Stationery - A Shopping List

Your wedding stationery does not begin and end with the invitation. Oh no, my friends...get ready to fill your shopping cart!

You will save yourself both time and money if you consider, from the start, everything you will need to design and print for your wedding. Although it feels like Thank You cards are years away, it may be much easier and affordable to print them with the invitations. 

Here is a list of commonly printed stationery elements...remember, you don't need to have all of these! Simply think about what will suit your wedding style and budget.

Save the Date: This is an informal wedding announcement, generally sent at least 6 months before the wedding. It's a "heads up" of the date and location - a key component if you are having overseas guests who need to plan their travel well in advance, or you are having a destination wedding, and everyone needs to start booking their flights! It is also very useful if the wedding coincides with a public holiday, a local anniversary day or a major sporting event (i.e. V8's, the Sevens). It can be as simple as a postcard, or as imaginative as a bookmark. The Save the Date card also often lends itself to the addition of magnetic tape to create a fridge magnet etc. If you are eco-friendly or your budget is tight, more and more couples are opting for a creatively designed email.

Invitation: This is your official wedding announcement, sent 3-5 months before the wedding. The invitation announces the official event details, and often includes:
*    RSVP Card: A small card on which guests are asked to mark whether or not they will be attending. 
*    Return Envelope: This is a pre-addressed (to you) and stamped (optional) envelope, in which guests are asked to return their completed RSVP card. To save money, you can make the RSVP card a postcard to negate the need for an envelope.
*    Accommodation/Directions Card: This is a card, oftentimes the same size as the RSVP card, which provides more specific details, including accommodation information, directions and/or maps, activities to do in the area etc.
*    Gift Registry Card: If you are registering for wedding gifts, this element includes details of your registry, including website details and/or store location information. 

Ceremony Programme: The programme is handed to guests upon arrival at the ceremony venue. It lists the wedding attendees and the schedule of events for the ceremony. It may also include further information and instructions for the reception and/or the day-after activities.

Menu: Although some venues will provide a menu for your guests, if you would like to tie it into your overall stationery style and theme, you may want to print these yourself. Alternatively, ask the venue coordinator if you can send the style elements to them, so they can include them when printing the menus for your reception. Note: these can also double as place cards - merely print the guest's name at the head of each menu.

Seating Chart: This is a board, often placed on an easel at the entrance to your reception venue, which lists each table and who is sitting where. There are creative options as well...for instance, we had a tree on which every guests' name and table was written on a little card tied to the branches.

Table Cards: These are placards or signs placed on each table that note the table number or name. 

Place Cards: If you decide to have "assigned seating", this is traditionally a small, folded name card placed at the head of each plate. However, there are endless possibilities for this stationery element. In addition to printing it on the menu, you could print it on your wedding favours, engrave them to some other item like a polished stone or wine glass etc.

Gift or Favour Cards: These are cards, tags or notes that you may decide to tie to your favours, which are either positioned at each place setting or on a designated table at your reception venue. It may be as simple as the guest's name or it may be a small message noting why you decided to give your guests this particular keepsake.

Thank You Notes: After the wedding, you have one more job to do! Don't forget to include the design of your Thank You Notes in your stationery order, as you'll need to send these out to guests once the gifts are opened.

Photo above is of an original Cocoa Berry design.