BY INVITATION ONLY....
Your invitations are the very first contact that you will have with your guests. They will set the tone for your wedding. Remember that the colour and the design that you choose to have on your invitation should be carried through on the wedding day. There is no point in having a flower on your invitation that is seasonal and will not be available in the month that you plan to get married!
Your invitation will also give your guests an idea of the type of wedding that you are planning, more formal wording and expensive stock and print quality will indicate a formal wedding, a light hearted invitation possibly containing a clever touch (example when you open the invitation a knot is tied) will indicate a less formal wedding and still our favourite example of an invitation – one that the groom chose to have printed on paper containing dried dagga leaves. The guests were asked to bring their invitation to the wedding so that they could roll them up and smoke them!!
To assist you in choosing the wording for your invitations, we have included examples below. Remember to keep your wording short and to the point. Type out your final copy and give it to your printer – this will save him time and will ensure that there are no mistakes because of bad handwriting. The following needs to be included on the Wedding Invitation:
The names of the Bride and Groom
The Parent’s names, traditionally the invitations were sent from the Bride’s Parents, however with many couples paying for their own weddings, this has changed and the invitations are sent from the couple
The Wedding and RSVP Dates
The Venue – for the Religious Ceremony and Reception
The Time of the Wedding
Any other information that you wish to convey eg: whether or not children are included or if there is a cash bar
With the onset of technology, fewer couples are choosing to include RSVP cards and Guests are given the option of replying by phone, sms or e-mail.
You can use technology to your advantage. Before you post your invitations you can send out an sms, letting guests know that a very special invitation can be expected soon by post (in this way should the postal system fail you, the Guest will know that you intended inviting them). This can be followed up by an e-card (e-mail invitation), you can continue communicating with your guests by sms and e-mail, sending them your gift registry, directions to the Venue, reminders to RSVP, information on where to stay should you be getting married out of town.
It is advisable to have wedding programs or orders of service printed. In this way guests can follow your ceremony even when language, religion or customs are unfamiliar. Include the order of service, explanation of customs, words and source of readings, titles and lyrics of music selections, translations and names of participants. We recently attended a wedding where the wedding programs had been hung on a tree outside of the church – in this way everyone could help themselves and it added a lovely touch!
EXAMPLES OF WORDING
| Wedding Given by Bride's Parents |
Wedding Given by Bride and Groom |
Mr. and Mrs Nigel North
request the pleasure of your company/request the company of
........
at the marriage of their daughter
Nel
to/with
Mr Sanuel South
at St. Mark's Church, Northton
on Saturday 2 Ma6y 19...at 2.30
pm
and at the reception afterwards
at Stone Manor, Northton
(Reply address) RSVP |
|
Nel North and Samuel South
request the pleasure of your company/request the company of
....
at their marriage
at... | |
| Wedding Given Jointly by Parents of Bride and Groom |
Wedding Given by Bride's Divorced/Widowed Father |
Mr. and Mrs Nigel North
and
Mr and Mrs Sidney South
request the pleasure of your company/request the company of
...
at the marriage of
... | |
Mr Nigel North
requests the pleasure of your company/
requests the company of
...
at the marriage of his daughter
Nel | |
Wedding Given by Divorced Parents of Bride |
Wedding Given by Bride's Divorced/Widowed Father (now re-married) and his Wife |
Mr. Nigel North and Mrs Nancy North
request the pleasure of your company/request the company of
...
at the marriage of their daughter
... | |
Mr and Mrs Nigel North
request the pleasure of your company/
request the company of
...
at the marriage of his daughter
Nel North | |
Wedding Given by Bride's Divorced Mother (now remarried) and Bride's Father |
Wedding Given by Bride's Divorced/Widowed Mother |
Mr Nigel North and Mrs Nancy Black/Mrs Nancy Black and Mr Nigel North request the pleasure of your company/request the company of
...
at the marriage of their daughter
... | |
Mrs Nancy North
requests the pleasure of your company/requests the company of
...
at the marriage of her daughter
... | |
Photograph courtesy of Angela's Cards - www.angelascards.co.za
Thank you to Clem from Wedding Cards for his contribution to this article - www.weddingcards.co.za
