Now that your significant other has proposed, you’ve set a date and have a vision for your big day, you are onto picking out wedding invitations.  There are so many different avenues you can go and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a pre-wedding view for the guests of what’s to come. Your invitations can be whatever you want them to be and the more unique, the better! Here are a few helpful thoughts to help get you started when deciding what to choose.

Brainstorm your words. First of all, you need to consider how long your invitation is going to be. The dialogue you are going to include will directly affect the size and layout of your invite. It will also affect what else you can include on your invite outside of words, such as photos or other special characters. You want to make sure you have enough room to not only include whatever you want, but also make it look presentable.    

Casual vs. Formal. The date all on its own will let your guests know what kind of general attire they should be sporting the day of as far as the season is concerned. What guests won’t know is the specifics that are acceptable within that realm. If it’s a winter wedding, do men wear long sleeved button ups or suits? Do ladies wear slacks and blouses or long formal gowns? Whatever your style may be, make sure you hint at it within the invitation.

Plus 1? Make sure you make it very clear about who is invited to your wedding. If you don’t let guests know that there are no plus one’s allowed, the chances of guests bringing a date are high. If this is the case, there is a chance you aren’t equipped for more people than you were originally planning for. This holds true the opposite way too; if you don’t include that plus one’s are indeed allowed, and therefore guests don’t bring a date, you may be drowning in a lot of leftover food that you paid good money for. It’s always better to have too much instead of too little, but it’s even better to be as accurate as possible.

Location, location, location. Including directions to the actual venue isn’t necessary if you have the correct venue listed on the invite thanks for modern technology. However, if the venue is ambiguous in any way, you can count on few, or very late, guest arrivals. Be sure to be as explicit as obvious as possible when including your venue location.

As soon as you get these details in line, we’re sure the rest of your invitation will fall into place. From here you can decide on style and everything aesthetic that follows. Make it your own, make it unique, and make it you!