After the proposal, the planning begins: Everything should be at least perfect for your big day. This is a resolution that should of course also apply to your invitation cards. If you are taking care of your cards, you are still relatively early in your wedding planning. Inviting the guests should be pretty much the first thing you plan to do. However, it is a topic that is often underestimated. The invitation card is often the first impression that gives a foretaste of the actual wedding. We have summarized what is important here for you.
That's why a beautiful invitation is so important
First and foremost, the invitation for your wedding is so important so that guests come at all. It should be a kind of little guide so that you and your guests can get in the perfect mood for the celebrations in advance. It should answer important questions that can often arise before a wedding.
It also represents a kind of small souvenir so that this perfect day will be remembered forever. Guests often like to keep particularly beautifully designed invitation cards .
Invitation: with or without save-the-date card?
The so-called save-the-date cards are a trend that has come over to us from the USA. It is not a real invitation, but is simply meant to signal to your guests that they should keep a certain date free.
So if you want to schedule your wedding on a specific day, you can send a card like this to your guests and they can save the day. The actual invitation will follow later, when you are a little further along in the preparations.
They can already be roughly adapted to the wedding theme. The text is a casual "We are getting married" along with the names of the bride and groom, the date and possibly the location where the celebration will take place.
A save-the-date card can take some of the pressure off the bride and groom when planning, but a regular wedding invitation is sufficient if you send it out early enough.
These plans are necessary before the invitation
Before you can design the invitation, you should have already completed some important planning steps . You should know where the celebration location is, where the wedding ceremony will take place and you should have already drawn up a rough schedule for the day.
Guests also appreciate information about the infrastructure around the wedding location. That's why it's important for you to explore the local area.
The theme of the wedding should also already be decided.
First choose design
You can either design your card yourself or get professional help. Many online printers already offer you very nice templates in all possible colors, shapes and materials.
It is particularly important that the design of the invitations matches the established concept of your wedding. In the end, everything should look as if it was made from a single piece. This starts with the fonts you choose and ends with choosing the right envelope for the card.
These points should be present on the map
The information in your invitation is of course the core of the card. There are some must-haves and some optional information. We have collected the most important points for you here:
- your full names with address
- the date of the wedding
- Place and time of the wedding
- Place and time of the subsequent celebration
- Information about gifts
- Requests and deadlines for feedback
- Directions and information for the locations
- Information on accommodation
- Contact details of the witnesses
You can also optionally add wedding vows, quotes and information about the supporting program. A personal greeting to each guest is also always nice. This can be added by hand.
How many invitations do you need
The number of invitations does not necessarily correspond to the final number of guests, because not every person on the list gets their own invitation. If you invite singles, they get their own card. Families or couples get one invitation per household. In general, however, it is always better to print a few more as a reserve in case one of the guests cancels and there is room for an alternative.
Before printing: proofread it
When the first draft is finished, you should have several eyes proofread the invitation thoroughly. There should be no mistakes, especially with the date, time and location. Then you send everything to print and after a few days or weeks you will have the cards in your hands.
The right time to send
If you have planned your wedding for the summer, you should send out your invitations early. Then your guests will have time to plan possible summer vacations. A save-the-date card can give you some breathing room. You should allow between twelve and eight months for this.
You send the actual invitation with an advance card about four to two months before the date. Without a save-the-date card, you should send the invitations at least six to four months before the big day.
Conclusion
There is a lot to consider when it comes to your wedding invitations. Not only should the design be perfectly tailored to your wedding theme, but you shouldn't forget anything in terms of content either. We hope you have fun planning.
Image 1: unsplash.com, © Diana Polekhina / Image 2: unsplash.com, © Markus Winkler
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