Your Lake Tahoe wedding invitation should set the tone to elicit a “must-attend” response from your guests.  Although electronic invitations may have become more feasible with technological advancements, it is still considered “proper etiquette” to send a beautiful paper invitation through the good old U.S. Postal Service.  More importantly, in this day and age of incessant spam in our in-boxes, a mailed invitation shows your guests that you have made the effort to personally request their presence at your wedding, and it will better motivate them to be there.

Union Street Papery is the ultimate destination for sensational stationery.  These paper mavens have their pulse on all the latest designs and trends, so you can express your style with pizazz, and get your guests buzzing about your big day.

Here are the typical components of your wedding stationery wardrobe:

• The wedding invitation piece is the main event and should include your names. If your parents are helping to pay for the wedding, it should include their names as well. Other details include date, time, ceremony location and reception if they are in the same location.  Since you may want to frame your invitation do not write in the corners “Adults Only”, “Black Tie” or “No Gifts”.  Save this information for a separate Information card.
• If your reception is in a different location than the ceremony, you will need a Reception Card with the name and address of the wedding reception. Also include the time the reception starts and provide information as to what type of meal will be served, such as “Dinner and Dancing”. 
• A Transportation / Information Card typically is two sided with easy to read font. If you are providing group transportation to and from the wedding from one or more hotel properties, specify the name of the hotel and what time to meet in the hotel lobby for departure.  If the guests are self-driving to the wedding, provide detail driving instructions that you have driven, do not rely on directions from Google.  If you are having an outdoor ceremony, cocktails and/or reception provide this information, and give average temperatures for this time of year and advise on attire and proper footwear.
• For Pre and Post Wedding Weekend Events, you should have a separate card listing the activities, location, time, what to wear and if transportation will be provided.
• The Response Card should have a space for guests to write their name indicating if they will or will not attend the wedding. If you are offering a meal choice, have the guest indicate their entrée preference by writing their name(s) next to the choices you are offering.  If you are providing group transportation, have guests confirm they are taking transportation and if there is more than one hotel in your room block, specify the hotel name.  For pre and post wedding weekend events, have them RVSP to all events attending.  You will want to pre-stamp all your response cards for your guests convenience (US only not overseas).
• The Envelope Please… It’s gorgeous to line your envelope, so select a lining that will wow and coordinate with your wedding invitation and all the wardrobe pieces going inside.

We caught up with Stacey, the Top Doll at Union Street Papery, to learn more about their approach to creating an inviting wedding invitation.

When and how did you get into the stationery business?

My first high school job was at a beautiful local stationery store that I had shopped at as a kid. I loved paper and stickers, and lucked into landing a job there. I quickly moved from general retail to invitation design and consultation which really captured me.

How do you stay on top of the latest stationery trends?

We have built some amazing relationships with designers and other stationers over the years, and are in constant communication with them. Instagram and Pinterest have been very influential (and helpful to dig into the wedding vibe of our couples), as have a few blogs and publications along the way.

New vendors/designers reach out to us on a daily basis, so we can follow up on what interests us and work for our clientele.

What’s the best way for a wedding couple to prepare for their first stationery visit?

Doing even just a little homework first is somewhat helpful: creating Pinterest board showing color, florals, site location can really help us focus in on their invitation style. Having an idea of budget and items that they want to include in the suite can really set us off in the right direction as well. We understand that this is usually a once in a lifetime experience that they need help and guidance with, so we also are prepared to explain all the options from the beginning. Their invitations are the first true glimpse into their wedding, and we hope that is as important to them as it is to us.

What is your approach to working with wedding couples?

We really try to get to know our couples story: How they met, where they come from, what they do, what is important to them, why they have chosen their venue, etc. We encourage them to put their personality into their paper, just as they will to the rest of the event. We can guide them as much or as little as they want, customize anything with art, graphics, or calligraphy to set just the right tone for their big day.

Other Inviting Tips

We recommend sending hotel information with your Save the Date, not the wedding invitation.  Hotel room blocks should be secured as soon as you know your wedding date and reception location, because guests need to make their flights and other travel plans sooner than two months before the wedding.  Also, many hotel properties have release dates on their room blocks, so you will want your guests to make their reservations several months before the wedding. 

Once your wedding stationery ensemble has been printed, it’s time to take one invitation set to the post office to weigh.  With all the components, it will definitely weigh more than your average envelope.  Once you know the postage price per envelope, you can select a stamp that you love by either selecting something the post office currently offers, or having a custom stamp created for you.  You can also have your wedding envelopes professionally hand addressed by a calligrapher – now that’s attention grabbing! 

Finally, please, please make sure you have the stamps hand-cancelled when bringing them to your local post office.  Do not drop them into the black hole of a blue mailbox, because the Postal Service machinery may not be kind to your wedding invitation.  Then, sit back and experience the excitement as the responses start to roll in!