October 2016

Order of services illustrated

Let’s face it; we all like a bit of a lie in every now again. It breaks the routine of early mornings and lets us recharge. But the truth is that humans need a schedule or we start feeling a little lost. That is the very reason we don’t sleep in every day, and why we like to receive an order of service at a wedding or event of sorts.

Our tendency towards schedules also makes order of services quite important. Plan yours incorrectly, leave out vital information, or just make a few design errors and your whole event could quickly become a comedy of errors.

Because of this we would like to walk you through the whole design process from the planning phase to the order of service printing.

What to Include in an Order of Service for a Wedding

Before you start on the actual design for your order of service you have to decide which information is important enough to be included and which information can be left out. After all, you don’t want to end up with a textbook-sized document that is drier than dust.

Every wedding is different, obviously, since different couples have different tastes. But, that being said, a typical order of service for a wedding will contain the following:

Title Page: This is a simple page of text stating the names of the couple, the date, and sometimes the location of the ceremony. This information is usually just for posterity, since everyone already knows the date and location of the ceremony from the wedding invitations, and most of the guests should know the couple.
Procession music: This usually details the name of the song/piece and the composer.
Readings: List any readings which may be done during the ceremony. You’ll need to list the name of the verse or poem, the name of the author, and the person doing the reading.
Hymns/Songs: If any songs are to be sung at the wedding only their titles need to be listed, but listing the composers or artists responsible for them is a nice touch. It is a good idea to include the lyrics, but more on that later.
Declaratory words: These are the opening words of the ceremony.
Ceremony: This will include the ceremony and vows.
Signing of the register: This is self-explanatory and doesn’t require an explanation in the order of events. However, you might want to let the guests know if they should stay for this or start to leave the venue.
Recessional music: This is the music that plays as the couple leaves the venue. Again, the name of the piece and the composer should be listed.

An Order of Service for Every Event

While the above pointers might be specific to a wedding, this basic format can be adapted to any event. As long as you think carefully about which information to include and which to leave out, you can’t go wrong.

Be sure to check back in for Part 2 of this look at order of services in which we’ll detail exactly how much information is appropriate for a perfect order of service.

Wedding invites

A Guide to Creating Your Dream Wedding Invitation – Part 2

October 18, 2016

Part 2: How to Design the Perfect Wedding Invitation

Your wedding invitations portray so much of the elegance, romance, fun, or downright silliness you have planned for your wedding (click here to see the Part 1 of our Guide to Creating Your Dream Wedding Invitation). They let your guests know exactly what type of wedding they will be attending, what type of gifts they should bring, what colours to wear, and how formally they should dress.

Some of this may happen subconsciously when you are planning your invitations, but that doesn’t mean you should leave your design to fate. Here are some useful design tips to help you create your perfect wedding invitation.

Design Tips for Your Dream Wedding Invitations

Style
It is important to choose a style that will match the theme of your wedding. If you’re after a traditional and elegant wedding it would be a good idea to keep the invitations clean and keep the colours muted. If you have chosen bold colours for your wedding, you could incorporate these as subtle accents. If, however, you want a more modern, relaxed wedding you could experiment with colourful invitations featuring vector illustrations and incorporating infographic-style design features.

Font
Regardless of the style of your invitation, you want to keep the font legible. Don’t get too carried away with the custom designs available online. That being said, It’s fun to experiment with some of the more playful fonts for informal invitations. If, however, it’s formal that you’re after, the tasteful calligraphy fonts add a beautiful air of sophistication to your invitations.

Imagery
Line drawings and floral designs, used tastefully, can be exceptionally effective for traditional wedding invitations. That being said, traditional doesn’t mean dull. It is quite possible to incorporate modern design elements like bold graphics and even photographs into traditional invitations. The same goes for modern invitations, where bold floral designs can look trendy instead of dated.

Practicality
Yes, you want your creativity to shine, but there are two very important reasons to err on the side of practicality. Firstly, if your invitations are irregularly sized, finding envelopes for them might prove stressful, and that’s the last thing you need when you’re in wedding planning mode. Secondly, remember that your friends and family might like to save their invitations, so it’s a good idea to make your invitations as timeless as the theme allows for.

Printing
Even if your wedding isn’t going to be especially formal, you don’t want it to seem tacky. So, regardless of the design elements of your invitations, make sure you take them to the best printers when the time comes. Quality paper combined with excellent printing will certainly convey the right tone and accentuate your design choices.

Let Your Wedding Invitations Match Your Wedding’s Personality

Your wedding has a personality of its own – whether fun, serious, flirty, or a bit of each – and this should be reflected in the wedding invitations. However, it is completely up to you how you you choose to express this personality. Hopefully the above tips will help to inspire you to create invitations that match your dream wedding as perfectly as you match your partner.

Wedding invites

A Guide to Creating Your Dream Wedding Invitation – Part 1

October 13, 2016

Part 1: What Your Wedding Invitation Says About Your Wedding

This is the digital age and you probably keep in touch with most of the people you want to invite to your wedding. They all know that you are getting married and have found out the date through general conversation or keeping up with your plans on social media.

So, with this in mind, why are wedding invitations still so vital to a wedding? The answer to that question lies in the fact that, aside from honouring an age-old tradition, wedding invitations tell your guests far more about your wedding than just the location of the ceremony.

Your Wedding Invitation Speaks Volumes

Maybe you’ve planned it, or maybe it is completely subconscious, but the choices you make with regards to your wedding invitations tell your guests an awful lot about your wedding. Leaving out the text completely, your wedding invitation gives your guests clear indications about the following:

1. What Type of Wedding It Is
It could be a formal affair, full of roses, doves and a host of other traditional staples. On the other hand, it could be a laid back party that aims to steer clear of every wedding cliché in the book. Though you might not have time to tell all of your guests what to expect, they will have a very clear picture of the type of wedding to expect based on the design choices you make for your invitations.

2. What the Wedding’s Colour Theme Will Be
Here again, you may not have time to cover this with each and every guest, but your wedding invitations can do it for you. It is fairly common for couples to choose a colour theme for their wedding and incorporate this into every aspect of their special day, including the invitations. So, if guests want to be a part of it and dress to suit the colour theme, they’ll know exactly which colours to choose.

3. The Best Type of Gift to Bring
Some wedding invitations are quite clear about which types of gift will best suit the occasion. They’ll either mention a registry, ask for cash, or say that gifts are absolutely not necessary. However, if you don’t want to mention it at all, the style of your invitation will guide your guests. Rustic, hand-made invitations might warrant gifts of a similar ilk, while you might receive more traditional gifts if your invitations are more formal.

4. Which Attire Will Be Most Suitable
A combination between the location of the ceremony and the style of the invitation will tell your guests all they need to know about what to wear to your wedding. A crisp, white invitation to a wedding in a ballroom will certainly be black-tie, while a message-in-a-bottle type invitation to a beach wedding may only require tropical shirts and sundresses.

Wedding Invitations Are About More Than Words

Knowing that your wedding invitation can convey so much information without ever having to detail it in the text might make designing seem quite daunting. But, relax – it needn’t be. You know exactly how you want your wedding to come off, and this will show in the choices you make without you having to think too hard about it.

That being said, in Part 2 of this look at wedding invitations we’ll discuss some design ideas that will help you set the tone of your wedding perfectly. Go to Part 2: How to Design the Perfect Wedding Invitation.

Blog

Month: October 2016

How to Write a Perfect Order of Service – Part 1