Don't Make These Invitation Mistakes

Creating, writing and sending your wedding invitations can be a daunting process. We are sharing some common mistakes to avoid when working on your invitations.

Photo by Grace & Ardor. Stationery by chez la mariee. Wedding venue Kirkland Manor.

1. Not Allowing Enough Time for the Design, Proofing and Printing Process We recommend beginning to work on your invitation suites 8 months before your wedding date if doing a custom or semi-custom design. This is because the proofing process can take significantly longer than one might anticipate. Once the proofs are approved, some print shops can take around 4 weeks or so for printing. Then you have the assembly which also takes considerable time!

2. Selecting an RSVP Due Date One Month Before the Wedding If you request an RSVP due date one month/4 weeks before your wedding date, you are not allowing enough time to follow up with non-repliers (you can expect around 10-20% of your guest list will not RSVP on time), create your seating chart, finalize design rentals and floor plan, etc. We recommend an RSVP due date 5-6 weeks before the wedding.

3. Only Proofing on Your Computer Screen We highly recommend printing out your proofs to review on paper. This is because on a computer screen, our eyes automatically adjust for spelling mistakes or missing words, and these errors are easier to identify on paper.

4. Selecting a Dark Colored Envelope or a Too Light Font on Your Envelope Make your invitation addresses high contrast and easily legible for the Post Office. Doing too light of a font or a dark colored envelope with an extra flourishy font will take much longer for your invitations to be delivered and even cause some to not be delivered at all. Consider a second envelope with these elements if important to your suite's design instead.

5. Not Setting Aside 2 Suites for Photos Set aside two full invitation suites for your wedding detail pictures. Keep these in a wedding day details box to easily hand over to photographer. If you purchase a ring box, add it here. Also look on Etsy for vintage stamps to place on your envelopes to enhance these flatlay photos, along with requesting some styling blooms in advance from your florist.
   

There you have it! Keep these tips in mind when working on your invitation suites.