Here are a few things to consider when ordering your wedding stationery. It can seem a daunting task at first, and hopefully this short blog post will help you out when deciding your needs and wants for your bespoke wedding stationery.
Quantity
Although this may seem obvious, you won’t be needing as many invitations as guests! If you’ll be inviting 100 guests, it’s likely that you’ll only be needing around 50 invitations as most of these people will be couples or families that can all be invited with the same invitation.
Materials & Colour Scheme
What are your wedding colours? Here at CoconuTacha I can offer a wide range of colour choices and materials, from shiny, metallic foiling to the rustic touch of brown kraft card tied with string. Note that materials such as metallic foiling, glitter card etc. will add expense to your stationery sets - but it’s worth it for something truly stunning and unforgettable for your special day. If you’re looking to save a few pennies, there are always ways. Ask yourself, do you need every single card in your wedding invitation set to be 350gsm? Does everything need to be in foil and glitter? Can all the information fit on just one card? If not, a well-designed ‘Information/Details’ page created on standard paper is always a good idea to save costs.
The RSVP
How do you want your guests to confirm their attendance to your wedding? Having a designated email address, phone number or website is a good way to save costs on additional RSVP pages and saves your guests the hassle of having to post it back out to you. Not to mention it saves a lot of time and minimises the potential of someone’s RSVP getting lost in the mail! However, if you’re more of a traditionalist and prefer the ol’ stamp and envelope, that’s perfectly fine, just make sure you state clearly on the RSVP your address and the date in which you’d like to receive everyones replies by.
Vellum
Vellum is a popular choice for today’s invitations. There’s no question as to why! It’s beautiful, delicate and a bit different. However, if you are set on vellum invitations I strongly suggest ordering samples first. Vellum is an extremely thin material and whilst it looks gorgeous, it’s not always practical.
Asking for Money
This is always a tricky one, but it needn't be! 99.9% of couples nowadays always ask for money instead of gifts. Plus it saves your guests the hassle of having to go out and find the perfect gift. There are a lot of great ways to ask politely from poems to short and sweet paragraphs. A quick Google brings up a few of the best ones. If you’re stuck, by all means drop me a message and I’ll be able to offer my advice.
Evening Invitations
Many of my clients ask if I have an 'evening version' of a certain design. All of my invitations' text can be completely customised, so you can order 50 daytime versions and 50 evening versions - we would simply just change the text to suit. You will receive full digital mockups of your wedding stationery should you choose to place an order. This gives you a chance to look over and make sure that everything is perfect before moving on to the printing stages.
Timescale
Order your Save the Dates 8-12 months in advance (or sooner if you simply can't wait! The earlier, the better). This gives your guests plenty of time to make sure they don’t book any holidays in advance and they keep your date free. It also gives me plenty of time to make your Save the Dates as perfect as possible without rushing things. This goes for your main invitations as well. Formal invitations should be ordered 6-9 months in advance. This gives plenty of time for your guests to get their RSVPs back to you, whether this be by email, text or mail.
Additional Details
Additional stationery such as place names, menus, table plans etc. should all be ordered as soon as you receive all the RSVPs. Double check that everything is 100% set in stone for the big day and get your order in as soon as possible. RSVP-by dates are usually set at 2-3 months before the big day. This is just enough time to get all your additional stationery ordered and delivered to you.
Double and Triple Check Everything! And do it again!
As your designer, I may notice any spelling/grammar mistakes and let you know about these. However, please make sure you double and triple check everything before proceeding to the final stages. Changes made after the invitations have been printed can be costly and can be avoided. Get someone to check over them with you, just in case you’ve missed something. Only when you are 100% sure that everything is perfect you can move on to the printing stages.
And that's all there is to it! Granted, there is a LOT to think about! If you're ever stuck, or need some advice, you can always drop me an email and we can have a chat.
