Well I did it; I finally got the right invitation picked out. It took many hours of looking through books, researching on the Internet and designing the invite to fit our style. I chose a newer style of invitation called the “pocket” layout. It is made to hold the reception card and response card in a pocket so that it is nestled nicely in the invitation. The theme for our wedding is “A Black Tie Affair” so everything at the wedding will be decorated around this theme. The invitations are of course black and white and are very elegant to fit the theme of our special occasion.  I suggest for wedding planning to start out by picking wedding colors and a theme and then choosing everything around the colors and theme. Doing this will narrow down your searches and keep you from getting to overwhelmed.  Believe me when you are wedding planning this is very important.

I also finally chose our save the date magnets. They again are based around the same theme.  They are a black and white photo of my fiancé and I all dressed up on the cruise the night he proposed to me.  The picture was taken after he officially purposed so it the perfect match for an engagement photo.

So it is getting closer to the time of sending save the dates out and invitations are right down the road. How does time go by so fast? It seems like just yesterday it was over a year away from my wedding and now I am only 8 months away! When thinking about save the dates, what is the right time to send them out? I have read from a couple sources that 3-6 months is a good amount of time. I think I am going to send mine out 6 months in advance. I feel like the earlier the better. I have decided to go with the save the date magnets. I think that is the best way to help people remember your special day. I remember the first time I saw a save the date magnet. I was at a friend’s house and there it was stuck to their refrigerator and I thought to myself what a great idea! My fiancé and I have decided to have our picture on our magnet so whenever people to their fridge they will see are smiling faces.

As for the invitations how do you even decide? I am having a hard time choosing my invitations! I feel like the invitations set the mood for the wedding. Once we decide on the invitations we will be choosing all of the place settings, menu cards and thank you cards all around the same theme. For us I think the best way to go is a formal invitation. We are having a summer evening wedding but we still would like people to think of it as a black tie affair.

I will keep you posted on my progress! To all the other brides out there good luck!

Well our wedding is less then 1 year away now! Time goes by so fast. Currently we are on top of all of our wedding details, but now is the time to stay on top. Now that all of the major vendors are locked in it is time to start thinking about the smaller details.

For our wedding this includes looking at different save the date options and invitation options. For the save the date decision my fiancé and I both love the idea of save the date magnets. The reason we like the magnets is because we love the idea of our wedding reminder being on our friends refrigerators. It is brilliant and it will help all of our close friends and family to save the date. We both like the idea of having our picture on the magnet. There is something extra special about our faces being on their refrigerator as a reminder.

For our invitations again we like the idea of having our picture either on the invitation or at least inside of the invitation. We have not picked out the design of our invitations yet but we like the idea of them being the same colors as our wedding colors. We are still on the look out for the perfect invitations but when we find them we will both know.

When you are planning a wedding one of the most important lists is your guest list. When you are thinking of all the people you want to invite there are many things to keep in mind.

I am going to be coming up with my guest list tonight. The first people on list will be all of my immediate family and all of my closest friends. While I am coming up with my list my fiance will be doing the same thing and writing down all of his immediate family and friends. My fiance and I have a lot of friends in common so that is always helpful. We have decided that we would like to invite around 120 people but once we write out our list we will see if it is possible to have that amount of people and not leave anyone out. You should have an idea of how many people you would like to invite so you can keep that in mind while thinking of people.

After you both write down all the close friends and family it is time to ask the family for help. I am lucky enough to have a sister who got married 3 years ago so I am having her send me her list to make sure I do not leave anyone important out. If you do not have that luxury then ask your mom, dad or anyone that knows a lot of the same people you know to help you come up with the people you might have forgot about.

After consulting others for help you should have a pretty good list of everyone you want to invite. If you look at that number and it is way to many people for the budget you are working with then you will have to either cross some people off your list or find a way to reduce your cost per person at the venue you chose.

Good luck I hope this helps you come up with a good list!

You have all received it the invitation that comes before the wedding invitation the save the date card. Did you know the average engagement lasts 16 months! Usually people mail these out 6-9 months before the wedding to give all of there guests advanced notice. I have received many save the date cards over the years and for my wedding I wanted them to be very special. So I looked into all the different save the date options that were available and here is what I found…

The first option is to send out a card that has your picture on it and all of the information they need to knows to save the date. You can mail it like a post card and it is simple and pretty inexpensive. You can also choose to have a postcard with no picture and just writing on it, it is all up to you!

Another option is the save the date magnet. I really like the idea of the magnet. It is a great way to make sure your guests do not loose sight of your wedding date. Now you can choose to have a magnet with your picture on it or just writing. The magnets come in all shapes and sizes and you can choose exactly how you want them to look.

You can also do a folded save the date cards. Available in glossy or matte finishes. Also with a picture or graphics or with out. This can be mailed in an envelope or just the way it is.

With so many options it is best to look into each option and choose the one that best fits your needs and also your budget! Good luck!