Contemporary Wedding Invitations

May 27th, 2009

Contemporary Wedding Invitations

If you are looking to show your personal style on your wedding day, you might want to start with a contemporary wedding invitation. In years past, all wedding dresses were white, invitations were white and written in a script very hard to read, and the waltz was danced at every reception. Those days have long passed us by. In recent years, some brides have even worn red, and a rock and roll reception is not unheard of. In the same way, your wedding invitation doesn’t have to be plain, white, and embossed any more. You can now choose from a variety of styles and colors. Choose the one that best represents you and your soon to be spouse.

Photo Invitations

Photo invitations are a great way to show your family who your soon to be spouse is. If you have family coming from a long distance, they can see who the bride and groom are even before they arrive. This invitation style also gives you the opportunity to show off what a cute couple you make. You can use the same photo you used for your newspaper announcement or take a funny picture. It is completely up to you.

Earth Friendly Invitations

If you and your new partner strive to do things in an earth friendly manner, you should consider earth friendly wedding invitations. You can have your invitations made on paper that is recycled. You can choose to have them wrote with recycled ink. You could also choose to have your invitations colored with natural dyes from flowers and plants. These invitations are a great way to show your love for the planet, as well as your love for one another.

Bold Color Invitations

Your wedding invitations don’t have to be plain white or pale shades of yellow and pink anymore. You can find wedding invitations in a variety of deep, dark hues. These invitations make the perfect invite for a fall or winter wedding. You can find simple classic designs in deep auburn, decorated with leaves. There are also deep blues perfect for a snowy wedding ceremony. You might even choose to use bright pinks and yellows for a warm summer ceremony. These invitations can be customized to fit any season or setting in which your wedding will occur.

Destination Invitations

If you are having your wedding in a specific location like the beach or Las Vegas, you can design your invitation to match. Choose a pale blue picture of the slopes for a romantic winter wedding. You might also choose a picture of the horizon with a lone palm in the distance for a beach ceremony. There are a number of Las Vegas invitations to choose from. Include pictures of casino chips, Elvis impersonators, or game tables to set the appropriate mood.

Have Fun with Your Selection

As you can see, there are a number of fun and cute contemporary styles to choose from. Feel free to have some fun and choose the style you like best. After all, it is your special day. Show off your humor or your style when picking your wedding invitation.

When to Order and Send Out Wedding Invitations

May 14th, 2009

The question has been asked, the ring has been given, and so now you need to send out the wedding invitations. The question is ” when should you order them, and how soon should you send them out?” The truth is there is no perfect answer. If you don’t set the date well in advance, there is no way to send the invitations well in advance. However, if you are following the standard time line and giving yourself a year to prepare, the process should be fairly simple.

When to Order

Most experts agree that you should set your wedding date at least nine months to a year in advance. If you have done this, then you should order your invitations nine months before your wedding day. This will allow you plenty of time to make changes or have your invitations reprinted if it is so required. This also helps you avoid paying outrageous shipping and expediting charges. Some companies actually charge more to expedite an order than the original cost of the invitations. You should look for companies that offer free expedition if your order is delayed because of a company error. Make sure you check your invitations as soon as they arrive and that you contact the company immediately if there are any errors or mistakes.

When to Send out Your Invitations

Most people recommend sending out wedding invitations three months before the date of the wedding. This allows your guests plenty of time to pencil in your event. If you are inviting guests who have children, you will want to make sure you give plenty of time for them to find child care as well. However, if you have guests traveling in from another country, you should notify them well in advance of the three month mark. These people will need to obtain a visa to enter the country. This process can take months or even a year depending on their departure city. In this case, you will want to notify your guest by phone or letter as soon as your date is set. You can then send out a formal invitation just as you would with any other guest. Make sure you don’t send your invitations too early. People may forget about your big day. It is very easy in our busy society to let things fall through the cracks.

Conclusion

Basically, you want to order your invitations at the earliest date possible. However, you should send your invitations allowing enough time for proper planning, but without leaving it enough time two forget your event. Make sure you allow time for any errors to be fixed with the invitations. You also want to allow enough time for your guests to RSVP for your event. You will need a tentative idea of the number of attending in order to plan your wedding and reception. Order early, send out just in time, and don’t forget the people coming from other countries.

Wedding Invitation Wording for the Bride’s Parents

May 4th, 2009

Wedding Invitation Wording for the Bride’s Parents

One of the most important days in your life as a parent will be the wedding ceremony of your little girl to the love of her life. Many parents have very mixed feeling about the wedding, but most are only concerned with their daughter’s happiness.

If the bride’s parents will be sending out the wedding invitations, it’s best to follow some rules for the wording on the invitation. There are many places where you can find help in this area, but here are some tips for help the bride’s parents select just the right words and phrases to announce their daughter’s wonderful occasion.

1. Speak with your daughter extensively about the type of ceremony that she and her fiancé are planning. This will give you the best idea about the type of the setting for the wedding. If your daughter is planning a destination wedding, the wording can be less formal than for a traditional, formal venue.
2. Listen to your daughter. This is her wedding and she should decide on the style of the wedding invitation and the wording. While it is certainly all right to offer your advice and words of wisdom, do keep your daughter’s wishes in mind.
3. There are several different phrases that you might use to announce your daughter’s wedding. Consider the following for a very formal affair:

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Brown request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Tanya to Mr. James Johnson on Sunday the twelfth of May, two thousand and nine at two o’clock in the afternoon, St. Mary’s Church, Springfield, Missouri.

4. One of the important things to remember on a formal wedding invitation is to spell out the dates and time of the ceremony. This is what adds to the formal feel of the invitations. Not only does this let the wedding guests know the important details of the wedding, such as who is getting married, the location, and the date and time, it also lets them see that the wedding will be a rather formal affair. Your guests will be able to choose their attire accordingly.
5. There are many times when the wedding invitation wording from the bride’s parents may need to be altered. This can include divorced parents, one deceased parent, or remarried parents. Here are some examples of formal wedding invitation wording for these situations:

Wedding where the mother has remarried and the father is deceased:

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas White request the honor of your presence at the marriage of her daughter Linda Jones, daughter of Joe Jones to Mr. Mark Wilson on Sunday the third of July, two thousand and nine at two o’clock in the afternoon, St. Mary’s Church, Springfield, Missouri (for a father where the mother is deceased, replace the names, changing “her daughter” to “his daughter”).

Wording for divorced parents hosting #1:

Mrs. Timothy Smith (or Mrs. Rose Smith if mother is unmarried) and Mr. Joe Hayes request the pleasure of your company at the wedding of their daughter Lisa Hayes to Mr. Mark Wilson on Sunday the sixth of June, two thousand and nine at two o’clock in the afternoon, St. Mary’s Church, Springfield, Missouri.

By following the above tips, you can be sure your daughter’s formal wedding invitation wording is just right for the occasion.

Beach Wedding Invitation Wording

April 18th, 2009

Many of today’s hottest beach vacation destinations have become popular destination wedding venues. Jamaica, Maui, and the Virgin Islands are all at the top of the list. Since beach weddings continue to gain in popularity for the most sought after destination wedding theme, you can find a lot of help online when it comes to planning your event.

There are hundreds of choices when it comes to beach wedding invitations. Some brides are more concerned about the wording on these invitations, rather than the beach itself. Most brides want their invitation to be unique, but it’s important to follow some beach wedding invitation wording tips in order to get this wording just right.

1. Your beach wedding invitation wording needs to reflect you and your soon-to-be spouse’s different personalities and your love for one another. Wedding invitations are certainly nothing new. If you want your wedding invitation to be unique, you may want to highlight why your love for each other is different from another couple. Brainstorming between the two of you will help you come up with just the right tone for the beach wedding.
2. Realize that there is no wrong wording. There are many different “rules” for wedding invitation wording, but a beach wedding is traditionally a casual affair. More and more couples are disregarding many of these rules and writing the invitation as they see fit. Don’t concern yourself so much with trying to follow all of the rules when it comes to your beach destination wedding. One of the reasons you probably want a beach wedding is to shy away from the traditional wedding; therefore, you should create your wedding invitation with the same type of carefree attitude.
3. You should know your audience, too. Some of the older relatives may expect a wedding invitation that has very formal wording and a very formal theme. Keep your eighty year old grandmother in mind when you are picking your language.
4. There are beach phrases that should fit you and your soon-to-be spouse as a couple. Simple beach destination wedding should also have simple beach phrases, such as “Once upon a time, on a beach faraway…”
5. The only suggestion you should take to heart is to match your wedding invitation wording to your beach wedding them. Simple beach wedding ceremonies should have simple wedding invitations. For example, if you will only have ten to fifty people at your wedding, you will want to reflect that in your invitation. This would be where you would want to avoid a long poem.

Your beach wedding invitations should be a lot of fun for you to create. Since these types of weddings are so popular nowadays, you can find many different styles and themes for this type of wedding. Most bridal shops are now offering samples of these types of invitations as well. Keep an eye on the different bridal magazines in order to get some great ideas. Your beach wedding should be spectacular and your beach wedding invitations can be as well.

Informal Wedding Invitation Wording

March 29th, 2009

One of the most important parts of a wedding for many people is the wedding invitations. It’s the first look that your friends and family will get of what theme the wedding will be and the venue. However, there are different styles and formats for wedding invitation wording and most will depend on how formal or informal the plans are for your wedding ceremony and reception.

Many different choices will need to be made concerning your wedding invitation, such as style, color, and the wording. The wording will depend on who is sending out your wedding invitations. For more formal affairs, the bride’s parents or the bride and groom’s parents may be sending out the invitations. With these types of invitations, there are usually specific phrases that are used. However, for informal wedding invitations, there is quite a bit of leeway allowed in the wording.

An informal wedding invitation has a different writing style. This is because you will only be including basic information. Usually included in an informal wedding invitations is who is getting married and where. You can use abbreviations and other shortcuts if you so wish. One great result of this type of wedding is that it allows the wedding guests to see that this will be an informal wedding, which will affect your guests’ attire. Etiquette, while important, is not so much as necessity as with a formal wedding invitation. Informal weddings are often the theme for destination weddings, such as a beach wedding. Here is an example of informal wedding invitation wording:

Join us as we celebrate the marriage of
Lindsey Smith
And
Carl Kennedy
Saturday, September 15, 2009
Jamaica Beach, Jamaica

Not only does the above wording let your guests know who, where, and when, it will also tell them that the wedding ceremony will be less formal than if in a more traditional venue. If you want to, you might include a simple phrase about how much joy this wedding is bringing to you and your fiancé. Let the guest know that you would welcome their attendance at the event. You can easily incorporate many of these types of ideas into your wedding invitation with the correct wording.

Don’t forget to include the reply card. Simply because your wedding is to be rather informal, you shouldn’t overlook this step in the wedding invitation process. The wording for the reply card can include abbreviations, such as RSVP and numbers for the reply by date. It’s important to know exactly how many people will be attending your wedding, or at least as close as possible.

Wedding invitation wording may seem rather complicated and in its own way, it is. However, when your wedding ceremony is informal, it does open the door for all different types of wording and phrases that may be used. The main purpose of the wedding invitation and its wording is to let your friends and family know about your wedding. Don’t stress too much over the exact wording to get this accomplished in an informal wedding invitation.