Once upon a time, wedding invitations were not sent out with response cards included.  Sometimes, you will still see those wedding invitations today that go out sans response cards from time to time. Back then, etiquette frowned upon such enclosures with the invitations, but in those days, wedding guests automatically wrote little notes on their own notepaper to accept the invitation.

In today’s very busy and fast-paced world, those little personal notes simply were not getting written — therefore, we saw wedding etiquette evolve and now give the okay to send out response cards with invitations. But it’s interesting how, for the most part, wedding etiquette regarding response cards isn’t really terribly strict. You see, there isn’t a “correct” way of response card wording. Instead, there are styles that are more appropriate for a formal wedding, and those best suited to a casual affair. Taking the time to ensure your response card matches the type and tone of not only your wedding but wedding invitation as well is a nice thing to do…and, happily, part of staying in-line with etiquette.

As many brides know, those reply envelopes arriving in the mail make for a daily little moment of excitement in the many months’ worth of wedding planning.  Every “yes” was a thrill and every “no” was a disappointment, but when I was a bride, I was happy to receive each and every envelope in the mail.  So there’s pros and cons to both ways of wedding planning.