Wedding cards come in many different types. It is quite a search before you find the right card that suits you. After ordering, proofing and writing the envelopes, the cards are often sent to the master of ceremonies who will post them for you. In this article you can read about the entire process from searching for wedding invitations to sending them. A number of useful tips are also given.
How to start
You can order wedding cards via the internet or from a printer and have them printed there. The advantage of a printer is that you can personally indicate your wishes and make changes after the proof printing until the card is completely to your liking. Visit a number of printers to look at the range they have in the (many) albums. You don’t need to make an appointment, you can just walk in and view the albums. You can often borrow a few albums to browse through them at home. It is wise to look at several printers and sleep on it before making a final choice.
To order
Once you have made a final choice about which card it will be, the printer will order it. Tell the printer the number of cards you want. It is wise to order a number of extra tickets immediately. You will just realize that you have forgotten someone or you made a typo while writing the envelopes. Then it is useful to have a number of them in stock.
If your cards are on order from the printer, this gives you the space to come up with the text for the cards or adjust it if you have already finished it. Many people have two different texts printed: one for the day guests and one for the evening guests .
When you have finished the text, you can send it to the printing company who will then make a test print of it. When the cards have arrived at the printer and he has made a proof, you can come by to view the card or the printer will send the proof. You can now make changes and have a second or third proof made. It is a time-consuming job, the text (color) and especially the layout of the text will probably have to be changed a number of times. All these proofs can take a number of weeks before they are correct. So take this into account in your planning. If the test print is ultimately successful and everything is as desired, the printer will print the cards, which will take about a week before you can pick them up.
Address list
While the printer is busy printing the cards, you can look up all the addresses and check whether the addresses are still correct. As soon as the cards have arrived you can immediately start writing the envelopes.
To the master of ceremonies
Once all envelopes have been written and the cards have been folded, you can give the (open!) envelopes and cards to the master of ceremonies. Make sure you have made piles so that it is clear to the master of ceremonies who are the day guests and who will only come to your reception and/or party . The master of ceremonies can put a note in the envelopes asking you to make something nice as a surprise for you and will then take the cards to the post office.
To the post office
Have (the master of ceremonies) weigh the envelopes at the post office so that you are sure that enough postage has been paid. At the post office you can get special stamps for wedding cards which cost the same as regular stamps but give it that little bit extra. Do not put the wedding invitations in a regular red letterbox because wedding invitations, like funeral invitations, are specially processed at the post office, which reduces the chance that a wedding invitation will not reach the addressee.
Tips
- During the proof printing, check your text several times for (spelling) errors.
- Have someone else read the text to remove errors and see whether it is clear to the person receiving the card what time it should be present and where.
- Allow plenty of time for the search for the right card and the entire process of ordering and making proofs. It often takes more time than you would expect. The cards will be posted about 2 months before your wedding day, so start the whole process about 4 months before the wedding day and don’t postpone it.