Wedding Invitations and Giveaways: Ideas, Timing and Wording

The invitation is the first thing a guest sees of your wedding, and the giveaway is the last thing they carry home. Both are small lines in the budget, yet they leave an impression that lasts longer than anyone expects. They are also lines on which money is easily spent for no reason. This guide helps you choose what is fitting and useful.

Invitations

Printed or digital?

The question is no longer one or the other. Most Egyptian weddings now use both.

• Printed invitations for senior relatives, close family and the households you visit in person. In many families, an invitation delivered by hand during a visit is the real invitation, and a phone message does not take its place for a grandfather or an elder uncle.
• Digital invitations for friends, colleagues and acquaintances: an image or a short video sent by WhatsApp. They are quick, cost nothing to print, and make it easy to share the venue's location.

Split this way, you print a small number at high quality instead of hundreds of average cards.

What to write

A good invitation answers every question a guest has, without a phone call:

• The couple's names, and the parents' names if that is your family's custom
• Day and date, both written out: "Thursday 12 March"
• The time. Everyone knows guests tend to arrive late, so write the time you really want them there
• The venue's name, address and governorate
• A map link, or a QR code that opens it
• A number to call and confirm attendance

As for style, you can choose the traditional form, opening with the basmala, a verse, or the formal "request the honour of your presence", or a light modern voice in colloquial Arabic. Pick what sounds like you and sits well with your families.

The line about children

"Children's paradise is their home" and similar phrases are among the touchiest lines on an Egyptian invitation. If you would rather not have children at the party, that is your right. It is best said kindly and clearly, and close relatives should hear it from you in person before they read it on the card. If the venue has a children's corner, say so.

When to send

• Three months before: tell relatives who travel or live abroad the date by word of mouth, so they can arrange leave.
• Six to eight weeks before: approve the design and start printing. Printers get busy in wedding season.
• Four to six weeks before: make the invitation visits and hand out the printed cards.
• Three to four weeks before: send the digital invitation.
• One week before: a short reminder with the location.

How many to print

One invitation per household, not per person. Count the households, then add about a tenth for mistakes and for people remembered at the last minute. Keep one copy as a keepsake and one for the photographer to shoot on the day.

Before printing

• Proofread three times, and ask someone who did not write the text to read it. The classic errors: a weekday that does not match the date, a misspelt name, a phone number missing a digit.
• Ask for a printed proof. Colour on a screen is not colour on paper.
• Test the QR code on more than one phone.
• Check legibility. Ornate script is lovely for the names and tiring for the address and the time.
• Ask the printer about turnaround, and the price of a top-up run in case you need more.

Giveaways

Giveaways are a small thank-you to guests and a firmly rooted custom at engagements, marriage contract ceremonies, weddings and the sebou' (the celebration seven days after a baby's birth). The best giveaway gets eaten or used. The worst gets left on the table.

Things to eat

• Chocolates or sugared almonds in a pretty box or pouch. The traditional choice that cannot go wrong.
• A small jar of honey, jam or nuts
• Biscuits or homemade sweets wrapped with the couple's names
• Stuffed dates, especially for weddings near Ramadan and the Eids

Things to use

• A small scented candle
• A small Quran, prayer beads or a booklet of supplications, popular at contract ceremonies
• A small plant or cactus in a pot
• Handmade soap or a miniature perfume
• A hand fan at outdoor summer weddings. Guests will thank you on the spot.
• A keyring or a magnet with a simple design

Best avoided

• Decorative pieces showing the couple's photo and the date. No one will display them at home.
• Fragile items that are hard to carry, or large ones that will not fit in a handbag.
• Anything that melts or spoils at an outdoor summer party.

How many?

Decide first: one per guest or one per household? One per adult is usual at small events such as contract ceremonies and engagements, and one per household or per woman at large weddings. Once the rule is set, add a tenth in reserve, plus a few for close friends and relatives who could not come.

Ordering and handing out

• Order six to eight weeks ahead, particularly if they carry printing or names.
• Ask for a real sample before approving the quantity.
• Collect them a week before the wedding, open the cartons and count.
• Decide how they will be given out: placed on tables before guests arrive, at a corner by the exit, or carried round by the family's children. Put one named person in charge. Giveaways without an owner stay in their cartons until the party is over.

Ways to save

• Printed invitations for a limited number, digital for everyone else.
• A simple design on good paper beats a busy design with costly extras.
• One well-made giveaway instead of three items in a bag.
• Packing them at home with sisters and friends saves money and becomes a pleasant evening before the wedding.
• Ordering early avoids rush fees.

Printing and giveaway prices depend on materials, quantity and governorate and move with the market. Ask for more than one quote, and compare samples, not pictures.

Common mistakes

1. Printing before the venue and date are confirmed in writing.
2. An error in the date or address found after printing.
3. Posting the digital invitation in a large WhatsApp group, where the details reach people who were not invited.
4. Counting invitations per person, which doubles the print run for nothing.
5. Giveaways arriving the day before, with no time to check them.
6. Leaving the giveaways in the car or at home on the day.

How Gawazy helps

On Gawazy you can browse invitation designers and giveaway makers in your governorate, look at samples of their work and listed prices, then contact them directly to ask for a sample and a quote. The agreement and payment are between you and the vendor.

• Invitations
• Giveaways
• Other wedding services