Planning your wedding is probably the biggest day you will personally have to organize in your life. It’s a huge undertaking. As the date gets fixed the very next thing that comes in priority list is choosing and preparing wedding invitations, which is certainly a big project and one of the first tasks an engaged couple must undertake.
Wedding Invitation cards are one of the most essential parts of planning a wedding because they give your guests an idea of what to expect on the wedding day while at the same time helping them prepare for your event. It will create a first impression on your guests, thus you have to be careful while ordering the invitations for your wedding ceremony. A wedding invitation will signify to your guests how formal or casual your wedding will be. It will set the tone for the entire wedding.
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General Context
The wedding invitation plays a significant role when planning a wedding, and even a greater one when it comes to a formal wedding. I’ve seen many brides confused about the right time to send their wedding invitations and have also come across many couples complain that their wedding did not turn out the way they wanted due to some hiccups with the invitations. This could be as a result of improper time planning.
Ideally, official invitations should be sent about two months before the wedding, but you can let guests know about the event earlier. This gives your guests plenty of time to clear their schedules for the day and make travel arrangements especially if they live out of town. If you’re having a destination wedding which is becoming a rising trend among Nigerians, it’s best to plan as far ahead as possible and help your guests do that too by sending them invitations about four to six months before the date.
The Nigerian Factor
In Nigeria, the culture of attending weddings without proper invitation is slowly fading away. Couples and wedding planners are taking the “strictly by invitation” clause more seriously.
Your wedding invitation cards should not only reflect the theme of your wedding, but putting some extra effort into making it a little bit more original will help your invitation stand out from the others.
Building anticipation is a good way of ensuring your big day will be remembered. In some cultures, guests have to reply to the invitations and indicate whether they will be attending or not a few weeks before the wedding. This is not so common in Nigeria. If you’re opting for this, set your response date for 2 to 5 weeks before your big day.
My Top 5 wedding invitation cards Tips
- View different samples of wedding invitation cards before placing a full order especially if you’re ordering online. This allows brides to physically see the quality of the invitation before placing a large order. If you’re making a physical selection, try to see as many samples as possible. Remember that actually viewing a product can make all the difference.
- I would also recommend that brides stay away from adding photos of the couple to the wedding invitation cards. This is not very appropriate especially for formal weddings and is mostly considered an outdated trend.
- My best advice is to start looking early. You want this to be a good decision, not a sudden decision.
- Consider your wedding colors. While you may not find wedding invites that have all of your wedding colors, you should try to find some that at least carry the primary colors.
- Trying to squeeze too much onto the wedding invitation cards can make it harder to read and it won’t look as elegant. Leave things like directions to your wedding venue and details about post wedding activities for your wedding website and/or print them on separate enclosure cards.
