Entries Tagged 'invitations' ↓

A monogram can be a gorgeous and surprisingly useful addition to your wedding’s theme! There are a few things you may want to keep in mind when designing your monogram.

Its considered a bit of a no-no to include what will be your married surname’s initial in your monogram before you are actually married, so the monogram on your invitations, save-the-date notifications and bridal shower thank you letters should have only your first name initials in it. The ceremony programs (if you have them) are up for discussion- some feel its still too soon to use your new surname on these whilst I think its the perfect time to show your new monogram for the first time!  After the ceremony of course you can use it anywhere and everywhere- a jewelled decoration on your cake, on your bonbonnieres, traced in petals on the dance floor, printed on your thank you letters, embroidered on your serviettes- you name it!

As for the order of the letters, the bride’s name or initial must be first. Why? Because the man’s initial should never be seperated from his surname. Yes, I know it sounds antiquated, but that’s how it works. Naturally if the bride is keeping her maiden name then a monogram with the groom’s surname won’t even be considered.

There are endless options when you design your wedding monogram. You can use just your first names and initials, you can use just your new surname’s initial with a little decoration, or you can use only your initials and the first letter of your new surname, in which case the surname’s initial should be bigger than the first name initials and it should be in the middle. I used mine and my husbands first name initials on our cupcake collars!

There are no rules!

Essentially, in terms of etiquette rules, there isn’t a difference.

For men, “black tie” or “formal” means a tuxedo or black suit (a suit being a matching jacket and trousers) with a black waistcoat, black bow tie and a cummerbund. For ladies it means either a floor length evening gown or a cocktail dress. If the invitation says “black tie optional” it simply means that the men still have to wear a suit and tie, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a tux and a bow tie. Ladies can then wear a cocktail dress or a dressy seperates. “Creative black tie” is something you don’t see on a lot of South African invitations, and its one I quite like the idea of. It gives the guests the opportunity to jazz up a formal tuxedo with a colourful tie or cummerbund, and for ladies it means feather boas, colourful shawls or colourful jewellery.

White tie on an invitation is uber formal. It doesn’t leave much wiggle room in terms of what you can wear to the wedding. For ladies its a full length formal gown, and for men its tails, a white formal shirt, white bow tie, white waistcoat, white or grey gloves and black shoes.

It all sounds really lovely doesn’t it?

For me personally, I feel that formal, black tie or white tie is completely ludicrous in our South African climate. Our wedding season is our summer, which- unlike the Northern hemisphere- is about 9 months long! Its hot and sunny, and in the case of KZN its muggy and humid too. I can not imagine torturing our South African men by making them spend several hours in a formal shirt, waistcoat and jacket!

Yes, it looks exquisite in photographs, but its far from comfortable.

If you go HERE, to the fantastic Jeanette Verster’s website (she’s our wedding photographer too), you can have a look at just a few of the photographs she took yesterday in Newtown, Johannesburg.

As soon as I get the DVD from Jeanette with the photos on, I’ll load some more for you all to see.

I am immensely, ecstatically happy with the way the shots came out!! We now have the colossal task of choosing one- or maybe two of the pictures- for our wedding invitations!

In this electronic age, almost everything is done on the internet- from talking real time with video to friends and family in different time zones and countries, to buying groceries.

Well- now you can take care of another step in your wedding planning process electronically- should you choose to do so.

PurpleTrail is a service that allows you to send electronic invitations and track RSVPs! And you can send reminders.
They have a large selection to choose from, or you can make your own one!
There’s also a tutorial you can watch to make it even easier to get started!

Start by selecting an invitation to send.Personalise the page to reflect you!

Send the invite to a specified list of email addresses…Create and manage a guestlist…

And you can search the gallery for existing designs!

Even a wedding shower can be scheduled through here!