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Wedding invitations are nothing but letters that are used to invite a guest to attend a wedding ceremony. It plays an important role in setting the wedding style. Various types of papers can be used to create the wedding invitations including heavy stock paper, vellum, linen, cotton etc.

The heavy stock paper is a best option for people who want to create affordable wedding invitations. For inexpensive wedding invitations, you can use the handmade or recycled paper. Creating the wedding invitation yourself will help you to reduce the wedding cost. Readymade invitations that are for sale at the store will cost $3 – $4 per card. People who want to order custom wedding invitations  can hire a graphic designer.

Some people use double envelopes in mailing the wedding invitation. With double side envelopes, the inner envelope is not gummed while the outer envelope is gummed. The outer envelope is used for addressing the recipient. However, to save money on postage, you can exclude the inner envelope.

The invitation should include the hour of the wedding ceremony. To prevent running out of invitations, you should always order more invitation that you need. It is important to order more invitation because you can make mistakes at any time. The wedding invitation should briefly announce the wedding ceremony and include the date and venue. You should refrain from including too much information concerning the wedding. The save the date information should not be emailed to the recipient. The names and address should be written before the envelope is sealed. If you write the name and address after the envelope is sealed, there will be indentation in the invitation.

Before sending the invitations, make sure the name of the guests are spelt correctly. After you have mailed the invitations, the guest should give you confirmation within 1 – 2 week. If the guest did not send in his/her confirmation after the RSVP date, you should take the initiative to call him/her.

wedding invitations

Wedding invites are used to inform the guest about the date and venue of an upcoming wedding ceremony. There are many types of these cards that are used to create the wedding invitations including heavy card stock, cotton and linen, vellum and recycled paper.

The heavy card stock is a type of do it yourself card. It is thick and won’t bend or crease easily. It is rarely that the heavy card stock will have printer bleeding problem. It is able to absorb the printer cartridge ink well. Its weight allows it suitable to be used as a frame keepsake. The standard color includes white, ecru and etc. Some heavy card stock paper has textures.

Cotton wedding invites are made from the cotton cloth. It looks luxurious and is expensive. Cotton invitations are durable and can last for many years. They can be kept in the scrapbook. If the cotton invitations are too expensive, you can choose an invitation that is made from half cotton. It is made from 100% cotton are rather expensive.

Vellum is a thin crepe paper that is used to prepare the wedding invitations. The traditional vellum is made of calfskin, which is used for important documentation. Modern vellum is transparent and made from 100% cotton. Vellum is available in a wide range of styles and colors. Some vellums are printed with thermography. Vellum offers unique wedding invitations and can be used as keepsake. It usually comes with a matching envelope.

Besides, you can also create your own paper and use it to make inexpensive wedding invitations. Handmade paper is cheaper and aims to help the couples save money. Handmade wedding invites can be used to create custom wedding invitations. It is suitable for people that plan to have a small wedding. The recycled paper is a much cheaper alternative and can also be used to make the wedding invitations.

If you opt for clear glass plates, you can have a lot of fun with place settings! Here are a few original ideas to go underneath glass plates, as well as some others:

1. Calligraph guests’ names onto white doilies, and place them underneath clear glass plates.
2. Place vintage maps underneath clear plates.
3. Place astrology charts, corresponding to guests zodiac signs.
4. Give each guest a vintage alphabet block, with the letter corresponding to the table where they are sitting.
5. Have each guests carry a candle to their table, then place the candles at their place setting in a vintage silver candle holder, which they can take home.
6. Display a beautiful book on each guest’s plate as the favor.
7. If you are artistic, or know someone who is, place a photograph or copy of a painting on each plate.
8. Give each guest a flower that shows how you feel about them (i.e. yellow roses = friendship. Basil = best wishes. Blueberry = prayer). Or, alternately, give guests flowers that correspond to their birth month.
9. Have a dandelion set at each place setting. Guests then make a wish for the bride and groom when they are seated.
10. For a small wedding–if you have a photograph of each guest in your collection, place these at each place setting. What a wonderful, intimate favor!

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.

When it comes to the gowns of your entourage, it would be great if you would have the adults to wear tailor-made dresses especially your bridesmaids. However, when it comes to the little bridesmaids, you can also let a special tailor do the job or order online instead.

 Junior bridesmaid dresses can now be availed on the Internet. There are thousands of websites today where you can see their online catalogues. The best thing about getting the junior bridesmaid gowns online is that you can have more unique designs and colors to choose from. You can rest assure that the dresses that the little girls would wear would be as stunning and as elegant as the gowns of your adult bridesmaids.

 The prices are also cheap as well. There are even online boutiques that offer lower prices compared to the local dress shops because they directly get it from the supplier. Moreover, you can also have discounted prices from their already low rates especially if you would purchase other dresses from the same website at the same time. As long as you already know the right size for your junior bridesmaid dresses, you can get the package within two weeks or less depending on your location. Therefore, whether you are in a rush or not, you can make sure that you will get only the best and fashionable junior bridesmaid gowns in time for the big event.

 And do not worry about the quality of the junior bridesmaid dresses that you can buy online. If you bought it from a reputable online boutique, there is no need to think about the quality since it passes through a control and various inspections before they deliver it to your doors.

 So rather than buying the typical junior bridesmaid gowns from the local shops, order online instead!

junior bridesmaid dresses

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

Disregard of whether the wedding will be held in the autumn season, the couple should always determine the formality stage of the wedding ceremony. This is important as the level of formality will be the factor of selecting the suitable autumn dresses. An evening wedding should be matched with floor length bridesmaid dresses to make it more elegant. Daytime weddings will be very flexible while long dresses are very classy for traditional weddings while knee length dresses can be a good choice if the wedding is a relaxed autumn style.

Autumn is the season where fabric plays an important role. Fabric is the factor that gives fall bridesmaid dresses the unique richness. Although summer season is best to go with organza or wispy chiffons as they are really wonderful but they are too flimsy for chill weather. Heavier materials such as shantung, satin or luxurious brocade would be better for autumn season. They can be matched with wraps made from cozy and warm materials such as mohair or cashmere. As for the style of the dresses, any style works fine for the season as long as it is sufficiently covered for the chilling weather. It is alright to opt for strapless autumn dresses but they should come along with shawls or wraps. Spaghetti straps dresses are also appropriate or brides can choose dresses that tie in with one shoulder as this design is one of the hottest trends in the fashion vogue at the moment. This style should be very stunning and elegant if made from rich copper satin fabric.

In terms of colors for fall bridesmaid dresses, this is one aspect where the dresses can portray out strong autumnal flair. Light pastels hues will not look great; instead colors that have richness and depth such as bronze, burgundy and chocolate will make the dresses look gorgeous. Perhaps colors like sage green or deep yellow can give richness for fall dresses as well. No bridesmaid dress will look perfect without the merge of accessories. Although lavish bridesmaid jewelry will definitely look outstanding, other jewelry in the form of crystals or pearls can also match the autumn dresses. As much as the bridesmaid would prefer shoes of their comfort, it is better for them to wear closed toe shoes. The options could be sling-backs, mules or pumps.

bridemaid dresses

If you and your groom are a couple who don’t love dancing very much, think about having some alternatives to dancing at your wedding (you might still want to have a band/DJ, but perhaps a smaller dance floor and shorter dance time). Here are some ideas:
1. Sit down dinner: Give guests a restaurant-like experience with great food and great service; only have soft background music playing until after dessert is served.
2. Have a morning or afternoon wedding. A sunset wedding and breakfast for a small, intimate affair, a Sunday brunch, or an afternoon tea would all be great alternatives. And the food would be much more fun!
3. Have a picnic–picnic benches, red checkered tablecloths, ice cream, gourmet sandwiches… croquet or horseshoes or a walk aroudn the grounds would be great activities for guests.
4. Have your wedding in a museum–guests can walk around and look at the exhibits.
5. Set up a movie projector and show an old movie under the stars.
6. Or bring your guests to a movie theater and treat them to a movie of your choice! (a classic love story, of course)
7. Set up a carnival.
8. Have your wedding in an arboretum or botanical garden.

How much fun would it be to theme your wedding around taffy? You could create a beautiful vintage 1950s prom look. The best part about this idea is that it is affordable–you could even use a school gym! You can make it upscare by making sure to pay attention to elegance–high quality catering, white-gloved servers, and champagne. First, on the wedding invitations, ask everything wear a shade of pastel or white/khaki (for the men). Your bridesmaids could each wear a 50s vintage prom dress in a different shade of pastel (think lots of tulle and a tight bodice), with flowers in their hair. You could also use the braided rope effect in various ways, such as a chuppah, jewelry, or a rope for the aisle. For your reception, simple white tablecloths would be best, but accessorize them with puffy, pastel blooms like peonies or roses. Decorate the ceiling by floating hundreds of large pastel balloons–and, of course there is the dessert bar! A beautiful display of thousands of different flavored pieces of taffy would look marvelous, along with pretty colored boxes or containers for guests to take them home in. The cake should be buttercream, but colored, not white–and simple. It’s all about the sugar! Sugar-rimmed cocktail glasses, sugar-rubbed meat for the main course, and various flavors of sugar for the coffee. The result–an event everyone will be talking about!