Your wedding invitations set the tone for your wedding day. Although you may send out save the dates, your invitations are often the first thing guests receive that give them an idea about your day. Not only are your invitations essential, but so is all of your wedding stationery. These include your table numbers, escort cards, menus and programs. They all aid in telling the story of your day. With the help of Kristin of Brown Fox Creative we are sharing some insight to help you feel confident in your wedding stationery designer and designs!

Basic Information

Like making any decisions for your wedding, choosing the design of your wedding stationery (especially your wedding invitations) can be overwhelming. However, wedding stationery professionals are able to guide you. They will provide insight as to what design would work best and how you can achieve that vision (or close to it) and stay within your budget.

Often times you will have the option to choose from a collection, semi-custom design, or a completely customized design. From there you’ll be able to decide on various design factors such as single layer invitations, layered designs, pocket suite designs, and so on. You’ll also be able to choose if you want to add on additional features such as envelope addressing, wax seals, to have the invitations already assembled, and so on. The more additional features you add on of course the higher the cost will be. Your designer will help you choose what’s best for you!

The Process

Kristin of Brown Fox Creative: “Semi-custom design is typically 4-8 weeks, custom design is 6-10 weeks. We start with design direction via either an in-person meeting, a meeting with their planner, a phone call or email. If pricing has not already been discussed, it would be after this stage. A contract with a timeline with be sent. The timeline will include stating dates for when initial drafts will be provided, when final approval & balance due by the client and when the project will be complete is then drafted.

From there, design takes place within an online portal that keeps everything centralized in one place. A wedding project can have multiple people with access to partake in the process. Once the checklist is completed confirming all has been proofread and approved to print, it’s off to printing and production.”

The Timeline 

8 months before your wedding: Order and mail your save the dates. Some couples do this well in advance (especially if they have family living further away), but 8 months is an average time.

6 months before your wedding: Order your wedding invitations. This means that you should have your wedding stationery designer and design all ready to go by this point.

4 months before your wedding: Hire a calligrapher. This step is obviously optional, however if you’re opting for some pretty script we suggest making sure you do that at this time. This way you’ll know exactly what you’ll need them to do and they are able to provide a pretty accurate quote. Calligraphers are great to have for addressing your envelopes, signage, and escort cards.

4 months before your wedding: Order your rehearsal dinner invitations. Remember not everyone receiving a wedding invitation is invited to the rehearsal dinner. Only design rehearsal dinner invitations for those you plan on inviting.

2 months before your wedding: Mail invitations. This includes sending the rehearsal dinner invites to those invited.

2 months before your wedding: Order Thank You Cards. Some couples opt to wait on this step so they can include a wedding picture on the design. Whichever you prefer is great, but it never hurts to be a little ahead!

2 months before your wedding: Order day of paper items. This is when you can order escort cards, programs, menus, etc.

Tips + Tricks

Pinterest and Instagram are great for wedding stationery inspiration.

Don’t put too much information onto the design. This will make it look crowded. Put the necessary information and then put the rest of your wedding website.

Make sure your fonts, colors, patterns, etc. are not only legible but only reflect the style you’re going for.

Proof read! I can’t stress this one enough. Have multiple people review your designs. Make sure your names, dates, times, venue addresses, etc. are all correct before submitting to print.

If you’re having a calligrapher address the envelopes, see if you can get the envelopes from your wedding stationery designer ahead of time.

Questions + Things to Consider

Play around with fonts, styles, and designs, however make sure you’re aware of how many proofs your designer is contracted for.

Don’t forget postage stamps. Also make sure you take into consideration the cost of the postage stamps into your stationery budget.

Make sure you weigh your invitation before posting. This way you know you’re posting with the current postage stamp and don’t run the risk of having them returned.

Order about 20-30 extra. This is great to have in case you utilize your “B-List.”

We hope these tips help you feel confident in knowing how to confidently choose your wedding stationery design and designer!

Need help finding the right vendors or interested in more of our services at Alexa Kay Events? Let’s chat!