We recommend mailing save the dates 8-10 months ahead of your wedding. If you’re having a destination wedding and want to give guests more time to make travel arrangements, 10-12 months can be a good idea. If most of your guests are local to the venue, or if many people already know about your wedding plans, 6-8 months out is fine!

We recommend mailing invitations 8-12 weeks ahead of your wedding date to give the snail enough time to deliver!

Generally, our custom invitations take around 10-15 weeks from signed design agreement to final produced product. Exact timing will depend on the complexity of the design direction and printing methods. Download our Wedding Concierge document to learn more about the process.

Let’s talk envelope etiquette! It’s the 21st century people, there are options. You can take the traditional path and follow the Emily Post guidelines. You can play it safe and skip titles, which makes it less formal. Or have some fun with it. Read more in our blog post!

You can view a guideline of basic details that you should consider. Download our wedding invitation copy template here.

We love incorporating creative copy! This is a great way to make formal invitation writing feel a bit more personal and modern. We have an in-house copywriter who can suggest a few fun ways to bring in more personality to your suite. We like to be inspired by the venue, time of year, and the couple’s shared interests.

Adding inner envelopes to your suite adds an element of tradition and formality. Originally, when mail was delivered by hand, invitations were enclosed in a second envelope so that the recipient could discard the dirty, outer envelope to reveal a beautiful, clean one. If you choose to add inner envelopes, the liner will go inside the inner, and since inner envelopes do not get sealed closed, the liner and envelope will be kept safe and clean. Another reason we love inner envelopes is for the added space to designate which guests are invited within a family. As a reminder, inner envelopes are an added cost and require a bit more time to stuff when you are mailing your invitations!

Machine calligraphy is when a font is printed onto an envelope by a printer. There are many beautiful script and block font options available that can coordinate with your invitation design. Hand calligraphy is when a trained calligrapher addresses your envelopes by hand using pen and ink. The next best thing to seeing your name in lights is seeing it beautifully hand calligraphed on an envelope. CBP does not have an in house hand calligrapher. Instead, we work with, and recommend, a number of highly skilled hand calligraphers across the country. This allows us to offer a range of calligraphy styles – from formal to traditional-with-a-twist to playful and whimsical. You have the option to contact and coordinate with the calligrapher directly or to let us handle the communication for you.

If you want to handle hand calligraphy yourself, we recommend contacting a calligrapher 2 months ahead of when you need your envelopes calligraphed to ensure their availability. Typically hand calligraphers need 2-3 weeks to complete the calligraphy. Make sure you get your address list in order before your calligrapher is ready to start!

Absolutely! We love incorporating hand calligraphy into the invitation suite. Once the calligrapher writes out the necessary copy for your invitation, we will scan it into the design for a truly unique set. We also frequently use calligraphers for day of items!

We love using seed paper, which allows for your guest to plant your paper and watch it grow into flowers. We also offer other recycled options when it comes to paper.While we still strongly recommend a printed paper invitation for a once-in-a-lifetime event like your wedding, we do have a team of designers trained in digital deliveries of all forms. If this is something you’re interested in, consider a digital save the date with a printed invitation. Of course, we’ll still work with you if you prefer digital invitations but we love the keepsake aspect of print.

Letterpress is an old form of printing where ink is pressed into paper stock using a unique metal die to leave an impression you can feel by running your fingers over the printed area. We love how it adds a textural element and elevates even the simplest design.

Embossing is another old form of printing in which a metal die is pressed into the back of the paper to create a raised relief on the front. Debossing is the opposite and very similar to letterpress. Blind embossing and debossing, which is when the impression is created without any ink for a more subtle design element, are popular and elegant printing methods.

Color is applied to the edges of cards. This is a great way to incorporate your wedding colors.

Foil stamping is a great way to elevate your stationery by adding some shine and calling out special elements of your suite. Foil stamping your names or wedding date on your invitation always makes a statement! For something more subtle, we like to foil smaller details like, for example, your initials tucked into a pattern in the envelope liner. If you want to highlight the events happening over the course of your wedding weekend, consider foil stamping icons in your itinerary – think: a luggage tag for hotel information, a champagne flute for the reception, and a croissant for your farewell brunch!

Cardstock refers to the thickness of paper. Think of it like thread count in bedding! Read our blog for more information.

Having fun with postage stamps is one of our favorite ways to dress up an envelope! We like to consider postage stamps just as we consider every other aspect of the invitations to ensure that the guests receive the perfect package. You can choose current USPS stamps for your envelopes or use vintage stamps which are discontinued but still have postage value. Stamps are a great way to add a personal touch – we can be inspired by the wedding venue, your story as a couple, pets, or interests and hobbies. We also love to combine both current and vintage stamps for an extra special envelope.

While we adore the look of vintage stamps, they are not budget-friendly. There can be a significant mark up over face value for vintage stamps. The US Postal Service only honors the postage amount listed on the stamp, not its actual vintage value. Consequently, you might pay $2.00 for a vintage stamp worth only $0.20 in postage.

Hand canceling is when the post office hand-stamps a seal over the postage as opposed to running the envelope through a machine. If you can convince your local post office to do this for you, we highly recommend. It will ensure your invitations arrive in the best condition as possible! Note, we can do this for you as well for an additional charge.

On average, our save the dates range from 68 cents to $1.12 in postage while our wedding invitation sets range from $1.40 to $3.60 in postage. If your invitation set is a large square or our royalty sized invitation, you are going to be a the higher end range for postage. If your invitation set is letterpress printed and on double thick paper stock, you also need to consider whether or not your post office considers it to be a rigid item. All of this will affect your overall postage quote.

We do offer trackable shipping for clients, but keep in mind that this price will be even higher than postage. However, it does allow you peace of mind to know that all your invitations arrived to your guests!

Absolutely! Many of our couples choose to have us handle every aspect of their invitations from start to finish, including stuffing, stamping and mailing each piece. Our fee for this service is dependent on your quantity and will be outlined in your design agreement.