitations
write out the year as well, but often the year is
not necessary as the wedding is usually only 4-6
weeks from receipt of invitation.
BE
CLEAR.
Ensure guests
will understand what kind of event to expect and how
they should dress. Be sure all addresses and times
are complete and easy for anyone to understand. To
keep your invitation attractive and brief, you may
want to add separate inserts to your envelope like
maps for directions and accommodation information.
PROVIDE RSVP INFO.
Response cards are rarely used these days. Guests
don’t return them and it doubles your postage
costs. An easier way to get an RSVP is to set up a
‘free’ email address (i.e. hotmail or yahoo)
specifically for this purpose. Also include a phone
number for those that do not have email. Follow-up
1-2 weeks before your wedding to those that haven’t
responded so you have accurate numbers to
accommodate.
GET
A RELIABLE PROOFREADER.
The designer cannot proof their own work. Make
sure, dates, names, numbers are all accurate. Have
more than one proofreader. The more the merrier.
STANDARDIZE FONT.
Don’t get too creative with your fonts. Pick one,
two at most that are readable for all ages.
MAIL MERGE LABELS.
Hand addressing and calligraphy is traditional, but
may not be the neatest. Calligraphy is very labour
intensive and expensive to hire. It leaves a lot of
room for error and spoilage (need lots of extra
envelopes). Labels are not foolproof, but they are
faster. Put your return address label on the back
flap of your envelope so the front is nice and
clean.
GIVE YOURSELF ENOUGH TIME.
Making your invitation is not the easiest and not
even necessarily the cheapest. They can be quite
expensive if you add a lot of detail. They
definitely have the potential to be the most labour
intensive. Start at least 3-4 months before your
wedding. Invitations should be mailed 4-6 weeks
before the wedding.
GET
HELP.
Enlist your wedding party and friends to help with
the assembly. Many hands will make light work which
could be a daunting task to do on your own.
MAKE ENOUGH.
Be sure to have enough materials to make invitations
for all your guests, wedding party, parents, and
yourself. You’ll want some for mementos and you
need to allow for mistakes. It’s good to have a
few extra for some last minute invitations that you
might have forgotten too.
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