Invitation Formality

You never realize how much goes into those wedding invitations that usually arrive and get stuffed in a drawer or placed on the fridge until the date approaches. Once you are a bride you realize that there are so many questions to ask when it comes to invitations and what to write, but my take on it is to know your event before even attempting to cross that bridge. What I mean by that is make sure you and your future husband have an understanding of what you want the affair to be. Are you expecting guests in tuxedos? long gowns? beach dresses? khakis?.

The invitation is the first piece of the wedding that your guests are getting a taste of and so the formality, or lack thereof, should be sensed when they recieve it. For black tie and formal affairs, font is typically in a black font, embossed or engraved, lined envelopes and limited designs outside monograms. The words are written in proper etiquette form, ie " Mr and Mrs Smith request the honour of your presence" and the font is something classic and easy to read. For more laid back affairs, for instance backyard events, the words can be more casual. Think -rhymes, poems, etc. The color can vary and the design on the invite can also be more colorful and playful.

These are both extremes, but if your affair falls somewhere inbetween you can take bits and pieces from both to form the perfect invite. The font can be dark, but not necessarily black, their can be a bit more creativity with the addition of some form of design, and the wording can be proper but not completely out of your Emily Post etiquette book. The cardstock doesn't have to be the best, but shouldn't be flimsy either (FYI-110lb card stock is the standard, average card stock for those of you like me who had no clue when we began this process)and the font can be something a bit more exotic.

There are no real right or wrongs when it comes to invitations as long as they properly convey the type of event, and inevitably, the two of you as a couple. Going forward, I would save the invites that come in the mail so they can help spur ideas and inspirations.So what were/are your greatest invite questions? We'd love to be able to help!

Addressing Invitations

One of my wishlist requests was envelope calligraphy by Laura Hooper. Her work is seriously beautiful!! However, towards the end of wedding planning my budget was stretched thin and I had to delegate funds elsewhere. I decided that hiring someone to do computer calligraphy made no sense. My reasoning was I have a computer and a pretty good printer, I can handle it. I also printed my save the date envelopes so I did have some (albeit) limited experience.

Here is how I did it;

5 months before the wedding: I made sure my excel sheet was free of errors. I missed a few which caused me to go back and fix after printing ( Lesson learned- order extra envelopes). I then did a basic mail merge to two separate documents, inner and outer envelope. I also perfected the color I wanted to use. I used a dark brown instead of black due to the fact that my invites were dark brown and dark red. I downloaded the font from my invitations. I used this website, but there are many many others.

4 months before the wedding: My husband (then fiance) made envelope templates. I had him cut out about 30 pieces of paper that were the exact size of the envelopes so I could figure out how to feed the envelopes, how I wanted it centered. This was a great idea because it probably saved us from ordering even more envelopes.

After I "mastered" the technique, I started printing the outer envelopes. I printed them in alphabetical order and did it one at a time. For some reason my printer had issues with multiple envelopes. If you have lined envelopes be prepared for this issue. It took some time, but I hand fed each one. It took me about 2 evenings to do it. I kept them in alphabetical order in a box.

I then did the inner envelopes. My printer let me do about 10 at a time which saved me time and I did the inner envelopes in one evening.

This process caused me to pull out about half my hair (good thing I have lots of hair). For some reason I had a huge smearing issue that only happened with the outer envelopes (again, I think it had to do with the thickness). I tried everything from cleaning the heads between each print, manually wiping the ink compartment. In the end I could not figure it out, but it only happened sporadically which didn't actually cause huge issues besides for making me slightly insane.

After I had everything printed and in order my mom, sister, mother in law, and I started stuffing. We had a good system going. My sister numbered the invitation with an invisible ink pen, my mom put the invite in the first envelope. I stuffed them in the outer envelope and checked it against the list to make sure the inner and outer envelope matched, and my mother in law sealed and stamped them. It took us about 5 hours to do the entire thing. We did it the evening after my bridal shower.

3 months before the wedding: Everything got mailed out! My mom actually took them to the post office and had them hand stamp each envelope, she wanted them out of her house because they were sprawled out all over her dinning room table, ha.

The printing was mostly a one person job especially since I am pretty crazy and really need everything to perfect. I realized if I had someone helping me I would have made them crazy. The stuffing was made so much easier and more fun by the help of others!

In the end I had to order more envelopes because of the ink smearing issue, but the total for printing 315 invitations was about 60 dollars including ink. I would say DO IT if you already have a printer and some patience. It saved us a ton of money (especially since I had so many invitations).

Confession: I actually thought my mom would hand address the invitations because she has fantastic handwriting, but due to the fact that I am a perfectionist after a few envelopes I decided I really wanted the precision of exactly the same writing on each invite. However, my mother had a great point at the time that I wasn't hearing. Only a few household really get more than one invitation so by in large no one really knows what everyone else's invitation looks like. Furthermore, it isn't a detail most people even notice. However, at the time this advice was lost on my OCD bride brain.

So tell me how did you address your invitations?

vendor review: minted

This morning we gave you some tips about making the invitation process a little less stressful.I have another tip for you. Find a great vendor! This is true for all of your wedding planning, but with invitations look for someone that is a good communicator, understands your sense of style, and is flexible.

If you find a vendor you love the whole process becomes incredibly easy. I was lucky to have W's cousin do beautiful, wonderful, custom invitations for me. She made the process easy and in the end I got just what I had dreamed.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have her, so I wanted to share another vendor I have worked with. I entered a contest at Minted (R) early on in wedding planning and won! I wasn't sure how I wanted to use the store credit, but I am so glad I decided to use them for stationary, christmas cards, and beautiful invitations (for another party).

Hands down their quality is better than other online invitation stores. The paper is thick and luxurious. It feels heavy and the texture is fantastic. The letterpress is intricately done and they will customize the colors to your liking. It doesn't end with great quality, their customer service is unparalleled. They will spend time emailing designs, walking you through the process, and answering any random questions you have.

There are so many stationary needs that come up during wedding planning, save the dates, shower invitations, thank you cards, bach-ette invitatations, and the wedding invitations; If you are looking for beautiful unique ideas without the cost that usually follows look into minted. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Here are some of my favorite designs.

Save The Dates: I love simple clean designs that get right to the point.

A great way to showcase your engagement photos

a picture not your thing? this is perfect and easy to change up to coordinate with your wedding color.

want something with more personality, don't fret minted has options for everyone.

Shower Invitations. I love anything from mod

ern to traditional with just the right amount of uniqueness

Wedding Invitations: I love tradtional with some color or design, again minted has everything from classic to modern.

Images all taken from www.minted.com

Invitation Tip

Trying to stay sane isn't easy in the last few months of planning.

Hopefully this tip will help with some of the sanity. If you aren't up to this part of wedding planning, bookmark this because you will surely thank us later.

Remember that handy excel sheet S and I spoke about in earlier posts. Add another column to that. This time, number each address that you are sending an invitation to. Since you have likely already compiled this list to either print the address or handwrite them, it shouldn't be so tough. After they are numbered, be sure to put the invites in the same order when stuffing them. With a pencil, label the RSVP cards on the back in one of the corners with the number that coordinates with that invitation list. For example, Mrs. Jen Smith is number one on your guest list. Well put a small number 1 on the back of the RSVP card that you stick in Mrs. Jen Smith's envelope. Follow this for each invite.

Might seem time consuming at first, but it really is such a time saver. Trying to keep sane when Blank, illegible., or duplicate RSVP cards come back in the mail is not easy. Any bride can attest this. While many compare recieving the RSVP back in the mail to Christmas, the Christmas morning can be ruined when you open a card to have it read Mrs. Smith and their are about 10 Mrs. Smith's on your guestlist. People write illegibly, people fill in the number of guests with a little note but never put their name on it and people forget to insert their first names leaving you and your fiance googling handwriting decodement as you sit and ponder.

Trust us, save yourself some time. You'll thank us later.

Any other time saving, sanity keeping tricks? Let us know. Have questions about the above post. Email us and we can help.

Invitations above by LA Engagement Party Invitations via Style Me Pretty