vendor love :: roseville designs

When it comes down to perfecting your Wedding Invitations, the one thing most couples forget the importance of {besides design and style} is how your invitations should be worded...ETIQUETTE people!

To all the Brides + Grooms out there, something that will make your Wedding Planning days a lot easier is this four step process that will be sure to make those Invitations not only stand out, but properly worded.

With a little inspiration from a famous female, Lauren Conrad, we will help you break down each one of those steps. Those four fantastic steps are: A Toast to the Host, The Date To Be, "Dressing" Your Invitations, and Minor Details.

Cheers to the Host!
When it comes to tradition, the bride’s parents are usually the hosts. It all comes down to whose paying for the bulk of the Wedding. If that happens to be the bride’s mother and father, incorporate their names on the invitation. For example, “Mr. and Mrs. Tom Juliano request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Jacqueline Marie to Matthew Lite…”

If the roles are reversed and the parents of the groom are the ones hosting, embrace their names instead. Therefore, the groom’s name can be listed before the bride’s. Basically switching it to "the marriage of their son Matthew Lite to Jacqueline Marie..."

If both families decide to pay for the Wedding together, make sure you change around the initial wording with something like this, “Together with their families, Jacqueline Marie Juliano and Matthew Lite request the pleasure of your company at their marriage…”

If the bride and groom choose to be their own host, make sure you word your invitation something like this: “Jacqueline Marie Juliano and Matthew Lite request the pleasure of your company at their marriage…”

When it comes down to respecting both families, you can include the parents who did not end up hosting by showcasing their names below the names of the couple, preceded by “son of” or “daughter of.”

photography © 2013 LandinoPhoto ImageStudio | paper design © We Heart Paper

The Date To Be

When it comes to tradition [ I know I know ], but IT'S ALL ABOUT TRADITION BABY, you should spell out every single word, especially numbers within the date. For example “on Friday, the seventh of March, two thousand and fourteen.”

Another thing you must follow is spelling out numerals in the times. If your wedding begins on the half-hour, state it as “half after five o’clock.”

One last important touch when referring to the timing of the wedding, a formal invitation should alternate saying A.M or P.M by stating, “in the morning” or “in the evening” instead.

                                                                                                                       Wedding Paper Divas

"Dressing" Your Invitations
When sending out your invitations, married couples names belong on one line, unless they won’t fit. Those who are unmarried coming to the Wedding as a couple, their names belong on two separate lines. And make sure you always spell out “Road,” “Boulevard,” “Circle,” "Apartment", etc...NEVER ABBREVIATE ANYTHING, it looks tacky! If you’re allowing someone to bring a guest, try your hardest to find out their entire name to include on the envelope; It looks more formal! ... AND ... coming from a Wedding Planner standpoint, it will make it easier for us to tell that person where they are sitting come time for the Reception. Oh yeah...and one more tiny little thing, when we're typing out that guest list of 200+ people, knowing that one name will make all the difference and alphabetizing a lot easier. You don't want that final guest list to look something like this, "Noelle Staffe & Guest" or "Laura Smalls & George." So help us out guys!!!

One of the final touches is to have the return address on the back flap rather than the upper left-hand corner on the front of the envelope. In doing so, it gives the envelope a more elegant feel and allows the front to be more spacious and not so cluttered.

Jennifer Alison Designs

Minor Details
When it comes to punctuation, the line-breaks on an invitation do just that, so there’s no need for commas or periods. The only words that need to be capitalized are proper nouns and the first word of a line that stands alone.

One proper phrase you can use if your ceremony is taking place in a church or temple is, “request the honor of your presence” instead of “request the pleasure of your company.”

Two examples of how you can invite guests to the Wedding is, for Jewish Weddings traditionally you would use the wording  "to the wedding of the bride “and” the groom." Christian and Catholic Weddings would use "to the wedding of the bride “to” the groom."

And our last minor detail for some Weddings would be, letting the guests know what to wear to your event... Before you consider making room for this on your invitation, think about two things, what month your Wedding is taking place in, and the Venue name. If those two things are not giveaways to tell your guests what to wear, than you may want to think about saving some room on your invitation to include that.  Also if your the type of person who has this specific style and design for your overall Wedding, go ahead and mention a dress code.  You can incorporate an optional attire line in the bottom right hand corner on the front of the invitation, if it's really something you'd like people to follow. Some options include beach formal, cocktail attire, black-tie, and black-tie optional. {With a little help from Emily Post, this site will make choosing your outfit a little bit easier}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~ To help all you brides...and possibly grooms out there get a better sense of creating spectacular Wedding Invitations, here's someone that knows this subject P-R-E-T-T-Y well !!! We decided to interview someone that dGE knows and loves, Sandy Shannon from Roseville Designs! Check out some of the gorgeous creations she's done as well! We asked her a couple of questions that we thought our followers would love to know the answers to ~~

• What makes a really good Wedding Invitation stand out?
• I think something that reflects you as a couple and your wedding.  There's nothing better than a guest receiving it and thinking to themselves, "that's so them!"
• How does one narrow down what they want their Invitation to look like?
• In the age of Pinterest, it's so easy to get overwhelmed by all the pretty! But as an artist we often remind ourselves that just because we like something doesn't mean it's our aesthetic.  Really keep in mind the type of wedding you are having, and what kind of tone you want to set for your guests.
• What's a favorite Invitation of yours?
• It's hard to choose because I've been blessed with so many awesome clients! With that because said, I think in general my favorite ones are where the couple has a clear vision for their wedding and let me run with my own ideas.
• What's the trick to a successful Invitation?
• For me, it's creating something fresh and modern, while still communicating the formality of a wedding.
• When you're creating a Wedding Invitation, what's your starting point?
• For each of my custom clients, I try to create an inspiration board in my studio. It's a compilation of images that speak to me for the big day, and help me to sketch and brainstorm.

Sandy also gave us some of the work she's done so everyone can actually see the magic behind all her work. 

photography © Brooke Allison Photo | Hitched Studios | Ashley Therese Photography

With all that being said, we want to thank Sandy for all her wonderful words of wisdom for our followers. Now it's your chance couples to go out and make those visions come to life; we're routing for you here at dGE!

Ready....set....and go out there and get crafty ladies & gents!

All our love!

ashley