| Contemporary, Elegant & Traditional Invitations |
| Birchcraft Invitations |
| WHAT YOU NEED, WHEN YOU NEED IT, WHY IT'S PROPER Engagement Announcements: Because of school, military service or other plans, your wedding date may be far in the future. If you want people to know you are engaged, plan an Announcement using the Wedding Invitation format. Either formal or informal copy is proper to let people know your exciting news. Save-the-Date Cards: Mail them three to four months in advance of the wedding. It is a good idea to give family and friends as much notice as possible of the coming event. This is especially true if you have many out of town guests. Wedding Invitations with Envelopes: Used for anyone you want to attend the ceremony (even if they are ill or too far away to actually come.) Always lists who is getting married, on what day, of what year (spelled out in full), at what time, and the location. An occasion this important rates more than a casual invitation. Elegance is enhanced by coordinating with lined inner envelopes. Reception Cards: Traditionally a Reception Card is only used when a select number of the guests invited to the ceremony are invited to the reception. Nowadays, a Reception Card is included with the invitation, even when everyone invited to the ceremony is invited to the reception. This invitation says, "You are special." Mailed along with the invitation, this card announces the time and location of reception. Response Cards with Printed Return Envelopes: A must in today's busy times, or you simply won't know who is planning on attending. Plus, you will end up chasing down guests who do not send a handwritten reply. The Response Card has become an accepted part of wedding etiquette. Including one with invitation is a thoughtful way to ease the guest's responsibility to reply to formal invitations. As a courtesy to guests, enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope with Response Card. Wedding Announcements: If your circle of friends and relatives is larger than the list you intend to invite to the ceremony, or if you have a private wedding, you will want to send an announcement of your wedding. Wedding Announcements include the wedding date, but never the time or location of ceremony. Mail the day of the wedding. At Home Cards: If you are moving to a new home and want to inform family and friends of your new information. Informs family and friends of your new address and lets them know whether you are keeping your maiden name. Usually mailed with the announcement or mailed separately after the wedding. Thank-You Notes: A perfectly proper time-saver for those very busy days leading up to the wedding and immediately following the wedding. It's a thoughtful way to let gift givers know their gift was received. Always write a personal thank-you note later. Send within two months of wedding. Informals: With or without the name of the groom, this personalized stationery is needed to hand write thank-you notes to those who gave a wedding gift. People who took the time to pick out a wedding gift deserve a personalized thank-you note. Also excellent for many other occasions where only brief correspondence is needed. Wedding Programs: A great way for guests to follow the ceremony and learn who is in your wedding party. Enables you to share a special message or poem with your guests. Provides guests with a nice memento of your special day. Place Cards and Table Cards: Makes sit-down meals less chaotic if people have assigned seats, or at least assigned tables. Place Cards list the guest's name and table and are often displayed in envelopes on a table outside the tent or reception room. Table Cards list a table number inside the folder and the guest's name appears on the outside of the folder. Ceremony Cards: Used when everyone is invited to the wedding reception but only a limited number are invited to the ceremony. This invitation says, "You are special." Mailed along with the invitation, this card announces the time and location of ceremony. ETIQUETTE QUESTIONS Other than friends, the groom's family and my family, who should receive wedding invitations? Send invitations to the members of the wedding party and their parents. It is also appropriate to include the officiant and his/her spouse. All children over the age of sixteen should receive their own invitation. Plan to order an additional twenty-five invitations to allow for the unexpected. It is less expensive to buy extras now. Should I have a return address printed on the back flap of the invitation's outer envelope? Yes! The U.S. Postal Service suggests that all first-class mail have a return address. It gives the wedding guest an address to which to send a reply (if you don't use reply cards) or a gift. Also, it ensures that you will know if the invitation does not reach its destination as it will be returned to the sender. Is it acceptable to send gift registry cards with the invitation? It is not proper to include with your wedding invitation any card that mentions gifts you expect to receive. Let friends and family spread the word on where you are registered. My fiancé and I have had several showers and other parties given in our honor. Therefore, some friends have given us more than one gift. Can we write one thank you note to cover both gifts, or does each gift require a separate note? Gifts given at separate parties require separate thank you notes. If you use preprinted thank you notes to immediately acknowledge that a gift was received, always follow up with a hand written note to the gift giver. These notes should be written no later than two months after the wedding. How do you address the outer envelope of an invitation to a married couple if the woman has kept her maiden name? If the woman kept her name, address the envelope with both names on the same line if space permits: Mr. William Greenberg and Ms. Laura Vargas 28 Brookview Avenue For an invitation to an unmarried couple living together, list their names alphabetically on separate lines without "and": Mr. William Greenberg Ms. Laura Vargas 28 Brookview Avenue Six To Twelve Months Before Your Wedding Announce engagement. Use formal printed announcements and/or the newspaper. Three To Six Months Before Your Wedding Finalize guest list. Use a software program or a list to track responses. Order wedding and reception invitations, response cards, place cards, announcements, thank you notes, informals, at home cards, Save-the-Date cards and accessories. Always order extra invitations and envelopes to allow for addressing mistakes and surprise guests. It is less expensive to order extras from the start. Send out Save-the-Date Cards so your guests can reserve your special day on their calendar. Address invitations and announcements as soon as possible. Arrange to have someone mail the wedding announcements the day of the wedding. Write thank-you notes as gifts are received. If you are using preprinted thank you notes to immediately acknowledge that a gift was received, be sure to send a hand written thank you on your informal notes within two months after the wedding. Two To Three Months Before Your Wedding Finish addressing invitations and announcements. Continue to write thank you notes. Six Weeks To Two Months Before Your Wedding Mail the invitations (six weeks is customary, eight is becoming increasingly common). It is not uncommon for guests to mail their response card without writing their name. To identify guests if this happens, assign each guest a number. Write this number very small on the back of their response card before you put it in with the invitation. An incomplete response card can now be matched to a guest. Use a software program or a list with each guest's name and address to track responses. Order wedding programs and reception accessories such as napkins, cake boxes etc. Continue to write thank you notes. Submit names for place cards to calligrapher or write out yourself. Finish addressing announcements. One Week Before Your Wedding Continue to write thank you notes, if possible. |
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