There are many steps to ordering your wedding invitations. We’ve put them all together into one place for you to make the process much simpler!
1. Pre-made design or a custom design
Since there are so many invitation options available to you, we recommend taking a look at some pre-made designs first. If you feel that you can’t find a design that fully expresses both your personalities and your wedding plans, we recommend considering custom invitations. Keep in mind that your invitations set the tone and theme of your wedding. If you are planning a formal wedding, you most likely don’t want to go with a casual invitation.
The American style designs are typically one invitation for the wedding and one for the reception while Indian invitations come with at least two inserts. The number of inserts would need to be adjusted based on the number of events you are having. There should be at least one insert per event.
Below are some of our preferred stationers who provide wedding invitations –
The Inked Leaf – www.theinkedleaf.com
Custom and Pre-made designs available
Style: American, Modern Indian
Indian Wedding Card – www.indianweddingcard.com
Pre-made designs available
Style: Traditional Indian
Invitations by Ajalon – www.invitationsbyajalon.com
Custom and Pre-made designs available
Style: Modern Indian
Wedding Paper Divas – www.weddingpaperdivas.com
Pre-made designs available
Style: American, Modern Indian
Each of the companies mentioned above offers all wedding stationery in addition to invitations. This includes coordinating table numbers, programs, menus, hashtag signs, etc.
2. Order a Sample
Once you have selected the design you’d like to go with (or a couple), ask the company you are going with to mail you a sample. Paper weights and textures can vary. Until you’ve had a chance to see and feel the paper your invitations will be printed in, it’s difficult to get a sense of the quality.
3. Invitation Text
In addition to the look of the invitation, the text of the invitation also plays a large role in setting the mood and theme for your wedding. If you are having a formal wedding, you want to use formal text. For example, instead of saying your wedding is at 4:00pm, you would say it is “at four o’clock in the afternoon.” The text of the invitation typically indicates who is throwing the wedding. Sometimes the parents are throwing the wedding, sometimes the couple is, and sometimes it’s a combination of both. This can be a bit of a sensitive area as there may be multiple people involved in throwing the wedding. Be sure to include everyone’s name as best as possible.
Bride and Groom Inviting:
Mary Stevens and Chuck Henderson
have chosen the first day of their new life together as
Saturday, the fourth of October two thousand eighteen
You are invited to share in their joy as they exchange marriage vows
at four o’clock in the afternoon
Church by the Sea 19
Riverside Drive Sand Key, Florida
Bride, Groom, and Parents Inviting:
Because you have sharing in our lives your friendship and love, we
Karrie Ester Bryant and Matthew Edward Mergesen
together with our parents invite you to share the beginning of our new life together
when we exchange marriage vows
on Friday, the eleventh of May two thousand eighteen
at four o’clock in the afternoon
The Hall of Casa Monica
4 North Bend Street
St. Augustine, Florida
Parents Inviting (Traditional Indian):
Ravindra & Arun Sheth
request the honor of your presence
at the wedding ceremony of their son
Rajen with Sejal
daughter of Anandiben & Harsukhbhai Shah
on Saturday, the fourth of January, Two thousand and three
at one o’clock in the afternoon
Pacific Ballroom
Hilton Anaheim Hotel, Anaheim, California
You can view more ways to write out the text for your invitations at Invitation Consultants. If you are looking for text that is more traditionally Indian, you can find examples at Indian Wedding Card.
4. Proofread
It is best to type up the text in a Word document and review it several times before submitting it. The stationer will copy and paste your text exactly the way it appears in your document. Be sure everything is spelled correctly, grammar is correct, and everything is spaced out and aligned to your liking. You can send it to your planner and family members to proofread as well.
5. Order your Invitations!
You have your design and text finalized – the only thing left is to order the invitations! If there are any modifications to the design that you have been discussing, be sure they are made clear to the stationer at the time of placing the order. Once the invitations go into production, they can’t be altered. Review your text once more, and submit your order!
Tips
- Invitations typically take 3-6 weeks for production and shipping. They should reach guests 6-8 weeks before the RSVP date so be sure to plan accordingly when estimating when to place your order
- Your RSVP date should be at least 4-6 weeks from the wedding.
- You only need 1 invitation per household.
- Remember to order a few extra invitations for you and your families as keepsakes. And a few extra to allow room for error in the counts.
- Invitations being shipped from India will have packing, shipping, and customs fees that should be taken into account when budgeting. This is to cover the cost of shipping itself, careful packaging so they don’t get damages, and to cover customs fees as they are being imported into the US.
- If everyone is not invited to every event, there should be on RSVP card per event. You can choose between mailed RSVPs, RSVPs via your wedding website, or a combination of both.
Photos Courtesy of Nat Wongsaroj Photography, Photography by Brea, and StoryMotion Studio