Wedding Invitation Giveaway :: LAST DAY TO ENTER

Head over to Couture Colorado to enter a wedding invite contest where you can win 50% OFF letterpress wedding invites!!  Contest ends tonight! Hurry Hurry!

How to Word a Wedding Invitation - The 6 Essentials

If you've been trying to figure out how to word your invitation and are getting more and more confused, don't worry, you're not alone.

To break it down, there are 6 essential pieces of information that need to be included: 1. the Host  2. the Request line 3. the name of the Bride & Groom 4. the Time 5. the Date and 6. the Location .

Beyond these 6 essentials, the rest is just preference.

Host Line

The host line is exactly what it sounds like. Whom ever is "hosting" (i.e. paying for) the wedding is considered the host.  If it is your traditional mother and father of the bride paying, the host line may simply read:

if both sets of parents are hosting, it would read:

*Notice how there is no "and" between the sets of parents?  This is the "proper" formatting, however, if you are more comfortable with adding an "and" between the two, by all means, go for it.

If the bride and groom are hosting, the line would read:

or

Request Line

The Request line is where the host requests a guests attendance to an event.

A traditional request line would read:

 
You see both spellings of "honour" and "honor" on invitations.  The first being the obviously more formal but both are perfectly acceptable.  Requesting the "honour (or honor) of someones presence" is a formality usually reserved for a religious ceremony at a place of worship.  Weddings outside of places of worship would read:

Bride and Groom Names

This one is pretty standard, if only the parents of the bride are listed as hosts, then you would write the brides name using just her first and middle name (since her last name is presumably the same as her parents). For example:

If both parents names are listed, you would include the first and middle name of both bride and groom:

Feel free to use "to" instead of "and" depending on how the rest of the invite is worded.

Time

The most formal way to write time is:

Also, if you're worried that your guests won't understand that by saying six o'clock, you don't mean six o'clock in the morning, feel free to write out:

Date

Writing out a date can be pretty confusing, so here it is:

The day of the week, in this case Saturday, leads and is capitalized. The day of the month is lower case since it's not a proper noun. The month is capitalized, again a proper noun. Only the first letter in the year is capitalized. Again, if you're more comfortable with capitalizing Two Thousand Eleven,  go for it, I can guarantee the etiquette police will NOT come knocking on your door :)

Now, I'm sure you've also seen the year written both ways, "Two thousand eleven" and "Two thousand and eleven".  The former is the most "proper" but the latter isn't "wrong" per se. It just depends on your taste.

Location

 

This is simple the place, city and state where the ceremony will take place.

Or, if you're only including the invite and RSVP in the invitation mailing (without a reception card or any additional info), you could write:

When you combine all of the components, you have a complete and properly worded wedding invitation:

**Of course, not all weddings or family situations fit in to a neat little box with a bow on top :)  I'll post some options for other types of family situations later on.  In the mean time, feel free to leave a comment w/ questions on how to word an invite for your particular situation.

DIY Favors: Pantone & Cookies

This has been posted all over the interwebs, so I'll just jump right on that bandwagon, cause it's fun!

When I saw these Pantone chip inspired cookies posted by Kim Neill @ KimCreativeStar.com, I nearly feel outta my chair. So cute! So clever! So delicious!

I immediately thought they'd be a great DIY favor for a shower or even the wedding! Personalized cookies in your wedding colors!

When most people think of a color, they usually think in terms of Red, Orange, Yellow Green & Blue.  But ask a designer what color they want and chances are they'll say PMS 192 or 715 or 604 or some other random number.  PMS stands for Pantone Matching System and number denote a specific shade of a color, since there are hundreds of each.

Anyhoodle, I just couldn't pass up talking about about 2 things that I love:  Color and Cookies!

New Colors @ Paper Source

The 2011 Waste Not Paper Catalog (wholesale division of Paper Source) arrived yesterday! 

 

What's even more exciting than just getting a brandy new catalog in the mail is their introduction of 2 NEW colors!

Feast your eyes on Fig & Clover (Clover available May 2011):

Paper Source always does a great job about pairing unexcpeted colors. Check out these Fig color combos:

I bet these  Clover combos are going to be a big hit this Spring! Having a St. Patrick's Day Party perhaps?

The Paper Source Catalog is always a great source of inspiration, especially if you live in a state without an actual PS store (like me).

If you'd like to receive a catalog, you can sign up over here at the PS website.

Letterpress Greetings: Old Tom Foolery

I admit it. I'm a sucker for paper. And letterpress. And unexpected wit.  Add the three together and you have one of my personal favorite Greeting Card companies, Old Tom Foolery. 

Their tag line says it all: "Unsapy, uncrappy greetings..."

Yeah, I'd say so:

Weddings:

Valentines Day:

Birthdays:

Check out the Old Tom Foolery website to find fun cards for every occasion!