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Read moreWhen Words Really Matter: Invitations
A wedding invitation is typically the first contact your guests have with your nuptial event. The big day's announcement sets the tone of the wedding and includes all the essential details guests need to know about your wedding. It’s likely something they’ll keep it handy up to the day of and even bring the invitation with them to the wedding itself. And it's something you'll probably keep forever, too. Some couples frame their invitation or make it part of their wedding day photos.
With so much behind an invitation, it's important to choose words wisely, carefully consider the design, send them in a timely manner (6 - 8 weeks before the event is standard) and make your guests feel ready for the event. Now that we see how vital the invitation is, let's look at the language. Specifically, what must be included in the invite and why:
What wording should be included in an invitation?
Here are the most critical parts of an invitation:
· Announce the wedding hosts – who is inviting them to this wedding? Who is getting married?
· Wedding location, date and time – all the essential details
· Dress code – how should gusts dress? If the wedding will be outdoors, this is a great time to tell guests to be prepared for any weather.
· RVSP procedure (if no enclosure cards are given) – how should gusts indicate they’ll attend? Check out more information about the RSVP card here.
Here’s more information about each line of the invitation and suggestions for wording formal weddings versus informal ones. Remember, the language you use in your wedding invitation should reflect you as a couple and the tone of the event.
Host line: is where you will indicate the wedding host’s name. The host line will always appear at the very top of the invitation card. You should format the names of the hosts (those who are paying for the wedding) as required by the wedding invitation rules. Some tips: Use the phrase ‘the late’ if the host is deceased and include the hosts remarried name if they have remarried.
Request line: is requesting your guests’ presence. If it's informal, this line may be 'please join us' or, for a more formal wedding, 'the honor of your presence is requested.'
Action: this explains what's happening at the event. Some examples would be: 'the celebration of their union' or 'at the marriage of their daughter.'
Couples names: your name and your partner's name at the center and front of the invitation card. For mixed-gender couples, the bride's name typically goes first. For same-sex couples, the names can appear in alphabetical order. Formal invitations will include first and last names; informal invites will list the first name only.
Date, time and location: all the crucial details. When listing the venue, remember to list the name of the venue, city and state. It’s not necessary to add a street address, but it’s suggested if it’s a private residence.
Reception line: this is typically at the bottom of the card and lets the wedding guests know what will follow after the ceremony. Wording generally is 'reception to immediately follow' if it's a venue or church wedding or informal language could be 'dinner, drinks and dancing to follow.'
Notes on grammar
Grammar and wording are incredibly important when writing your wedding invitation. Remember to use simple language that every guest will understand and try to avoid extra or unnecessary words. Use uppercase letters for dates and lower case for all numbers. Finally, always proofread before printing the copy. It may be a good idea to have several people read the invitation before printing to avoid costly reprints.
This blog post is a collaboration with the wonderful ladies over at RK Weddings and Events. Find them and their awesome wedding planning on social media.
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Read more10 Unique Seating Charts to Guide your Guests to Their Seats
Hello Hello! I’ve been designing some really fun seating charts over the past few years and I’d love to share them with you. This is one of the best ways to show your guests about your personalities into your beautiful wedding day! Unfortunately, most weddings I do not receive images, therefore I have to design these mock-ups for you to check out! Every single one of these maps were printed on canvas with a floater frame and kept after the event for a decoration in their home after the big day! So this doubles as a decoration seating chart and home decor piece! I’ve designed a few more, check them out here.
1) Favorite Spot in the World
Do you and your spouse have a favorite spot in the world?! What better way to show your wedding guests each of your fav spots with having them actually SIT at their tables?! So fun! Each table can have a photo from you and your partner at the favorite spot and/or a postcard from the spot! So fun and great way to show your friends and family your favorite spots. Great conversation starters as well! “Have you been?!” “Yes! You?!” Insert said awesome story here…. :) Matching Table Numbers were designed below for this wedding as well!
2) Favorite Baseball Park
Have a Favorite Baseball Team? Design a seating chart all around your favorite team! On this seating chart I illustrated Fenway Park for the bride and grooms favorite team, the Red Sox! All the table images matched the seating chart on the tables, you can see a few examples of how the couple could have framed them for their tables.
3) Favorite Golf Courses
Is golf your thing? Getting married at a golf course? We live across from a golf course and while I work with my window open I can hear the crack of the ball and I absolutely love the sound and the feel of the warm air on my body. This couple wed at a golf course and are golf fanatics so we designed this for their favorite courses all over the world! So fun! Anything to incorporate your ‘loves’ into your big day!
3) Favorite Ski Hills
I have so many clients who are doing this seating chart right now! I absolutely LOVE learning about their favorite places to ski! We’ve designed this a few different ways, however this one has a lot going on and I love this one showing where all the locations are on the map. To see more of this one in different versions, click here. Check out the matching table numbers below the chart.
4) Venue Room Layout
Is your room layout a little hard to navigate?! Laying out the room on a large board is the best way to show your guests where to go once it’s time to sit down for dinner. Adding in your style of their wedding (art deco perhaps?) is the best way to do this. I love this type of seating chart version, however you need to remember to move your RSVP date on your invitations up by a couple weeks if you're wanting to do something like this. These take a bit more work than a regular seating chart. If you’re going this route, you’ll need to make sure a couple weeks is available to design this. Sometimes room layouts change last minute and since framed canvas’ take a couple weeks to print & ship we need that time before the wedding to get this done. A quicker way to print would be a poster or foam core poster.
These Crane table numbers come in packs and are a great way to match your seating chart without doing custom table numbers! They come in packs of 10 (1-10 & 11-20) and are a reasonable price! However they ONLY go to 20, so make sure you have 20 or less tables!
5) Favorite Places Seating Chart
We all have a favorite city, so show it off! You can treat this in a couple different ways. Most people put their favorite city spots as well as their ‘firsts’ on their map seating chart, however you could also use this like you use your itinerary and map and use this list (Click here) to design your locations on your seating chart maps as well!
6) National Park Seating Chart
Love the National Parks?! I LOVE these charts designed from old National Park posters. 56xyg This illustrates the couples favorite parks in the US. Then they had place cards to match that took them to their table! Check out more National Park Seating Charts here.
7) Favorite Park Places
Number 7 is near and dear to my heart. I love the colors, I love the art deco star burst and I love the venue illustration. This one also has a few of the other seating chart elements from the previous seating charts: I designed an illustration of the venue (boat house), designed a map around the piece as well as the favorite places which was the proposal spot, first kiss spot and first date spot! So many spots to share their favs on the day of their wedding!
8) Window Decal
This London Map is full of the couples favorite spots however we put it on the window of their venue!
9) Venue Illustration
I design a lot of venue illustrations and other favorite spots (museums, restaurants, hotels, etc….) I love designing these illustrations and then once it’s finished people use it for much more than just their seating charts! This particular seating chart was for The Breakers in Palm Beach. The venue is so amazing it was easy to make it the focal point of their wedding day of pieces! Click here to see this illustration and how we used it in Cross and Ethan’s big day!
10) Favorite Movie
For this seating chart we incorporated the couples favorite movie, Star Wars! We also used some of the movies quotes as well as coaster and napkins from other movies.
11) College Sports
For this seating chart we incorporated the couples favorite sporting moments.
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Jillian and Brady • McKinney, Texas
This past week my good friends at Lot 207 and In Season Catering hosted an amazing rehearsal dinner for some really great people, Jillian and Brady Luby. We began working with Brady's mother, Donna, months ago creating custom invitations, menus, seating charts, table numbers... you name it. We even used a design Carol created on chocolate made by Yelibelly Chocolates! It was such a blast working with Donna, and we hope to work with her again very soon. Congratulations Jillian and Brady! Oh, and of course, Carol designed a map for their wedding! Check out some of the photo's before the party started below.
SHOUT OUTS!
Flowers: The Stalk Market
Farm Tables: Propmaker Event Rentals
Table Numbers, Stationery, Figures: CW Designs
Chargers: BBJ Linen
Dining and Glassware: TLC Event Rentals
Catering: In Season Catering
Venue: The Venue at Lot 207
Picture Perfect
Over the years, I have created thousands of custom items for weddings all over the world and occasionally I will receive pictures my work. When I opened up these images, I was stunned by their beauty. The gorgeous photo's were taken by Sarah Petersen of Sarah Schultz Photography. She captured some amazing images of the couple and some really great shots of the day of material I created. I really cherish photo's like this because I can put a face to a name and see how my work appeared. I was so impressed by how the colors popped that I contacted my equally talented friend and photographer, Ryan O'Dowd of Ryan O'Dowd Photography, to take a few shots of the materials I created for the big day. I created a custom invitation suite, wedding map, seating chart, table numbers, place cards, and even a custom postage stamp! I love it when I can take a style and apply it to other things outside of just an invitation or map! Check out these amazing photos.
Photo Credit: Sarah Petersen
Photo Credit: Sarah Petersen
Photo Credit: Sarah Petersen
Photo Credit: Sarah Petersen
Photo Credit: Sarah Petersen
Photo Credit: Sarah Petersen
Photo Credit: Ryan O'Dowd
“Thank you so much (again) for the wonderful work and all of the back and forth changes you made on the artwork for Molly’s wedding. It made the event much more special and the reception coordinator commented frequently on the attention to detail and extra touches. We really appreciate everything you did for us!”