Upscale Wedding Invitations

Upscale Wedding Invitations

Tips for Picking out Wedding Invitations for an Upscale Ceremony
By: Scott Payne

The day has finally come. You’ve set a date for your wedding, and you’re set to marry the man you love. You’ve dreamed of this moment for as long as you can remember. When you were younger, you played “marriage” with your sister up in the attic, trying on shoes that were ten sizes too big, holding up your mother’s wedding dress and examining your reflection in the cracked antique mirror.

In high school, you played match-making games and read your horoscope daily, hoping for hints at who would be “the one.” Come college, you met the guy of your dreams, only to see him run off with someone else.  But now, you’ve finally found him. The guy who you’ll spend the rest of your life with. And you can’t wait to walk down the aisle. But first, there’s much to be done! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a wedding can’t be planned overnight. There’s much to do, and it all starts with invitations. Â

The invite is the first glimpse your guests will have at your wedding ceremony. It dictates the colors, the theme, and the style of your wedding. Will you go funky or classic? Will your wedding be colorful, or black and white? Black tie or low-key? Inside or outside? In many ways, your invitation dictates what your wedding will be – but no pressure!Here are some tips for picking out wedding invitations for an upscale ceremony.           Â

First and foremost, try not to be too over the top. Wedding invitations can be fun, and they can be funky, but the invitation shouldn’t outshine the event itself. This is your big day, and you don’t want a crazy invite to overshadow you. Consider invitations in no more than a few colors. Embossed flourishes are great details, but they sometimes can make an invitation look too busy. Â

The weight of an invite is also of importance. Consider printing your invite on heavy paper. Embossing often adds weight to your invite, which is a good thing, in this case, not a bad thing. An ecru invitation also makes for a good amount of weight – you want something that’s going to stick out when your guests receive the invitation in the mail.  Consider a solid-colored invite with gold shimmer around the border. You’ll get rave reviews along with your response cards when you send out this sort of beautiful and classic invite. A champagne shimmer around the border of your invite adds a note of glamour to your celebration, and hints to guests that they can expect class and luxury on the big day.  Along the same lines, try not to go for an invite that folds. Folding invitation formats are better left to birthday cards and other, less formal events – but if you’re planning an upscale ceremony, you’re going to want to leave the folding invites behind. A non-folding invite is larger sized and will require a larger envelope, but this will help it stand out in a large pile of mail when it arrives at the home of your guests. Â

Another great classic detail to consider is the use of the monogram. Monograms have sadly gone out of style in recent years, but they’re still an utterly classy way to go. Add a special touch to your invites, and personalize them, by adding monograms of your initials at the very top or very bottom of each card included in your invite (that includes the palce setting card and the RSVP card as well). Â

If you want something that’s upscale and classy, but also not at all simple, consider an invite that comes tied with a beautiful satin ribbon. A ribbon tied around the invitation gives the guests a hint of the party that is to come. It’s as though they get to unwrap a tiny present when your invitation arrives, which will only make them all the more excited for your big day! Â

Don’t rule out simple black and white. A classically styled, large ecru invitation with a white background and simple black embossed text can say a lot about the luxury and nature of your upscale celebration without being too fussy. Sometimes simple is best, and such is definitely the case when it comes to wedding invites. Black and white says that your event will be luxurious but classic, timeless but modern. Black and white never goes out of style, and considering that those are likely to be the colors you and your groom will don, it’s a nice nod to what’s to come. Â

While shopping for your wedding invites might seem extremely stressful, the perfect wedding invite for your upscale invitation can be achieved – by taking to heart the simple tips above.

Scott Payne is a freelance writer who writes about weddings and specific products such as wedding invitations. Â