Bud & Bee Invitations from Peppermint Press

Your wedding invitations are one of the most important elements of the wedding as without one, of course, no one would know when and where you’re getting married! Every bride thinks about what they will look like but forget to think about the time frame and what is involved to get these all important pieces of stationery to your guests on time…

To take the stress away from the dash to the deadline follow these simple steps.

1. Create a spreadsheet with guest names and addresses. Do this right at the beginning of the planning process. Use this spreadsheet to create your guest list with guest’s correct names and surnames straight away.

2. VERY IMPORTANT – Start gathering the addresses for your guests ASAP. In this technological world we live in we don’t use snail mail for anything anymore. Even bills are online now. We all know how to get to someone’s house or what suburb they live in but what is their address? I cannot stress enough how important it is to start gathering this info as early as possible! Do not leave it until you have your invites designed.

3. Ask your stationery supplier if they use a particular spreadsheet program and use it! As most allow for easy mail merge, pop your data into the program and voila! This will really speed up the process during production stage. Be careful that you spell check a couple of times to avoid errors though.

Bella Wedding Invitations from Peppermint Press

4. Gather potential guest’s information even if you’re not sure that they’ll make the cut. No one needs to know they were cut … and you don’t need to send the list to the stationery supplier until it’s time but at least the info will be there if you need it.

5. Ask a family member for their list. If someone in either of your families has been married recently, ask them for their list as this could save you a lot of searching. Remember to double check that there have been no moves though!

6. Follow up with your fiancé and their parents. Make a day to sit down with your fiancé and parents to gather addresses. If they don’t know them on the spot get the guests numbers and call them yourself.

7. Complete the information on the spreadsheet at least 4 months before your wedding date.

So now (depending on how long your engagement is) you should have quite a few months before your stationery supplier needs the list and you can proceed to the fun stuff… finalizing your design and starting production!

Bicycle For Two Wedding Invitations from Peppermint Press

INVITE TIME FRAME

  • You should send your invites out around 2-3 months before the wedding.
  • Allow 1 week for snail mail – from post office to guest’s letterbox.
  • Allow at least 1 month in production. This includes – sending your list to your chosen supplier, proofing, printing and delivery to you. Fingers crossed when they finally arrive at your door they are perfect but on the off chance something isn’t right (and it does happen) then you have time to fix it without stressing about running out of time.

Speaking as a wedding planner this is one of the things we cannot do for you! It would be great if we were Santa Claus and we knew who was on the naughty or nice invite list. It’s up to you to be prepared well in advance with the list and trust me it will make for a very easy and quick production process allowing you to get the invites out with plenty of time  and without stress!

Hope I have helped and best of luck with your invites! Candice at Mackenzi Creations Wedding and Event Planning

Stationery by the gorgeous Carla at Peppermint Press 

Ms Gingham says: GREAT advice! I’m sure both the couples organising their weddings and the wedding stationers out there will be very grateful for this post! Oh and a HUGE congratulations to Carla from Peppermint Press  on the birth of her baby girl who was so eager she arrived 4 weeks early!

About Mackenzi Creations: Mackenzi Creations Wedding & Event Planning are here to wave the magic wand to create the PERFECT Wedding day you have always dreamed of.