Wedding Invitations

If you love to throw parties, then you’re going to love planning your wedding.  Why? Because you’re probably not just going to be planning the wedding itself, but also any related parties such as engagement parties, rehearsal dinners, and perhaps even a bridesmaid luncheon. Everything needs an invitation, not just the wedding.

Bridal showers need invitations, engagement parties need invitations, rehearsal dinners need invitations.  Many couples are now putting together a full weekend of events for their guests in addition to the wedding, with such things as casual barbeques the day before for their attendants, or day-after family style brunch as a sort of sendoff for the honeymooners.  And those events need invitations, too.

Wedding etiquette (not to mention common sense) suggests that you make sure that your invitation includes the basics of the event — and that they are crystal clear for the guests.  Time, date, location, and perhaps any dress code or suggestions should absolutely, without fail, be appearing on an invitation. And, of course, it’s best to be absolutely sure to send out invitations well enough in advance of your bridal shower or wedding for your prospective guests to plan accordingly (especially any guests who are coming in from out of town).  Etiquette helps everyone involved to enjoy themselves in comfort.  Now, go start planning!

Related topics:

Bridal Shower - A fun game that is played at bridal showers when a few teams are formed and it is decided who will be the bride and each team is given a few rolls of toilet paper to make a wedding dress. At the end of the game, the bride is supposed to …

Bridal Shower Cake - I had two bridal shower cakes this weekend, but was only able to photograph one, since the other was out the door before I remembered to take a photo, which is a shame, but I have a similar cake at the end of the, so I can post that one …

Here comes the Bride(al) Shower - Previously, Lynn hosted another bridal shower for me at her and Grandpa’s house. The whole family put forth a lot of effort for a really nice brunch and we had a great time catching up and devouring her amazing food. …

For Your Rehearsal Dinner: Twelve by Twelve - … gorgeous dress is from Twelve by Twelve, a division of Forever 21. Looking for the perfect dress to wear at your rehearsal dinner, look no further. It’s $42.00 and you can get it here. email your questions to: bridalwishlist@gmail.com.

How Much Should A Wedding Rehearsal Dinner Cost? - The best way to determine what a wedding rehearsal dinner should cost, is to take a good look at what you have in mind and then take a good honest look at your budget. Chances are that most budgets will not allow for everything that you …

Some people often choose to host a post wedding breakfast or brunch for those guests who traveled great distances to the wedding.  This gives the new families and other guests another chance to mingle and get to know one another before heading home.  It’s usually organized, hosted and paid for by the friends or family, not the newlyweds.  This is also an event that can occur without the bride and grooms attendance, as they will most likely be off on their honeymoon, or perhaps even want a break from all the commotion. 

Who gets invited to the post wedding chow down? Good question. You do not need to invite every Jane and Joe who is invited to the wedding. After considering the budget and the capacity of the location to hold this, the real fun begins. All of the planning will require communication with the bride and groom.

• Inviting the close relatives on both sides is a wedding etiquette must, regardless of how far they had to travel.
• Find out who the newlyweds feel are “close”
• Find out who is coming from great distances
• Consider inviting the people you know are for sure coming to the wedding, especially those who actually RSVP’d
• You will need to get a list of the addresses to send out invitations
• The sooner you get the invites sent, the sooner the guests can plan their reservations

Have fun planning. Stay tuned for tomorrow.

It has been in effect for a week now so you probably have moved into the mindset that it is going to cost you more to send out your wedding invitations than it would have a week ago. Hopefully you didn’t already buy your stamps way ahead of time not knowing or forgetting about the postal increase. The rate is now $0.41 for the first ounce and $0.17 for the second.

This brings a good opportunity to bring up something you may need to consider and that is, “Will you need to pay for the extra ounce?” If you are only sending an invitation, probably not. Most invitations are under an ounce. If you are added pieces like a reception and/or response card with envelope, you probably have crossed over the line into the two-ounce category.

Also, if your wedding invitations are square - large or small, they will require extra postage - for different reasons. The large squares are considered over sized and the small ones don’t fit through the postal meter so have to be hand canceled, resulting in a higher fee. It is less than the $0.17 for the second ounce, but more than the standard $0.41 nonetheless. To play is safe, I would recommend taking your wedding invitations to you local post office, have them weighed and ask an agent what denomination of stamps you should buy to mail them out.

Also, don’t forget that if you are sending response cards, you are expected to put a stamp on the small envelope that is used to send back your guest’s response. You will want to purchase those stamps when you purchase the ones for your wedding invitations.

When do you need "At Home" cards?
If you happen to be moving to a new home, whether it’s a local move or across the country, you need to notify your friends of your new information.

Why is it proper to send "At Home" cards?
By sending your family and friends an "at home" cards it informs them of your new address and lets them know whether or not you are keeping your maiden name. Usually, they are mailed with the announcement or mailed separately after the wedding.

When do you need wedding announcements?
If your circle of friends and relatives is larger than the list you intend to
invite to you wedding ceremony, or if you have a private wedding, you will want
to send an announcement of your wedding in the place of wedding invitations.

Also if you are having a destination wedding, obviously many of your friends
will not be able to attend. In this case you would want to send out wedding
announcements to let them know that you got married. You might include an
invitation for a celebration back home which they could attend to help you
celebrate at a later date.

Why is it proper to send wedding announcements?
Wedding Announcements include the wedding date, but never the time or location
of ceremony. They should be mailed the day of the wedding.

When do you need response cards?

Response cards are a must in today’s society. With everyone’s busy schedules,
you cannot expect folks to send you a handwritten reply that was the
traditional practice many years ago. If you want to know who is coming to your
wedding you need to include response cards in your wedding invitations. Even
then, you will find that a number of your invited guests will not respond and
you will still have to make some phone calls or send some emails to find out if
they are coming.

You don’t want to have to spend money to cover guests who aren’t going to show.
There will probably be a few invitees who at the last minute are not able to
attend for some reason or another and you will have to forfeit the money
prepaid for those guests at your wedding reception. Of course you want to keep
your expenses at a minimum.

Nowadays, some brides have included a phone number, email address or URL for
responses. That’s okay, but returning a reply card is still the traditional,
formal way to offer for a response. Adding any of the above could be offered as
an alternative if your guests should choose to use it to advise you of their
intention.

Why is it proper to include a response card with your wedding invitations?
The response card has become an accepted part of wedding etiquette.
Including one with the invitation is a thoughtful way to ease the guest’s
responsibility to reply to formal invitations. As a courtesy to your guests,
enclose a stamped, self addressed envelope with a response card.

When do you need  Wedding Invitations?
Wedding invitations are used for anyone you want to attend the cermony (even if they are ill or too far away to actually come). Always list who is getting married, on what day, of what year (spelled out in fill), at what time, and the location. What type of invitation you send it totally up to you and if possible should fit the theme of your wedding. You may want to send traditional wedding invitations, or contemporary wedding invitations or anything inbetween.
Why it’s proper:
An occasion this important rates more than a casual invitation. Elegance is enhanced by coordinating with lined inner envelopes. It’s nice if you can find unique wedding invitations that fit your taste that can set the tone of your wedding.

You have so many lovely wedding invitations on your site. Can you send me a catalog so I can show them to my fiance and mother?

Unfortunately
because we offer so many wedding invitations, our supplier has not provided us
with a paper catalog. It would be just too cost prohibative. We can
offer you samples however of the actual invitations.

That gives you an
opportunity to see and hold each wedding invitation you are interested in, up close and personal. You can use our sample form that was created for this. We will get them in the mail to your by way of USPS 1st class mail by the next business day.

Mormon weddings are nontraditional in that they are open only for those who are members of the
Mormon faith. The bride and groom are “sealed” for “time and eternity”
in temples open only for practicing Latter-day-Saints.

Mormon weddings are
generally small and intimate, attended only by family and close
friends. The reception afterwards is a much larger affair to which all
the friends and extended families are invited. Since more guests are
invited to the reception than the ceremony, this is a case where these unique wedding
invitations are used for the reception and the reception cards are used
as the ceremony cards which are enclosed with the invitations of those
who are invited to the temple ceremony.

These invitations to the
reception read a bit differently than a traditional reception
invitation in that it is mentioned that the wedding ceremony was
performed in the Latter-day Saint temple. Because families are
emphasized so much in the Church of Latter-day Saints, the groom’s
parents are honored by having their names mentioned on the wedding invitation.

Their names appear under the groom’s name, preceded by “son of” on a
separate line. The reception itself is a bit different as well, as they
are more of just a “drop in” affair to congratulate the new couple,
visit a bit and leave. So the invitations will mention a time frame
during which the reception will be held.

Ceremony cards draw a
distinction between weddings held in a Mormon temple and wedding held
elsewhere. When weddings are held in a temple, it is so noted on the
ceremony card. Some have asked if it is proper to send a photo of themselves along
with their wedding invitations. While it is often done by those from the
Church of Latter-day Saints, it is not proper to do so. The purpose of
the wedding invitations is to invite guests to your wedding.

I’m afraid that if I don’t include the name of my father’s wife on my wedding invitations, it might hurt her feelings.

As I just mentioned yesterday, the importance of wedding invitation etiquette should never
out weigh the importance of relationships. The purpose is to build
relationships, not to harm them.

I can think of a couple of suggestions I will offer here. Since it
is not proper for her name to appear on the wedding invitations, she could be
listed along with your parent as one of the hosts for the reception. By
doing this she would receive a place of honor on the reception cards
while the invitations are still worded properly.

If you choose to do this, your mother’s name would be on the first
line for the reception card. The second line would have the names of
your father and his wife. The rest of the card reads, “request the
pleasure of your company at the marriage reception” followed by the
date, time and place.

Another way you could word your wedding  invitations that would work would
be not to mention any of your parent’s names. You could issue the
invitations yourselves by putting your name on the first line, your
fiancé’s name on the third line with “and” separating the two and then
say, “together with their parents”…Now this is not proper but would
work if your parents were okay with that wording.