Once the excitement of getting engaged to your best friend starts to wear off, it is almost inevitable that the feeling of creating millions upon millions of wedding to-do lists will occur. One part of our job as a wedding stationer is to help make the entire wedding process go smoothly for you. Let's look back at the timeline we shared with you last week:
Before you can begin to think about the design of your save the date (or wedding invitation), you will need to create your guest list. It's important for the guest list to be one of the first steps because it will help create a timeline for you. Even more importantly, your guest list determines the quantity for each piece that you will need(save the date, invitation, etc.).
After enjoying engagement bliss, we recommend that you sit down and make a rough list of everyone you and your fiance would like to invite. Make sure to consult with your immediate family members and close friends as well to see if you have left anyone out. This can ultimately lead to your first wedding meltdown(a great way to see how you and your future hubs handle stress) as your small, intimate wedding has grown into a a small, intimate wedding of 200+! As much as you may not want to, this is the time to make the necessary cuts in order to create your perfect guest list.
If you find yourself not being able to cut anyone from your guest list, one option is to have an A and a B list. If this is an option for you, make sure to give yourself more time on the back end. You will not send your "B list" a save the date, but you will want to make sure that it is not noticeable that they were only going to be invited if individuals from your "A list" were unable to attend. For this instance, we recommend mailing out your first batch of invitations 8-10 weeks out, so that you can mail out your second (or third) batch out around the 5-6 week mark.
There are many other reasons why the guest list matters. Most notably is the fact that weddings can get quite expensive. For your wedding stationary, you don't want to over or under-order. Just like with most of the other vendors, your guest list will determine the cost of your wedding stationary (although we can usually get very creative in order to make your budget stretch). We also recommend that you always order at least 10-15 extra invitations because there will inevitably be a few that you forget (and you want to make sure to keep one as a keepsake, and one for your mom, and grandmom...). ;)
Another important note that most brides forget (myself included): for wedding stationary, you are looking for the number of households you are mailing to and not the actual guest count. A good rule of thumb is to divide your guest list in half and to add 25.
Now that we have a good understanding of the importance of guest count, we can focus on designing your save the dates! Next week, we plan to highlight some of our favorite save the dates.
As always, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or if you would like to schedule an appointment!