It feels like yesterday that I was choosing the designs for our wedding invitations, and now it’s been over five months since the big day! I can barely wrap my head around it! How times flies.
Designing your wedding invitations can be a bit overwhelming because they can be the first peek you give to your guests into the theme and style of your wedding. The Save the Dates might be the first indication of your wedding, but it’s not unusual to choose something out of the box for them and they don’t necessarily need to completely go with your ideas for the style of your big day.
I was feeling way over my head when I started looking up inspiration for our wedding invitations! There are so many choices out there, and thanks to Pinterest, my head was absolutely crammed with different ideas. I decided there was no way I could do it on my own, and I found the most amazing designer from a simple search on Instagram! Carrie and Seash had a huge portfolio of beautiful designs and right away I knew they would be perfect for us. They specialize in watercolor designs and unique monograms and crests, and I found their style to be just what we were looking for.
I want to use this post as an opportunity to show the beautiful custom designs they came up with for us, as well as share some tips I learned from the experience! I hope you enjoy it!
Monograms and Crests:
Okay, first, let’s talk Monograms and crests! I knew from the beginning that a crest would be really fun for me and Brent since we are from different states (besides actually both being born in Georgia, funnily enough!). I was mainly raised in Texas, and he’s from South Carolina. Crests are always a fun and classic way to embody the coming together of the couple as well as showcase what makes them unique. I let Carrie and Seash know what our interests were and the color scheme, but like most of the wedding planning, after that I left it in their hands to create the design. I was absolutely blown away by the end result!
You can see in ours that I’m represented on the left (with my pup, Patsy, and a cowboy boot with a bluebonnet on it for Texas) and Brent is on the right (with his pup, Belle, and a golf club and fishing rod). It’s decorated with magnolias (which thrive in both TX and SC) and pink jasmine. At the top, they did a beautiful rendition of our venue, Lowndes Grove, with a palmetto tree and crescent moon (the symbol for SC) and at the bottom a pineapple (we got engaged in the park where the famous Charleston Pineapple Fountain is located) and, of course, our wedding date.
I believe Carrie and Seash captured the style of our Southern wedding perfectly with our crest!
What to Include:
Here is where invitations can get really fun! I always loved the idea of a fully-packed envelope with all the different cards. The essentials, of course, which include the Formal Invitation (which has all the inportant information about the wedding) and the RSVP card (with envelope – don’t forget to add a stamp!) as well as a Dinner and Dancing Card and a Weekend Details Card.
Our Wedding Details Card was beautiful! Carrie and Seash created this incredible design to show the hotels where we had blocks for our guests, the place where we got engaged, and, of course, the venue. We thought this would not only be a pretty addition to the invites, but also helpful for the guests to see that two of the hotels were located in Mount Pleasant, which is over the Ravenel Bridge and not on the Charleston peninsula.
I also loved our Dinner and Dancing card. Fun Fact, after the venue, the band was our second vendor to book for the wedding! We are huge fans of The Midnight City Band (an amazing local band that we have been going to see ever since I moved here) and they book up FAST so we snagged them right away. Since they were such an important element of the wedding, we thought it would be fun for them to have their own card.
Invitation Tips:
-All wedding invitations must include:
- Who’s hosting
- The request to come to the wedding
- The names of the couple to be wed
- The date and time
- The location
- Reception information
Wording:
-If the ceremony is not held in a religious institution, “request the pleasure of your company” is the appropriate wording. If it will be held in a religious institution, “request the honour of your presence” can be used.
-If you include a Dinner and Dancing card, the attire can be included there to save space on the invitation.
-If you have a wedding website, it was most likely included on your Save the Date so it’s not necessary to add it to the invitation. However, if you did not add it to your Save the Dates, adding it on one of the additional cards (we put it on the back of our Weekend Details Card) is a better place to put it rather than on the invitation.
-Here’s how the names of the couple should be listed: For different-sex couples, the bride’s name usually goes first, followed by the groom’s name underneath. If the bride’s parents’ names are listed at the top, the bride’s name can just be her first and middle name (without last name), while the groom’s name is traditionally listed in full. For same-sex couples, you can list the names in alphabetical order by last name, or in the order you choose.
-Here is the sizing information we used for the different cards:
- Invitation: 5.5 x 8.5
- RSVP Card: 4.25 x 5.5
- Weekend Details Card: 4.5 x 6.25
- Dinner and Dancing Card: 2.5 x 3.5
Extra Details:
One element that I would have included if I had WAY more patience was a wax seal on each invitation. I found a ‘B’ stamp on Amazon and gold wax and used it for the place cards for the head table, so I played with it on some of the extra invitations and it looked so cute. If you had a team to help you, it would be such a nice touch (but it does take forever to melt the wax for each stamp and we sent out of 175 invitations!).
*PS: don’t worry, that’s Brent’s old address.
Other fun details you can include are a vellum sheet (a translucent card to go over the invitation), a Menu Card (especially if you’re having a seated dinner and are providing your guests with a choice of their entree), and a more detailed Ceremony Details Card. And as for addressing the envelopes, you can choose to hire a calligrapher (what we did) or if the designer of the invitations has the option to print them directly, you can also do that. We already had a great calligrapher who did the place cards as well as the seating chart, so we chose to use her. I thought having them hand-written was a nice touch!
One last tip: Be sure to take one fully-stuffed invitation envelope to the post office and have them weigh it and let you know how much postage you’ll need! A simple forever stamp is usually not enough, and you want to make sure they’re not all returned back to you.
I hope this post is helpful for any brides or grooms-to-be out there planning their weddings! A HUGE thank you to Carrie and Seash for bringing this design to life. I still am so obsessed with our invitations and am so grateful to them for creating such beautiful designs.
