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Invitations
Friday, January 26, 2007

Invitations

There it is in black and white, or whatever color you decided on, your names, the location and the date. It’s almost official! Are you nervous yet? Just 12 more weeks before you get hitched and your invitations are in. Wondering where to begin? Here are some tips to get your invitations ready.

Proper etiquette for addressing your invitations is to do so by hand using black or blue ink. Some brides do address their invitations using the theme color of the wedding. Hiring a calligrapher is the best option for handwriting but they can be expensive. It is not etiquette to use labels but when you have a large wedding of 250+ guests and can’t afford a calligrapher, then go ahead. Purchase clear labels and use a cursive font to make it look more elegant. Better yet, print the envelopes on your home computer.

Be sure to mail your invitations 6-8 weeks before your wedding. If your wedding is taking place during a busy time of the year such as a holiday weekend, you should mail your invitations 10-12 weeks before the big day. You want to be sure to give your guests enough time to plan their holiday weekends around your wedding.

If you have decided to have a destination wedding your invitations should be mailed out even earlier. Your guests will need to make arrangements for traveling such as airfare and need to take the time off from work.

Here are some more tips:

Common titles such as Mr., Mrs., and Ms. can be abbreviated.

Formal titles such as Doctor, Reverend, and Captain should be written

If you are sending an invitation to a teenager, be sure to put a title before their name such as Miss or Mr.

If you are sending an invitation to a guest and their children, do not put the children's names on the outer envelope. Address it to the parents and include the children's names on the inner envelope.

The street name and state should be spelled out.

Here are some examples of formal titles:

Minister:
Outer envelope: The Reverend John Smith
Inner envelope: The Reverend Smith
Roman Catholics would use Father (Father John Smith)

Rabbi:
Outer envelope: Rabbi Richard Bachman
Inner envelope: Rabbi Bachman

Doctor:
Outer envelope: Mary Smith, M.D. or Doctor Mary Smith Inner envelope: Dr. Smith

Believe it or not there is also a way to “stuff” your invitations. Here is the proper way to assemble them:

The response card will go in its own envelope.

Place tissue paper over the invitation (to ensure against any smudging).

Place the invitation in the inside envelope (this is the envelope that you can not seal). Be sure that the fold-side is down and face-side is toward the flap.

All other enclosures are placed inside that envelope on top of the invitation.

Place the inside envelope in the outer mailing envelope.

Be sure it is face-side toward the flap.

Always include directions and a map to both your ceremony and reception locations even if they are well known. Also make sure to include directions for guests coming from various directions (coming from the north, south, west, etc.). Using Mapquest or Yahoo! Maps is the easiest way to get the correct directions. My suggestion is to actually drive the route yourself with your fiancé while writing down the street names, route numbers, etc. to ensure it is correct.

If you haven’t yet ordered your invitations, call Joyce Soares at SouthCoast Printing at 508-979-4385 or via e-mail at jsoares@s-t.com to reserve and view the invitation album in the comfort of your own home.

Enjoy!
Leslie

Good Luck and has always, feel free to contact me at asktheplanner@southcoastweddingbells.com for more questions and tips.

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