When we asked our thriving Facebook community if they had any questions for our wedding expert panel, we were inundated with Stationery questions! There seems to be quite a few little etiquette details that are in question…. so we put it to the experts to finally get those niggling question marks clarified.
Firstly one bride asked, what exactly is needed for wedding stationery?
We had a fabulous answer from Sylvia at Ooh-Aah Invitations. She gave us the complete run down!
1. Pre Wedding:
- Engagement Invitations
- Save the date cards
- Hens Party / Kitchen Tea party Invitations
2. The Actual Wedding Invitations which would include:
- Envelopes
- Any additional note card to be included in the invitation i.e. RSVP postcards, Wishing Well or Gift Registry Notice and or Direction/ Information cards for guests.
3.On-the-day Stationery inclusive of:
- Guest place cards
- Order of Service booklets
- Bomboniere tags
- Table Numbers
- Thank you for attending notes
- Guest books
- Signage boards
- Table seating charts.
4.Post-Wedding stationery:
- Custom design thank you cards. Some couples have even requested custom designed letterhead stationery for use after the wedding.
Robyn asked us “How many weeks before the wedding should I send out invites? At 8 months to go now I am preparing save the date cards.”
Tina from Paper Lily shares her expertise on the subject: “Generally speaking, invitations should be sent out around 8-10 weeks before the wedding with an RSVP date of approximately 4 weeks before the wedding to give you ample time to arrange the seating, place cards etc. If you have sent save the date cards then you can send the invitations out a little later. If there were no save the date cards then it would be ok to send the invitations up to 3 months before the wedding.”
Emma asks about the timing when it comes to sending out invitations to overseas guests.
Sylivia from Ooh Ahh Invitations offers her advice, “With weddings that have a large number of international guests its best to get the invitations out as soon as possible. This allows for guests to purchase tickets from an earlier date as we all know the later you book, the higher price you pay. If the finer details such as ceremony start times and reception times have not be confirmed its best to send out save the date cards to ensure guests are aware of when the nuptials are to take place.”
Finally a question that many brides are concerned about! Meagan writes “I am so worried about asking my guests to contribute to our wishing well after I’ve already asked them to travel so far for the big day. Do you have any suggestions?”
Tina from Paper Lily suggests, “No matter how far your guests have travelled, they will more than likely still want to give you some kind of gift. There are many lovely wishing well poems out there that take the attention away from the money aspect and focus on thanking your guests for sharing your special day and contributing to the wishing well if they want to. You could also make it more personal by requesting that they include some words of wisdom on married life or a special message for you.”
A big thanks to Paper Lily and Ooh-Aah Invitations for your wonderful expert advice on these matters. And for any brides out there who have more questions on stationery please leave them in the comments section below and we will put them to our experts and get back to you!
Credits:
Expert advice – Paper Lily and Ooh-Aah Invitations
Photo credits:
Chiccreative
Effortless Weddings
Paper Lily
Stationery Online
Wills Quills
Kate x