First Impressions Lasts Choose Your Wedding Invitations Properly
October 21, 2008
How to choose your wedding invitation:
1. Set a budget and be creative. As well as there are beautiful expanssive invitations, there are also inexpenssive but equally beautiful ones in the market. You just got to be creative and know where to look.
2. Decide on a theme and color motif for your wedding. Your invitation should suggest the theme or the color motif of your wedding.
3. Do your guest list so that you will know how many invitations to order.
4. Select a style that reflects your personality as well as it should give an idea of the wedding that you are planning.
5. Begin as early as eight months before the wedding. This means that you will have plenty of time paying attention to perfect the wording, and should something goes wrong, you will have ample time to revise it and make sure that it is the way you want it before sending them out.
6. Before you order your invitations, make sure that all of your wedding details such as the date, time and place of the ceremony and reception are already confirmed.
7. Asking help from professionals on the look and style of your invitation will help you pull your ideas together for a more beautiful outcome.
8. With regards to the proper wording and etiquette, a professional should be consulted to make sure that everything in the invitation is properly placed.
9. Order more invitations than the amount that you really need. This will give you a few extras in case you miss anyone out.
10. When giving the shop your wording, it is best that you give it to them typewritten, so they can clearly read it.
11. Do it with style. Be creative and try to combine materials to achieve your own personal touch.
Invitation Etiquette
1. When the ceremony and the reception will be held at different locations, you can enclose a reception card along with your invitation. The reception card should also be provided with an envelope and contain specific information about the reception.
2. Do not address envelopes as Mr. and Mrs. William Cooper and Family. This is not proper. The names of children under eighteen years old should be included in the invitation, while children over eighteen should be sent their own invitation.
3. You can use casual names such as Uncle Henry and Aunt Beth or Grandma to relatives that are close to you, in addressing the inner envelope as this will show how much you mean to them, even if you are planning a formal event.
4. Mail your invitation six to eight weeks before your wedding date. If however, your wedding date is set on a holiday season or you are inviting a lot of guests that are from out of State, you should mail the invitations sooner to give them ample time to plan and make hotel reservations and organize their schedule.
5. Position the word black tie in the lower right hand corner of the invitation if you are planning for a formal wedding so that your guests can dress accordingly.
Donts when placing invitation wordings:
1. Dont use nicknames. Always use the first, middle, and last name. Some people do not want their middle names included in the invitation; dont use initials, simply do not include their middle names.
2. Dont make abbreviations. Only Mr., Mrs., or Dr. can be abbreviated. All other titles should be written completely.
3. Dont abbreviate dates, addresses and time.
4. Dont write the word and as &.
Invitation assembly:
1. Place the invitation inside the large envelope along with its protective tissue and make certain that the invitation is facing you.
2. Place in the reception invitation on top of the invitation, also facing you.
3. Position the response card in, and leaning within the flap of the response envelope, which is facing down.
4. The last to go in are the directions or map which guides the guests.
5. When addressing the outer envelope, it is best that you use calligraphy.
6. For added touch, choose a postage stamp that well compliments the general appearance of your invitation.
7. If possible, bring your invitations to the post office and ask that they be hand cancelled, to avoid unattractive marks or scratches that a machine cancelling can cause.
Wedding Cost Saving Ideas
October 8, 2008
Almost every girl has a picture of her ideal wedding in her mind. She may dream up something that she can visualize when reading fairy tales that end with “…and they live happily ever after.” She sees flowers, ribbons and laces.
However, when her wedding day comes, she may have other considerations on her mind. She still dreams of her ideal wedding but she starts incorporating other subjects that represent her and her groom. Not to mention that the bride also considers the current trends in wedding fashion and decoration. And the most important subject to talk about when choosing decorations - the cost.
Nobody wants to spend the first few months of being married paying of debts made during the wedding preparations. Therefore, the groom-to-be and bride-to-be should be very careful what to spend on. Here are a few things to consider.
* Personalize the decorations. Not only does this add a personal touch to the celebration but this also cuts down on the cost. For example, if the bride or the groom is a photographer, they may choose having photos from their collection made the main subjects for the reception design. The photos may also be used for invitations and keepsakes,
* Consider renting. Most of the items that will be used for decorations will not be used again. These include the centerpieces, the vases, the arc ways and the artificial flower arrangements. So ask your wedding decorator for options to rent these pieces.
* Kids can get bored during the wedding reception. So instead of having kids seated at the same table with the adults, you can have an area where kids can be more casual and can have a small party of their own.
* Marriage is a union of families. During the wedding rites, if possible, you may alter some of the practices to include the children of the bride or groom from previous marriage or the parents and families of the couple. Having them perform a special union rite will signify that the wedding is not just a union of two people but also of two families.
* For the food during the reception, you may inquire with cooking or culinary arts schools. They may agree to cater for the reception for just the price of the food, or perhaps, a little more. You may also have a pot luck by asking family members and close friends to cook a dish.
* If you wanted to cut down on the cost for the wedding party, you can just invite more people to the engagement party. Usually, only cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are served, which cost less than the full set of meals for the wedding reception guests.
* For the music, you can look for a local college band or DJ. You can also have your favorite songs just downloaded from the Internet and saved to an mp3 player or CD to be played over the speakers during the reception.
* When considering the cost of church decorations, check if there will be another couple that will get married on the same day. They may want to coordinate what decorations can be used for both wedding ceremonies to lessen the need to change decorations before or after the wedding and to split the cost.
Getting married should not be expensive. After all, the essence of marriage is in the union and not in the celebration. You shouldn’t also try too hard to please the guests. Your family and friends are there to rejoice this wonderful event with you and not to criticize your wedding.