Setting the tone for your Wedding day
Wedding Invitations are the first thing that your guests will see of your wedding day. They give your guests an idea of the type of wedding you are having, whether it's a formal occasion or a party to celebrate your marriage. Your stationery can also match your colour scheme for your wedding, which is particularly important on the day for your menus, table plan and place cards.
Wedding Stationery
All of our wedding stationery ranges include Wedding and Evening Invitations, Order of Service, Thank You Cards, Reply Cards and Place Cards. Many of our ranges also include Menu's and Order of the Day (many brides choose to have their Order of the Day printed onto an Order of Service). Selected designs within CCA have matching Table Plans.
Wedding Invitations
A Wedding Invitation should be sent out to each guest or family at least 3-4 months prior to the wedding day to allow plenty of time for the replies to arrive back to you, which will allow the number of your guests to be finalised. If your wedding is during peak holiday season or on a Bank Holiday, it is often worth sending our your invitations earlier. The wording within your Wedding Invitations (and the rest of your stationery) can be whatever you would like, formal or informal. The more common wordings used can be seen within our Wording section (under Information), but you are free to change these as you wish.
Remember this is a good time to enclose any other information your guests may need, such as maps, accommodation lists and wedding list details.
When ordering Wedding Invitations, we recommend ordering an extra 10% or so to allow for mistakes when writing them out and also if you decide to invite extra people. It is much cheaper to order extra at the outset than to have to order extra ones later. It is also worth sending out Reply Cards with your invitations as this ensures a quicker response and less chasing up of outstanding replies.
Evening Invitations
Evening Invitations are sent to guests who will not be attending the wedding itself, to invite them to an evening celebration or party. These can be sent out later than the Wedding Invitations, which gives you the flexibility of "upgrading" people to Wedding Invitations if some of your original guest list cannot make your special day. As with the Wedding Invitations, maps and accommodation information should be sent out at the same time.
It may also be a good idea to use Reply Cards with your Evening Invitations to obtain a quicker response and cut down on chasing of outstanding replies.
Reply Cards
Reply Cards help to ensure a quicker response and less chasing up of outstanding replies and can also be used to gather dietary information. This makes it easier for you to finalise your numbers for your venue. Reply Cards come with pre-printed envelopes included making it easy for your guests to respond.
Order of Service
When getting married in a church you will require an Order of Service. Order of Service contains as a minimum, the running order of the service, the words to the hymns and details of any readings and music played. As a minimum, you should allow one Order of Service between two guests, however as the Order of Service contains the words to the hymns, it is better to have one per guest if you can stretch to this. You should also have a few extra for the clergy, choir and any last minute guests.
Please check all the details for the Order of Service, including hymns and the music choice with your minister or priest before ordering your cards. Unless you have unusual hymns, it is not necessary to supply the words to hymns as we have the lyrics to most of them. Order of Service normally consist of four sides, but extra inserts can be included if necessary (note that this will incur an additional charge). The Order of Service should be ordered around 2 months before the wedding day, to ensure there is plenty of time for checking the details with your Church.
Raised ink is not available for the printing of the inserts for Order of Service and apart from the first page, they are normally printed in a standard typeface in black ink.
Order of the Day
Order of the Day provide a special momento, guiding your family and friends through the events you have planned for your special day. You would normally order one per guest and they would be either placed on each seat or handed to your guests as they arrive at the ceremony venue. We recommend that you order your Order of the Day at least 6 weeks before your wedding.
Where an Order of the Day design does not exist within a range, the Order of Service card can frequently be used instead as these often do not have Order of Service printed on the front of the card. Raised ink is not available for the inserts and apart from the first page, they are normally printed in a standard typeface in black ink.
Thank You Cards
Thank You Cards are used to thank all your guests for coming to your special day and for their kind wedding gift. Thank You Cards can have a pre-printed message inside, but many couples prefer the card to be left blank (either with or without an insert) so that they can write their own personal message. You can also inform people of your new address if necessary.
All our ranges have matching Thank You Cards, enabling you to continue your wedding theme to the end.
Place Cards
Place cards are used for the guests to find their places at the reception and are available with most of our ranges. We offer place cards with three levels of personalisation. They can be supplied completely blank, with the names of the Bride and Groom and date of the wedding printed, it is always worth getting a few extra to allow for last minute changes and writing mistakes.
Place cards on the tables help to continue your colour theme, provide a welcoming touch to your guests and make attractive momentos of your special day.
Table Plan
Table Plans help your guests to see where they are sitting at the reception. They also make a lovely keepsake for the Bride and Groom, reminding them of who was at their special day. Many couples arrange for their Table Plans to be framed.
Menus
The Menu cards provide not only details of the menu itself, but also provide details relating to the order of events taking place such as speeches and the main toasts which will take place at the main reception. All details should be confirmed with your reception venue before ordering Menus.
Menu cards are only available with some sets of wedding stationery in the ranges. Please see the individual sets for details.
Save the Date Cards
Save the Date Cards are useful when you want to let your potential guests know the date of your wedding but don't yet know all the details, such as the ceremony time. It is advisable to send out a Save the Date Card if your wedding is taking place on a special day such as a Bank Holiday, if you are getting married abroad or if your wedding is in peak holiday season.
Save the Date Cards are normally sent out 6-12 months before the wedding date. Many people now send a save the date card before sending the main wedding invitation, these cards are sent about 6-8 months before the wedding , we get many enquiries about save the date cards we do sell them. What we find is that many brides choose a wedding invitation card that is plain and to create a save the date card we just change the wording on the insert to create a save the date card. If you are getting married in a main holiday time and you don’t wont your dear friends or family to miss your wedding day send a save the date card this will hopefully avoid an upset later on.
Gifts, Keepsakes and Accessories
There are a wide range of accessories you may like to consider for your wedding day. For the reception, you can have matching personalised serviettes, cake and favour boxes, Guest Books, etc.
