Wedding invitations are very important because they set the mood for your celebration. The wedding invitation is the first impression for your wedding. It usually represents the style, theme or type of wedding you will be having. Make sure you send out the wedding invitations at least eight weeks before the date of your wedding. Typically couples send out save-the-date announcements prior to the wedding invitations to make sure out of town guests will be available to celebrate this special occasion with you.
Generally, there are several cards and envelopes to include with your invitation. The ceremony card announces the location of the ceremony, the reception card with details about the reception, the response card & its addressed and stamped envelope along with the inner and outer envelopes. If you will be having the ceremony and reception together at one location, you will be able to eliminate the ceremony or reception card, simply have all the details for both on one card.
How to word your wedding invitations may be a bit tricky, depending on who is hosting your wedding, if your wedding will be formal or informal or if you are having a nontraditional wedding. Traditionally the bride’s parents host the wedding, although today, most couples plan to pay for part or most of their wedding celebration. Typically whoever is hosting the wedding is listed first on the invitation.
If your parents are hosting the wedding it will read as:
“Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Jenna Marie
to
Robert James Williams”
If both families are paying for parts of the wedding you may list it as follows:
“Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
and
Mr. and Mrs. James Williams
invite you to share in the ceremony
uniting their children
Jenna Marie
to
Robert James Williams”
If you are hosting the wedding you may want to word it:
“Miss Jenna Marie
and
Mr. Robert James Williams
request the honor of your presence
at their marriage”
There are many other ways to word your wedding invitations. For nontraditional weddings you may want to word it as:
“Please join us for a celebration of
love, friendship, laughter and family
as
Jenna Marie
and
Robert James Williams
join together in matrimony”
You can do research to find many other options on how to word your wedding invitations.
Putting together the invitation can be quite confusing. With a number of cards and envelopes you want to make sure your guests will not be confused. The general rule is to start with the ceremony card, followed by the reception card on top and then place the response card tucked under the unsealed envelopes flap on the very top. Place all of these items in the inner unsealed envelope. Slide the inner envelope with the addressee’s name facing the back flap so it is visible when your guests open it into the outer envelope.
When addressing the invitations, street names, cities and states should all be written out with no abbreviations. If you are sending to a married couple address it as “Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Thompson”. If you are addressing the invitation to a couple who is not married but living together, use each of their full names, “Mr. Charlie Thompson and Miss Jennifer Smith”. When addressing to a single person that may want to bring a guest, “Miss Caitlin Jones and Guest”.
Wedding invitations can be a long process to assemble, to make it easier I suggest making address labels for each of your guests to place on the envelopes. You may want to devote one Saturday to addressing wedding invitations with your groom, mother or maid of honor.
