Wedding Invitation Wording Etiquette - Bride and Groom Inviting

Wording your wedding invitation the right way is a something you need to get right the first time. Costs of reprinting your invitations are an unnecessary expense that you don't need, on top of everything else, and a little research and planning could make all the difference. Who is paying for the wedding? The major bill payer for the event is always mentioned first. Nowadays many couples contribute the majority of costs themselves and therefore should be the names mentioned as 'hosting' or inviting the guests to witness and celebrate their wedding with them.

Make your wedding invitation personal and sincere and set the mood you are hoping for with your wordings and verses. A comprehensive wedding invitation will show all the information necessary for your guests to attend your wedding such as date, time, location, addresses, dress code and R.S.V.P. information.

Ideally your wedding invitations should be sent at least 8 weeks before the wedding date, however your may need to send out invitations or Save the Date cards to overseas guests well in advance, up to six months, before the wedding date so they may arrange flights and accommodations. Save the date cards are a great idea if you would like to inform your friends of your wedding date but as yet have not finalized the specific arrangements.

Wishing well or gift registry information should never be included in the main wording of the invitation. Separate cards are available for this which can be included within the envelope.

If a Bride and Groom are inviting only, wording example follows;

Bride name and Groom name requests the pleasure of the company of Guests names to the celebration of their marriage on Saturday 25th February, 2010 at St. Anne's Church, 25 Church St Sydney, NSW at 4.00pm and afterwards at Diamond Reception Centre 345 Pacific Hwy Hornsby, NSW ETC.

OR

Guests names The pleasure of your company is requested at the marriage of Bride name and Groom name on Saturday 25th February, 2010 at St. Anne's Church 25, Church St Sydney, NSW at 4.00pm and afterwards at Diamond Reception Centre 345 Pacific Hwy Turramurra, NSW ETC.

It may be the case that you would like to include parents names within the information and such wording could be as follows;

Bride name and Groom name Together with their parents Bride parents names and Groom parents names invite Guest names to their wedding at St. Anne's Church Church address and afterwards at Reception Venue and address. ETC.

A simpler version without mentioning parents actual names may be;

Together with their parents Bride name and Groom name would love to invite Guest names to their wedding at St.Anne's Church Church address and afterwards at Reception Venue and address. ETC.

Of course you can use a left hand margin as above, or more traditionally centre your text down the middle of the invitation.

Example of and informal letter style invitation follows;

Bride name and Groom name

C/- Reply address.

Dear Guest name,

We would be pleased to have you join us to witness and celebrate our marriage on Saturday 25th March, 2010 at St. Anne's Church, 25 Church St Sydney, at 4.00pm.

Please also join us at a reception to be held following the ceremony at 6.00pm at The Diamond Reception Centre, 345 Pacific Hwy, Turramurra NSW.

We look forward to having your company and ask you to honour us with your reply by 25th February, 2010 to the address above.

Dress; Black Tie

Yours sincerely

Bride name and Groom name.

Of course there are many versions and options to choose from depending on you own situation, and our examples should be used as a base only. Add your own special sentences and words as you see fit to make it personal and unique to you. It should be from your heart, and because you are setting a scene with your wedding invitations, it should be as casual or formal as you wish your wedding to be. This is a day you will remember for the rest of your life, and many friends and family members may like to keep their invitation as a keepsake along with photos in an album, so spending time to get your invitation right is important.

DreamDay Invitations can help with all your invitation and stationery needs with an amazing range of designer inspired wedding invitation designs and suggested wordings that can be changed or modified to suit any bride and groom in any situation.

Jenny Coleman is a writer for DreamDay Invitations, writing articles about wedding invitations ideas and wedding invitations.

Mother of the Bride Dresses - Top 5 Trends

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Gone are the stodgy old ideas about how a Mother of the Bride should dress.  Here are the top trends in Mother of the Bride Dresses that give us hope!

1) Bright Colors

It used to be that Mother of the Bride dresses only came in four colors: blah, boring, beige, and blech.  Pastels and navy blue are only part of the selection nowadays! Finally, the industry is starting to show a spectrum of different colors, from spring greens to royal purples.  Whether you love bold jewel tones or lean towards rich earth tones, there will be something out there for you.  Since more saturated colors are better for aging, pale skin tones, liven up your look by choosing a color with some pizzazz!

2) Bolero Jackets

You may be sick of those boring Mother of the Bride jacket dresses, but the good news is there's finally a fresh new take on them! Designers have addressed the need for a removable jacket to cover the arms that is also very fashionable.  The bolero jacket, with different sleeve lengths, is in. It's elegant and practical. Take it off when you're hot, and you will still have a great dress underneath. Wear it to cover up during the ceremony - no one will guess you're trying to cover those wobbly chicken wings under your arms!

3) Tiered Dresses and Skirts

Tiered skirts are showing up in stores this season and are especially appropriate for formal wear for the over-40 set.  They're modern and feminine and can be very flattering if they are not too frilly. Try one before you buy, and make sure it suits your body. With all that extra material, this Mother of the Bride style is not for everyone!

4) New  Lengths

Say goodbye to floor length when it come to Mother of the Bride Dresses. Plenty of different hemlines are popping up, mainly due to the huge variety of different wedding styles and venues these days.  We're seeing plenty of cocktail-length, knee-length, and handkerchief hems, as well as hi-lo dress lengths.  (High in the front, long in the back).  At the knee, or slightly above the knee is as high as you want to go. Remember: All these new hemlines give you one more reason to wear some fabulous, head-turning  shoes!

5) "Green" Fabrics  (no, we don't mean color!)

Environmentally responsible weddings are all the rage.  Couples are using recycled materials for invitations and donating to charity instead of offering plastic, landfill bound favors to their guests. The "green" theme even reaches all the way down to wedding attire.  You may have to explore specialty stores, but organic cotton and silk dresses are growing in popularity.  The best part about them is because the dresses are made with natural fibers, they are more comfortable and breathable.  When you're outside at an August wedding, you'll appreciate why this is so necessary!

(c) 2009, Boland-Tyler Productions.  All rights reserved.  Article may be reprinted so long as text and by-line are reprinted intact and all links made live.

Deborah Boland and JoJami Tyler (The Glam Gals) are Image and Style Experts specializing in helping women 40 plus look and feel fabulous. They are the authors of the book, The Glam Plan ~ 12 Simple Steps to Take You from Frumpy to Fabulous, as well as coaches for their Tweak Your Chic(TM), Image make-over program. To learn more tips about choosing your mother of the bride (or groom) dress visit http://www.fabulousafter40.com/ebooks/mother-of-the-bride/, sign up for their bi-weekly newsletter and visit Worth The Splurge to see 100 Style Links Women Will Love.