Organizing your Wedding Invitations can be tough if you’re not prepared. There’s a lot to remember, choose, and organize!

Luckily for you, we’ve been helping couples around the world with their Wedding Stationery Suites for nearly 6 years now. We’re here to help you make the most of your Stationery Experience!

Here are some of the more common Invitation Mistakes we’ve noticed couples making:

Trying to add too many details into the Invitation

Remember less is more. RSVP, Registry and Website details should never be added to your Wedding Invite.  

Not ordering enough Invitations

Remember it's significantly cheaper to add more items to your current print run than it is to do a second print run later. In a second print run, the cost per unit is much, much higher. It’s also possible that we may not be able to do a second print run due to materials supply, time frame, etc... so we recommend erroring on the side of caution here.

So, how to correctly calculate how many invitations you need? Remember, it's not the same as your guest count! We recommend ordering 60-65% of your guest count. Many of your guests will love together (Couples, families, etc…) and don’t need to receive a separate Invitation for every person.

We’d then recommend adding an additional 5-10% to this amount. This accounts for any that get lost in the mail, surprise / last-minute guests, a copy to give to your photographer, and also 1 or 2 extra to keep as a momento of your big day!

Sending the Invitations Too Late

Wedding invitations need to be sent at least 12 weeks before the big day. Make sure that you contact your stationery as early as possible, and at least no later than 1 or 2 months before the day you are supposed to send your Wedding Invitations. This way, you and your stationer will have enough time to work on your dream wedding invitations, without compromise!

Sending the Invitations Too Early

We understand that sending out invitations earlier may seem like a good idea to get the planning done as soon as possible, however, it can actually introduce some issues!

Your guests may not RSVP straight away, as the event is so far away and they are not sure of their plans that far in advance. Also, many guests receive the RSVPs and then wait to reply. In the meantime, they may forget to RSVP or lose the card because life happens!

A narrow window of time for a response is actually better for response and confirmation rates.

Another issue is that if you send your Invitations, etc. Too early, you won’t be able to account for any changes that can occur: e.g. if the ceremony time changes, or, if the food/menu choices are different, etc.

Sending an invitation to someone who you know definitely can’t attend

After receiving your save-the-date, your friend tells you that she can't make it to your wedding.
When it’s time to send your invitations, skip mailing one to this person!

Not ordering enough Envelopes

Are you going to address your wedding envelopes yourselves, or use a local calligrapher?
Make sure you order at least 10-15% extra envelopes to account for errors and mistakes.
The last thing you want is to have to run out and buy some mismatched colored or sized envelopes when you’ve other, more important things to be doing!

Addressing the Envelopes Yourselves

There is so much work behind addressing Invitation envelopes. Organizing addresses, Etiquette rules, and the heartbreak of having to redo envelopes because of a spill or smudge; not to mention it can be quite time-consuming.

That’s why this is one of the key services that we offer to our clients, and we have options available to all budgets. We can either do hand calligraphy or digitally print your guests’ addresses on their Invitation envelopes.

Gathering guest addresses.

We know it can be a pain; contacting all your guests and asking for their addresses, then following up with the ones that haven’t replied, etc. However, we’d recommend not putting this task off until the last moment! As we print all items at once, not having your guests’ addresses compiled before going to print means the printing can be delayed. We’d recommend starting as soon as possible and endeavoring to get it finished as fast as possible in order to avoid any potential headaches

Typos

We’d advise that you and your fiance take some time to review the proofs together and maybe even have a trusted friend or family member proofread them too. The more the merrier! Once a card has been printed, 5 extra minutes now could save you issues down the road.

Including Zip codes on the Invitation

This is not being added to the invitation, only to the information card.

Protocol dictates that the Zip code of any address should only be added to the Details/Information card; not on the Invitation card.

Incorrect Start Time on the Invitation

We understand that you want everything to be just perfect! However, there’s no need to put an incorrect time on your invite. 

For example: If your wedding is at 4 pm, and you put the time on your Invitation as 3.30 so guests arrive early. In this scenario, you'll find many guests will arrive earlier than that and might be waiting there for an hour before your ceremony actually starts!

Buying Postage without weighing the Invitations!

It’s so important to make sure you buy postage based on the size and weight of your invitation, especially if it’s made from acrylic or comes with extra cards.

Ask your stationery to weigh a similar invite beforehand or alternatively wait until you receive it before buying the stamps.

Taking too long to reply

We understand that organizing a wedding while having a full life is a lot to take on! That’s okay though, we’re here to help you! However, taking a long time between replies may mean delays in print and/or delivery.

Creating Stationery is a collaborative process, and there are many points where your input is required. It’s important to note that any time lost during the design/prep phase due to slow replies, is not time that we can make up later on by expediting the print process. Our methods of printing are manual, hand-crafting processes, and we couldn´t speed them up without compromising on quality.

Keep an eye on your emails and calendar, and help keep the process moving!