Invitations
Rustic wedding invitations may feature recycled or handmade papers, hessian or burlap, raffia or twine, corrugated board, typewriter or handwriting fonts and may be dressed up with ribbons or string, maybe add some pearls for a chic touch. Burlap and lace is the most popular wedding invitation trend for rustic, shabby chic and bohemian weddings. Country lace for a cosy look or french lace with beads for an elegant glam rustic celebration,
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Locations for a Rustic Wedding
Many locations are suitable, but there is usually an outdoors element, where nature is second in beauty only to the bride and groom. Some of these places include a mountain top, a farm, barnyard, a vineyard, a lake, camp setting, the city park or garden, the beach, backyard, national park, or a resort. If you prefer to have it inside in case the weather changes, try inside a mountain lodge, a winery or brewery, or a clubhouse. Rustic weddings can be most anywhere you want them because it has a great deal to do with the decor.

Decor
Rustic weddings held outside can also be much less expensive because you can use the beauty of the surrounds as part of your decor.

​You can set up candles to light the way down the aisle and string white fairy lights up in the trees for an evening wedding or reception. Rustic weddings can take on many themes, shapes and sizes depending on what you want and what your budget will allow, the possibilities are endless.

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​You can add plenty of rustic chic to your wedding, with chairs and tables draped with hessian table runners. Other rustic theme items include:

• Pick fresh flowers from the surrounding woods or fields and use pine cones to hold them.
• Decorating preserving jars with strips of hessian or handmade paper.
• Fill those same jars with honey, jams or jellies to give as favours or use the jars as cups to drink from.
• Use pine bark or straw laid out as an aisle.
• Pottery filled with boughs of eucalypt, cedar or other local trees as table centrepieces.
• Cover hay bales with blankets, tablecloths or clean hessian to use as informal seating.

As we all know, social media has also changed weddings. It has changed the way we plan for it, how we search for suppliers, or browse for inspiration and on the day, the way we share the wedding celebration online. What is too little or too much to post online at a wedding?

​Having social media on your day is a personal decision. Many couples opt for a reception that is 'phone free', inviting guests to switch them off or place them in a basket for the purpose of ensuring more privacy. I personally like the idea of using 'airplane mode', which ensures no connection with outside networks and means photos of your wedding won't appear online until after it's over.

An umplugged  wedding helps avoid distractions and sharing online photos you may not want. On the other hand, all those phones could also help capture the special moments that the photographer may miss.

The Ceremony, Reception and Social Media.
It is important you tell people on the invitation if you do not want the photos they take to be shared on social media. Also, remind them on the day. A reason does not need to be given, it can be something as simple as 'so that you just enjoy the day', or because you may choose to keep your day more private.

A Special Hashtag for Your Wedding Day.

If you are happy to share your wedding on social media, it's a great idea to create a hashtag and advertise it on a big sign or/and on table numbers, asking your guests to share their photos with the hashtag "# " e.g. #SamandTanyasWedding. It is fun to see what moments everyone else captures on the day. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook all use hashtags.

For starters, let me tell you what I am referring to when I say "stationery". First, you may have noticed it is spelled stationery and not stationary. Not that it matters, but just saying, so hopefully vendors will stop offering wedding "stationary" ;). 

For stationery we refer to: the wedding invitations, of course, save the dates, and what is needed for the day itself, such as menus, programs, gift tags, order of service, table numbers, place, escort  or name cards and thank you cards, which are usually sent after the wedding. 

When you choose a printed design on your invitations, the coordination is pretty straight forward: You ask your professional stationer to simply carry on the design or part thereof, on all the cards and stationery you choose to purchase.

It is important that you choose a flexible vendor, who will not impose an invitation pack, instead of giving you the option to buy only the products you need. This will save you money by not having to pay for items not needed. For example, if you have a buffet dinner, you are not likely to need place cards, but still, you may choose to have a few menus printed, in order to inform your guests of their food choices. The choice should be yours. You should also have the choice of how each item should be decorated. You may want to have very pretty thank you cards and a simple rsvp, since it will come back to you in the mail.

Crafted wedding invitations, with more elements or materials, can be trickier to coordinate. There are more options and the prices can vary significantly. For example, if you have a hessian and lace invitation with a pearl brooch, with all the details printed on matt card, and everything wrapped with twine.... what elements do you combine? Do you use all elements for all products ordered? Do you use just some? Or do you simply stick to the base card for each item? The choice should ultimately be yours.

You can put the lot on all pieces: place cards, menus, programs, table numbers, thank you cards, gift tags, etc. However, it may look a bit over-the-top, without mentioning it could also be a budget buster. For some weddings, it may be perfect, while for others it may be better to use less of the common elements.

By using between 1-3 elements on each category of product it is still easy to identify a coordinated stationery group and decorating theme. To illustrate once more, you may choose hessian for the table numbers, just a twine around the place cards, and perhaps twine and an acrylic pearl on both.

One basic way of coordinating is to have all the stationery printed on the same type of paper and to use the same fonts throughout. Style, colours, shapes and the addition or removal of embellishments can then be used to create a uniqueness for each item. As long as your guest can identify elements in common among all the stationery: same font, same paper, or/ and some of the same elements, your wedding stationery will be well coordinated.

The images above show a well coordinated stationery set, where the only elements carried through the entire set were the natural card that was printed upon and the fonts used. You may choose to have the handmade or specialty paper featured on the menus and table numbers, but perhaps your table is getting busy, and the names cards can be printed just using the pain base card. it can also happen the their way: some venues may not offer chair sashes or colour other then white for table clothes and decorations.... In that case you man want add a bit of colour, bling or accents to the stationery shown at the table: i.e ribbon or bling on place cards, menus, table numbers or just on some and not on others. The choice is yours and the best person to help here, is your wedding planner or the reception organiser to discuss what elements you will have on the reception and have a better idea of what you need in terms of stationery on the day..
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