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Wedding Planning


| WEDDING INVITATIONS
Invitations, Stationery & Programs



Save the Date, Destination Weddings, showers, engagement parties, weddings and thank-yous

by Shelley Waugh

The Royal Wedding Invitation for Prince William & Kate Middleton
April 29, 2011, Westminster Abbey, London, England
David Beckham and Victoria Beckham, Elton John and David Furnish and Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife, Laureen, have received their invitations to the wedding and to a lunchtime buffet for 600 people hosted by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. One of William's godfathers, King Constantine, the former ruler of Greece, his wife Queen Anne-Marie and their son Crown Prince Pavlos are confirmed to be attending.

On February 16th & 17th, the stiff white card invitation with its gold lettering and gilded edge went out to 1,900 people, from kings to charity leaders, to close family and university friends, old schoolmates and prime ministers around the world.

Decorated in gold writing and emblazed with a matching insignia of William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, in whose name the invitation is sent, left, the edges of the card – which is about 10x6 inches – are bevelled and then gilded. The simple wording reads that the Lord Chamberlain has been "commanded by the Queen" to invite the holder to the marriage at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. on April 29. As for the dress code, gentlemen guests are asked to wear military uniform, a tailcoat or a business suit.

Six-hundred of the 1,900 guests also received an invited by the Queen to a reception that she is hosting immediately after the ceremony in the Abbey. Later, around 300 of those 600 guests are invited to a dinner hosted by William's father, Prince Charles, in the evening at Buckingham Palace.

If you are buying stationery at a gift or stationery shop, you'll be looking for thank-you notes, invitations to the ceremony, reception cards, RSVP cards, programs, place-cards, place-card holders, candles, favors, napkins, toasting glasses, cake knives, albums, a guest book and a fancy pen for guest-signing.

Your invitation is going to reflect your wedding theme and style. So focus on the ambiance you want your invitation to create when your wedding guests open their envelopes. You'll be choosing paper stock, ink color and the style of type (font). Take a look at the  invitations you and your family have received in the past. This will give you a starting point of what you might not want. If you find some wording you like put it into one of the large clear envelopes you keep in your binder for miscellaneous bits of paper.

There are many ways to handle invitations. You can select from order books at gift and stationery stores or choose single invitations or packages from the racks. You can order from printers, order invitations from direct mailing house catalogues, or you can create your own on a computer with a software package that includes calligraphy and then have them printed at a copy shop. On the other hand, you can write them out yourself on special stationery.

Some wedding invitation packages come complete with wedding albums and all kinds of necessary items.

The formality of your wedding is set by the overall style of your invitation. Formal invitations are usually engraved or thermographed on the front side of a single or folded sheet of heavy white or creamed color paper. They are very plain, but some may have a raised border or panel. They use a legible, classic type style either in serif (elaborate curls) or sans serif (without curls) in black ink. The greater the variation from this basic model, the more informal the invitation becomes.

Prepare a draft of the wording you want on your invitations when you are shopping so that you can compare the price that each person has quoted you. Formal invitations have a traditional style, however your family situation or personal wishes may alter the way you want your wording done.

When you are selecting your wedding invitations, it is a good time to order all your stationery requirements so that everything will have the same "look". To reorder invitations it takes time and added expense, therefore, order fifteen percent more as a cushion. Ask for your envelopes in advance so that you can start to address them.    

Invitation Wordings   
Gift and stationery shops will provide several samples of wordings that you can choose from. Make sure you also choose the typeface (font) you want them to use. The traditional wording is formal and provides very little room for innovation. However, contemporary wording can be as innovative as your family situations, customs, or wedding theme permit.

Traditional dos & don'ts
• Do use first, middle and last names. Do not use nicknames or initials.
• Do spell out "and" (not the & symbol).
• Do spell "honour" and "favour" the English way, if you wish.
• Do write out the days, dates, times and year - do not use a string of numerals.
• Do ask for a proof of your printed invitation. Make sure your family and his family check for corrections or make any changes.
• Don't sign the final proof of your invitation until no more corrections or changes are needed.
• Don't handwrite anything on your invitations like "no gifts", "no smoking", "no children" or "cash bar".
• Don't invite people to your ceremony and not to the reception if you can help it. It saves a lot of hard feelings down the road.

Traditional wording all in italic
Mr. and Mrs. (First, middle, last name of father)
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Mary Anne
to
Mr. Paul Christopher on Saturday, the ninth of October
two thousand and one
at two o'clock in the afternoon
(place)
(address)
(city/province)
(If everyone is invited to the reception add the following)
followed by a reception at
(place, address)

R.S.V.P.
In today's society, the Bride's parents could be divorced and her mother remarried (Bride's mother's name then father's name); or the Bridegroom's parents are going to share the costs of the wedding (traditionally: the Bride's family and (Groom's family); or the Bride's mother uses her professional name (show her professional name in a bracket under their married names); or if its a double wedding in one family (the older child gets top billing); or step-parent (use their daughter/son or parent's name daughter/son; or single parent (single parent's name). If you are sponsoring your own wedding (your names invite you to their/our wedding, etc.). If your wording is going to include military or professional or clergy titles or degrees, spell the title out rather than using an abbreviation.

Stationery
You will need thank-you notes to send to the people who send you gifts and who do special things for you while your are planning your wedding. These notes should be handwritten and specifically mention the gift or service. You can customize your stationery with your name, initials or logo. After you are married, both of you can sign the thank-you notes.

Place-cards
Formal weddings require place-cards and if a large wedding, the tables need to be numbered. A list is usually found at the entrance to the reception room. These cards can be printed or hand written. If you are having a theme wedding, this is a great opportunity to create unique place-cards holders that your guests can take home.

Guest Books
Depending on the size of your wedding, you might need more than one book for your guests to sign. Many of your guests will want to write little notes to you and you don't want them to stand in line. Make sure there are plenty of pens available. Put "picking up the guest books" on your Maid of Honor's list. If she has too many other things to do she can assign it to one of your Bridesmaids.

Programs
Occasionally, brides print programs for their guests that include the schedule for the ceremony and the reception. They usually are handed out by the ushers or whoever is at the entrance. If you use an 8" x 11" paper, folded in half to make four pages, use page one to show your names, date and place of your wedding. Use page two for the ceremony schedule, listing by name your officiant, parents, wedding party, and musical selections and performers. Use page three for your reception, listing the time table and agenda from the time you start until the First Dance. Also, list any special entertainment you are going to feature.

Stationery shops, printers and PC software packages make it easy to have simple programs of any size prepared. They are inexpensive and can be printed on paper to match your color scheme and/or invitations.

Photos: courtesy www.whitneyenglish.com


www.WeddingsHoneymoons.com | Wedding Invitations | April 16, 2011
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