Destination Weddings Stationery Tips and Etiquette
On the blog today we’re talking all about destination weddings stationery tips and etiquette.
With exotic destinations at their fingertips, and the prospect of more intimate ceremonies, it’s no surprise that more and more couples are following their wanderlust and hosting breathtaking destination weddings around the world. Imagine celebrating with your loved ones for a whole weekend in your favourite holiday destination, or maybe on that stunning beach where you got engaged!
Whether your perfect “I do” includes bright cocktails, warm sunshine, staggering mountaintop views, or fresh ocean breezes, away from home locations really do make for the ultimate wedding venue.
So, how do you make sure your guests can join you on this wedding adventure, and that they have everything they need?
Here are my top tips for the stationery of your luxury destination wedding.
Are you planning your destination wedding? Are you searching for the most exquisite custom designs to reflect your journey and personalities as a couple? For more information about designing your dream -destination wedding stationery please contact me! Or get in touch via email rubana@crimsonletters.com.
Vie the Black Equinox collection here. Photography by Carlos Hernandez.
Destination Wedding Invitations Design
Your wedding invitation will be the first impression that your friends and family have of your wedding, and a wonderful opportunity to get them excited about the adventure that awaits them! That’s why the first topic I wanted to mention in these destination weddings stationery tips is to take your time to choose a design you love.
If you are choosing to have your wedding abroad, you can be even more daring with your wedding stationery look, and you’ll have lots more sources of ideas too: you could echo the travel theme, take inspiration from the venue style or country.
Include elements in the local language and so much more.
There’s scope to be really creative with bespoke illustrations, scented paper, maps, and exquisite finishing touches that revolve around what you love about the destination you’ve chosen for your wedding.
View Tuscany Splendour collection here. Photography by Say Cute.
Timing Your Wedding Stationery Well in Advance
Let’s talk about logistics. The logistics of attending your wedding will be more complicated for your guests if your venue is abroad. Therefore, I would recommend letting them know details as soon as you can. For planning purposes. So that you can ensure that as many people can make it as possible.
Make sure to give your friends and family plenty of time to coordinate holidays. Particularly important, if your wedding is in peak summer season or near Christmas, to book accommodation, to save money if needed, and to secure flights.
A typical timescale for sending save-the-dates for a local wedding is approximately 6 – 8 months before your date. However for destination weddings I advise to aim to send them as much as 10 – 18 months ahead.
It also depends on the complexity of the travel arrangements of course: a short hop to Europe is much simpler than an ocean-crossing flight to the Caribbean, for example!
More Information on Your Destination Wedding Save the Dates
It’s also useful to give your guests more information on the save-the-date than one might otherwise do for a home-based wedding, though do be careful of making it too wordy. Your stationer will be able to give you advice on the amount of text, based on the design you’ve chosen and on their experience.
View Tuscany Splendour collection here. Photography by Say Cute.
View Tuscany Splendour collection here. Photography by Say Cute.
As with your save the dates, invitations to a destination wedding should be sent further in advance than you would for a local celebration. I would typically recommend sending your invitations 4 – 5 months ahead of your date at the very minimum.
Your RSVP deadline is essential.
Your RSVP’ s headcount will affect the rest of your planning.
Although this applies to all types of weddings, this is particularly key when coordinating an event out of town! I would recommend doubling the typical RSVP deadline, and ask that your guests kindly RSVP to your wedding 10 – 12 weeks in advance.
If you are hosting more than one event, do make sure your guests are able to RSVP individually to each activity; for example, they may be travelling too late the previous day to attend your welcome dinner, or leaving too early the following day to attend your post-wedding lunch.
After Your Guests Numbers are in
Once your guest numbers and menu have been finalised, you can then place your order for the on-the-day stationery: this includes table numbers, place cards, menus, and table plans. Make sure you discuss the deadlines with your stationer. So that for example you can print your table plan as late as possible in case of unexpected changes. You can also consider the possibility of having some of the on-the-day stationery posted directly to your venue if you wish.
Although make sure you discuss this with your stationer in advance, and also with your venue manager and wedding coordinator.
The last thing you want is for your all important on the day wedding stationery to go missing!
Your Destination Wedding Stationery – Content & Information
Photography by Say Cute
Letting your guests know that you will be hosting your celebrations abroad is a very exciting moment! One of my most important destination weddings stationery tips is to make sure you give your guests plenty of clear information, so they can assess whether or not they will be able to join you.
For example, your guests will likely not be familiar with your wedding venue, and may have never travelled to that country, so be very clear with the location instructions, with full name and address, and possibly even helpful photos and maps.
Include the day, month and year, and exact hour if you can, as this may affect flight choices.
Photography by Say Cute
There’s a lot more to plan for everyone with a destination wedding. In addition, this usually means there’ll be more information to share than normal.
You can either keep the details on the save-the-date and invitations to a minimum, and direct your guests to a more comprehensive wedding website. Or you can work with your stationer on a bundle with several different inserts so you can fit everything within the invite itself.
The amount of times that I have seen wedding invitation suites that have been ruined.
Brides or planners try to add far too much information to one card.
Consider making a little booklet. You could include all the helpful information that your guests might need when they arrive. They might not always have access to wifi.
A Wedding Website
Either way, creating a wedding website is practically essential for destination weddings, as there are so many more questions that your guests will be asking as your wedding date nears.
You might want to add:
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Tips for places to visit
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Places to eat in the area for those moments when there is no official wedding activity taking place
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Information on what weather is typically like at the time of year is helpful
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Guests to plan what to wear and bring with them.
Not only can you keep adding useful information as time goes on, you can also build up your guests’ excitement and enthusiasm for your big day!
For example, you could include images or videos of you and your partner holidaying or visiting venues there, with a little journal of all the places and activities you loved most.
All Photography above by Purple Tree Photography
I highly recommend spending a few extra pounds on a custom domain name for your website. As it’ll be much easier for your guests to remember over time and will look so much nicer in print!
Guests Accommodation
If you intend on covering your guests’ accommodation costs, do let them know as soon as you can, as this will be quite an important deciding factor for many of your friends and family budgeting for this trip abroad. As everyone will be travelling from afar, you may choose to reserve a block of rooms in one or more hotels nearby. Make sure you look into booking discounts or information should be provided to your guests clearly as well.
Photography above by Purple Tree Photography
It’s fairly typical for destination weddings to last longer than just the day itself, so that you can make the most of the journey your guests have undertaken to celebrate with you – so for example, you might be hosting a dinner the evening before, lunch the day after, and so on. If so, make sure you include this information in the invitation suite and on your wedding website – or you could even opt to create bespoke weekend schedules in welcome bags for your guests to find in their hotel room upon arrival.
Etiquette to Bear in Mind for Your Stationery
As your guests will be investing more money. In order to join your celebrations abroad it’s kind to help them out as much as possible with their costs and their planning, if you can.
For example:
- Letting them know the best ways to get to your venue,
- When flights to your destination go on sale,
- Providing links to recommended places to stay (and any discounts you’ve secured for them by block-booking), will all be very welcome.
Photography above by Passionate Wedding Photography
We all know that it’s customary to have a gift list for your guests to use when choosing your gifts.
For destination weddings it is a nice touch to let your guests know that them making the trip to celebrate with you is gift enough. You can always ask for some small contributions to your honeymoon trip, for example, as a lovely way of continuing the travel theme.
Another nice gesture is to send invites even to those close family and friends who have told you they can’t attend. Alongside a personal note expressing how sorry you are they won’t be with you.
View above Portuguese Regality collection here. Photography by Passionate Wedding Photography
Hope this has helped you plan your bespoke wedding stationery for your exciting destination wedding! Here at Crimson Letters I take great pride in every stationery design. I create and put my heart into every project. Finding inspiration from the sights around me to produce beautiful and immaculate artwork. I love working with my couples who are planning weddings around the world. Travel is a passion I share too, and I’m always to delighted to discuss destination wedding options with my clients.
If you would like to work together on creating a luxurious stationery suite full of artful details and hand-made touches, do get in touch so we can discuss your vision.
Other Articles you Might be Interested in:
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If you’d like to know more about me and read some testimonials, pop over to my About page.
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Perhaps you might like some wedding wording suggestions? Read this article.
Take a look at this article for a look behind the scenes at how I create bespoke wedding stationery and the process involved. Or you can see how I developed Bespoke watercolour wedding invitations here.
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If you’d like to discover or look through more design, visit my Portfolio page.
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If you’d like to see some step by step instructions to creating a detailed watercolour illustration, see here.
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