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One of the most interesting favor ideas I have ever seen is giving vintage toys to your guests. They are memorable, and great conversation starters! It also helps to lighten the mood. You can either give each guest a different toy, if you have a small guest list, or choose a variety of about ten or so different toys and make sure everyone at each table has a different one.

Visit your local consignment and antique stores, and garage sales, to find the toys. You never know what you might come across—a doll still in its original packaging; an antique deck of cards; vintage children’s books… You can also order toys online. You can buy wooden yo-yos at The Knot Wedding Shop and used children’s books on sites like Amazon or Ebay. Other toy ideas include matchbox cars, dominos, chess sets, wooden tops, slinkies, marbles, Rubik’s Cubes, jacks, Etch-a-Sketch, and View Masters. One rule of thumb—make sure your toys are interactive in some way (i.e. you can read a book, play dominos, or draw on an Etch-a-Sketch). Also, make sure the toys don’t look cheap. Wooden yo-yos have a classic appeal, as do nice sets of marbles. And make sure to package them well—put each in a nice box or bag.

You can also focus on toys from a certain era. If you are a child of the 80s and 90s, Pogs, for example, could make your guests gleeful with nostalgia! No matter how you decide to arrange it, this could be one of the biggest talking points of your whole wedding!

A wedding reception is being held after the ceremony as a way to show hospitality to family and friends who shares in celebrating the happy event with the couple. It is usually held in various forms. There could be a party, luncheon or dinner. Different cultures have their own traditions and distinct celebrations. Despite the differences, one thing that connects all is that it is always a joyful event and there is always a cake! Since this is an important occasion, each couple should know what is necessary to include in the wedding invitations. It is essential to avoid improper and possibly offensive words to the relatives and intended guests.

First of all, the names of the ones hosting should be mentioned. The host could be the parents of the bride or groom, or both. In some instances, even the couples are the host. Together with the names, it is needed to add the request for the guests to attend. For example if the couple is hosting, it will be written like ‘Janet Smithson and Jason Dennison are delighted to invite you to join us at the celebration of our marriage’. There are many ways to write the request and it could be found in the Internet. Whether it is a formal or more casual yet modern wording, there are available samples for each couple to read and decide. But bear in mind that the bride and groom should have their own unique wedding invitation wording that is sincere and heartfelt rather than copying other people styles of wording. Next thing to mention in it is the date, time and venue of the occasion. There should a note mentioning the reception. Finally, the R.S.V.P is included to inform the guest to call to confirm attendance. Alternatively, some also have separate reply card.

One thing to remember is not to add inside wedding reception invitations the direct bold instruction asking gifts or money from the guest. The couple could be discreet though and add a small note like this, ‘Your presence already enough to add to our joyful event. Any gifts from you are highly appreciated by us.’

wedding invitations

The typical wedding takes place on a Saturday night and involves dinner and lots of dancing. But if you are looking for something smaller and more affordable, you can hold your wedding in the morning instead. If you live in an area where you can have your wedding outside, a morning wedding can actually be more meaningful and special than the average dinner wedding.

Say your vows at sunrise. This will mean your guests will have to arrive very early, but if they are close family members, this won’t be offensive or difficult to plan. Starting your marriage with the start of the day can have great significance of new beginnings. And your guests will never forget it. Keep it short and simple—no more than 15 or 20 minutes. And stick with clean, minimal colors, like white or a few pastels (or the colors of morning). You can also ask your guests to dress in a certain color, like white, to convey the purity of the ceremony and the symbolism of morning—a fresh start.

Breakfast can also provide you a greater opportunity to showcase your creativity. Have your chef create miniature version of foods like French toast, fruit salad, pancakes, scones, cinnamon buns, flavored syrup, and flavored coffee and tea. You could also have a juice bar, a syrup bar, and a smoothie bar. And don’t forget the mimosas! These foods and drinks are also less expensive than dinner foods.

With a breakfast reception, you can forego the dancing. Let everyone have a great meal, and then they can leave to enjoy the rest of the day, and you can go on your honeymoon!

While religious ceremonies can be especially meaningful (and beautiful if held in an old church with lots of character), sometimes churches can limit the creativity of your ceremony. Here are some ways you can personalize your ceremony while still staying within the confines of your church’s rules.

1.      Go acapella. A singer or choir without musical accompaniment can be haunting and reverent, especially in a large church space with great acoustics.

2.      Give each of your guests flowers upon their arrival.

3.      Give each of your guests candles upon their arrival. Darken the church and their candles will glow beautifully as they proceed to their seats. They can even make a wish on the candles for the bride and groom and blow them out at the same time.

4.      Do something fun or meaningful outside the church—like releasing doves in memory of a loved one, releasing balloons with messages inside them, or throwing confetti.

5.      Hire a bell choir to play at your wedding ceremony.

6.      Make your programs creative. Instead of printing them on paper, screenprint them on wood or handkerchiefs. Or put them inside boxes like a present.

7.      Use the church’s décor to your advantage—lots of church have an abundance of candles. Have your ceremony at sunset and darken the church, lighting it only with candles and candelabras.

8.      Place a different photograph of you and your groom at each person’s seat in the pews. These will make wonderful conversation pieces before the ceremony, and keepsakes afterward.

9.      Dress your bridal party to impress. Go with something outside of the box, like patterned dresses for your girls, or poofy vintage prom dresses, or seersucker for the guys.

10.  Decorate your church all in white, with lots of lace and white flowers.

Of course, an open bar is always appreciated at a wedding reception! But the “bar” doesn’t always have to mean plain old alcohol. Here are some ideas for tasty “bars” you can incorporate into your wedding:

1. Candy Bar: go beyond a color-scheme candy bar and do something a bit more thematic. Perhaps movie candy? Candy from the 40s? Candy from your childhood? Carnival candy? Candy that all starts with a certain letter?
2. Tequila or beer bar: offer different shots of tequilas, or various beers from all the places you and your groom have traveled.
3. Cookie Bar: as many cookie variations as you can think of! Perhaps ask your guests to respond with their RSVPs with their favorite type of cookies, and incorporate these.
4. Lollipop bar–all different shapes, sizes, flavors and colors
5. A taco bar!
6. Hot dog bar
7. Hot pretzel bar (full of toppings like mustard, ketchup, chili, chocolate, and other dipping sauces)
8. Popcorn bar–various flavors including caramel, peanut, spiced, cheddar, toffee, cinnamon…)
9. And the good old favorite–a cupcake bar! Go crazy with this one. But make sure it doesn’t replace the cake. You want it to be a “surprise” extra.

The term ‘Wedding Invitation Etiquette’ in itself is a big word that refers to the rules of social conduct which society considers as appropriate and appreciate too. Wedding is an occasion where society involves certain kinds of etiquettes that are essential. The first and foremost thing that people do while planning for wedding is to decide on the wedding invitations. Though it sounds a very easy thing to decide on the wedding invitation, but getting the kind of invitation you were looking for within your budget is a hectic task. In order to save time in this regard, these days people use internet to find the best wedding invites within the budget. A lot of sites are there that provide variety of designs and styles of wedding invitations to choose from. These wedding invitations are not so expensive and are quite affordable for everyone.

After deciding the wedding invitation of your choice, now it is the time to see whether you have the list of the guests whom you are planning to invite to this special occasion of your life. While preparing the list of your guests, rechecking the list would be a good idea. Wedding is such an occasion where lots of things need to be done and therefore, the possibility is there that you might forget someone very special to include in your invitees’ list. Confirming that the list includes everybody is thus always a great idea. Usually, the wedding invitations are sent to guests before 6 months of the actual event, as it provides the time to the guests to schedule their necessary task in advance and thus, they can take out the time to be present in your grand occasion.

However, some couples prefer to send their wedding invitations one year in advance, so that the people they are expecting in their big day will not miss it by any chance. It depends on person to person regarding the time of sending a wedding invitation. Though many people might think that why is it so necessary to send the wedding invitation so much in advance, but in reality, it is very essential to allow both parties to make their plans in advance. Finally, we can say that while planning for wedding make sure you choose wedding invitation of your choice and a special one.

wedding invitations

Often candy can be the most affordable favor, and one that everyone will love. But we’ve all seen the colored M&Ms scattered across the table. So how can avoid something that’s already been done and package candy at your wedding to make it look unique and special? Here are a few ideas:

1.      You can purchase small glass jars at local crafts stores or online. Give each guest his or her own jar filled with candy (in your wedding colors) or set up an old-fashioned candy store with giant glass jars on pretty shelves. Guests can pick and choose which candy they want.

2.      Wrap the candy in a little brown box and wrap it with paper or tie it with a pretty bow or piece of twine. Making each favor look like a little gift will get your guests giddy.

3.      Make your own candy poppers by putting them in a cardboard tube and then wrapping the tube with fabric, tying it at both ends (it will look like a big piece of taffy).

4.      Opt for one giant piece of candy. Mehlenbacherstaffy.com sells beautifully packaged pieces of giant taffy.

5.      Visit your local candy store and see what kind of packaging options they offer.

6.      Package the candy in glassine bags and tie a Moocard (moocards.com) onto the package with a photo of you and your groom.

7.      Buy standard chocolate bars but make your own pretty and unique sleeves by printing out favorite photos onto thin photo paper and wrapping it around the foil.

8.      Give out giant swirl lollipops with a ribbon tied to the stick.

9.      Give guests a cake-slice box filled not with cake, but with candy!

10.  Give guests a cupcake in their own little boxes.

Wedding invitation etiquette is possibly the blue print in ensuring a successful ceremony as it takes into account the handling of pre and post activities of the occasion.  Sometimes the fuss with aesthetics overtakes the importance required in composing the wording.  Depending on your region and language used, ensure correct spelling and grammar.  Always use full names whenever possible.  If you’re not sure what or how to spell them, start early on a wedding invitation list and get assistance from family and friends.  Don’t use abbreviation of dates and times as it may confuse the readers and subtract from the elegance of the wedding invitation.  Follow the actual names for building and street names, whether abbreviated or in full.

Although there is always the tendency to blow the budget, affordable wedding invitations are possible by engaging the services of a single printer.  Keeping to standard sizes and materials won’t add too much to printing costs.  Even though printing invitations at home sound ideal, it may not be economical as printer ink and toners are quite costly.  Many online wedding sites offer wedding planner services with packages which throw in response cards and printed envelopes.  Some sites even have RSVP options for wedding guests to respond with number of guests coming.

With a wedding invitations list in hand, it’s timely to decide whether to invite every single name to the ceremony.  Some couples prefer to keep the ceremony private and within family.  As such, separate parties can be held with friends and colleagues.  Occasionally it takes the form of a hen’s party or stag night.  As these tend to be less elaborate than the formal dinner, less cost is hopefully incurred.  If a destination wedding is in the works, inform the guests with sufficient lead time.  Since the wedding will be held at the hotel premises, it’s more than likely they’ll be willing to offer discounts on room rates.  This hopefully helps to maintain affordable wedding invitations for the wedding party and guests.

The essence of a wedding is to symbolize the joy of the occasion.  It doesn’t resolve around the bridal gown, number of bridesmaids, height of the cake or total cost.  Proper wedding invitation etiquette presents all its elements in a beautiful package for everyone to enjoy and cherish.

wedding invitations

Wedding invitations resembles a note of deliverance to your guests hence it should be simple and easily legible. The designs are the main influence of the clarity. Fantastic and decorative designs will not necessary guarantee a clear invitation message. It is better not to use complicated writing font making it illegible for your guests. Wedding invits designs should be kept simple yet at the same time, interesting. One perfect technique is to use the overlay. This is done by printing the wedding invitation wording on a paper in cream or neutral color then a decorative paper is laid onto the top. It can be embossed, marbled or have a cutout. This is great to show creativity yet will not be hard for guests to decipher your text.

Those who do not fancy overlaying can opt for the borders. Make the text portion of your invitation clear then you can decorate at the margins of the invitations. You add anything decorative yet do not interrupt the text section. One of the wedding invitations designs is create by printing the text on a plain card and then gluing the card onto an ornamental background. This is perfect to create a two-tone effect to make it simple to read yet do not look inelegant. However remember to select the appropriate colors to match your wedding.

Wedding invitations have special stationeries that are designed to make your own unique wedding invitations. You can get these stationeries from special stationery stores and some may give you some suggestions on the attractive styles and beautiful fonts you can use. You can also ask them about the formatting and the types of accessories you might need to beautify your invitations. Getting an expert’s advice will do your less trouble hence do not hesitate to ask.

You should not forget to include the reply slips or envelopes for your guests to reply you a feedback. You may want to get a matching tone to create cohere invitation theme. Two significant things to take into consideration are the wedding theme and the invitations design clarity. Then your invitations should turn out lovely with good reviews from your guests.

wedding invitations ZDI010

A lot of magazines and blogs (and, I admit, me) talk a lot about how beautiful outdoor weddings are. But the truth is, most brides cannot afford to risk having their wedding outdoors because of weather—rain or cold. Unless you live in a place like California, Florida or Hawaii, an outdoor wedding is usually not in the cards.

 A wonderful alternative and affordable indoor option is renting a warehouse for your reception. This space can be turned into a chic, hip space with minimal effort—because, by the nature of having it in a warehouse, your wedding will be simple and minimalist. Here are some key things to think about:

 1.      You will probably want to spend a lot on lighting and allocate this when doing your budget.

2.      You don’t have to waste time or money on filly table linens or chairs—chic, industrial metal chairs and simple metal or wooden tables will look great here without tablecloths (or just with simple table runners).

3.      You will probably want to have a monochromatic color scheme—or stick with white, gray, black or other neutrals.

4.      Project old movies onto a blank wall—it will look fabulous!

5.      Metal vases will also be a great unexpected touch here.

6.      A really cool way to do escort cards—write guests’ names on bricks!

7.      Lots of candles will look fabulous.

8.      Hang framed black and white photographs all over the space.

9.      Send your save the dates on old vinyl records.

10.  Make use of other industrial elements, like iron skeleton keys, throughout the space. Anything simple, metal or brick will work!