Emma’s Wedding Invites + Invite Checklist

The time has come for us to send out our wedding invitations. When I was planning what kind of invites we wanted I got a little overwhelmed at all the options and etiquette rules I kept seeing, as I researched. Etiquette rules make me nervous sometimes. I’m not all that traditional, but I also don’t want to offend anyone on our guest list. And then dreaming up a design was an overwhelming thought to me as well. Should I keep it the colors of our wedding? Should they be colorful or illustrated or modern or handwritten or embossed or include confetti?! Oh my! Here’s what we landed on: What I love most about our invites is that they are very us, in that I don’t feel like it leans more me or Trey—just us. My brother designed them. He was the one who originally suggested we get them letter pressed too. We knew we wanted the invite to look kind of like a giant movie ticket. Then, I found these cute inner envelopes (they’re gold, can’t pass that up!) with the tab cut out, which was perfect for the design we had in mind. We tried to keep the wording simple and to-the-point, but, yeah, that’s a Kanye quote (from a verse he did on an old Pharrell song). We listen to a lot more Yeezy than I care to admit, and June 8 is his birthday. We’re getting married on Kanye West’s Birthday!Our invites were printed locally at Trader’s Printing & Design. I love how they turned out and am so excited for everyone to start receiving them this week!Wedding Invite Checklist + Tips

-Plan your budget before you start shopping. We needed right around 130 save the dates (you can see them here) and invites. Since I was already thinking about custom letter pressed invites, we found a cute but inexpensive option for our save the dates.

-Research wording options for the invitations. Are you self hosting? Do you want the wording to feel more traditional or do you prefer something off beat? There are tons of different ideas out there. And there is no right or wrong! Just be sure to include all the necessary information: date, location and time. -Additional information and RSVP instructions are a must. We included an additional card that included a lot of important info for guests including: a map to our ceremony location, how guests can RSVP (online at our website), where we are registered (here you can also include info on if you prefer gift cards, gifts to charity or no gifts at all), since we are planning an outdoor wedding in Missouri we included info on where the ceremony will be moved in the event it rains and hotel information for out-of-town guests. It’s a good idea to call around to nearby hotels and block off rooms for guests to reserve, as many guests might not be familiar with your city and won’t know the best/nearest hotels to try.

-Include a printed engagement photo. This is very optional, but I love it when invitations include pictures. I immediately hang them up on my refrigerator. 🙂 We printed 4×6 photos from our snow engagement shoot to include in our invites.

Thanks for letting me share our wedding invites with you! xo. Emma (and Trey)