Invitations, whether engraved or printed on your computer are expensive. So why not do it another way? (This would work particularly well if you had not invited everyone you knew to your wedding!) Consider writing your invitations out by hand.
Everyone loves to get mail. E-mailing is great and serves a purpose, but receiving a personal note in the mail is always a delight. And if you were to receive a completely personalized note explaining why one of your favorite couples really wanted you to attend their wedding, you would be even happier.
All told, this is not going to take a lot more time than shopping for invites and struggling with the perfect font and set up. The font is going to be your handwriting and the set up is going to be from your heart. You're going to want your wedding to be as meaningful as the invites, but you're already setting the stage.
What do you need?
A message. What do you want to say to the people you love as you invite them to your wedding. Who's sponsoring it? Get the central wording set up early.
Paper. An abundance of it, you'll make mistakes, but that's ok, throw them out and start over. Do you want handmade paper? Do you want to make your own? (this is time consuming, but beautiful.)
Envelopes. Whatever you think, the perfect paper size is a size that has suitable envelopes. You can make them, but that's hard work.
Pens. There are perfect pens for writing on the paper you chose for your wedding, whether that paper be bumpy or slick. Talk to an art supply store or order on line. Get at least a box of them, because you're going to love whichever pens you choose and find yourself swiping them for your other, non-wedding life!
A list of your guests and why they're important to you. All you need is one good sentence about each guest. This will take the most time and will be one of the most important artifacts of your wedding. It will serve as a basis for your invitations. It will remind you why you want certain people to meet other people. It will remind you as you're planning your wedding ceremony why you want these people to hear and support your wedding vows.
A clear idea what you want to do. You may want to just write a note, and that would be wonderful. You may however be more crafty and creative than others, and want to include pictures, mementos or decorations. But you want to know what you want to do with the invites and what you want the whole thing to look like.
A system for writing and assembling. You want to do these together. This is a wonderful way to grow excitement for your wedding. But figure out if you want to do the envelopes, first or last or along with the note. Do you want to write to your partner's guests or your own? (There are good arguments for both!)
A place to keep them until they're finished. You want to spread these out on a good writing space and be able to keep at them until you're done. Hint: write at a table!
Grace. Your partner is going to do this differently than you. Relax, it's exciting. This is the beginning of your marriage process. Sit together while you invite your friends.
An easy response system. You may want cards to come in. In which case you'll have to figure out what to do about those. Or you may want to set up a website that will take responses. If you have a home phone, you may want to dedicate that to wedding stuff, like responses. (In which case you'll want a list and a pen beside each phone so you can write the responses down. You do not want to use your cell phone, it's too easy to lose track of responses.
This can be as formal or as informal as you like. But it is warm and intimate and will keep you focused on why it matters that these people come to your wedding and support your marriage. And you can have fun dreaming and planning together. Plus you'll be working together to develop your community. There's big pay off in terms of your relationship with one another and your relationship with your family and friends.
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