Ordering Wedding Invitations

When an engaged couple orders their wedding invitations the obvious and most important question is how many invitations should they buy. The answer might seem clear – order as many invitations as names on their guest list - but it is not quite as apparent as it seems. There are several factors that any couple considering ordering wedding invitations should think through:

• Printers often have a minimum order requirement or order in predetermined multiples of twenty five or fifty. Thus, a wedding party that is only planning on sending out eighty five wedding invitations might be required to order a hundred.
• Guest lists have a sneaky way of growing at the last minute and couples who discover that they have run out of invitations could find themselves in an embarrassing situation when they discover an important individual they accidently omitted when they created their guest list.
• Most wedding parties have someone they want to send an invitation to that they know will not be able to attend regardless of whether that individual is in the military and serving overseas or incapacitated by medical limitations.
• A couple that uses unusual invitations like the beach themed invitation in a bottle should plan to have a few extra's for keepsakes, not just for them, but for younger family members such as nephews and nieces.

Ultimately, it is better to have a few wedding invitations left over to keep for use in a scrapbook than to run out prematurely.

Save the Date: Preventing Conflicts with Your Wedding Day

Scheduling conflicts are a regular part of life. We all have experienced it. We schedule a party only to discover that half of those we had intended as guests already have commitments to be somewhere else so you find yourself in the position of either having the celebration without those individuals or you have to reschedule.

But when it comes to your wedding day, rescheduling is rarely an option.

The question then is how do you limit the possibility of conflicts? Of course, the obvious answer is that the earlier you schedule your wedding, the better chance you have of getting on your guests calendar. Easy, right?

Maybe not.

You see, after a certain point - and I can't tell you where that point is because that changes from region to region and social circle to social circle - scheduling earlier is not going to help. For example, most people in my region don't schedule their life activities more than about eight months out, with the exception of vacations, so scheduling your wedding eighteen months in advance is not going to help in terms of your guests being able to attend your wedding.

So what is the key? Simply put, it is communication. The sooner you communicate your wedding date to your planned wedding guests, the more likely they will be able to set the date aside to celebrate with you.

The question is how? The people who specialize in wedding invitations say to send out the invitation six to eight weeks before the wedding. Trust them, sending your actual invitations out too soon can be disasterous. In the summer or for a holiday wedding, send them out closer to eight weeks in advance.

But that only highlights the problem. How do you communicate your wedding date to the friends and family that you would like at your wedding without sending you wedding invitations out way too soon?

• Drive to each individual's house and talk to them and hope that they write it down.
• Call all of your future guests and tell them your wedding date and that they will be invited and hope they don't forget.
• Write a personal letter to each of your friends and family members telling them about your wedding date and hope they don't loose your letter.
• Send out 'Save the Date' cards.

I like the 'Save the Date' cards more and more as our world gets crazier. I especially like the magnetic 'Save the Date' cards because, not only can you find them in virtually any style to match your developing wedding theme such as beach, lily, fairytale or... but being magnetic your guests can keep your reminder card on a convenient place such as a refrigerator door.

How soon should you send out the 'Save the Date' announcements? Again, that depends on your situation. In some situations you might be able to send them out as late as four months before the wedding. If your circle is really busy or if you have friends and relatives coming in from across the country, then I would recommend you send out your chosen 'Save the Date' cards at least six months. If you have people coming from other countries more time might be needed for your guests to be able to 'Save the Date' for your wedding.

Read this Before You Buy Your Wedding Invitations

Have you stopped to think about the hidden danger in your wedding invitations?

Your wedding invitations are a key part of your wedding plan. They will serve you well in announcing not only the time and place of your wedding celebration but also help to announce (if subtly) whether your wedding is a formal or informal event.

But... there is a hidden danger in wedding invitations that are often not considered until it's too late to do anything about except grin and bear it.

What is that danger? Simply this. Most invitations have to go through the postal system which means that not only do you have the paper and printing costs associated with invitations, but you also have postage costs.

And that's the problem. You see when we buy wedding invitations we expect postage, but we often don't think of the extra postage that comes with unusual shaped and sized invitations. And even if we do we often discount the thought as only being a few cents, but over your entire mailing list those few cents can turn into a lot of money you could have spent on your cake - or honeymoon!

So how do you protect yourself? Simply this: You can protect yourself by making up a sample of your intended invitation design and taking it down to the post office to find out exactly what each invitation will cost to mail before you commit yourself to that design.

Do it. It's worth the effort, even if you are pretty sure your wedding invitations are a standard size it is better to take the time to bring your sample along next time you have to run to the post office than to find out a week after you finally got them out that the post office is returning them for insufficient postage! That could really throw your schedule out of wack, not to mention what it might do to your wedding budget!

Hidden Invitaion Danger

Have you stopped to think about the hidden danger in your wedding invitations?

Your wedding invitations are a key part of your wedding plan. They will serve you well in announcing not only the time and place of your wedding celebration but also help to announce (if subtly) whether your wedding is a formal or informal event.

But... there is a hidden danger in wedding invitations that are often not considered until it's too late to do anything about except grin and bear it.

What is that danger? Simply this. Most invitations have to go through the postal system which means that not only do you have the paper and printing costs associated with invitations, but you also have postage costs.

And that's the problem. When we buy invitations we expect postage, but we often don't think of the extra postage that comes with unusual shaped and sized invitations. And even if we do we often discount the thought as only being a few cents, but over your entire mailing list those few cents can turn into a lot of money you could have spent on your cake - or honeymoon!

So how do you protect yourself? Simple. You can protect yourself by taking a sample down to the post office before you buy your invitations and finding out exactly what each invitation will cost to send through the postal system.