Are you wondering how to incorporate a creative wording into your wedding rsvp cards without losing elegance and style? Or has it happened to you that you totally love those Pinterest creative stationery shots, with a fun or modern wording but you are not quite sure whether everyone will like it? You're not alone. This is a common enquiry or concern and that's why I am writing this article. Well, let me tell you what I think. No matter what you do, we have already stated in many of our blogs that we can not please everyone or pander to everyone's taste. And taste is not a science, it is actually quite subjective. A funny or serious wording on the RSVP card will not define the style of the entire wedding, within reason, of course. Once your wedding style is discussed, defined and agreed on (I would say mainly with your partner, but perhaps not exclusively), you can decide how formal or fun you want it to be. Just be consistent with most of the elements of the wedding and the level of formality you want and you will be just fine. Now, before I show you wording ideas that are creative, let's remember some points that some of those stunning inspiration shots may not leave clear.
RSVP card: wording ideasow the fun part! Depending on the level of formality of your wedding you can use some humour or even hints to encourage their guests to put that RSVP card in the mail. You can find more traditional wording, with "accepts/ declines" in our wording ideas page. Some of the funny RSVP wordings and options we've used are:
Specific wording options for destination weddings.
Info to help the band or DJ.
Here are some lines you can use to encourage a response.
These are my tips for today, do you have more ideas to share? PLEASE COMMENT AND INSPIRE OTHER COUPLES SEARCHING FOR CREATIVE WORDING Do you want to order rsvp cards? Click here
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This is a question we are often asked, and we thought to write a bit about our views, to give you an idea as to when the best time to send out your wedding invitations is. Unfortunately, what etiquette and wedding “protocol” usually suggest is not necessarily compatible with reality.
IMPORTANT: This article is merely meant to inform and does not try to give advice or “a must” timing. Our intention is to just guide you with our extensive experience in the industry, making wedding invitations and stationery for the day has taught us about the timing needed. What online “experts” tell you (and I disagree) is to: “Send your wedding invitations 8 weeks before your wedding. If it’s a destination wedding: send them 3 months in advance to give your guests time to arrange and schedule the trip.” For starters, some of the advice online is concerning. When the articles are written by SEO content writers who are paid to get to get a website’s rank up on google. 1000’s of people trusting an article that is trying to make sales instead of trying to inform. What I say: "Really?" In our experience, it’s best to be thinking of a few aspects of your wedding, deciding the best timing for you, deciding what works for your guests and discussing timing with vendors and suppliers so it can all work together to deliver what you need when you need it. What I ask my couples before I suggest a timing: 1) Is it a destination wedding? Do your guests need to arrange flights, accommodation and save an amount of money to make it to the event? Give them 6 months to a year if they’re interstate, more than a year if they’re overseas. Only you know how quick your friends can get organised and logistics and their finances. If you want them to come, allow them time. 2) Do you want all of them to come, or are you just fulfilling a formality? I know this can be a controversial question, but we all know that some people will not be able to come, or that you may not be that keen on inviting certain people for whatever reason. However, you may still want them to receive an invitation. If that’s the case, yes! 8 weeks is plenty of time. In On some occasions, we may need to invite others, to participate in or fulfil a formality (family relationships, business, etc, and auntie or neighbour that knew us growing up but would not necessarily attend to your wedding, the list continues.) 3) Did you send a save the date card, or are you planning to? I am not saying anyone should or shouldn’t, some send a save the date card 1 year or more before the day. The truth is that many, and I dare to say most guests, will not buy the tickets until the venue is confirmed, nor they will ask their boss the day off for it, or book a nanny etc until they receive the formal invitation. A save the date is very useful but often instead couples rather save the money and put it towards a much nicer invitation to be sent earlier. There is no right or wrong in my opinion, the choice is again yours. Bottom line, if you have not sent a save the date card, then that invitation probably should go out even earlier than planned. 4) What services do you need to organise that rely on confirmed numbers and rsvps? And what is their timing? As you may know, certain suppliers will need to know your numbers and will need to know some time in advance of the wedding or before the wished delivery date (if a product is needed before the wedding). Say for example, a caterer may not need to know the numbers or whether they are vegetarian or not until 2-4 weeks before the wedding, but perhaps you might need to hire a second nanny for the hotel as some extra kids were confirmed for the day. Or in the case of our services/products, you may need menus, table/place cards, chocolate or personalised favours/ bonbonniere, programs or order of service. All these need numbers confirmed, and many, such as place cards, will also need the names of the guests. During busy times we (Tango Design) do need 4 weeks for production, from when the PDF is approved, plus shipping time. Whilst many couples approve their design within 1-2 weeks, some need a little extra time, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there needs to be enough time before your wedding to cater for it. Often, there are last minutes changes, design variations, and changes of information on the invite from the venue, the caterer or the celebrant, and that’s without counting when a family or friends also want to participate in the wording for each piece. Every client, every wedding and every family is different. So, when to send your invites? If you want the short answer, I would say: • If it’s a local wedding, where no accommodation or flights are required: I would suggest 4-6 months before the wedding day to allow you to organise other services and products with vendors that require numbers or/and names (if needed). • If it’s a destination wedding, where accommodation and flights are required, and you want them to make it to the event: 6 months to 18 months. There are many reasons, but it’s best to decide for yourself considering the questions above. As well as the scenarios mentioned, consider: • Cultural background and timing. For some cultures it is unthinkable to plan too early, for others, it is a must. • The amount of people involved in the PDF approval. Some couples are the only ones who have a say on the design or/ and the wording, however plenty get their parents, financial contributors or friends included in the decisions. Again, not right or wrong, but the more people involved, the longer it takes for everyone to agree. Please allow some time for it. • Changes of information with third parties. Say you were given a time, but the planner or venue suggests at the very last moment a change, or maybe the photographer wants you for a few shots before the ceremony, trust me it happens. Please triple check with the venue, the planner, celebrant and any other people involved in the decision. It can take time so please allow for it. So, to conclude this article, what I am trying to say is that the sooner you know who and how many guests are coming; -the easier you will be able to organise other items/ services you may need -the higher the chance that your guests can make it -the more time you will have to ensure the invitations reflect what you want them to be -you will also have the chance to invite a second lot of guests, if many in the first lot cannot make it (i.e. destination weddings). I will talk more about this in another article, but I am referring to guests that you would still love to come to your wedding, but they didn’t quite make it onto the first list due to a budget or spacing situation (friends you have not seen that often, or new friends/ work colleagues, etc.) Back to browse some designs? Invitation Shop Wedding stationery, matching wedding stationery items or coordinated stationery are the words commonly used to refer to the combination of paper items that belong to a particular theme, wedding style or visual system. 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.. ![]() Most of the weds-to-be actually scratch their heads in trying to decipher who, how many and so forth guests to invite in their big days. As one begins to add the people in the wedding guests list the question of expenses pops up. Sometimes the pressure to increase the number of the guests comes from the in laws or even the immediate parents thus multiplying the expected costs. This occurs because ones in laws or parents may have connections and/or old friends that they would like to share with the special day. When it comes to the number of the wedding guest, ability of one to draw the line is much as important as the wedding itself. The following are some of the most important tips that one ought to consider on how to invite and most importantly who to trim down: Choose the maximum/optimum number of persons to invite Due to the reception venue or the wedding hall, one may find him/herself limited to the number of the wedding guests that you can invite. One ought to set the number that will be absolute maximum number of the wedding guest that are likely to attend the wedding even though not everyone invited is going to show up. From the maximum number of the wedding guest that is set, one is able to know if to begin trimming the list or not. Wedding invitations and any other product and wedding service are not free. Therefore, determining the costs of the invitations is as well paramount in the setting up the number of the guests. Therefore, from the absolute maximum number one is able to estimate the rough figure for each of the invited guest. At this stage the bride and the groom ought to look into their budget and figure out if the people to be invited fit into their plans. Thinking of ones future and not the past is the key One does not get a free invitation merely from the fact you were close to them in high school or you were friends in your childhood. Chances are good that you cannot invite people to your wedding if you have not being in close touch with them for more than two years. In fact if your budget does not allow, most persons do not even invite people they were close to while in college. It is imperative to not worry too much about offending someone from your distant past and focusing on the financial foundation and the future one is trying to build should be the priority. 1. Every family member does not qualify to be invited Some family members are closer to you than others and thus they qualify more than the distant relatives who live very far away and rarely see each other. In any family one has some of the relatives that one has distant relationship and thus not every single cousin deserves to be invited. They probably understand if you calmly explain to them once you see them maybe in the next Christmas/family get-together. 2. Someone’s feeling may get hurt in the process It is important to understand that someone feelings may get hurt no matter how many wedding invitations you send or what you do in the process. These are normal things in the wedding. You ought to resign yourself and deal with it unless you are willing to splash money in your wedding. Trusting ones guts one who to include and leave is the only important thing. |
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