Guide to Wedding Stationary
Wedding stationery – What is it? Where to get it? Where is it needed? It can be a daunting step for any engaged couple planning their wedding but we’ve compiled our ultimate guide to all things wedding stationery to give you a helping hand.
First up
Establish your budget- you’ll need to sit down with your partner and set a portion of your supplier budget aside to stationery, and as always, make sure you stick to it! You don’t want to over budget on stationery and have to cut back on more important things.
Consider your unique interests- as a couple do you have a favourite colour scheme, an icon you’d like to involve, such as a special car or a pet? Do you love bold colours and patterns or a softer, more neutral palette? Remember this will have to be coherent with your floral arrangements and decorations. It might be helpful at this point to jot down a few priorities for your stationary.
Pinterest it- mood boards, Pinterest and Tumblr are just a few ways you can visualise some of your ideas. Search the web for inspiration photos to get some further ideas. From these boards, narrow everything down to one mood board with one consistent theme.
We’ve compiled a stationary checklist for all the items you might wish to include, this is a complete list and you in no way need to include all of these, just a few from each category will suffice.
Before the big day
- Engagement announcements
- Engagement party invite
- Will you be my bridesmaids/groomsmen
- Hen/stag invite
- Save the dates
Invitations:
- Wedding invites (ensure to tell them what time the ceremony begins)
- Evening invites
- Itinerary
- RSVP card
- Map to Offley Place
On the day:
- order of service for the ceremony
- Seating place cards
- Reserved signs for ceremony (including names of the guests)
- Welcome signs
- Table plan
- Menus
- Tags for wedding favours
- Direction signs
After the big day:
- Thank you letters
- Change of name
When to send what:
- save the dates should be sent around 9 months before the wedding, on these, you should include the date (obviously!) and let them know that invites are to follow
- Invites should be sent out no later than 4 months to go this allows ample time for your guests to organise childcare, booking the day off work etc. Make sure to include an RSVP!
- When ordering save the dates and invitations, you should order 10% more than you think you need to allow for damage and changes to guest lists
- On the RSVP section, you can include food choices, make sure you ask for these back no later than 4 weeks before the wedding
- IMPORTANT: make sure to remember to factor in the ordering time into your stationery timeline
Remember, as well as lots of amazing, independent stationery companies, for a more budget option you can always design your own on Canva / Papier.
Photography by Kevin Lines, Ellen Forster