Creating a wedding invitation is no easy feat, between picking the right design, staying within your budget, and figuring out what all needs to be included, things can add up and become overwhelming quite quickly. In addition, many brides struggle with whether or not to send one. Well, I am here to tell you that a formal invitation for a destination wedding is an absolute must.
If you are tight on a budget, I suggest cutting out the “save the date” and skipping right to the etiquette friendly invitation suite. Remember, destination weddings don’t always follow the same rules as stateside weddings. It’s okay to send a more formal invitation several months in advance. Your guests are devoting a lot of time and money in order to attend your wedding don’t forget to invest in them too.
With hundreds of weddings a year, our team has carefully crafted all of the necessities for a destination wedding invitation. Keep reading for the most easy to understand ten step by step must-haves on creating your destination wedding invitation. The best part will be all of the inspiration we’ve gathered from our talented friends at Minted Weddings. Be sure to ask your Weddings by Funjet Concierge how to receive an exclusive Minted discount just for being a Weddings by Funjet bride!
Step 1: Pick an invitation design that mirrors the color scheme and overall feel of your wedding events.
Step 2: Check pricing and include the calculations for having additional labeling, and postage added. Does this fit your budget? I personally love Minted Weddings because they include free guest addressing. Such a life saver!
Step 3: Ensure the invitation, or suite, you picked has enough space to include the specifics. While an RSVP card isn’t necessary since they will need to book in order to RSVP, other cards like Travel Details or Wedding Events may be nice.
Step 4: Begin writing your invitation card itself. Every primary invitation card should contain the following information:
Name of Bride and Groom
If your parents are hosting your wedding or contributing financially, you may want to consider including them in the title and adjusting the verbiage to follow etiquette.
Wedding Date and Time
Wedding Resort + Destination
If it is an all-inclusive, be sure to notate! Guests will be ecstatic to see that all meals and drinks are included!
Wedding Website & Booking Website
Weddings by Funjet brides all receive their very own customized travel website for guests to make bookings online. We even create fun URLs with the bride and groom’s names. In addition, it’s always suggested to have a wedding focused website, too. It works best when you hyperlink the two sites together so you can easily go from one to the other. Our friends at Minted provide free wedding websites! Their websites are smart, phone friendly and allow you to have multiple tabs to provide your guests with in-depth information regarding your wedding weekend.
Step 5: If you do have extra inserts available to send with your invitation, the next step will be to focus on the travel details. These are vital pieces of information for guests to have so that they can begin their own planning for schedule and budget purposes. Remember, the sooner you get this information to them, the sooner they are likely to book. Here is what we suggest including on your Travel Details card:
Booking Contact
For Weddings by Funjet Brides, you’ll always want to include the following: We have a special hotel group rate for our guests! Please contact weddingsbyfunjetservice@funjet.com or 414-934-2995 to book your air, hotel and transfers.
Book by Date
Half of wedding planning is about setting expectations. The same goes for your guests. Be sure to be clear on when guests need to book by. This is their RSVP after all. Plus, it sure makes planning much easier when you have a final count ASAP. Hint: The book by date should always be 1 month prior to the 1st ‘drop date’ specified on your room block.
Step 6: Again, if space and budget permits, include a reception details card. With a destination wedding, often times there will be guests who are unsure of what to expect. Give them a hint of what is to come. No need for specific times, you should be providing a more detailed itinerary upon the guest arrival at the hotel. This piece is great to help guests with what to pack as well, so include what type of attire may be requested: beach formal, summer casual, etc.
Step 7: Order your free proof to quadruple check every word and see how it looks and feels in person! Feel free to send a digital proof to your Weddings by Funjet concierge to proofread, too!
Step 8: Place your order and wait patiently!
Step 9: Check with your local post office on what stamps may be available to send your invitations out. Remember, you do not want to assume anything. In addition, be sure to drop your invitations off at the post office in person. By all means, do not send them out in your mail box as this leaves too much room for error.
Step 10: Await the exciting messages and calls about how beautiful your invitations are! Guests will be so excited to receive fun mail and will likely start asking questions immediately. Don’t be afraid to direct them to your Wedding Travel Coordinator so that all of their travel related questions are answered.
