(ARA) - When your grandmother or mother wanted to announce her wedding, she probably sat in a printer's shop and sifted through massive books of samples, but her choices were probably fairly limited.

Today, thanks to the Internet and digital printing technology, your choices for unique wedding invitations are virtually limitless. Today's bride has the ability to truly set the tone of her wedding with invitations that are utterly unique and completely hers.

But so much freedom of choice can seem overwhelming. To help you get started on making one of the most important decisions of your wedding - how to announce it - the experts at MyJeanM.com offer some information on wedding invitation basics:

Start with the shape and style

When it comes to shape, size and style, you have an array of options. Will your invitation be a folder? Or a single card? Will the layout be vertical or horizontal? Do you desire square, rectangular,or a unique shape?

Your basic taste - traditional, classic or modern - will help you decide on the shape and style of your invitation. Traditionalists might prefer an elegant black and white, espresso and cream or accents of flourishes, monograms or ribbons. Modern adventurists may go for a more innovative design with color offering a punch and a more contemporary look. The type of paper you prefer will also play a role in determining the basic shape of your wedding invitation cards.

Consider color

Wedding invitations are no longer limited to black and white. Color is a great way to make your invitation demand attention. Instead of traditional white or cream colored paper stock, consider something bright and eye catching that evokes the colors you'll be using in the wedding itself. And remember, you can play with font color too, adding print in virtually any hue to a wide variety of paper colors.

Dress it up

Once you've made shape, style and color decisions, it's time to consider the many ways you can dress up your wedding invitations. You can add monograms, design cuts or embellishments. You can even switch up envelopes, inserting your customized wedding invitation into an envelope of a contrasting color. Easy changes can completely alter the look of your invitations, taking traditional to trendy or turning simple into stylishly elegant.

If you want to save money and get exactly what you want, you can put your invitations together yourself, but be sure you have time to assemble them. Or, you can custom design your invitation online at www.MyJeanM.com, preview what it will look like, and then have the Web site's invitation experts put it all together for you.

Your wedding invitations really set the tone for your wedding, and are a great way to give guests a preview of what they'll experience on your big day.

Courtesy of ARAcontent