5 Expert Wedding Invitation Tips You'll Want To Know

In the midst of all the wedding craze, we know wedding invitations often fall to the end of a bride's to-do list, but there is a reason it’s so important to start this part of the planning process early!

Many couples don't realize how much there is to consider when it comes to custom wedding invitations. Wedding invites set the stage for the main event, and custom designs are this year's hottest trend. If you want to make your invitations personal, one of a kind, and totally representative of your day, it will often require more than just a quick consultation or clicking a few buttons online.

We partnered with local custom wedding invitation design experts Gus & Ruby, TAG design, SKO Designs, and Goosefish Press to bring you the five most important custom wedding invitation tips you'll need to know:

2. 1) Define Your Wedding Style

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4. Featuring Custom Wedding Invitation Expert: TAG Design

5. TAG Design is offering free envelope printing or 10% off save-the-date invitations exclusively for the Long's blog audience through December 2017. Just mention this blog post to receive these special offers!

6. Your invitations don't only set the tone but also the expectation for your wedding. Will your wedding be classic and elegant? Glam and modern? How formal will it be? These are questions you need to answer before you can even start thinking about invitation designs. Luckily, many brides-to-be have an idea of what the style of their wedding will be.

7. To clarify there isn't any written rules about matching your wedding invitations perfectly to your flowers or bridesmaid dresses, etc. Boston custom wedding invitation expert Christine Tartaglia, owner of TAG Design. emphasizes that when it comes to your wedding invitations, as long as you express the overall feel of your wedding to your guests (and your budget allows for it) the options are endless. Once you've defined your wedding style you're ready to start scouting for a custom designer.

8. 2) Use One Designer For Everything (Full Package)

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10. Featuring Custom Wedding Invitation Expert: Gus & Ruby

11. Using the same designer can not only save you time, money, and stress, but it connects your entire event and allows your wedding invitations to provide guests with a real sneak peak at what's to come! Use your wedding stationary to tell the story of your love by taking advantage of the 'full packages' that include everything from save the dates, to invitation suites, to wedding day pieces, to post-wedding thank you cards.

12. Boston wedding invitation experts, Gus & Ruby, love working with a couple for the whole package so that they can create cohesion between all the pieces. Planning a wedding is a lot of work - but with the right designer this part of the process doesn't have to be. Having a custom designer that is dedicated to get to know you and make your vision come to life leading up to, during, and after your wedding is what will set your wedding stationary and experience apart from anyone else. This isn't something you want to rush, so as soon as all the major wedding decisions are made, get in touch with your stationer. That way, they can start brainstorming with you because the more time they have - the better!

13. "Trust your designers to take your love story and translate it into paper perfection. There is nothing we love more than getting to know truly who a couple is and what is important to them so that we can wow and delight them with designs that speak to their unique life together." - Gus & Ruby

14. 3) Mailing Tips: Get Your Dates Straight

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16. Featuring Custom Wedding Invitation Expert: SKO Designs

17. Although generally people say you should mail invitations 8-10 weeks prior to your wedding, when your searching for/meeting with designers it is important to keep all of the important dates leading up to the big day in mind. SKO Designs notes couples often overlook two two extremely important details when planning out their time line for this process: 1) If there is a room block, the cutoff date by which guests need to book by or the discount is good until and 2) The final headcount deadline for the caterer and venue.

18. The last thing you want on your big day is for any friends or family members to miss out on the celebration because they got their invitation too late. If there is cutoff date, it's important for you to take that into consideration when planning your wedding timeline. Final count deadlines from your caterer and venue will impact the date you chose to require a response back by. SKO Designs always advises their clients to leave at least a few days in between their RSVP date and final count deadline in case late responses come in.

19. That being said, be careful not to confuse the two deadlines. You won't need a final count until about 3-4 weeks before the wedding and it is your guests responsibility to handle their travel arrangements, so don't let the timeliness of responses stress you!

20. 4) Don't Make The Biggest Timing Mistake

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22. Featuring Custom Wedding Invitation Expert: Goosefish Press

23. Designing invitations can be a time consuming process, especially if you're looking for an amazing custom wedding invite. This is one of the reasons it’s so important to start thinking about invitations early, as opposed to waiting until the last minute (like so many couples do).

24. At Goosefish Press, they do things a little differently. Goosefish Press will create custom designs for each client, then will print them all in-house on their antique letterpress equipment. Custom wedding invitation expert and owner of Goosefish Press, Rob, emphasizes having a schedule and sticking to it. The biggest timing mistake he sees his clients making is in the early stages of design when they take too long making decisions about style or other things that in turn don’t allow for production time.

25. If you're looking for custom designs, the process usually starts at least 6 months prior to the wedding, sometimes even earlier.While that may seem like plenty of time couples often forget about the three weeks printing takes, followed by another few weeks for calligraphy, then reviewing the proof, and finally getting them out 8-10 weeks prior to the wedding. This is why making sure your designer has a design/printing schedule that works for your wedding is crucial. As Rob says, “it ‘s always better to have the invitations in hand and not send them out than to sent them out late.”

26. 5) Trust Your Designer

27. Finally, and most importantly, choose a designer you trust. Custom invitations are a way for couples to personalize their love affair. Having a custom designer that understands your vision and is dedicated to bringing it to life makes the entire process much more enjoyable and rewarding.

28. All of our local experts stress the importance of getting to know their clients beyond just discussing wedding styles, and this is what sets an good custom weddnig invitation designer apart from an amazing one. Get a feel for different designers' styles by browsing their websites and looking at photos of their past work. Set up consultations with the ones your most inspired by and see whose style and vision you connect with.

29. "It can get stressful – allow the people you trust most to advise you, learn from their experiences, and just remember to laugh, and sparkle, on this journey together” - Christine Tartaglia Owner of TAG Design

30. Next up on the to-do list? Wedding bands! Find your dream wedding rings by browsing our extensive collection, or visit any of our five New England retail locations!