Your wedding day should be one of the most beautiful days of your life. To make sure your day is stress-free and runs smoothly there are a few things that all bridal couples and wedding planners should keep in mind. Alongside organising the location, photographer and wedding menu, it’s also essential to think about the wedding stationery for your guests. Get tips about everything from invitations, seating plans, materials, table cards and menu cards for your special day in this blog post.
To plan the perfect wedding, you should generally have one year’s preparation time, and wedding stationery should be something you get started with quite early during the planning phase. Before the wedding you should, of course, think about the invitations. But save-the-date cards and thank you notes are also aspects of wedding stationery you may want to get sorted before the big day.
Design by Dani H
Before the Wedding – Save-the-date Cards and Invitations
So, you got engaged, you let everything sink in, you told your parents and closest friends and now you want the rest of the world to know? Great! You can now think about who you want to invite to your wedding. It’s often not as easy as it sounds. Your chosen location’s seating capacity or your wedding budget may add limits to your guest list. It’s important to get your priorities straight before you start finalising your guest list. Who needs to come from your family? Do your third cousins really need to be there? Should all your colleagues come? Should you invite that nice couple you met on holiday 10 years ago?
These are all things you will need to consider carefully together with your partner. You should also keep in mind that 10 – 15 % of your guests probably won’t accept your invitation. In order to minimise this percentage in advance, it makes sense to send save-the-date cards before the invitations. If someone already knows that they can’t make it on this date, they’ll let you know, and you can then invite someone else.
Design by Oh happy day designs
Once the answers to your save-the-date cards have been received, the design and sending of the actual wedding invitations can begin. This should be done no later than three months before the actual wedding date. If you haven’t given out any preliminary information, then you shouldn’t wait too long before sending your invitations out. Your guests should be invited and informed at least half a year before the wedding date. That way they will have enough time to prepare for the party, get the right outfit and think about a gift.
Your Invitations Should Include the Following Information:
- Who’s getting married? (name, address, contact details of the couple)
- When and where is the wedding? (date, time & location of the marriage ceremony and reception)
- For which part of the day is the guest invited to? (the whole day or only the evening do?)
- When should the guest send their reply?
- What is the itinerary for the day? What are the most important times?
- Is there a gift list?
- Is there a dress code or wedding theme?
- Where could your guests stay if they need to spend the night? (enclose a rough map and price classifications)
Design by Donna Earle
Shortly Before – The Hen Party and Stag Do
You know how many guests are coming, the location is fixed, the caterer is planned, wedding dresses and suits are bought – the big day is not too far off and now it’s time to enjoy your last day of freedom! And the best thing is you don’t have to plan anything because generally, it’s the bridesmaids and groomsmen who plan this. The planning should start at least two months in advance. The Hen / Stag Do planner may consider forming a secret WhatsApp group with all the party guests except the Hen or Stag. In this group, you can suggest possible dates and vote on suggestions of what to do on the day. This could be anything from a short break in a lonely hut to a city trip together or a cosy pub or barbecue evening.
It is important to put yourself in the shoes of the bride or groom. What could be fun for him or her? If your best friend is a real party animal, then a trip to a lonely mountain hut might not be the right thing to do. If your pal is more of a couch potato, then an action-packed trip to a climbing hall might not go down well. However, one thing that always works is hen or stag party t-shirts. With the matching t-shirts, you can create a theme and show that you all belong together.
Design by Donna Earle
For something a bit different, we love the idea of having individually printed drawstring backpacks to add a touch of quirky style.
The Big Day!
Once the wedding day has actually arrived, you will have already prepared most things. But what else should you think about besides the buffet, the band, the photographer and the cake? Well, the guests, of course! Not all your wedding guests will be regular churchgoers and often they will not know the liturgy or the songs at a church wedding. But here you can help your guests with an individually designed church booklet. This usually contains information about the course of the wedding, the Lord’s Prayer, the blessing and the hymns with text and melody that you have requested.
Tears are shed at every wedding. So, you may want to make provisions by placing matching handkerchiefs with an individually designed handkerchief sleeve at every place or enclosing them with the church booklet.
After the ceremony in the church or registry office, comes the reception. Make sure your guests know where to sit from the outset by supplying a table plan for your guests.
Design by Kathryn Ovens
Make your seating plan easy to follow by placing a tent card with your guest’s names at the centre of each table. At the head table, the bride traditionally sits to the right of the groom. Her father and mother take the seats next to her. To the left of the groom are the groom’s mother and father. If the table is long enough, the bridal party will then take the other seats at this table.
It is important that the bride and groom always keep an eye on the entrance door so that they can see and greet new guests as they arrive. If the bride and groom were married in a church and the vicar is attending the celebration, they will sit opposite the bride and groom. The composition of the seating plan is probably one of the most difficult tasks for a couple before the wedding because you have to know quite a lot about all the guests. Who hasn’t seen each other for a long time? Who should get to know each other? Who might not get along? A harmonious atmosphere ought to be considered when seating the wedding guests.
And what’s for dinner? If you would like to inform your guests of the menu, then you should make sure the menu card design fits well with your wedding stationery. Whether there should be a menu card and an additional drinks menu, or whether you have both on a folding card, is up to your personal taste.
The Wedding Menu
Your menu should include:
- The starter, main course & dessert
- Drinks selection (especially if you have more then one type of wine)
- The time the wedding cake will be cut
- Information about the midnight snack (if you plan to have one)
You have two options when designing the menu. You can either decide for a card printed on both sides or a card folded in half to create four sides. Your final choice will depend on your table decoration, which will determine the space available on the tables.
The card printed on both sides ideally finds its place on the guests’ plates, while the folded cards can be placed centrally on the tables. Due to the folding, these menu cards can stand all by themselves. In addition, four sides offer more space for your menu and you can easily integrate your drinks menu here.
Presents for All: Wedding Favours
Not only as a bridal couple do you get presents on your big day. It has now become common practice for the guests to receive gifts from the newlyweds as well. This may be something personal, with which the bride and groom thank the guests for the beautiful day. Wedding favours contribute to the guests’ positive memories of the wedding. Your wedding favours should fit in with your style and the wedding theme.
Once the last song has faded away and the last piece of the wedding cake has been eaten, you can thank your guests. Creative and homemade gifts such as homemade scented candles or tea lights are especially well received. Gift jars with homemade jam, honey or liqueur are also popular. Chocolate is always a good idea (of course) and so many bridal couples make pralines, chocolate or personalised chocolates themselves. But flowers or individually designed towels are also becoming increasingly popular wedding favours.
After the Celebrations: Say Thank You!
But the wedding favours shouldn’t be the only thank-you you give to your guests. With a personal thank-you card to your wedding guests, you can thank them once again for the beautiful day (and possibly also for their help) with some heartfelt words. Send your guests lasting memories by integrating one or more pictures of the wedding day into the postcard or greeting card and you will be sending your friends and relatives an unforgettable souvenir of your wedding day at the same time.
Design by Vanessa Gordino
I hope I’ve managed to give you some inspiration for designing your individual wedding stationery. I also hope you have lots of fun during the organisation and I’m sending lots of love your way!
Title image: Design by Timo Nachbar
