Today we’re excited to share a guest post from a real Bella Figura bride: Renee Walsh, founder of Wiithyu! Wiithyu is a great new service designed to make wedding planning fun and easy, with the option to make it collaborative, too (invite your mom, your bridal party, and anyone else who’s helping plan your big day!). Manage wedding checklists, customize wedding templates and collaborate and plan with your whole wedding party. Since Renee is an expert when it comes to making the wedding planning process fun, easy, and straightforward, we’ll let her take it away with some planning advice for ordering your wedding invitations!

Selecting your wedding invitations is one of the tasks you’ll have the most fun with while planning your wedding! Like your wedding, it too is also a multi-step process requiring a good bit of organization and coordination. Here are our tips to help you prepare and enjoy everything from designing your invitation all the way to mailing them.

Do your research: Before you call your invitation specialist, do some research to help figure out what kind of invitations you want and the general style you’re going for. Look at photos, order samples, and narrow down to your favorite choices – we like to recommend picking your top 3. This will help direct the conversation you have when speaking with your stationer to create your perfect invitation.

Ask away: Not sure what kind of envelope linings are available? The difference between paper weights or inks? Your printer will, and they’re more than happy to answer any and all of your questions. Your invitation is the first glimpse your guests will have of your big day, so make sure you’re asking what you need to to get what you want.

Be prepared: We recommend finalizing your guest list at least 2 weeks before you go to your printer – this way, you won’t have to pay for additions after your order is complete, or for excess invitations that won’t be used. If you’re having your envelopes digitally addressed, make sure you have full names, titles and complete mailing addresses, and use the template provided to you to save time. If you plan to work with a calligrapher for your envelope addressing, make sure you book that service in advance, and find out how the calligrapher needs your list formatted. 

Review & repeat: “Checking it twice” is not just for Santa Claus. Make sure to review and proof every single piece in your order, and do it more than once. Final approval is always your responsibility, so once you say OK, it means OK.

Measure twice, mail once: Take a fully assembled invitation set to the post office and have it weighed before purchasing your postage – you’d be surprised where a few cents can creep up. Once you know the measurements and the weight of your invitations, you can select the appropriate postage and even customize it!

Assembly required: Assembling your invitations is the most fun DIY project during planning. A well-organized and systematic approach is best. Your invitations will be labeled and packaged by piece. Set up a clean work station and take your time. This is a great opportunity to check your guest list with the guest envelopes to make sure everyone and everything is accounted for. If you’re short on time and it’s in your budget, you can take advantage of assembly services – Bella Figura offers this service, as do many stationery boutiques!

Ship shape :Take your invitations to the post office and wait in line – it’s worth it, we promise. It’s better to have a postmaster take your invitations directly to be hand canceled than to leave your precious pieces in one of the drop-off bins. This ensures that every piece of mail is submitted at the same time and doesn’t get crimped or damaged.

Have fun & enjoy: Don’t forget to have an invitation addressed to you and yours. It’s so much fun receiving meaningful mail and to get your own wedding invitation is just as exciting. Receiving all of your reply cards is like getting a present every day – you’re going to love getting them and saving them as keepsakes to look back on.

Many thanks to Renee for these helpful tips! Be sure to check out Wiithyu for more planning inspiration!