How to Write a Wedding Invitation

I think writing invitations to our wedding is one of the most important part of our wedding planning. Of the curiosity i went thought numerous amount of online pages where they show the possibilities for writing a wedding invitations. Wedding rules can vary from generation to generation, but some wedding rules for wedding invitation etiquette and bridal shower invitation etiquette never actually change.

The first goal of an invitation is to provide information. That’s the easy part. Filling in the blanks on any store-bought invitation will satisfy the need. Invitations, however, should also be memorable, distinctive and reflect your personality, and hopefully introduce to the wedding colours and theme. Off-the-shelf invitations generally are not memorable, can’t be distinctive if thousands of other people also use them, and almost never accurately reflect your personality. Designing your own invitations isn’t difficult—and it’s easily worth the effort. Here are some tips for how to make your own unique wedding invitations.

1. Keep it simple. Invitations should be clear and easy to read. Complicated typographic layouts will almost always detract from the message. 

2. Center at will. Centering lines of copy is rarely a good idea in any medium—except in invitations. Because the eye naturally returns to the left edge of copy to begin the next line, readers generally prefer left-edge alignment. Invitations, however, are read slowly and on a line-by-line basis. There are also few words per line in invitations; this allows the reader to take in the whole line in one glance, then drop to the next. 

It’s generally recommended to keep invitations to 10–14 lines of copy. Any more and reading the centered lines becomes difficult. Lengthy copy set in script faces also becomes tiring on the eye.

3. Create hierarchy with spacing. Use white space to signal the relationship between parts of an invitation. In general, there should be less space between two supportive pieces of information than between two that are disparate. Set the important copy large and supportive text at a smaller size. Size and spacing differences should always be obvious.

Normally, the most important stuff in an invitation is at the top. Titles like “Graduation Party”,  ”Wedding Invitation” or ”Brides and Grooms names” are usually given primary billing by being put at the top of the invitation. It’s OK, however, to break from this tradition. Try setting this info at a very large size and putting it at the bottom or along the left edge of the invitation.

Beyond providing information, type in invitations has two main jobs:

• Creating differentiation
• Establishing a mood or theme

These are accomplished through typeface selection. 

4. Set a mood. Typeface selection can evoke a mood or create a theme. There is, however, a caveat when attempting to build a theme with typefaces: It’s easy to cross the line from “traditional” to hackneyed. If you want an invitation that is typographically fresh, avoid typefaces like Old English, Papyrus, Buffalo Gal and Comic Sans. Most large font distributors have keyword searches on their websites; try searching under the theme you want to create. Not all results will be ideal, but you may find just the font you’re looking for. 

5. Go decorative when … Use less decorative typefaces for invitations that have many lines of copy or where the lines of copy exceed six words.

6. Complement proportions. Consider complementing the proportions of the invitation with typeface choice. If the invitation is tall, or in vertical/portrait mode, consider using somewhat more condensed typeface designs or scripts with long ascenders and descenders. If it is square or horizontal/landscape mode, try a slightly expanded typeface design or one with a large lowercase x-height. 

7. Decide who is announcing the wedding - your parents or you and groom yourself

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Doe

or

Kate and Marvin Doe

If the bride and groom are hosting, then the line reads

Ms. Jane Doe and Mr. Sam Smith
or,
Together with their families,
Jane Doe and Sam Smith

A more modern alternative is simply,

Jane Doe & / to  Sam Smith

8. The request. The next line in a wedding invitation is the one that requests that your guests attend. In general, use the term 'the honor of your presence' if the ceremony will be held in a place of worship. Otherwise use 'the pleasure of your company' or another less formal phrase. Examples :

request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter

Note the formal British spelling of the word "honor." The word daughter is used as an example and should be the gender of the person whose parents are hosting.

request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter

or

would be delighted for you to attend
the marriage of their daughter

If the couple is hosting:
invite you to join us at the celebration of our marriage

9. Date and Time of the wedding .Traditionally, these are spelled out:

Saturday, the tenth of June
two thousand and six
at four o'clock in the afternoon

note that the month and day are capitalized. If it were a 4:30 ceremony, the time would read at half after four o'clock in the afternoon.

but for a less formal ceremony, you can also write

Saturday, June 10, 2006 

at 4 p.m.

10. The location.  If the ceremony is at a well known location, you needn't include the address:

The Museum of Fine Arts
Houston, Texas

but for smaller locations, or your home, you'd want to write out the address.

The Art Club
49 Marquis Road
Blair, Utah

11. Time for the Reception: Let your guests know there is going to be a party afterward . This can either be included on the wedding invitation or on a separate reply card. On the wedding invitation, it would read

Reception to follow at the Briar Hills Country Club

If you're not serving a full meal, it is nice to let guests know. You might write:

And afterwards for cocktails and cake in the Rose Room.

Or

Dessert and dancing to follow

A separate reception card is often good to use if the ceremony and reception are in different places, or the reception doesn't immediately follow the ceremony. It might read something like

Reception
8 o'clock

Parker Grand Hotel
342 Allen Road 

Pike, Oregon

12. Get the to RSVP. 

Traditionally, R.S.V.P. was written on the invitation, and guests knew to reply on their own stationary. Now, most couples find that they get responses more promptly if they include a separate reply card. This can be mostly blank, allowing guests to write a note, with a line such as:

The favor of a reply is requested before the first of June

Or it can be more detailed, such as

Please reply before the first of June

M___________________________
_________Will attend
_________Will not attend

You might also write:

Number of people in party_____

13. Optional details include telling your guests what to wear. Strictest etiquette tells you not to include information about attire on your invitation, but I think this is an outdated opinion. Guests appreciate clues about how to dress, and are not as instinctively knowledgeable as they used to be. To avoid someone showing up in blue jeans, include a line such as:

Black Tie

Other options: Semi-formal, cocktail attire, festive attire, creative black tie, white tie, black tie optional, dressy casual, informal

 Some couples who wish not to have children at the reception may write:

Adult reception  Which is more polite than writing No Children 

 

14.  Do NOT include information about gifts, your registry, or cash in lieu of gifts. This is an invitation, not a request for presents. If you still want to give information about the gift list, you can put it on a separate list with useful information for your wedding, like little maps to your wedding venue.

So now just making some of our own choices for our wedding invitations. Hopefully this tips will help you as much as they did help me!

Katherine

more to read about the look of the invitations at http://dynamicgraphics.com/dgm/Article/28724/index.html