 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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 Introduction and Credentials DIY wedding invitations is one of those topics that is hotly debated and can be somewhat polarizing in opinions. Some love it and think everyone should do it while others think it's better left to someone else because DIY is a waste of time. The thing is, most of the articles written on the subject are done so by those with little to no experience in the field. I've found that this leads to a lot of mis-information and a lack of real, useful tips on how to make your own invitations. So, in this article, I'm going to reveal a few secrets that may help you to make your own, professional looking invitations. By the way, I'm one of the partners in Tango Design, so with over 12 years experience and plenty of awards to our name, you know the information below is trustworthy.  Preparation Think of making your invitations as a project and you’ll tend to do a much better job. And, one of the keys to any project is planning. Every job we do is a project for a customer so we start by working out what materials we’ll need and we separate them into a box and put the customer’s name on it. You’re probably not going to have everything you’ll need at hand, so buying the materials and tools you'll need is a good early step. Thank God for the internet! If you're making your own invitations in an attempt to save money, then getting everything from one place, either online or a bricks and mortar store is a real saver. Consider this: If you save 10c a sheet on paper from a secondary supplier but it costs you $10.00 in shipping or fuel, you'll need to get over 100 sheets to actually save money!  Tip 1: Remember to account for fuel and shipping costs when buying your materials. Tip 2: A kit with all the bits you need from a professional supplier will probably be cheaper than buying the pieces individually, even from the same store. Tip 3: Contact suppliers by email or phone to ask questions before making your purchase. Things like: Are instructions included with their DIY kits or do they expect you to work it out yourself? Tip 4: If you didn't get instructions, write or draw some yourself. Once you get started on the actual production tasks, you may find yourself too absorbed in the process to stop and think. Many people make mistakes and waste materials, not to mention money and time, because they didn't follow instructions. I've found from experience that the two main reasons people fail to do a good job on their invitations are a lack of preparation and planning or not having the right tools for the job. Funnily enough, counteracting the first reason doesn't cost a cent. Tip 5: Blocking out time in your schedule for each of the tasks involved in making the invitations. Allowing more time than you think you’ll need is wise because generally speaking, when you do something for the first time, it takes longer than it does someone who does that task often.  Design and Layout MS Word* or similar was not created for the purpose of designing and printing. So, if you want something professional looking, you should use graphics software like CorelDraw*, Illustrator*, etc. The main difference between these, is that graphics software lets you put things exactly where you want on the page. For invitation design, that’s hugely beneficial! Without it you'll spend hours and many, many test prints just trying to position basic text properly. Graphics software will also make the inclusion of images much easier. Tip 6: Corel* has a 30 day free trial of its CorelDRAW* software. Also, Serif* has a totally free product that you can download called DrawPlus*. It’s less comprehensive but will do the job for most people. Tip 7: Always do a test print using regular copy paper before doing the full print run. Cut and fold as needed for your design to make sure everything is okay, before you waste all your good card.  Assembly Time to cut, fold and assemble the invitations. Depending on your chosen design, this may be quick and easy or a series of lengthy tasks. Quite often people choose designs that require sticking layers of paper and card or ribbons and other embellishments. These tasks can be quite time consuming and require patience but the results are well worth it! Tip 8: To get a professional finish when folding cards, use a scoring tool. Craft shops often have cheap scoring plates, with grooves for commonly used folds, that will enable you to easily do a good job. Tip 9: To easily stick paper, card, ribbon and some embellishments, without making a mess, use double sided tape instead of glue. Tip 10: For bulkier embellishments like crystal brooches, starfish or beads, we use precision super glue rather than a hot glue gun or craft glue. It’s fast drying and provides nearly instant adhesion, which makes it quicker and cleaner to use. Just be careful with the amount you use. Glue dots are also great if the embellishment is not so heavy. Tip 11: If using ribbon or lace on multi-layered invitations, fold the ends under the top card and sandwich between the layers to get a tidy finish. Most people just stick the ribbon or lace to the top card then trim the edges. The ribbon or lace then frays at the edge of the card leaving the while thing looking messy. Tip 12: Always make a couple of extra invitations. Allowing for the ‘just in case’ scenarios which tend to pop up when organizing a wedding or other event is a real stress saver. It’s much easier and cheaper to make a few extra up front, than it is to re-start the process later, even if you have left over materials.  Final Thoughts
Tip 13: Many modern invitation makers, including ourselves, offer semi-DIY packs, where they do the design, printing and cutting tasks and leave the assembly to you. The best thing about these packages is that you don’t need any equipment and the tasks where mistakes are more likely to occur are done for you. I really believe that this is the best option if you’re doing DIY to save money. That's because any savings are totally bankable. The issue I have with full DIY is that there are often costs that people don’t calculate. Things like; fuel or transport, wastage, ink or toner, tools, adhesives, etc. That means what was actually spent can be much more than originally thought!  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.
 Now 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   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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