Tips & Advice

A guide to purchasing your Wedding Stationery

When to order your Wedding Stationery
This will depend on factors such as the deadline required by your venue, whether you are getting married at home or abroad, if you have friends or relatives attending from overseas or possibly who are in the armed forces. Once you have decided on your colour theme for the wedding it is a good idea to purchase wedding stationery samples from a variety of suppliers to help you decide between pre-printed or bespoke handmade designs. You will also need to calculate your budget and make a note of which cards you will require, i.e. does your church provide the Order of Service cards, does your venue provide Place Name Cards and a Table Plan? If not, these will need to be included in your costs.

Save the Day/Date Cards
In general, the first item to send out is your 'Save the Date' cards. These are an optional extra, but are fast becoming a popular addition to the stationery range and are an ideal way to pre-inform potential guests of your forthcoming wedding so that they can book the necessary time off work or make childcare/travel arrangements well in advance. These can be sent out up to a year ahead of the wedding date.

Wedding Invitations
Your invitations will be one of the most important items on your wedding checklist. Without them there will be no guests to share your special day with you! There are a wide variety of designs with basic printed details or more elaborate designs with raised embellishments in your colour and theme. You will need to order your invitations approx. 3-4 months before the wedding date. This will allow 1 month for the cards to be made to your specifications, 2 weeks for you to write and post them and then anything from 1 - 2 months to wait for your guests to confirm their attendance so that you can in turn, inform your venue of the guest list numbers for both the actual wedding and for your evening reception. It is also a good idea to add travel and accommodation advice and dietary queries in with the invitations. You might want to order a few extra invitations to allow for any errors when writing them and to have some spare as keepsakes.

RSVP/Reply Cards
These should be ordered with your invitations and will need to be sent out in the same envelope with the date that the acceptance/regret reply needs to be returned by.

Order of Service Cards
The Order of Service is generally a programme of the Church or Registry Office service including the music that will be played during your entrance and exit and any readings, hymns, blessings etc. The Service details will vary greatly depending on whether you will be marrying in a Church or other venue, but it is advisable to remember to order copies for yourselves, any bridesmaids, ushers etc., and your Vicar or Registrar. In general, it is acceptable to allow 1 booklet per couple attending, or if your budget allows, you might prefer to order 1 per person. These should be given to your guests by the Ushers as they arrive at the Church/Venue. It is advisable to allow at least 6 weeks prior to the wedding date to order these cards.

Menus, Place Cards and Table Plans
These are optional extras but are a nice addition to keep continuity of your colour theme throughout both the wedding and the reception. You can ask your reception venue for the full Menu sheet and this can be printed as an insert inside a card matching your other stationery. The Place Cards can either be supplied with a themed design and a space for you to write your guest's names (allow extras for any mistakes) or they can be supplied pre-printed so all the work is done for you. The Table Plan is helpful to show your guests where they will be seated. Some Plans are laid out in the same way as the venue, others have a more simple layout just showing the table name/number and the guest list for each one. They can be supplied in a wide variety of formats from canvas boards to framed keepsakes. Guests can be listed formally with their title ie 'Mr or Mrs' or less formally by their name ie. 'Jane Harper', but above all, remember that by this stage of the wedding day, you will now be 'Mr and Mrs....' so the Bride should be entered by her newly married name and not her maiden name. It is advisable to allow at least 6 weeks prior to the wedding date to order these items.

Thank You Cards
This is a nice way to thank your guests after the wedding for any gifts that they may have given you or simply for being there with you on your special day. These are generally sent out after you have returned from honeymoon, so they can even be ordered after the wedding.