Choosing the Writing Style for your InvitationThe first important consideration in creating your invitation is to select the best writing style. There are three major options:Third-Person Formal – Use this for formal dinners, fundraisers, balls, galas, black tie affairs, and formal weddings.Semiformal – Use this for cocktail parties, dinner parties, big birthdays bashes, graduation invitations, bridal or baby showers, cool theme parties, and less formal weddings.Handwritten Notes – A great choice for very intimate or casual affairs including small birthday dinners, back yard barbeques, mothers day get togethers and housewarming parties.Composing the Right Wording for your InvitationThe right wording can make or break your invitation. It will also set the event’s tone and formality for your guests even before the event begins. Remember that your invitation is the first glimpse your guests will receive into the type affair you wish for it to be. Consider this:Formal – On the invitation, the hostess usually “requests the honor of your presence”, followed by the day of the week, date and the month spelled out, and the time and the place (i.e. “Sunday, the first of January/ two thousand and ten/ at half after six o’clock/ Sundy House, Delray Beach, Florida”). Engraved or raised print is the best choice with the formal invitation, typically written in an antique typeface. Consider, though, that laser printing and the myriad of computer fonts now available makes the formal invitation even more affordable for those on a budget. If you wish to go with the engraving but find it a little too pricey, consider the more affordable raised-print option of Thermography.Semiformal – Semiformal invitations do not have to adhere to the etiquette of a strict writing style. You may choose a variety of ways to create your invitation, from bordered, textured or patterned paper, and size of the paper can vary as well. Many brides and party planners are moving away from the traditional 5 x 7 style and going with fun square or tall shapes so their invitations stand out. When creating a semiformal invitation, incorporate the event’s theme to get guests on board and excited. Use ink and fonts that match the party’s theme and stationery such as pumpkins for a Halloween party, fireworks for July Fourth, engagement rings for a bridal shower, a baby stroller for the baby shower, grill utensils for a BBQ…you get the idea.Handwritten – The most important elements with handwritten invitations are the stationery and the legibility of the lettering. Make sure to choose beautiful stationary that really stands out, and either write very neatly or hire someone with excellent penmanship to write the text you’ve chosen. A calligrapher is a great idea for a truly beautiful and unique handwritten invitation.Getting Your Wording StartedOne of our favorite sites for invitation wording ideas is http://www.verseit.com/. You can browse by event type and get the idea juices flowing. And while you work on getting just the perfect wording, tune back into Part Two of our Elements Post coming soon, which will walk you through the tricky subject of working with a guest list and addressing your invitations.Don’t forget to check out the galleries at http://www.atlasdesigns.org/ for additional wording ideas.WHAT ABOUT YOU? Share your ideas for wording with our other brides.
Archive for May, 2010
Elements of a Perfect Wedding Invitation – Part One
Friday, May 21st, 2010Honeymoon in the Caribbean- Best Honeymoon Destinations
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010The Caribbean is one of the Best Honeymoon Destinations in the world. Out of all the different places which make up the Caribbean you will be ready to have whatever sort of honeymoon you desire. Whether or not it is spending all day relaxing on the beach, golfing, intense water sports or simply an isolated getaway where you are the only 2 people around. The Caribbean has something for everybody. I have come up with the top 5 places to Honeymoon in the Caribbean. 1. Cancun On Mexico’s Eastern coastline Cancun is thought of by many as the premier honeymoon destination, simply because it has it all. You can swim all day at one of the many beaches, play golf in some of the best golf courses, shop to your heart’s content and then live it up at night in one of the numerous clubs. 2. Punta Cana On the eastern side of the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana has beaches coated with coconut trees giving it the nickname the Coconut Coast. If you are looking for a laid back relaxing beach honeymoon, this is the location for you. 3. Antigua With almost 400 beaches, Antigua is surely a place for the sun loving water babies. The beaches are mostly protected from the wind from the island itself, so you can enjoy swimming in the wonderfully clear waters and sunbathing in the eggshell white sand all day long. 4. The Bahamas With approximately seven hundred different islands varying in sizes The Bahamas make a particularly flexible honeymoon destination. The biggest island is Grand Bahama Island that has several all inclusive resorts or you can stay on one of many other islands including Nassau or Paradise Island. The neatest thing about the Bahamas is the fact it’s so straightforward to travel to from anywhere in the USA. 5. Jamaica Likely one of the most cheap islands in the Caribbean ; Jamaica is widely known for Reggae, rum and jerk chicken. But there’s so very much more to this pretty island. In size Jamaica is the third largest in the Caribbean and they talk English so you do not have to fret about translation issues. With a climate that’s perfect year round Jamaica has it all. Caribbean Honeymoons are a great option, but there are plenty of other places to choose from. Check out my website, Honeymoon Nation for honeymoon ideas, blogs, forums, pictures, videos and more. You may also want to check out Planning the Honeymoon-How to Make Your Dream Honeymoon Happen or Straightforward Guide for a Relaxing Honeymoon .
Wedding Invitation Details: Wording Templates, Motifs and More
Monday, May 3rd, 2010Though the wedding invitation you choose is a major decision in the planning of your wedding, many couples only look at a few options and then make their decision based on what they have seen. There are a number of options available for wedding invitations that help set your wedding apart and make it memorable. Most of these options can cost you very little if any extra over the base invitation designs that you might have been looking at. Here are some of the things that you should keep in mind when exploring different options for your wedding invitations, helping you to make sure that you do not accidentally leave out important details or miss a chance to further customize your invitations so that you have the exact invitations that you want in the end.
When you start looking at invitations, one of the first things that you should consider is the type of stationery that is going to be used. Many wedding invitations appear either on standard card stock or on a more parchment-like paper, and each of these options carries with it a distinct look.
Stop to think about exactly how you want your invitations to look and feel, using this to guide your choices when it comes to the type of paper that you are using for your wedding invitations. You can extend this consideration further to the envelopes that you are going to be mailing them in as well, deciding on exactly what you want the recipient’s first reaction to be when they see the envelope sitting in their mailbox.
Once you have decided on the type of paper that you want, stop to consider the font and ink colors that you want to use. The font that you choose is important, as you want to make sure that it is readable while still conveying a message of style to all who see it. If possible, you should also reuse the same font on any placeholders or other paperwork that is associated with your wedding to create a link between all of these components. The same goes with your ink colors; try to use colors that will appear elsewhere in your wedding, tying everything together through the simple use of color to accent the invitations that you send out.
A number of wording templates are available for you to use inside of your invitations, with each presenting the basic information about the wedding in a slightly different way. The use of wording templates lets you save time by not having to come up with all of the wording on your own, and by comparing different templates you can make sure that everything is going to look and sound exactly like you want it to sound. It also gives you a basis to try out the look of the fonts that you are considering, since many invitation manufacturers let you see a preview of your invitation (including the wording template) in the font and colors that you choose.
The use of motifs in your wedding invitations can add more customization to them while giving you opportunities to once again tie your invitations in with a larger theme in your wedding. Motifs can vary greatly and can range from simple designs like a single swirl to more complex designs like Celtic knots and ribbons of love carried by doves. Motifs that are used in your wedding invitations can then be extended to the decorations at your wedding and reception, letting the same imagery be used repeatedly to help make your marriage even more memorable for your guests.
To customize your wedding invitations so that they make the largest impact on the people that you send them to, you might consider adding a few additional touches such as custom envelopes with colorful liners and ribbons that are tied around or attached to the invitations themselves.
The use of lined envelopes can not only help to add another instance of your wedding colors to the invitation without it overpowering the invitation itself, but the liners can also help to ensure privacy by preventing the invitation from being read through the envelope. Ribbons can add that extra bit of flourish (and another dash of color) while making sure that your wedding invitation is memorable. Even if the ribbon is just looped around the invitation, it can still make quite the impression when the envelope is opened and the ribbon-wrapped invitation is removed.
Making a good impression with your wedding invitations might seem like a lot of work, but the payoff of knowing that you have sent out exactly the sort of invitation that you want makes it worth it. It is a great way to share your joy with friends and loved ones while getting them in a festive mood for when they actually attend the wedding.