Below you’ll find the different types of wedding stationery you should consider as a future bride or groom. You certainly don’t need all of these items. Nonetheless, they’re listed here for you and organized chronologically, from your engagement to first year anniversary gifts.
Engagement Announcements & Party
Many couples like to start things off with an engagement party. Their families and friends may all be meeting each other for the first time. Engagement parties range from casual picnics to urban elegant affairs. The engagement party invitations should reflect the type of event, as well as the personalities of the couple. Since the wedding date may not be determined at this early stage, the engagement party doesn’t have to be stylistically or thematically similar to the wedding.
Engagement Party Stationery
- Engagement party invitations
- Printed keepsakes (story of your meeting, a memento that also serves as an icebreaker/conversation starter)
- Place cards for the table settings
- Thank-you notes for any gifts received
- Guest books, memento books or scrapbooks
- Photo album
Save-the-Date Cards
You’ve set the wedding day, now it’s time to let everyone know. Save the date cards have quickly become a modern wedding tradition. This may be the first mailing your guests receive from you, giving you a wonderful opportunity to introduce your prospective guests to the style or theme of your wedding. Save the date cards should be sent out between four months and one year prior to the wedding.
Bridal Showers
Typically, the friend or relative arranging your bridal shower will also be responsible for the bridal shower invitations. Of course, consulting the future bride at this point is always a good idea as it provides the opportunity to lend stylistic or thematic suggestions.
- Shower invitations
- Guestbook or scrapbook
- Thank you notes — for all those wonderful gifts!
Wedding Invitations
Wedding invitations are traditionally mailed out six to eight weeks before the wedding, with those going overseas usually sent ten weeks prior to the wedding day.
- Invitations
- RSVP card and envelope
- Reception card – if the reception and wedding are at separate locations.
- Map and/or directions card
- Outer envelope, depending on the invitation style.
Rehearsal Dinner
Invitations for a rehearsal dinner typically go to everyone in the wedding party. Out of town guests are sometimes included as well. An invitation to the rehearsal dinner may be included with the wedding invitation, or sent separately.
- Invitations
- RSVP card and envelope
- Map and/or directions card
Thank You Notes
As your mother surely taught you, a timely thank you note is the appropriate response to any gift. Given that many of your wedding gifts will begin arriving before the big day, it’s a great idea to order your thank you notes early. The thank you note will represent your first stationery as a couple, providing you the opportunity to match your cards with your taste and style.
Common etiquette generally dictates that friends and family have one year in which to shower the bride and groom with gifts. Be sure to have extra thank you notes on hand, as you’ll likely need them over the course of the year following your wedding day.
Reception and Ceremony Papers
Remember, to some guests, these items might also serve as a keepsake of sorts, so thinking of them as a lasting impression of your wedding day can keep you from overlooking some of the smaller details. The following wedding stationery should be tailored to match your wedding reception party and viewed as being part of the decorations.
Ceremony Programs or Wedding Programs
The wedding program is a description of your ceremony and a listing of the wedding party members. It is also the likeliest keepsake. Wedding programs, also referred to as ceremony programs, are generally handed out to your guests as they arrive for seating or displayed at the entrance for your guests to pick up.
Escort Cards, Place Cards, Seating Cards
The small cards that let your guests know where they are seated at the reception dinner can be created and displayed a number of ways, from traditional to fanciful and creative. Take care to make printing choices that are clearly legible to all. Small print and over-stylized calligraphy can often prove difficult for aging eyes!
Menu Cards
Menu cards provide a description of the courses served at the reception party. These can be individual cards for each guest or one or two cards displayed on the table.
Guests with special dietary needs will appreciate personalized confirmation that their food is as requested. Other guests will be curious to know more about what is being served. Menu cards offer guests, many of whom chose their food a month or more in advance, a succinct summary of the food they’re about to enjoy.
Paper Favors
Some couples print small books, make special stationery or make little boxes for food wedding favors. Increasingly, couples are opting for favors of more permanence by handing out small packets of wildflower or plant seeds, for example.
Table Cards
Each reception table can have a name or a number, displayed to help guests find their place. These table cards are often supplied by your florist and affixed to the table’s centerpiece.
Guest Book
The tradition of the guest book may be changing but, whatever its current form, guests love to leave their mark. From traditional sign-in books to playful scrapbooks, a guest book allows your guests the opportunity to sign their name and offer the bride and groom well wishes. Guests books are more than just a list of names, they are a collection of memories.
Next Day Brunch
If you’re having a weekend or destination wedding, you may find some of your guests invited to next-day festivities. Be it a brunch or evening barbeque, next day events are increasing in popularity. If not organized by friends or family, such events call for additional invitations or, at the least, supplemental cards in the wedding invitations.
First Wedding Anniversary Gift is Paper
The first year is bound to fly by; you’ll be celebrating your first anniversary sooner than you realize. Tradition dictates that the appropriate first year anniversary present be made of paper. What will you give? A book, a special poem you’ve written or maybe a collection of love notes is the perfect gift to cap off your first year of marriage.
