Laser Engraved Wedding Invitations
We offer a large range of colors and materials making laser engraved wedding invitations a great choice.
We can help with design at $50 per hour or you can send us your design for us to engrave.
For those who prefer to make their own design here are some general guidelines to follow. You are of course free to choose your own way of doing it, but typically weddings are a formal event and many people want to stick to traditional and formal guidelines. These are simply things we have learned over the years making invitations and these are some points to consider when designing them. Of course we are more than happy to make something fun and playful, non-traditional, or however your dream invitations should look.
1. Abbreviations
To be socially correct, all words should be spelled out on invitations, accessory cards and envelopes . EX: “Road” instead of “Rd.”, “Boulevard” instead of “Blvd.”, “Indiana” instead of “IN”.
Exceptions
- Honorifics may be abbreviated (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., military rank, etc.).
- “St.” or “Sts.” may be used for “Saint” or “Saints”.
- Numerical time should use the abbreviations “a.m.” and “p.m.”.
- “Junior” or “Senior”, when used in a name, are correctly abbreviated “Jr.” or “Sr.”. They should always be separated from the last name by a comma.
2. Time
Invitations require time to be spelled out, whereas numerals may be used on accessory cards.
-
Invitations:
- Time should be spelled out.
- Time should never be capitalized.
- Time, on the hour, should be followed by “o’clock” (Note: lowercase and apostrophe).
- Do not use “o’clock” if the time is not on the hour.
- Time, not on the hour, should be hyphenated. EX: “two-thirty” instead of “two thirty” or “two forty-five” instead of “two forty five”.
- Time should always be followed by “in the morning”, “noon”, “in the afternoon”, “in the evening”, or “midnight”.
- 12:01 a.m.-11:59 a.m. is morning.
- 12:00 p.m. is noon.
- 12:01 p.m. – 5:59 p.m. is afternoon.
- 6:00 p.m.- 11:59 p.m. is evening.
- 12:00 a.m. is midnight
-
Accessory Cards:
- Time may be spelled out, following the invitation rules above, or numerals may be used.
- When numerals are used, they should be followed by “a.m.” or “p.m.” (Note: lowercase and periods)
- “Immediately” may be used as a substitute for time. The use of “immediately” and a time is redundant.
EX: “Reception immediately following ceremony” is correct, whereas “Reception immediately following ceremony at six o’clock in the evening” is incorrect.
3. Dates
On the accessory cards, date and time formats should be consistent. If time is not provided, you may spell out the date, abbreviate it, or use a numerical date.
Invitations:
the date should be spelled out, the date should be preceded by the day of the week, spelled out, the day of the week and date should be separated by a comma, the year is printed on a separate line and may be left out, if desired, the month and year should not be separated by a comma.
Saturday, the seventh of June
4. Symbols
We often see the use of symbols to represent words. This is increasingly popular, yet remains a social faux pas. EX: “Mr. & Mrs.” instead of “Mr. and Mrs.”
5. Capitalization
Etiquette dictates the following protocol:
- Names of people and places are always capitalized.
- “corner” as in “corner of Fifth and Main Streets” is not capitalized.
- When spelling out the year, capitalize the “t” in Two: Two thousand and eight.
- Sentences (or each new thought on an invitation) always begin with a capital letter.
6. Zip Codes
They do not belong on invitations or most accessory cards. They are appropriate on outer envelopes, r.s.v.p. envelopes and at home cards.
7. Spelling
Ask someone else to proofread your wording, paying close attention to proper nouns. Many common words are often misspelled, or misused. EX: “night” is better than “nite”. Should it be “to” or “too”?
8. Grammar
- Pronouns should be consistent throughout your invitations. If using first person pronouns (I, we, us, our and me), use them everywhere. If using third person pronouns (them, they, their), use them everywhere.
- Do not use punctuation at the end of a line, such as commas and periods, in your invitation wording.
9. And vs. To
- When parents for both bride and groom are issuing the invitation, the word between the bride and groom’s names should be “and”, not “to”.
EX:
Mr. and Mrs. John Jones
and
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their children
Mary Anne
and
Richard Allen - When the invitations are issued by parent(s) of just the bride or just the groom, the word between the bride and groom’s names should be “to”, not “and”.
Ex. Mr. and Mrs. John Jones
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Mary Anne
to
Mr. Richard Allen Smith
10. Respond Date
- Respond date should be two to four weeks before the wedding date.
- Respond date should ALWAYS be before the wedding date. You would be surprised how many people get these two dates switched.
11. Consistency
- Use the same ink color on your invitations and accessory cards.
- Use the same typestyle on your invitations and accessory cards.
- Use accessory cards that match your invitations.
12. Additional Tips
- Make sure you have filled out all necessary information for every item.
- Make sure you have ordered enough. It is much cheaper to order a few extra initially than it is to order a few extra later.
- If your wedding date is more than six months away, it is considerate to send Save The Date cards six to twelve months before the wedding and invitations four to six weeks before the wedding.