Wedding Stationery: What You Need Before Your Wedding Day

If you're newly engaged you know exactly what I mean when I say their is so much to do. Honestly, it seems like the list goes on and on and you can never catch a break. All those who agree, say "ay". Next to florals, finding your venue and hiring all of your other vendors, the daunting wedding stationery and wedding invites come into play. As much as we hate to admit it, your wedding stationery plays a huge role in the entire wedding planning process. It's a small and subtle way to tie in your wedding theme, get your guests excited and still pack a major punch. Below is a complete list of what wedding stationery you need before your wedding day. Here we will go over what types of wedding paper goods you need so that you can check one more thing off your to-do list!

Trying to find wedding stationery brands that are versatile, unique and fit within your wedding budget can be tough. Up until I found this beautiful brand and business, Basic Invite. Basic Invite is a high-quality stationery company that offers stationery for wedding invitations, bridal showers, bridal party cards, save-the-dates, as well as other stationery for life's biggest moments. While there are plenty of reasons why Basic Invite is a standout stationery company to work with your all of your wedding invites and wedding stationery needs, here are just a few reasons why they are the best for your special day.

Plethora of Color Choices - Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers a wide-range of color choices. Almost unlimited, actually as well as instant previews online. Once you have selected a design, you are able to change the color of each element on the card. You have a choice of 180 colors to choose from to ensure that your wedding invites and wedding stationery are exactly how you want it.

Custom Samples - They also allow couples to order a printed sample of their invitation before placing the final order. Not only does this eliminate stress on your end from having to bulk order invitations not knowing what they look like in person. But, you are able to determine the paper quality, how it will print and ensure that the card is built to absolute perfection.

Over 40 Different Color Envelopes - One of the best things, is that Basic Invite offers 40 different envelope colors to choose from. With a wide variety of options, you can guarantee to find an envelope color that matches your invitations to a tee. This is also perfect when it comes time for me, your wedding photographer, to take your wedding details and flatlay photos. Beautifully curated wedding stationery and invites are a MAJOR plus and make a great addition to your final wedding gallery. A bonus is that all of the envelopes are peel and seal, so they can be closed quickly and securely.

Address Capturing Service - Basic Invite also offers an address capturing service that allows customers to share a link on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media to request their friends and family's addresses. The addresses are stored in the customer’s account and can be selected during the design process. Basic Invite offers recipient address printing at no cost on all card orders.

Foil Cards Available - Basic Invite also offers foil cards for those of you who wish to take your wedding stationery and wedding invites to the next level. Foil cards are available in gold, silver, and rose gold. You are also able to choose flat or raised foil on all of Basic Invite’s foil designs.

Check out Basic Invite on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest for more photo wedding invitations, wedding invites and more!

Having an engagement party is one of the first steps to celebrating this next step in your life. If you're wanting a more formal engagement party, then ideally you would send out invitations well in advance to your guests. This can be between 2-3 months prior to your engagement party. You ideally want your engagement party invitations to reflect the overall theme of your wedding, however, no one expects you to have it all together. I mean you did just get engaged!

In your engagement party invitations, feel free to make it simple with information that goes over the date that it will be happening, the location/time as well as if you are requiring a specific dress code.

What To Include:

• Date of Your Engagement Party
• Location & Time
• *optional* Include information about your specific dress code (if you have one)

While all wedding stationery and paper goods are important, you will hear a ton of buzz around Save-The-Dates. Once you have established your wedding date, this is now the time to gather in the troops and start narrowing down who you want to invite to your wedding. On save-the-date's you typically do not put a ton of information here. Rather, you are just putting down basic information for guests to know such as both of your full names, the date of the wedding along with the city where the wedding will take place. You will often also see "more information to follow" on save-the-dates to ensure guests that they will find out more information soon. This will help them in knowing the exact venue and time they need to be there.

What to include:

• Both you and your partners full names
• Wedding Date
• City where wedding will take place (usually you omit your venue at this point)
• A photo of you and your partner (engagement photos are perfect for save-the-dates)
• *optional* including a URL link to your wedding website for more information

If you're planning on having a bridal shower, just know that the bridal shower invitations are typically sent out by the bridal shower host! These invitations are a lot more fun and festive, so don't be afraid to get creative with it! You want to give several months (between 2-3) of notice to your guests for the bridal shower. Check out some of my favorite bridal shower invite cards from one of my favorite companies, Basic Invites!

What to Include:

• Location/Address of Bridal Shower
• Date/Time
• Theme (if you have one)
• Bridal Shower Registry Site (if you have one)

Equally as important is the thank-you cards that you sent afterwards. For all of the guests who have attended your bridal shower as well as given you gifts, a thank-you card is an absolute must! Ideally, if you want to be the most thoughtful you would send a hand-written note.

If you plan on having a larger group attend your bachelor/bachelorette parties, it is best to organize this through formal invitations. You want to give your guests plenty of time to prepare, take time off work, save money, etc for this event so make sure you give them several months notice! If you are planning a destination location, make sure you note that in the invitations as well!

What To Include:

• Location
• Date/Time
• Theme (if you have one)
• What To Expect From Guests

Next up is one of the most important invitations that you're going to send out, your wedding invites. Your wedding invitations should definitely flow with the overall theme of your wedding day, so no pressure there. These are the invitations that will be included in your wedding details and flatlay photos with your wedding photographer btw!

What's Included:

• Bride + Grooms Full Names
• Bride + Grooms Parents Full Names
• Wedding Date & Time
• Venue Name & City/State

When it comes to your wedding invites, there are several different components that go into your wedding invitation. Rather than just one singular card, there is a whole invitation suite that is put together, but with reason! This wedding invitation suite will provide a ton of information for your guests as well as look absolutely stunning in your wedding flatlay photos. Below are some of the different components that make up a wedding invitation suite!

Outer Envelope - The outer envelope includes the recipients address on the front and postage stamps.

Inner Envelope - The inner envelope includes the title and last name of the invitees *not mandatory* but looks amazing

Belly Band - An additional add-on that adds a bit of flair to your wedding invitation suite. It can be paper, fabric or ribbon and is typically used to keep all of your cards together

Invitation Card - The largest card of them all is your wedding invitation that includes names, date, time, venue and location

Reception Card - This is a card with date, time, and address information for your reception (if you have it at a different wedding venue)

Directions Card - Gives guests a run-down on how to find the venue especially if it's in a more remote location where cell service/GPS could be tricky to use

Hotel Accommodations Card - If you have a lot of out of town guests, a hotel accommodations card gives a list of local hotels for them to stay at in the area to make their experience just that much more enjoyable.

Next to your wedding invites, you want to make sure that you are including an RSVP card as well. Putting all of the RSVP info on your wedding invitations can make things look busy and cluttered which you don't want. So having it put on a separate card is always the best way to go and is the easiest to digest.

What's Included:

• Reply By Date
• A Line For Guests Name
• A Response (accept/regrets)
• Include a Space For # of Guests Attending
• Meal Options *optional*
• Dietary Restrictions *optional*

If you are planning on having a rehearsal dinner the night before your wedding, it is ideal to send out invitations for this as well. This will just ensure that the guests that you want attending the rehearsal dinner know the when and the wear. You can either choose to send this out with the wedding invitations or after the wedding invites.

What's Included:

• Family That's Hosting The Rehearsal Dinner
• Location Information/Address
• Date/Time
• RSVP Card or Line For The Guest To RSVP

If you were to take one thing from this entire blog just know that your wedding invites/wedding stationery in general is SO important. It's about communicating with your guests, packing a punch and making this the best experience you could possibly have. Now go on, you have a lot of planning to do!