Save the date and invitations are fundamental elements in the organization of a wedding. They are used to make your wedding official and to give all the information about that day to your friends and relatives. Moreover, they are a precious memory to keep.
We are going to explain how they are done and what you can’t forget.
An invitation anticipates how your wedding day will be, so we do not have to highlight how important it is. It is absolutely not only a piece of paper! Just think what you feel when you receive one of them.
Save-the-date and invitations: two different things
First of all, we have to clarify a concept. Save-the-date are not also invitations.They are both important elements of the wedding stationery but they have different functions: Save-the-date is sent in advance of the wedding to the guests you want to have at the wedding. Invitations are the formally invitation to the ceremony and to the wedding party. Let’s analyse them one by one.
Save-the-date (or announcement)
They are the first element telling something about your wedding. Because of it, before the formal ceremony and reception invitation, the receivers will have some elements to understand some details about your day. They are not only going to discover that you are going to get married, but also the style of the ceremony and of the entire day.
In the card, you are going to announce your wedding to friends and relatives. Fundamental information are:
- The name of who gives the announcement. You could choose also the name of the newlyweds or their parents;
- The complete names first of the groom and then of the bride;
- The date of the wedding.
The complete names of the newlyweds
The names on the Save-the-date have to be complete, with name and surname, while their order, as we have already said, is indifferent.
At the end, you have to put the data of both, the address, telephone numbers and, in the middle, the new address of the new family. Why? Maybe the invited could ask for further information or they could send letters, telegrams and gifts as flowers or plants.
Date, time and place of the ceremony
After the announcement, you just need to add the date and place of the wedding. Not need more information about the ceremony and wedding party which will be given with the invitation. You could eventually add the family address as written above.
Invitations
As we have already said, save-the-date and invitations have two different functions.
Invitation communicates to the receiver that the newlyweds would like to have him or her at the ceremony and wedding party.
What to indicate? Here you have to include the names of the newlyweds, a message of invitation, the place of the reception and the request for confirmation. For example,
After the ceremony, Marco and Anna will be glad to have you to celebrate their wedding at Villa Villoni, 57 Roma street, 12345, Poggibonsi (SI). Your confirmation is welcomed (or RSVP – Répondez s’il vous plait).
How Save-the-date and invitations have to be
After having described the kind of information on both, let’s see how to realize announcements and invitations.
The rule of visual coherence and of style applies also for them. Save-the-date and the invitation are the first elements your guests will have to discover you are going to get married, the date and the place of the wedding and to imagine its style. For this reason, it is important that even the announcements have a recognizable style that your guests could identify and find that day: a colour, a theme, a common thread.
Here, you could insert a dress code, if you have thought about it. Normally, the style of the announcement suggests what you can wear, but you can decide to specify it, especially if you would like something particular. For example, an element of a certain colour or pattern, or a hat for women and the white tie for men.
The more information you can give to your guests, the better. In this way, you could avoid embarrassments and unrests.
Where to start
Once you have chosen the theme or the style to give to your wedding and the distinctive elements, you could continue with the realization of them.
- Choose a theme based on your story and personality. Do not look for something far from you. They have to tell something about you, so that you can be recognizable.
- Look for personal themes but considering also trends: it is always beautiful mixing traditions and news.
- Choose the materials carefully: the kind of paper, the form of envelopes and think if you prefer printed or handmade announcements.
- Think to the kind of printing with care: typographic or digital and if you want to print online or by a local printing lab..
- Choose carefully every accessory or detail of the invitations and save-the-date of the wedding. Think about using sealing wax, ribbons, adhesive envelope latch, etc. and if including a map.
As you can see, there are endless possibilities also for a simple invitation. During our experience, we have seen similar themes developed in completely different ways. Everything depends on the amount of personality you are going to put in every detail of your wedding.
If you are looking for a help to realize your invitations and announcements, you can have a look to what we can do for you. We can help you to project a part of your wedding or all the setting up.
Shall we talk together? Write to us and tell us what you are thinking about.