Wedding Stationery: What do I need?

When it comes to wedding stationery the list can be endless. But what do you actually need? Do you need everything you see on the lists you find online? Let us help guide you!

The easiest way to save money on wedding stationery is to DIY where you can. But as we mentioned in our budget post. Only do this if you are comfortable with your abilities. You never know you may find a new talent you didn't realise you had. But if you don't have a creative bone in your body. Trying to DIY this area of your wedding planning will only cause stress! If DIYing your wedding stationery is a key for you to keep your costs down, consider getting a creative friend or family member to help you! We all have at least one! You will be tapping into their love language, and they will be honoured to be part of your planning process.

We are going to go through the list of what you should be considering. The needs really do depend on each individual wedding. It also depends what some of your suppliers provide along with their packages. If you are looking for somebody to provide your wedding stationery for you, our best tip would be to make a list of everything you require and use the same stationer for everything. This will give you a seamless design. Once you find somebody who's designs you love and who you trust with this huge task, sticking to one person just makes sense!

Let's get into it!

Save The Date

The first thing you are going to need to decide is whether you actually need Save The Dates or not. In our humble opinion you only really need a save the date if your wedding is one of two things...

• A key date - think Bank Holidays, close to Christmas/New Year or in the height of holiday season.

• A Location Wedding - whether that may be abroad or in a location that is some distance to yours or the majority of your guest lists home town.

For any other scenario, a Save the Date is not really necessary. These should be sent out around 10-12 months before your wedding date

Image Credit - Lucy March Studio - Etsy

Wedding Invitations

The main event! Of course you are going to need wedding invitations! There is always the option to go digital if you need to keep your wedding stationery costs to a minimum, but there is nothing like a beautiful wedding invitation dropping through your letterbox! Maybe consider making the RSVP process digital by adding in a phone number or email address for your guests to reply to rather than having to provide an RSVP itself and a stamped envelope for your guests to return them.

We advise you send out your wedding invitations 4-6 months before the big day. Don't forget to add a RSVP deadline, we suggest you make that date around 4 weeks before you need to provide any suppliers with final numbers. This gives you plenty of time to chase those that haven't sent them back. Trust me, you will have AT LEAST one!

Image Credit - Amour Daydream Studio

Order Of Service/Wedding Day Timeline

Your guests need some kind of idea what is going on throughout your wedding day. You could include this in your wedding signage and have a timeline displayed on an easel somewhere in your venue, you could have individual Order of Service/day printed. Or what is HOT right now and going to be huge in 2024 and 2025 is a wedding newspaper. You could design and print these yourself. If design isn't your thing, there are loads of editable templates on Etsy you can buy at a really great price.

Not only are the informative, they look amazing and are brilliant photo props!

Image Credit - Pinterest

Wedding Signage

The key to wedding signage is, you want to inform guests on the happenings of each part of the day, but you also don't want to go over the top. It is very easy to all of a sudden have a room full of signs. The rule of thumb - if it is self explanatory, it doesn't need a sign, definitely not a big one!

For example, if you are going for a traditional guestbook, do you really need to explain it? But if you were going for an audio guestbook, not everyone would know what to do!

Wedding signage we would suggest would be

• Welcome Sign
• Timeline (if not giving individual ones out)
• Directional signs - only needed if the venue doesn't already have them or you have a very large or DIY venue.
• In memory signs
• Seating Chart/Table Plan
• Instructional Signs for anything a little out of the ordinary (suppliers may include these types of signs in their package, so it is worth checking before you get your own made)
• Any rules - do you want an unplugged ceremony, or don't want the guests to post anything on social media until you have? Make sure your guests know! (You could include this into your wedding newspaper/individual order of day).

Image Credit - Feathered Arrow Studio

Table Numbers/Names

Whatever you choose to call your tables (numbers or names), your guests need to know where that table is. Probably the easiest DIY out of all of the stationery items too! All you need is a free Canva account and a printer! And then some cute holders for the numbers/names. Check out Shein, Temu and TikTok shop for super affordable options!

Image Credit - Eriallys - Etsy

Place Cards

Another really easy DIY! Unless you want to go for something a little more extravagant of course. They don't have to be anything fancy. Just make them tie in with your colour scheme or theme and anything goes. These will (mostly) only end up in the bin anyway so don't spend lots of time and money on place cards.

Image Credit - Paper Paper

Favour Tags

Whether you need any stationery for your wedding favours depends completely on what you are giving as favours, if you even choose to give them at all. A little sticker or label is all you are likely to need. Again super affordable and just a nice little personalised touch.

Image Credit - 1212 Handcrafted - Etsy

Menu's

No matter what kind of wedding breakfast you are serving up, remember it has been months since your guests picked their meal or got an idea of what you are serving. You could either get one menu printed per guest, one for each table or a big sign somewhere in the wedding breakfast room as a little reminder for your guests.

*Top Tip* If you are having a sit down meal that guests have chosen prior to the wedding, a top tip from us. On the back of your place cards, write or have printed out what each person has chosen and any allergies they may have. This not only reminds your guest what they picked, but is a huge help to the caterers as they serve your food.

Image Credit - Hostessology - Etsy

Guest Book

Traditional guest books are well on their way out, with much more interactive and exciting choices on the rise. But if you want too keep it traditional you will need a guest book. These are pretty affordable and widely available on websites like Etsy & Amazon.

Image Credit - Saphire Event Group

Thank You Cards

Of course you need to send your wedding guests a thank you, whether it is just for attending, thank them for their gift, or maybe show off a couple of stunning wedding pictures! Some stationery companies and photographers will offer these as part of their package. If they don't think of using companies like Photobox, Optimal Print, or Vista print for an affordable but professional finish.

There is no real timeline to when to send these out, but as soon as you possibly can (have your professional pictures back) is better. And Remember to make them personal. It may take a little time but a thank you goes a long way.

Image Credit - Teal Turner Studio - Etsy

And that is pretty much all you need!

Whilst we mention DIY a lot in this post, and do honestly believe this is a great place to save money, we can't take away the talent and skill of the wedding stationery suppliers out there. It is very difficult to get the same quality and finish when you DIY. Have a good look around and work on a package with these great artists. You really will see the difference using a professional.

Happy Stationery Shopping!