Before you start ordering stationery, consider what themes and colour schemes you want at your wedding. From then, you can begin collecting invitation samples to see what you like best. Not only does this mean that you can see the invitations in real life and check out their quality, but you can also try a few different stationers and see what their service is like. I recommend choosing your invites before the rest of your stationery and then matching them accordingly, as you don't want to change your mind on your design halfway through your stationery journey. Save the dates let everyone know the date of your wedding, and can include a few key details. These are some of the most important pieces of stationery to have as they make wedding planning easier, as well as give guests a sneak peek of your day. If you're having a destination wedding or a wedding in a busy holiday period, you may want to send your save the dates up to a year in advance, allowing guests to book time off work, book hotels and flights, and save money for your big day. Your invitations are your most important and anticipated pieces of wedding stationery, so make sure you send them with lots of time to spare. Take into consideration the time it will take for your stationers to create and deliver your invites, as well as how long it will take for you to choose, personalise, and send them to guests. Some wedding invitations can be bought as bundles, including guest information and RSVP cards. This makes ordering your stationery super easy with the cards all sharing the same design. Make sure you include RSVP cards and guest information cards in your invitations. This makes managing your guest list so much easier and will help you plan the next stages of your wedding, such as meals and seating plans. Specifying an RSVP date is essential to getting your replies back and will prevent you from paying for unnecessary things down the line. Of course, all the extras can be ordered at any time throughout your wedding journey, but we recommend you order these around two months before the big day so that you haven't got so much to worry about at the last minute. It's hard to imagine life after the wedding, but sending thank you cards is an important final part of the journey so you can thank guests for coming and for any gifts that you received. We recommend sending these a couple of months after the day. This gives you enough time to settle into married life and go on your honeymoon without making guests wait ages for their cards.