You’ve heard of the bridal suite, but what about your wedding paper suite? It’s so much more than the invitation—it’s your guests’ first impression of the celebration ahead and the best way to learn about the occasion, too. It’s also a beautiful opportunity to reflect the overall aesthetic and design details of your wedding day.

Most importantly, though, your stationery process shouldn’t become another source of stress during an already intense planning period. With this in mind, we turned to Minted and their complimentary Concierge service for expert advice and thoughtful tips on crafting a wedding stationery suite that feels seamless, cohesive, and uniquely you.

Where to Begin

Before you even consider colors, paper weight and thickness, or embossing, the Minted Concierge team encourages couples to consider the overall tone of the event. “Having that foundation makes every decision afterward feel easier and more cohesive,” they note. “From there, couples can decide whether they want their paper goods to feel cohesive from start to finish or take on a more eclectic mix of styles across the wedding journey.”

The Minted team’s trick: Create a shared folder with your partner and pull together what inspires you, whether the be colors, typography, florals, or motifs. This streamlines your creative process and reduces decision fatigue. 

“One of the most helpful ways to approach wedding paper goods is to think about them as a complete guest experience rather than a series of disconnected pieces,” Anna Wibbelman, the General Manager of Minted Weddings pitches. “Consistency in typography, color palette, illustration style, or monograms can create a cohesive feel throughout every touchpoint, even if the designs themselves evolve over time.” It’s important to keep in mind at every point of your stationery process.

Pre-Wedding Stationery

After The Proposal

Shortly after that first “yes,” you may want to begin thinking about an engagement announcement or engagement party invitation. While completely optional, these pieces are typically sent soon after the proposal. Before getting too swept up in the thrill of being newly engaged or distracted by that shiny diamond ring, keep in mind that this step still requires planning and foresight. As a general rule, anyone invited to your engagement party should also receive an invitation to the wedding itself.

Save The Dates

Eight to Twelve Months Before The Wedding

The save the date effectively tells your guests well in advance of the big day to, true to name, save your wedding date and avoid making any plans on it. Minted advises designing and sending this eight to twelve months before the day itself, with more time allotted for destination weddings that would require travel for your guests.

While you don’t have to have every wedding vendor booked at this juncture, you do need to know your date, city, and all of your guests’ mailing addresses. Depending on your list size and how many people you allotted to your in-laws, chasing down addresses is no easy feat but is nevertheless imperative. Your guest list should be sorted out because everyone who receives a save the date must be invited to the wedding. 

Additionally, at this point, your wedding website should be guest-ready since you’ll include this on your save the date. “This is typically the first correspondence that guests receive and set the tone for the celebration,” Wibbelman explains. “Then, couples can build out the rest of their suite over time rather than trying to make every stationery decision at once.” 

The scope of creating your save the date shouldn’t be underestimated. This is the first tangible item your guests ever see from your wedding, and it’s usually what they tack onto their refrigerator for months to come.

If this already sounds a little daunting, we suggest looking into Minted Concierge for one-on-one assistance with creating your wedding suite or even enlisting their Wedding Website Service, where you can receive your own private consultation to set up your website.

The Wedding Party Paper Suite

Anytime During Your Wedding Season

Whenever you finalize your wedding party, you’ll likely pop the question with a card and an eventual invitation on a bachelor or bachelorette trip. Here are paper items you’ll want to account for:

• Bachelorette/Bachelor Trip Invitations or Itineraries
• Welcome Bags with Printed Inserts
• Custom Stickers and Favor Tags

Shower Stationery 

Anytime During Your Wedding Season

Arguably one of the most fun parts of our wedding season is getting showered in gifts! For these events, there are several paper items you or your hosts will want to make sure you have:

• Bridal Shower Invitations
• Couple Shower Invitations
• Signage
• Menu Cards
• Shower Game Cards
• Party Favor Tags
• Thank You Cards

Thank You Notes

Two Weeks After Your Showers and Up to Three Months After Your Wedding

While creating your wedding suite, consider finding beautiful stationery that will make you excited to write them or even try designing personal thank you notes to continue your suite’s theme. Frankly speaking, you’re about to enter a season of life where you will receive (hopefully) many gifts and will need this stationery on hand.

As if you didn’t have enough to stress over, there is a timeline for thank you notes you should abide by. Opinions differ and answers vary wildly, but a good rule of thumb is to send thank you notes for shower gifts within two weeks of receiving them. For wedding gifts, couples have misinterpreted the “One Year Rule” and often think this means they have one year after the wedding to write their thank you notes. Unfortunately, this rule is for wedding guests and giving their gift. It’s generally recommended you send your thank you cards within three months of the wedding. 

But also, better late than never! If it takes you longer to send yours, your guests will still be glad to receive it.

Wedding Invitations

Opinions Vary . . . Typically Two to Four Months Local, and Three to Six Months Destination

At long last, it’s time to work on your invitations. Minted advises that you finalize the design anywhere from four to six months before your wedding date, factoring in how complex your design is. “For the actual design process, couples should allow themselves a few weeks to review options, customize wording, request proofs, and make revisions without feeling rushed,” the Minted Concierge team also recommends. 

Minted offers complimentary full service proofing, which pairs you with an in-house designer to fine-tune and customize to your design. From there, a collaborative revision period begins between you and their designer. Minted also offers complimentary recipient and return addressing, which—trust us—will save you precious time.

Wibbelman proposes couples consider Minted’s new Novelty Shapes to bring even more personality and storytelling into their invitation suite. Each card features vivid colors and compelling shapes with popular motifs like flowers, shells, vintage hotel keys, and so much more to tie into your wedding aesthetic. “Traditionally, enclosure cards have been primarily informational—things like accommodations, transportation, or weekend itineraries—and these new formats allow couples to surprise guests with something more playful and memorable rather than purely logistical,” she explains.

In the days of yore, Emily Post and general societal etiquette recommended sending your invitations one month before the wedding. But it is becoming more and more common to do so several months in advance, especially for destination events and holiday weekend wedding. Couples should doubly keep in mind that it’s not unheard of for the postal system to incorrectly scan envelopes and never deliver mail. For all of these reasons and more, you’ll be grateful if you send your invitations sooner rather than later.

Lastly, a tip from OTM Brides: Order a few more invitations than you think you need. This will prove useful in case there are any lost invitations, mistakes addressing, and last-minute additions to your list. It’s inevitable! Plus, save a few invitations as keepsakes for long after the wedding itself.

Day-Of Paper

Print One to Two Weeks Before The Wedding

No, it doesn’t end with the invitations or thank you cards. There’s more paper and customization to be had! Don’t overlook (or underestimate) the different types of paper goods you may need during the wedding weekend:

• Ceremony Programs
• Welcome Bags with Printed Inserts
• Weekend Itinerary Cards
• Maps
• Welcome Signage
• Food Signs, Signature Drink Signs, and Cocktail Napkins
• Menus
• Place Cards
• Table Numbers
• Guest Book

You’ll want to ensure you have all of these designed and ordered 1-2 months out and printed at least 1-2 weeks before your wedding, for your peace of mind.

Create Your Entire Stationery Suite with Minted’s Wedding Concierge

Designing your wedding suite can be yet another thing on your ever-expanding wedding to do list. Minted’s complimentary Wedding Concierge makes the stationery design process feel personal and collaborative. Connect individually with one of their stationery experts to collaborate on your designs in whatever capacity you need, regardless of where you are in the wedding stationery journey. 

The Concierge team acts as a guide, choosing designs and refining wording or customizing colors, layouts, and design details so your suite is true to your style across every individual item. Plus, they can also assist with selecting coordinated day-of pieces like menus, programs, and signage while balancing practical logistics like timelines, etiquette questions, and mailing suggestions.

Wherever you are with your stationery journey, we wish you luck and hope every invitation you design is signed, sealed, and delivered right on time.