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At Minted we are dedicated to bringing you the freshest of design through our talented Minted Artist Community. Every design on our website is created by an independent artist. Our products get chosen by the public through our crowdsourcing model where we run contests to source designs from artists located across the globe. This process ensures our customers are receiving a hand-designed trend-forward look in all our stationery products. These unique designs are then printed using top of the line printing techniques on deluxe paper quality for a luxurious touch and feel.

ACHIEVE THE PERSONALIZED LOOK YOU ARE AIMING FOR

Once you have found a card design you like, it’s time to start making it your own. Our card customizer tools allow you to create your wedding announcement online with ease. One way we see couples customize their design is with custom foil. By adding custom foil, you are able to add sparkle and shine to your names or any other text details on your card. Selecting a luxe cardstock can also elevate your post-wedding correspondence. We offer six varieties of paper to choose, from our smooth signature paper, which is optimized for photo cards, to our triple thick and pearlescent paper, which will give your mailer a memorable touch and feel. In Minted’s online customizer tool you can also add custom envelope liners and pick from a variety of colored envelopes to create a cohesive look for your card inside and out. We also offer free recipient addressing on envelopes to make sending out your wedding announcements a breeze. Check out our expert guide to envelopes for any questions you may have on envelope sizing, types, postage requirements, and more.

Do you have multiple photos or an extended personal message you wish to share? At Minted, we offer the ability to customize the back of your card, so you can add this extra information in style. Browse through creative layouts that blend watercolor designs, text, and personal images into one eye-catching display of the most important memories from your wedding day.

Another way to achieve your desired look for your card is with the help of a Minted design associate. Does the design you picked have a text color you wish was olive instead of cobalt? Our design associates will communicate back and forth with you to help with the fine-tuning of your design. We are excited to work with you to create something memorable to send to your friends and family.

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS A WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT?

Let’s start with the basics. A wedding announcement allows extended family, friends, or guests who were not able to attend the wedding ceremony to share in the exciting news and events of the wedding. It’s important to understand the difference between a wedding invitation and a wedding announcement. A wedding invitation simply invites guests to your wedding and might include items like an RSVP card, reception card, and directions to the wedding. A wedding announcement card is for a couple that has already been married and wants to send the news of their marriage out to family and friends. The normal cadence of wedding correspondence is as follows; save the dates, wedding invitations, wedding announcements, and finally wedding thank you cards. At Minted we can help you maintain a congruent theme throughout all of these touchpoints to achieve the elevated look your are aiming for.

WHO SHOULD RECEIVE ONE?

As we have already mentioned, if a guest was invited to your wedding but was not able to attend, they are a perfect candidate to receive a “just married” announcement. If a bride and groom had a small wedding, international wedding, or opted to elope, wedding announcements are a great way to share a little bit of the magic from the historic day that many probably missed out on.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SEND THEM?

Ideally, you should send out your declaration immediately after your wedding, but some couples may go on a honeymoon. If you send announcements within 30 days of your wedding, that is well within the parameters of proper wedding etiquette. Need a refresher on how to use Mrs., Ms., or Miss? Read through our guide on how to correctly address your envelopes. Simply provide Minted with your recipient addresses and let us do the rest!

WHAT SHOULD YOU INCLUDE IN YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT?

Your “just married” announcement should include similar information found on your initial wedding invite, but slightly abridged. You can also include an image or two from the wedding ceremony that your wedding photographer may have shot. Below are some ideas to consider.

Formal Announcement:

• If the couple hosted the wedding themselves, phrasing like “announcing the marriage of” is a suitable introduction. If the parents of the couple hosted the wedding ceremony, an introduction like “Mr. and Mrs. Jones and Mr. and Mrs. Barnes joyfully announce the marriage of their children” would be more appropriate.
• If there is a change in last names, it is customary to list the names as follows, “Pattrick Charles Downing and Adriana Irene Downing”.
• The wedding date should be written in longhand with no abbreviations.
• Lastly, the wedding location should be included with no abbreviations for states or streets.

Informal Announcement:

• An informal introduction like, “We Eloped,” “We’re Married,” or “Just Married” are great options to include in your correspondence. You can also opt for no introduction and skip right to the names.
• With an informal announcement, you have a lot more liberty to write your names how you would like. Would you like to only include first names? Go for it! Full names more your style? Include them! At Minted we often see informal designs that showcase just the couple’s first names. Another option that is a little more formal than just first names is something along the lines of “Mr. and Mrs. Zhang.”
• The wedding date is the next item to be included and can be written with numbers representing the month, date, and year.
• Lastly, the location of the wedding should be listed but can be abbreviated to your liking. For example, “Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square, PA” or simply “San Francisco."

WHAT PICTURE DO YOU FEATURE?

Typically couples include a photo of themselves as the focal point. This photo is usually professionally taken at the wedding or pre-reception photoshoot if the couple has one. Another less traditional option is to use a photo not taken in formal wedding attire. A honeymoon photo or a much-loved photo from your engagement photo collection can do the trick. The most important thing about the photo is that it should be a representation of your love for each other. A sweet embrace, the first dance, or exchanging your vows are all great moments to share visually on your card. If celebrating your union during the holiday season, you may want to consider a holiday-themed correspondence. At Minted we offer a curated selection of Newlywed Christmas Cards to announce your wedding in a “Married and Bright” fashion. If you would rather have no photo on your wedding announcement, Minted offers a variety of creative and artistic non-photo cards as well.

DON’T FORGET TO ALERT YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER

While a little old fashioned, we love the sentiment of submitting news of the newlywed couple to the local paper. This tradition dates back to 1851 where the first recently-married couple was announced in the debut issue of the New York Times. In modern-day, the process and the announcements themselves don’t differ too much from how they read over a century and a half ago. Most papers will have a FAQ section on their website where you can fill out your wedding announcement information. If you live in a very small town, sometimes giving the newspaper’s office a call is the best way to get in touch. Most newspaper introductions of couples include full names of the couple and their parents, the date, time, venue details, the officiant, occupations of the couple, where they plan to live, level of education, and a quick anecdote about how they met. Depending on the newspaper, it is ideal to plan to submit your detailed information six weeks before your wedding day as the newspaper traditionally takes some time to review and plan for the placement of your news.

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