There are many ways that you can personalize your wedding invitation. The design of your invitation should be a direct reflection of the type and class of the ceremony and reception to follow. If the reception is informal, then there is no need for an elaborate invitation. It will simply confuse guests.

Yet, if the reception is a black tie event, it is necessary to insure that everyone realizes this through the eloquence of the invitation itself. If you are concerned that they may not know that the wedding is a black tie event, add a small notation of it in the corner of the invitation.

You can have your wedding invitation hand drawn or have your local print shop take care of it. If you love calligraphy or a special design, go for that.

There are excellent wedding invitation companies you can work with on the web as well. Make sure to book with them early on so that you have enough time to get your invitations done correctly and out at least a month in advance of your wedding.

The wedding invitation should go out 4-6 weeks prior to the wedding celebration itself. If the reception is a separate event, held on a separate day, there should be two separate invitations sent out in a timely fashion.

Announcements

Announcements can and should be sent out by the parents of the bride or the parents of the groom, or both. This usually serves as a pre cursor to a wedding invitation. An announcement can be placed in the newspaper as well to serve as a way of announcing the happy union. It is essential that an announcement be kept rather formal.

Who to Invite

The next tricky thing to consider about the wedding and the reception is who to invite. While this is completely up to the person that is paying for the wedding, it is customary that all family be invited. Anyone that is a mentor or has played a role in the bride or the groom's life in a significant way should be invited.

It is very important for the bride and the groom to have those around them that they love and cherish. This includes step parents and divorced relatives. While it may not be something that everyone would like, it is necessary to provide this ability to the guests.

For co workers, it is not necessary to invite them unless they are more than just a co worker, such as being a friend. The boss can and should be invited, but do not be offended if they turn you down.

Anyone that has been invited to the wedding shower should be invited. The wedding guest list should be made before that of the wedding shower list to insure there are no mistakes here.

If someone does not have something to do directly with the bride or the groom, or their parents, it is not necessary or obligatory to invite them. The size of the nuptials can also limit how many should be invited. Both families should be considered fairly, though.