Your Complete Guide to Wedding Stationery

StationeryPlanning

17 May

Something that runs throughout your wedding from beginning to the end is your stationery suite, so it’s definitely an important part of both your wedding day and your budget. From Save the Dates to Thank You Cards, below we’ve listed everything you need to consider, from things you need to have to those optional extras. At the end we also break down a couple of the keywords and things you might see mentioned in association with wedding stationery, so you can understand everything a little better before ordering your stationery.

Before the wedding

Engagement Party Invitations

Leading up to the wedding day, you may choose to have an engagement party to celebrate your upcoming nuptials. Whether you’re planning something formal or informal, lots of couples like to get a nice invite design to send either physically or digitally. Etsy is often the perfect place to find something like this on a budget. You usually will send these around 2-3 months prior to the event and they’ll feature on them the location, date, time, dress code and an RSVP email address. As the party will likely be a little while before the wedding itself, these don’t need to match your overall wedding suite, so just go with a design you love and that says something about you and your other half’s personalities.

Save the Date Card

Usually printed on a fairly small size like A6, Save the Date cards are just a simple and lovely card you pop in the post (or send digitally) to let your guests know to put the wedding date in their diary. These are typically sent 6-8 months prior to the wedding, or around a year in advance if it’s a destination wedding and only need to feature simple details such as a location and a date, and the address of the venue if you’ve booked it at this point. Same as with the engagement invitations, as these will go out a fair bit in advance of the wedding, don’t worry about them needing to match the rest of your wedding stationery suite.

Tip: It’s advised that you don’t send these out to evening only guests, as they’ll likely get their hopes up and think they’ve been invited for the full day. Instead it’s best to informally tell these guests to pop the evening party in their diary.

Hen and Stag Do Invites

Similar to the engagement party invites, Hen and Stag Do invites are also a nice optional extra that we often find Maid of Honours like to do to bring a sense of excitement and occasion to the event. These usually get sent digitally and might be followed up by a more formal itinerary of events closer to the hen do.

Wedding Invitation

Your wedding invitation is basically the main event when it comes to wedding stationery and is a great opportunity to give your guests a hint of your wedding style, and a flavour of what the wedding day might be like. The more formal option is to send your guest the invitation itself, along with a further information card, RSVP card with a pre-addressed (and sometimes pre stamped) envelope, all encased within a velum sleeve or belly band. For more informal and modern weddings, couples tend to opt for a single invitation with a link to their website that holds all further information and the ability to RSVP on there. Most couples tend to go for something somewhere between the two, with many choosing to do a physical invite and RSVP card, for the oldies who like to post back their RSVPs! You may also like to have a separate invite made up for evening only guests too, so they feel special too.

Tip: When addressing the envelope, make sure you put exactly who you’re inviting on there so no wires get crossed. If you put to the Lawson family, guests may assume their children are invited too when you didn’t intend to invite them.

Also try to save money on stamps by giving invitations out in person or by sending them in bulk to one person who lives in that area to allocate out. Make sure you ask nicely first though!

On the day

Order of Service

Traditionally and most commonly an order of service is an A5 folded booklet that shows the running order of the ceremony, any hymns and the names of members of the bridal family. Some couples choose to get creative and pop these on fans or slimmer cards, so hop on Pinterest and see what piques your interest. Guests often keep these as keepsakes from the day, so they are worth spending a bit of time on. They are also simple enough to make at home if budget is tight, just jazz them up a little with a bit of ribbon on the edge and they will look lovely and professional. You can choose to get them printed one per guest or save money and paper by getting them to share one between two.

Table Plan

A lovely piece of signage within your wedding reception placed at the entrance to the reception room, the Table Plan usually gets printed quite close to the wedding in case anyone drops out and you need to rearrange tables. They are typically large in size, starting from A3 and upwards. Alternately this is another place for you to get crafty, by individually framing each table card and creating a lovely display.

Table Numbers and Names

You table numbers or table names are what gets placed on each table to indicate which is which. They are usually around A5 to A6 in size, to help ensure they get seen but still don’t detract from the overall table display. People often use this as a chance to do something sentimental, so get creative and think about what you pop on them and what the names of each table might be.

Place Cards

Either handwritten or printed in a font and design to match the overall stationery suite, place cards can be standalone, attached to a napkin or the menu itself. They tend to be small in style and don’t detract from the rest of the table.

When it comes to the menus, more informal weddings might choose to have 1-2 menus per table, whereas more formal weddings tend to have one per place setting. These can either list all the dishes available for the wedding breakfast from starters to mains and desserts, or be bespoke to each person’s meal choices if you fancy going extra fancy.

After the Wedding

Thank You Cards

After the wedding whilst everything is lovely and fresh in your mind, it’s a great time to send your Thank You cards. These can match your stationery suite, be a professional photo from your wedding day or something completely different - it’s totally up to you.

Tip: When totting up those hidden extras, don’t forget you’ll also need stamps for these along with your wedding invites!

A Guide to Papers and Additions

So you’ve picked your designs and you’re ready to get printing and adding the final flourishes but you’re slightly baffled by all the options available to you. Don’t worry, you’re not the only one! So to help you out, we’ve listed some keywords and popular decorative additions that are good to know about.

Matte

Matt paper has absolutely no sheen to it and is not coated, making it great for contemporary or organic wedding stationery design and it’s a very popular choice for many. One thing to be aware of if you do choose to pick matte paper is that it marks more easily than other paper types, so be careful where you store your on the day stationery when travelling to the venue.

Silk

Silk is similar to matte paper but it has a very gentle sheen to it, however it is not noticeably glossy at all. This helps give the stationery a little more protection and is lovely for more formal weddings.

Gloss

Gloss paper has a noticeable sheen to it and is perfect for more formal and chic weddings, rather than for a rustic wedding. It is often wise to pair gloss paper with a thicker paper (gsm) to ensure it looks premium.

GSM

GSM refers to the thickness, otherwise referred to as weight, of the paper itself. There is a broad spectrum of different weights but you want to make sure you go no lower than 200gsm and sit somewhere between the 300-350gsm range to ensure they have a good thickness.

Wax Seals

These are pretty little stamps that are made of wax and often imprinted with a flower or your wedding monogram. These can either be applied directly onto the envelope seal using a dot of hot wax and then pressed by a stamper or can be bought pre-made, with you simply removing the double sided sticky tape on the back and pressing them on.

Velum Wraps

These are sleeves that look like a thick version of tracing paper that are folded around the invitation pack, typically with an opening created at the front. They can be plain or printed and are great for more formal wedding stationery.

Envelope Liners

Envelope Liners are a premium addition that can make your invitation look more luxe. They are inserted inside the envelopes themselves and feature a pattern or styling that matches the rest of your wedding stationery.

Belly Band

Belly Bands are slim pieces of card that are placed around your invitation and additional cards to hold everything together. They are usually made of coloured card that matches the rest of your stationery and make for a lovely addition for both formal and informal weddings.