Wedding Invitations Guide
Like so many aspects of weddings, there are certain expectations when it comes to your wedding invitations. From when to send to what to put in them, different types, costs, how many to order and personalisation, here’s all your questions about wedding invitations answered.
Let’s explore:
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Why you need wedding invitations and when to send them
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The main types and styles of wedding invitations and how they differ
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Differing wedding invitation costs and how pricing works
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What to include in wedding invitations and etiquette for wording
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How customisation works and how to order wedding invitations, including ordering spares
What are wedding invitations for?
Wedding invitations are super-important because they allow you to send wedding guests all the information they need about your wedding celebration.
Acting as a taster of things to come whilst ensuring guests are fully informed of what to expect, your wedding invitation will ensure you have full attendance on the day and aren’t bombarded by confused friends and family in the days, weeks and months before your wedding.
Choose a beautiful design in keeping with your wedding theme and you’ll have a special invite that doubles as a keepsake. In years to come you’ll want to be able to look back on your wedding invite and still find it special.
Here at Design By Lyft you’ll find elegant luxury designs that will stand the test of time so you can be sure you’ll still adore your wedding invitation in years to come. See wedding invitations
When do you send wedding invitations?
As your wedding invitations contain all the information about your wedding, you want to ensure your wedding details get your guests’ full attention. For that reason, it’s best to send your wedding invitations 3-4 months before your big day. If sent too early they’ll just be forgotten. However, if yours is a destination wedding, give guests more notice and send your wedding invitations 6 months before your big day.
For earlier communication with guests use our save the dates to let loved ones know your wedding date and rough location as early as you choose.
By the time suppliers and finer details are all settled, 3-4 months will give you plenty of time to collect rsvps and firm up menu choices. More about when to send wedding invitations
Personalised Wedding Invitations
Most couples order personalised wedding invitations. Personalised wedding invitations are customised wedding invitations with all your wedding details printed on them.
If you choose a good wedding stationery company like ours, you’ll be able to create a custom design by personalising a design from the house collection. In most cases, personalised wedding invitations can be customised in any way you choose so you can change the font, colour and more.
Here at Design By Lyft we offer a full range of personalisation options, including custom finishes so you can choose from: wax seals, velvet ribbons and belly bands.
Personalised wedding invitations are popular because you end up with a unique design that’s truly memorable and fully reflects your celebration.
What should the wedding invitation include?
The main wedding invitation should begin with yours and your partner’s name, possibly your parents too if they are hosting the celebration and you want super-formal wording.
You will then have clear and simple information about the wedding:
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date
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time
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ceremony location
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reception location
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dress code (if not using guest information cards).
What wording should I use for a wedding invitation?
The actual words you use for the wedding invitation are up to you. There’s not actually much wording on a wedding invitation, it’s mostly your key wedding details. It’s the only the beginning of the wedding invitation, where you have room to stamp your personality if you wish. The second line of your wedding invitation can be really formal or relaxed and friendly, depending on the type of wedding you’re having.
The standard wording for contemporary couples is the couples names, then on the second line, ‘request the pleasure of your company to celebrate their marriage on’ or something to that effect. You can play around with that sentence but that’s really all the wording that’s flexible on a wedding invitation, the rest is your start time, venues, wedding date and first venue address.
Some couples do choose to adapt the sentence on the second to things like, ‘invite you to join them to celebrate their love’ or ‘would like to invite you’ or ‘request the pleasure of your company’. It all depends on whether you’re having a more relaxed or formal wedding.
If you want to be super-traditional, the very first line, before your names will say ‘together with their families’ or your parents names as the invitees.
And that’s it. There’s limited space on the actual wedding invitation so you can use guest information cards to share further info about things like accommodation, directions and gifting.
Guest Information Cards
In line with the range of locations so many contemporary weddings use, all of our designs have the option to add guest information cards. Guest information cards let you share details like the wedding menu and directions in an organised, neat way. They are particularly useful for destination, multi-day or multi-site weddings. See wedding invitations with guest information cards
Wedding Invitation Types and Styles
Like all aspects of weddings, wedding invitations do have a certain look but the options for contemporary wedding invitation designs are many.
The main wedding invitation styles are:
Pretty Floral Wedding Invitations view
Refined Minimalist Wedding Invitations view
Bold Maximalist Wedding Invitations view
Uncomplicated Modern Wedding Invitations view
Unique Vintage Designs view
The main wedding invitation types are:
Flat wedding invitations: a single sheet wedding invite with the option to add a rsvp card and guest information cards to create a wedding invitation suite. These are the most affordable and popular type of wedding invitation.
Here at Design By Lyft all our wedding invitations come with matching RSVPs and guest information cards. Our flat wedding invitations are luxurious mounted designs made from fine-quality card so you get a thick, luxury wedding invite. view
Folded wedding invitations: a classic folded design with the wedding invite and guest information inside. At Design By Lyft we mount the invitation inside and put any guest info cards in an inside pocket for a neat, beautiful finish. view
Pocketfold wedding invitations: a contemporary block colour cover with the formal wedding invite inside and a pocket for all the guest information cards. The block colour jacket makes pocketfolds one of the most expensive types of wedding invitation. Vellum jackets are often used instead, these are a translucent jacket that can be used in place of the colour pocketfold jacket, giving you a cheaper option. view
Boxed wedding invitations: with the invitation and guest information cards beautifully presented in a custom box, these are the most expensive type of wedding invitation. view
Z-Fold or Concertina wedding invitations: a single sheet folded into a concertina with all your wedding information printed on it.
Gatefold wedding invitations: two door-like flaps open to reveal the wedding invitation inside. view
Laser-cut: a wedding invitation jacket with intricate cut-outs reminiscent of lace. view
Wallet or Loop wedding invitations: single cards held together by looped material or other device.
Cheque Book: Layered pages with the wedding invite and guest information on them so it’s like a flick book.
Wedding Invitation Costs
The type of wedding invitation you choose will greatly affect how much it costs. Prices start with flat invitations from £1 going all the way up to £5+ for pocketfold, concertina and boxed wedding invitations.
Prices listed on first sight are often only for the invite itself. Many wedding invitation companies charge per piece so once you start adding the rsvp and guest information cards the prices shoot up. We don’t do this, at Design By Lyft, the price you see is the price you pay.
Ordering Wedding Invitations
Due to the selection of customisation options at checkout, at some online wedding stationery stores ordering wedding invitations can be a bit of a headache but not at Design By Lyft. Here at Design By Lyft ordering is super-quick and easy. We also offer fast delivery within a couple of weeks.
Our ordering process is quick and easy because we don’t take customisation details at checkout meaning you don’t have zillons of questions to answer during the checkout process. Instead, we email you to collect your personalisation details after you’ve ordered so you can make customisation decisions at your leisure.
How many wedding invitations should I order?
When ordering your wedding invitations it’s recommended you order an extra 10 - 15% to use as spares. Only about 80% of the guests you invite will actually attend your wedding. If yours is a multi-day or destination wedding, a wedding during peak holiday season or an adults only wedding, the percentage of non-attendees may be higher.
As around 80% of invited guests won’t be able to attend, you’ll need around 10 spare wedding invitations to invite others in their place. You’ll also want to keep one spare wedding invitation for yourself and one for each set of parents to also keep as a memento. Your photographer will probably want one for your some of your wedding photos and you’ll need a few for errors like, mistakes during posting and any that get lost in the post or mislaid so that’s at least 15 spares.
However, the number of wedding invitations you actually need to order is less than you might think because you order per household rather than per guest. So the number of wedding invitations you need is far less than the number of guests you plan to invite. If children are invited, write the parents’ names plus ‘and family’ under invitees. If it’s an adults-only wedding, use each adult’s name and make sure the adults only clause is explained on your wishes guest information card. As some people won’t be able to attend your wedding, when you make the final draft of your wedding guest list, you can go over by around 8 guests.
Ready? Share your plans with guests in style with our beautiful wedding invitations - browse
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