Advice and tips for wedding planning

Decide your budget. You will need to decide how many guests you will invite based on your budget for wedding invitations and the wedding meal and other aspects of your wedding day that will be based on cost per number of guests. Remember when ordering your wedding invitations you will also need to order reception cards, response cards, and if needed map cards.

Decide how many guests you invite. You can split your wedding guest list into three different categories - brides parents list, grooms parents list, and the bridal couples list. In the end the three lists should total up to the amount of guests that can be invited.

Make a master wedding invitation list. Take the three lists and combine them to make a master wedding invitation list. You can have a wish list that will be a list of people you will invite as your guests start to refuse. Make sure all your guest names are spelled correctly as well as their titles. Also, double check you zip codes and addresses to make sure they are all updated. On you master list, include all friends and relatives even though you dont think they will attend.

TIP: Use index cards or a computer to alphabetize the lists and eliminate duplicates.

You are not obligated to invites guests with your single friends. If you choose invite guests do not write And guest on the outer and inner envelope, you will need to send a separate invitation to each guest. If the couple lives together you can send one invitation with both of their names on the invitation just as you would a married couple.

Send invitation to the principles in the wedding. This includes parents, the clergy member and his or her spouse, your fiances immediate family, the members of your wedding party and their parents.

TIP: Mail an invitation to yourself to let you know which day they will receive their invitations.