There really are no absolute deadlines for many of the steps in your wedding invitation process. Although there are some general timeframes that you may find helpful to avoid last-minute rushing since you have so many other things on your mind as well.

Here is a basic timeline to simply use as a guideline for your invitation planning:

9 months – 1 year

• Begin working on your guest list so you will know how many wedding invites (and maybe save the dates) to eventually order (one per single adult, couple or family invited).
• Start your wedding invitation shopping so you can narrow your choices down to only your favorites. Ordering samples, which are usually blank, will give you a chance to see the paper and design up close.
• If you are planning to mail out save the date cards to guests, begin searching for your preferred design of them as well.

7 to 8 months

• If you will be sending save the dates, place your order based on the number of guests to whom you will be mailing them as they are optional.
• Give some thought to how your wording will read by browsing through sample wedding invitation verses.

6 months

• If sending save the dates, prepare and mail them.
• Select your wedding invitation design and gather all the details that will be printed on them such as date, times, name and address of location(s), etc.
• Determine if you will also be ordering any invitation enclosures or added options – response cards, reception cards, direction/map cards, pre-printed return address on envelopes, decorative envelope seals, colored lining for inner envelopes, matching thank you or informal cards. Some of these options may not be available depending on your chosen style. You may also be able to order matching menu, table and place cards for your design. You will save on separate shipping costs by purchasing as many items as you can all in the same order.
• If you are including response cards, check with your dinner location to see how far in advance they need your final guest count so you can select the RSPV date that will be printed on them (typically 2-3 weeks before wedding). You also need to decide whose address will be printed on the response envelope or postcard meaning they will receive the replies.

4-5 months

• Finalize your wording and place your wedding invitation order. Remember to order some extras now so you won’t run out if there are last-minute guests to invite and so you also have a few as souvenirs. If the option is available, order some extra envelopes just to be safe.
• Check your guest list making sure you have complete addresses for everyone.
• Consider mailing your wedding invites using custom wedding stamps. Many online retailers provide you with the alternative of choosing from pre-designed wedding postage or simply uploading a photo to create your own stamp design. NOTE – Have one of your ready-to-mail invitations weighed at the Post Office BEFORE purchasing your postage stamps so you know you are using the correct amount for each one.

3-4 months

• Fold and/or assemble your wedding invitations, if necessary.
• Hand address mailing envelopes and write guest names on inside envelopes, if they are included.
• Purchase and apply postage stamps to the response card envelopes or response postcards, if they will be included.
• Assemble all wedding invitation pieces and insert them into already addressed envelopes.
• Take one fully assembled and sealed invitation to the Post Office to have it weighed to determine the correct amount of postage needed.
• Purchase your stamps or order custom wedding stamps with appropriate postage amount required for mailing.

6-8 weeks

• Seal the envelopes, apply postage stamps and mail them all at the same time directly at a Post Office location.

3-4 weeks

• Prepare and mail any other related wedding invitations…rehearsal dinner, post-wedding brunch, etc.
• Keep track of the response cards as they are returned by checking off their names from your guest list.

2-3 weeks

• Contact any guests who didn’t mail back their response cards.
• Provide final guest count to reception/dinner location.

That pretty much takes care of everything related to your invitations prior to your wedding. The only thing left to do is to write and mail out your wedding thank you cards, especially if you ordered them with your wedding invitations. They should be sent out about a month after the wedding and no more than three months after.

Again, this is just a guideline for your wedding invitations process but hopefully it will help you stay organized which is the key for all of your wedding planning.

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1. What Exactly Are Modern Wedding Invitations?
2. Do-It-Yourself Wedding Invitations Save Money
3. Why Wedding Reception Invitations?

We all know modern is the opposite of traditional.  When it comes to wedding invitations, traditional brings to mind a simple white or ecru invitation card, classic black ink, a standard font style and two envelopes for mailing.  Modern wedding invitations, on the other hand, let you be more creative and unique which seems to be quite appealing to today’s couples who tend to look for ways to truly personalize their weddings including their invites.

Here are some trends that you may feature on your modern wedding invitations depending on the design you choose and the options available:

·  Multiple Lettering Styles – A larger and sometimes fancier font style is used to emphasize the couple’s names on the invitation compared to the rest of the wording.

·  Contrasting Ink Colors – A second distinct ink color can be used to highlight certain details on your wedding invitation like your names.

·  Pockets – Becoming increasingly fashionable, this style has a pocket for holding the wedding invitation and possibly a separate pocket for any enclosure cards, depending on the specific design.

·  Self-mailing – So named since they turn into their own self-mailing piece eliminating separate mailing envelopes.  Some designs have an envelopment, which may be colored, that wraps around all the invitation pieces for easy mailing.  Another self-mailer design option are seal and send wedding invitations that actually fold and seal up into their own mailing piece.

·  Bright and Bold Colors – Today it is easier than ever to make a personal statement with your invitation colors either through your paper, design or ink choices.  You can also create a unique look by combining colors that you may not normally consider as complementary but really look stunning when paired together.

·  Distinctive Sizes & Shapes – You can easily select a wedding invitation design that has a unique shape such as being square or is an unusual size such as tea length.

·  Patterns – As part of the invitation design, patterns are becoming stylish including paisley and retro motifs.

·  Colored Papers or Envelopes - Make your wedding invitations eye-catching by choosing a design that has colored paper stock or colored envelopes.  Just be sure to choose an ink color that will look good on the colored paper.

·  Recycled Paper – For those striving to be more eco friendly, there are now many beautiful wedding invitation designs that are printed on recycled papers.

·  Embellishments – Ribbon has become quite popular as an added special touch to wedding invitations.

Everyone’s idea of what modern wedding invitations are may vary but the above trends are definitely options that will make invites look more contemporary.  Your invitations will surely reflect your own unique personal style using any of these options.

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1. Stay Organized with a Wedding Invitation Timeline
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3. Why Wedding Reception Invitations?

Champagne and Caviar

Mark out all the stops and get rid of any misconceptions you might have about wedding invitations as merely some other invitations. Traditional stationery featuring lovebirds and wedding bells are a thing of the yesteryears. Follow the likes of steel giant, Lakshimi Mittal, whose daughter, Vanisha, was married in 2004. Casing in silver and gift twenty pages of prose published by family members, the 1,200 wedding invitations rate Mittal a mere kismet.

The common pair can’t favor to propel out invitations like Mittal’s, but they can tap into the inspiration of the effect by crafty wedding invitations that take your breath away. Go into encasing your invitations in a red envelop to ooze the fame sensitivity. Or you can even make your own satin fabric envelops that will luxuriously confine all the details to your elite day.

Wedding Invitations with Celebrity Values

Alicia Silverstone, who played Cher in the hit movie Clueless, and her hubby, Christopher Jarecki, incorporated their ideals into their wedding theme. By entertaining an all-natural, organic wedding, Silverstone and her fiancé were able to dispatch out recycled invitations all over with seeds that could be planted later. Not only was the stationery matchless, but it also was eco-welcoming, which fit the lifestyle of the actor and her soon-to-be spouse.

Simple Ways to Make Your Wedding Invitations Glamorous

Black wedding invitations with gold or silver lettering look elegant without being too overweening. Select a style that suits you and choose a font that matches your theme. If you would like more gloss added to your stationery, select brainy tones like fuchsia, orange, emerald green, or purple. Bold patterns add entity to even the most inexpensive wedding invitations.

You don’t have to be eminent to have the wedding of the century. Ingrain your guests with amazing wedding invitations that ponder the essence of who you are and where you plan your wedding will sometime be.

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1. What Exactly Are Modern Wedding Invitations?
2. Do-It-Yourself Wedding Invitations Save Money
3. Why Wedding Reception Invitations?

Start at your local craft store. You’ll find tons of ways to express your chosen colors and motifs. Wedding invitation kits are widely available and will save you the time of buying components separately. If you wish to choose your own elements, check out the specialty paper selection – elegant invitation papers include vellum, linen paper, mulberry paper, and parchment. For card-style invitations, pick a heavy weight paper like cardstock for the outside card and a thin paper in a complementary color for your inserts. Be sure that whatever you plan to print on will work with your printer’s ink type and fit in the feed tray. Buy more than enough sheets to complete your project, inevitably you’ll have to trash a few. And don’t forget the envelopes!

Another option is to have your designs printed and cut for you at your local copy shop. You can print your design on a sheet of white paper (called a “proof”) for copying, or you can burn it onto a data CD as an Adobe file (.pdf) and have it printed digitally for better clarity. Visit the copy shop before you start designing to familiarize yourself with their paper options and find out about prices, completion times, and any guidelines concerning your chosen format. Keep in mind that color copies are more expensive than having a black-and-white design printed on specialty paper – which you can take home and customize with stamps, punches, and cutters.

Paper punches, stencils, and rubber stamps can be used on invitations, RSVP cards, and envelopes, re-used for matching programs, placecards and favors, then re-used again after the wedding to make photo albums. Choose two or three that compliment your theme and each other, including one for edges and borders.Be advised that these wear out, some more quickly than others. If you find something that you must have on all 75 invitations, 200 programs, 200 placecards etc, it’s a good idea to buy several, especially if they’re inexpensive. Inkpads, paint, and fabric paint are available in a dazzling array of colors and finishes. If you plan to reuse rubber stamps, pick up some stamp cleaner too.

A paper trimmer makes quick work of multiple cuts and can be fitted with a scoring blade for straight smooth folds, or blades that cut decorative edges. It’s an invaluable tool for any desktop publisher. How about waves along the edge of your turquoise or sand-beige beach wedding invitations? Use a gold inkpad to stamp a sun in the upper right corner and a shell-shaped paper punch in the bottom corners (save the paper shells as they are punched out, to sprinkle around or glue onto stuff).

Use the same edge cutter or rolling stamp to make matching envelopes! Embellish the edge and/or corners of the adhesive flap before sealing, leaving plenty of adhesive in place to ensure a secure seal. Keep the cut-off pieces to adorn something else.

For the text, choose a font that compliments the “feel” of your theme. For contemporary, pick a sleek, clean font, maybe one that’s all capital letters. Use script for a more traditional or formal impression. There are even fonts that look like calligraphy. If you don’t see one you like, look online for free and low-cost fonts you can download. If you choose an ornate font, ensure that it can be read easily by asking a few folks to read a sample.

Look at other wedding invitations to determine the wording you wish to use. There are lots of ways to say “please come to our wedding”–find one that feels right to you and complements your theme and the mood you want to evoke. Vary the font size and character spacing: use bigger text and/or wider spacing for the info you want people to see first, like your names (full, including middle names and any suffixes like “Jr.” or “III”) and the date and location of your wedding. It’s traditional to spell out the numbers, as in: “on the sixteenth day of December/two thousand and ten/at seven o’clock in the evening”. (The slashes represent line breaks.)

If your ceremony and reception are at the same location, put the words “reception to follow”. If you want guests to sport any specific kind of clothing, such as formal black-tie attire (tuxes and gowns), say so. Have someone read the invitation aloud to you to make sure your text sounds appropriate, natural and gracious.

Repondez s’il vous plait! It’s French for “respond if you please,” better known as “RSVP,” and it’s “de rigeur” (expected) for wedding invitations. You will probably want to include this at the bottom of your invites, along with your specified reply deadline.

Design your RSVP cards small enough to fit inside your invitations. Give guests options of “Will attend” or “Regretfully decline”. Designate spaces to specify number of attending guests and meal preferences if needed. Be sure to include small stamped self-addressed envelopes (use your printer to put your address).

An alternative to RSVP cards is online RSVP via e-mail. Many wedding websites offer it free, and they can automatically track guests’ responses and compile a guest list for you. If your family is “techno-savvy” it saves a whole lot of time, money, and paper.

A stamp or seal on the envelope’s flap after sealing is an elegant finish, ensuring that your invites will be received with due excitement. When you have completed a prototype invitation, take it to the Post Office and have it weighed to determine how much postage you will need. You can buy wedding-themed stamps or have custom stamps made with your own image for additional cost.

Photo by Jonathan Vo

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