Guide to choosing wedding invitations

Read our interview with the Inviti Chic company

A wedding is not limited only to the organisation of the ceremony or party. All that goes on before the big day is just as important as organising and getting ready for the event.

Organising the set-up of the flowers, choosing the theme of the wedding, deciding who will be the protagonists, together with you, of the event, choosing and sending the invitations and announcements to your loved ones.

Even invitation cards, in fact, play a fundamental role in giving an identity to your party. Each wedding theme also corresponds to a type of invitation and announcement card.

One might think that these are not very important, but they contribute to create the atmosphere and organisation of the ceremony.

In this article, therefore, we want to give you some advice on how to choose your personal wedding card, without running into risks and confusion.

We discussed with Inviti Chic, a leading company in the production of wedding announcements and paper articles for weddings, which will describe, more closely, the importance of the right choice of your wedding invitations and will reveal some secrets for the long-awaited day.

Often, we think of a wedding as just the celebration of the function and the party, but we know that what precedes the day itself also has its own role. How important are the invitations for the wedding day?

Certainly, the wedding invitation is the business card of the wedding. It expresses a style, a theme and colours that will be present both in the floral arrangements and in the graphic suite: in fact, this will characterise all the wedding stationery, also through the menus, the tableau de mariage, the placeholders and everything concerning the event itself.

When a couple of future spouses must choose the paper layout of their event, do they show more or less clear ideas on the style to use? And what is your role in the face of their uncertainties?

Many couples have already clear ideas about the colours to use. Differently, we always prefer to adapt to the type of place and type of reception chosen by the spouses: therefore, if the style of the ceremony is more country, we propose neutral colours; or, if the ceremony is held in the farmhouse, the proposed colours will be in shades of green.

If, on the other hand, the spouses choose not to follow specific trends, we propose fairly neutral invitations, finished with naturalistic graphics, such as olive or eucalyptus leaves, which refer to the elements of the floral arrangements.  

In any case, we discuss with the spouses what will be the settings used, the type of reception, the model of dress, if there will be predominant colours or if a total white will be preferred.

Because for us this is precious information since it allows us to package the invitation according to the style chosen.

Sometimes there is a bit of confusion between invitations and announcements. Let’s clarify and help future spouses: what are the main differences?

Participation is the card on which there is information on the rite, whether civil or religious, to which one is invited; unlike the invitation, which is the card on which the information of the wedding party is also entered.

2023 offers particular wedding styles: among the main ones, the minimalist, the modern and the cottagecore. Will the invitations and participation also follow these trends, or will we go towards a different choice than the theme preferred by the spouses?

Usually, regardless of trends, if the spouses are more oriented towards a modern reception, they will choose both the reception hall and the wedding favour and wedding stationery in this style. If, on the contrary, they are oriented more towards a cottagecore style, the structure of the entire ceremony will be country.

Therefore, it is not essential to follow a particular trend: weddings must always follow and represent the tastes and preferences of the spouses.

In terms of colours and shades, will there be trends that will have more resonance?

The trends of the moment agree on neutral colours, on pastels, on shades of green – certainly for those who choose a country reception. Or on pink or wisteria, for those who prefer a more elegant reception in chic and modern places.  But mauve has also been meeting the chromatic preferences of the spouses in the last two years.

Some spouses often wonder when to send or hand deliver the invitations and announcements. Is there a better time to have them delivered to your guests?

The invitations, according to etiquette, should be distributed two months in advance. We recommend starting three months before the wedding date since distributing them takes a long time.

In the organisational phase, once the tickets and participation have been received, the spouses must send them to their guests. What should they write on their envelopes?

We advise the spouses to write on the back of the envelopes, in beautiful handwriting, the personal data of their guests, preceded by titles such as “Dear family”, “Dear gentlemen”, “Dear Mr” and so on. Moreover, it is advisable to write with a pen of the same colour used for printing the text of the invitations.

What else can't be missing besides invitations and announcements in the set of paper preparation for a wedding?

To complete the set of wedding invitations, you need the booklets for the ritual, the rice boxes, the fans especially for those getting married in a warmer season, then the menus for the table, the tableau with their placeholders and the welcome tableau for the placeholders.

In the last years, there has been a greater awareness of green and environmental protection. Do your proposals also fit into this scene?

Our service is also part of the sustainability landscape. In recent years, in fact, there has been a return to hand-made Amalfi paper, ecological paper or paper with flowers. But more generally we prefer to use FSC-certified natural paper from the best paper mills such as Fabriano, Fedrigoni and Amalfi.

What are the spouses’ favourite materials or the most innovative materials, if not recycled, that you propose in making the invitations?

The most curious spouses prefer coloured envelopes, which are certainly very particular, and also Amalfi paper and ecological paper, which respond to a more responsible choice but without sacrificing beauty and particularity.

In the wake of sustainability, there has been a trend of online invitations. What do you recommend to future spouses regarding the traditional choice of paper invitations?

Precisely for greater sensitivity to sustainability, we have already received requests for online invitations. But many spouses still prefer to stay in the tradition and not give up the decorative beauty and romance of invitations. However, as we have said, this does not mean wasting materials or not respecting nature. We always propose ecological and sustainable alternatives to allow everyone’s wedding to be coloured.

Olivetta and invitations: a perfect blend of styles

Invitations and announcements, such as missals and menus, have their central role in the organisation of the event. Giving it up would be like interrupting a tradition, but above all depriving your wedding of a romantic aspect.

And even with the most eco-friendly and green trends, experts recommend alternative and more sustainable solutions, so as not to give up the beauty and colour of your wedding invitations.

When we meet the future spouses, besides driving them in the choice of the wedding favours, we try to combine our proposals with the style of the chosen invitations to ensure that every single element of the wedding is in tune with the chosen theme.

At Olivetta we are able to combine the colours of the wedding favours and the type of packaging with the stylistic characteristics of the invitations. And just by collaborating with Inviti Chic we have created a perfect match between the invitations and the individual collections of our favours.