Proper wedding etiquette requires that for formal weddings ? as most weddings are ? wedding stationery should make the object of meticulous planning and distributing. Of course, the primary items that need handling are wedding invitations, as they will establish the tone of the rest of the wedding stationery and, in fact, of the wedding as an overall event. Basic guidelines, such as the mentioning of the date and place of the ceremony and of the reception following it are generally easy to cover. It is also easy to make it clear who is going to be the host(s) of the event. However, a number of essential aspects need more careful handling, starting with the type of paper to use and ending with the mailing of the invites. Nowadays, those who want to organize an informal wedding event choose to send their invitation even by using e-mail or by making a phone call, but this is not a recommendation in formal approaches.

Generally, apart from invitations, wedding stationery will include items that mostly depend on the choice of the bride, groom or any other organizer of the happy event. For instance, common choices of wedding stationery are evening invitations, response cards, thank you notes, place cards, menus, cake boxes, napkins and order of service sheets, in the case where the bride and groom consult with the minister responsible with the development of the religious ceremony. However, even if such details also require careful organization, the first to speak about your wedding are the invitations. Whether you choose a pre-established pattern or whether you want to personalize them largely, wedding invitations carry the primary impact on your potential guests. This is why it is necessary to supervise in detail the structuring of their content and appearance. It is a needed step, insofar as you expect positive feedback from the ones you invite.

First, to what concerns the number of invitations you should order, make sure you order one for each couple you want to invite. Do not forget to include an invitation for the groom's parents and one for the minister and his spouse, where the case requires it. This is wedding etiquette. If you want to organize the perfect formal wedding, you need to abide by such rules, which, in fact, are not that difficult to follow. In addition, a sign that you are a good-mannered pair is in the sending of wedding invitations to relatives and friends you hold dear, even if you are aware that they may not be able to honor the invitation. Moreover, in the case where mistakes should occur ? and they do occur more frequently than one could imagine ? try to avoid embarrassing situations where you discover you do not have enough invitations to send by ordering at least 30 more. In the end, it is better to be safe than sorry, is it not?

Then, many couples find it difficult to handle a genuine bunch of wedding invitation enclosures or inserts accompanying the invitation. They are also components of wedding stationery and should make the object of careful organization in order to have the desired impact. Wedding invitation enclosures or inserts regularly include reception cards, accommodation cards, response cards, within the ribbon cards and direction cards. Couples usually choose reception cards when the reception takes place at a different location than the ceremony and when they want to have certain guests at the ceremony, but not at the wedding reception. When the bride and groom consider inviting out-of-town guests, they will associate accommodation cards to their wedding invitations. With these cards, they announce their guests that they have arranged for their accommodation somewhere in the town where the wedding will take place.

Response cards accompany your wedding invitations in order to give your guests the chance to send their feedback to the invitation and mention how many persons you should expect. Formal wedding etiquette requires that you also include here a postage stamp and an addressed envelope. To what concerns within the ribbon cards, they relate strictly to the guest organization during the ceremony. Within the ribbon cards are indications of the particular pew where you want seated certain guests. They are necessary for the ushers to know where exactly to guide your guests at the ceremony. Finally, direction cards are a necessary aspect of wedding stationery for giving directions as to the place of the ceremony and / or reception for guest coming from out of the town. Of course, couples could consider many other optional items of stationery, but these are the most common. Obviously, customization is always possible, yet it should not overwhelm the requirements of wedding etiquette, particularly if we are talking about formal marriage circumstances.