Destination Weddings: Stationery Tips

Evonne, wedding planner extraordinaire, has a great post about wedding invitations. She was so generous to allow me to re-post, as it's extremely helpful for destination weddings (and weddings in general).

She wrote, "A lot of my 2009 brides have started working on their wedding invitations already. Here are a few tips and advice especially if you are planning a destination wedding:

1. If you want all of your paper products to be personalized and have the same "look and feel", make sure that when you work on your Save-the-dates and your invitations, you are also thinking about your programs, escort cards and/or place cards, your menus and possibly your thank you cards as well.
   
2. Since most of the guests will be coming from out-of-town, it's a good idea to send out the invitations 3 months prior to your wedding. That will give them enough time to book their travel arrangements.
   
3. An RSVP deadline of 4 to 6 weeks prior to your wedding is highly recommended. That will give the planner, the caterer and the rental company enough time to finalize all the details.
   Never put your registry information on the invitations. If you have a wedding website, you can include that on the site.
4. If you are having a smaller, intimate wedding and not inviting all of your friends and family, you should send out announcement cards after the wedding. Include a nice little wedding photo, and thank them for their thoughts and prayers.
   
5. You can certainly hand cancel each invitation, but the post office will still run them through their machine. If your invitations are delicate, it's a good idea to include both an inner and outer envelope.
   
6. For eco-conscious brides, instead of doing different inserts for maps/directions, and activities...etc., you can include those information on your wedding website.
   
7. Always order at least 5 to 10 extra invitations with envelopes. As for thank-you notes, you should order an extra 50 to 100. You are going to get gifts all along, from your engagement to your shower to your wedding... why not have a full set of thank-you notes with both of your names on there?!
   
8. It's very important that you proof read every single draft from your designer, and it's always a good idea to have at least one or two other sets of eyes to look through everything. Once the invitation goes to print, that's it... any changes after that point will be costly."
   

As a wedding stationer myself I can say, she got every fact correct, I couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks so much Evonne! Wedding Invitations by Smitten Invitations.