When planning your wedding, deciding what invitations to send is one of the first big decisions you will have to make. The proper wedding invitation will set the tone for the entire wedding. Are you planning a formal or informal wedding? A lavish affair, or a casual get together? Often there is no need to explicitly state such a thing on your invitations; you can relay the message simply by choosing wedding invitations which reflect the style, theme, and tone of your wedding. There are a variety of ways to add personality to your wedding invitations. Adding ribbon, trinkets and photographs to your invitations are all ways to express your personality and the type of ceremony you are planning.

Another way to add sparkle to your wedding invitation is by the use of color. Adding color to wedding invitations allows an element of personality to shine through, as well as add some unexpected spark and levity to what is normally a formal and traditional announcement. Color can add an air of festivity to traditional invitations, introduce your wedding colors to your guests or add a touch of personalization to a stock wedding invitation.

How can color be added to invitations?

When deciding on where to place color in your wedding invitations, there are a variety of choices. You can opt for the traditional cream or white card stock and add a personalized color for the writing on the card. If this does not fit your style, the invitation itself can be your main color, and the script can be white. Many couples opt to include their color choice in the lining of the envelope. Thus, the invitation can remain the traditional black and white, but a touch of color can be found inside the envelope as the invitees open it up. Another way to introduce color to your invitations is through a ribbon adornment.

Do you have to use light colored card stock?

The selection of colors in card stock has never been wider. Cards are available in many shades of greens, blues, pinks and browns. Depending on the look that you are going for, you may choose a subtle pastel or a vibrant bold color for your card stock. Generally, couples who are looking for a more traditional wedding invitation will choose a lighter color, as will those planning a casual ceremony. For those planning a contemporary ceremony or a more formal affair, bolder colors are a more common choice.

Traditional Wedding: Can you still add color to your invitations?

There are no rules for what is right and what is wrong when deciding how your wedding invitations should look. While a traditional wedding invitation is typically understated, adding a hint of color through ink, envelope linings or ribbon adornments are all acceptable and attractive options. If you are certain that you would like a traditional wedding, you may want to choose an understated color for these accents.

Can you choose any color you want?

The color choices for your wedding invitations are vast. While it would be an overstatement to say that you can choose any color you want for your wedding invitations, it would be accurate to say that the selection of colors available for wedding invitations has never been greater. Between the different color selections of card stock, ink, ribbons and envelope linings, it is possible to make your wedding invitations 100% unique even if you are choosing only stock options.

What rules should I follow when adding color to my wedding invitations?

There are no “written in stone” rules when planning your wedding. It is your wedding and your invitations, and you want to choose an invitation that expresses both you and your fiancé’s personality and the atmosphere you plan for the wedding. Whether you choose bold or subtle color, vibrant ribbon adornments or delicate lace edged ribbon, the invitation is uniquely yours. While there are suggestions on how to choose color for your wedding invitations, do not allow yourself to get stuck into a rigid template for how your wedding invitations should look.

Do I have to add color to my wedding invitations?

Just because technology has made it easier than ever to add color to your wedding invitations there is no reason to force yourself to add color if you do not want to. White or cream colored card stock with black or dark gray ink is still a popular as well as a correct option.

No matter how you choose to personalize your wedding invitations, the addition of color makes it easier to do. The addition of color to ink, ribbons or envelopes create a special and personalized invitation that will serve as a keepsake of your special day for years to come.

Why you shouldn’t hire cheap unqualified part-time wedding photographers to photograph your wedding. The question will always be, will they still be in business when your wedding day comes around?

A professional photographer is a full-time trades person that has qualifications or has proven them selves through being an assistant, experience and by their peers endorsing them by reviewing their photography skills.

The risk you face by hiring a cheap photographer off the Internet is that their business may collapse through bad management, typically they will work a full time job during the week that is not related to photography. Your photographer may have said to himself or herself, ohh I will try and make some extra money by photographing weddings, so I had better go to my local retailer and buy a cheap camera that kind of looks professional.

You do have to start somewhere, however, the persons ignorance from no education in photography has already shot them. You need to buy a camera worth $10000 or so to take proper high quality photographs of a wedding. This is due to depth of field and a broader scope of tones from light to dark, compared to the $1500 Camera.

Photography will always remain the most expensive business to set up as far as start up equipment goes. The amount of knowledge, software and technology needing is an abyss.

Business skills are the next huge hurdle, the uneducated businessperson thinks it is all about cutting price and getting the business. Quite often they will get more business than they can handle, they will do too much work too cheaply, run out of money, bankrupt themselves and end up having a nervous breakdown. With those things together failure is only a few maxed credit cards away.

The question again is, will they still be in business when my wedding day comes around?

Imagine the stress of you ringing your photographer who you have given your money to and you can’t find them or they say they are out of business. You would need to find another photographer and to pay more again for photography. If it is a busy part of the wedding season you are likely to not even find a respected photographer who is available.

What to Lookout for, these are the alarm bell questions.

• They charge a flat rate and give you the high-resolution photography files as the product.
• The rate is a half or a third of what other photographers are asking
• They don’t build an album with you after your wedding and charge per page.
• Is there a contract?
• How long have they been in business?
• Do they work as a photographer full time?
• Are they qualified?

You may think that you only want basic cover of your wedding and that less experience means the photographer will be cheaper and so on and so forth. However, the chances of them messing up the most basic shots is very high, you may end up with a bunch of rubbish photographs that you are upset about and ashamed to show your friends. You really are making excused for them to justify not investing in your photographs. If you are spending $20,000 on your reception, why are you not investing in a full-time professional photographer?

I have heard of potential clients that turn up to appointments in Audi’s or BMW’s, they tell the professional photographer that they are having their wedding at a really posh please that the professional photographer knows the rates are $25,000 plus drinks for a Saturday night, and then they want to spend $1200 on their photography, when they need to spend at least $5000 minimum for the coverage and outcomes they want. The professional photographer doesn’t book these clients.

Professional photography wedding packages consist of full-coverage, low-resolution digital images and the first 8 pages of a wedding album. You make an appointment after your wedding to sit down with your photographer to design your special wedding album. All the images in the album have to be professionally retouched. There will be an added investment for the album at the end of that session once the total number of pages and images are known.

The lesson here is; if the photographer you are talking to isn’t a full-time professional photographer with experience, you are taking a big gamble and accept the possibility that you wedding photographs with be rubbish or that the photographer with go broke and you will be out a decent amount of money.

After all, would you hire a tradesman from the Internet, to fix your wiring or plumbing, that wasn’t trade qualified or did it sometimes as a hobby?