Wedding stationery includes everything from Save the Dates to final thank-you notes and personalized stationery. Most brides think wedding stationery is only the wedding invitation card itself; however, wedding stationery covers your Save the Dates or Engagement announcements, wedding invitation suites, day-of details such as menus, place cards, ceremony programs, as well as personal stationery after the wedding for thank-you notes and social stationery with your wedding monogram coordinated to your wedding invitations.
Wedding Invitation Timeline
Your wedding invitation timeline is specific to your special needs for wedding stationery. The timeline is based on your wedding date, as well as special circumstances such as when your vendors need a final guest count or if you’re having an international destination wedding.
You can use my wedding invitation timeline calculator to determine your personalized wedding stationery timeline. Select your wedding date and the calculator displays your five important dates: 1) contact your stationer about Save the Dates and wedding invitation suite, 2) mail your Save the Dates; 3) finalize your wedding invitation suite design and place your order; 4) mail your wedding invitation suites three months before your wedding day; 5) contact your stationer about wedding day stationery and signage.
If keeping track of these details seems a little overwhelming, you can sign up for reminder emails to be sent to you about ten days before these important dates.
The best thing about using a stationery designer is leaving the timeline details to me! I generally schedule three months for design, printing, addressing, and assembling. Three months is a reasonable timeframe to cover any unexpected issues with the printer or other suppliers or postal delays by USPS.
Before the Wedding
Before the wedding there are five details to consider in planning for your wedding invitation suites: When to book your stationer, when to send your Save the Dates, whether to use photos on your Save the Dates or wedding invitation suites, how to allocate your wedding stationery budget, and who to include on your guest list.
When to book your stationer
It might surprise you to learn that even stationers can be booked up for your popular wedding date. No, they’re not working on your wedding day, but to have the proper amount of time to organize your wedding day stationery such as ceremony programs, menus, place cards, and seating charts, they need production time in the four weeks leading up to your wedding. Their production schedule is affected by each wedding. Once you have finalized your venue and date, you should book your wedding stationer to save your design and production time on their calendar.
When to send your Save the Dates
Save-the-dates are usually sent out between six and twelve months before your wedding day. The huge time frame depends on whether you have an international destination wedding, a domestic destination wedding, or many people traveling to your hometown. Are Save-the-Dates even necessary? Not really, if everyone is local and already knows! However, if you have friends and family in your hometown, college town, and now work town, then many of them will need time to make travel arrangements. Or if you are planning a destination wedding out of the country, then people will need to arrange for passports and make airline reservations several months in advance. Don’t forget: Everyone who receives a Save-the-Date must receive a formal invitation!
Whether to use photos on your Save the Dates or wedding invitation
Do you want to include your engagement photos on or with your Save-the-Dates? This is certainly a popular design option for Save-the-Dates. Your stationer can incorporate your engagement photos either on the Save-the-Date itself or as an enclosure. In order to have the photo in time to be included, you must make arrangements to have an engagement photo session with your photographer. If you don’t have time to put your photos on your Save-the-Dates, you can certainly highlight them on your wedding website, or on holiday cards before your wedding day.
How to allocate your wedding stationery budget
A wedding stationery budget has several sections. As a stationer, I usually set them up as three separate orders that are connected by your coordinating design elements. The first order is your Save-the-Dates, which are usually the simplest design and have a quick turnaround. The next section of your order includes your wedding invitation suite which incorporates some design features from the Save-the-Dates into the main wedding invitation card, RSVP card, and other details or accommodations cards. The invitation order can also include any Thank-you notes and personalized stationery. Your third order covers any wedding day stationery such as ceremony programs, menus, place cards, and cocktail napkins.
Having 3 separate orders helps spread the expenses over a period of time and keeps similar items together from design to printing to maintain a cohesive look. One of the most surprising expenses in wedding invitation suites is having the outer, inner, and RSVP envelopes printed or calligraphed.
Your budget can also be affected by the type of printing methods. The more expensive methods include letterpress, foil, and thermography. Digital printing is economical and still produces a beautiful end product. The number of enclosures in your wedding invitation suite also affects your budget. A Gatefold wedding invitation combines the main invitation and other details on one page.
Who to include on your guest list
Your venue choice will probably have the largest effect on your guest list. Choosing who to invite to your wedding is likely one of the most difficult aspects of wedding planning. Usually, you can’t invite everyone you know. Sometimes you have the luxury of having an A-list and a B-list of people to include as RSVPs come in if you have enough time. Finalizing your guest list and recording all of their mailing addresses on a spreadsheet before sending your invitations to print is critical. Many times, the same printer that prints your wedding invitations also prints your guest’s addresses on the matching envelopes.
Designing the invitation suite
Wedding invitation suites include a variety of enclosures that provide your guests with all the necessary information for your wedding activities. Your suite will set the mood and style of your wedding day. Considerations for your wedding invitation suite are: what to include in your wedding invitation suite, when to send the wedding invitation suite, and when your R.S.V.P.s need to be returned.
What to include in your wedding invitation suites
Wedding invitation suites usually include a main invitation, RSVP card, and details card with an outer envelope and RSVP envelope for mailing the RSVP back. In the design phase, you can certainly add a map, rehearsal dinner invitation, or welcome party information. In my wedding invitation suites, I also include an envelope liner. Vellum wraps and wax seals are beautiful embellishments that make your suite distinctly personal to you.
Here is a list of enclosures and embellishments that are frequently found in wedding invitation suites:
1) Invite
2) RSVP – mail or online
3) Details/Accommodations card
4) Other events & their RSVPs – and/or included on your wedding website
a. Rehearsal dinner
b. Welcome party
c. Departure brunch
5) Maps
6) Liner
7) Wrap
8) Wax seals or ribbon
9) Outer, inner, RSVP envelopes and postage
When to send the wedding invitation
When to send your wedding invitation suites is a common question. Usually, three months before your wedding day is an adequate amount of time. It is also appropriate if you did not send out Save-the-Dates. This gives your guests enough time to return their RSVPs and allows you to give an accurate headcount to your other vendors. If RSVPs come in quickly enough you may also have time to send invitations to your B-list.
When your R.S.V.P.s need to be returned
Your guest’s RSVP date at least six weeks before your wedding day should give you plenty of time to finalize your headcount for your vendors. Your caterer needs meal selections and the rental company will need a headcount for linens, tables, and chairs for the ceremony and reception. Your stationer will need guest names to prepare escort cards, place cards, seating charts, menus, and ceremony programs.
If your guests will be mailing their RSVPs back to you it is a great idea to have your stationer add the guest’s return address on the back of the RSVP envelope. This is a simple way to know who the RSVP is for in case the guest fills out the response card incorrectly. On the other hand, if you use an online RSVP system on your wedding website, it integrates RSVP tracking along with gift registries and other contact information, sometimes even allowing text messaging from the system.
Wedding Day Stationery
Wedding day stationery quantities should be finalized and sent to print four to five weeks before the wedding day. Your wedding ceremony program design could be a simple card printed on both sides, a folded bulletin, or a fun fan shape specially die-cut just for you! Generally, you will print a wedding ceremony program and menu for each person attending. Personalized cocktail napkin orders are estimated at 3-4 per guest. Other items included in the wedding day stationery would be table numbers, bar signage, welcome signage, welcome gifts, hand fans, and wedding favors. There are so many fun, personal options.
Personal stationery: After the wedding
Within six months of your wedding, you should send personal thank you notes for the wedding gifts you received. Recently, sending personal thank-you notes to each guest who came to the wedding has also become common. What better way to show your appreciation than with personalized, wedding-inspired thank-you notes? This would also be a fun way to send your favorite wedding photo to your guests. You could also include wedding photos as part of your first holiday cards.
As you can see, designing Save the Dates, wedding invitation suites, wedding day stationery, and personal stationery takes several months, as well as time for revisions, ordering, assembly, and mailing. To get your personalized wedding invitation timeline, check out my wedding invitation timeline calculator. If keeping track of these dates seems overwhelming, be sure to sign up for reminder emails for your important personal timeline dates. I will send you a reminder 10 days before your date.
Ordering wedding stationery takes planning and you should begin nearly a year before the wedding day. Book your stationer early, send your Save the Dates, have engagement photos made if needed, allocate your wedding stationery budget between Save the Dates, wedding invitation suites, wedding day and personal stationery, and finalize your guest list as early as possible.
Working with a stationer to design your personal, memorable wedding invitation suites will give you peace of mind knowing all the details will be covered and your stationer will handle any unexpected issues.
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