All About Wedding Invitations: The Do's and Don'ts!
1 August 2022 by Emily Ochi – Pop Celebrations & Events
Gone are the days of the town crier announcing a wedding to the public! From engraving details onto metal plates covered with tissue paper to the invention of the printing press and the use of paper to our now increasingly digital processes, wedding invitations have a long and distinguished history. Once upon a time wedding invitations were a tradition saved for people of noble heritage. These days we can all share in the excitement and fun of creating, sending and receiving these little informational parcels of joy.
Wedding Invitation Etiquette Quick Tips:
1. Wedding invites are usually sent out at least 8 weeks in advance
2. Specify at least the date, time and location
3. Include an RSVP envelope with a stamp
4. Leave out registry info
Paper vs Digital Invites
Your life is probably increasingly online these days for the convenience it offers, so consider making your wedding invite digital too. There are several apps and websites you can use to manage your guest lists and RSVPs, or if you love a good spreadsheet you could be in your element to enter it all manually! Paper invites can get lost in the mail (or once in the guests hands!), but they can also make beautiful mementos of your special day.
What Goes on a Wedding Invitation?
Think about everything you want to know when you get invited to a wedding, and pop it down! The bare essentials on the wedding itself of course are the date, location and starting time. Consider whether or not you want or need to include these aspects in the invitation:
- Time of the ceremony, time of the reception and any other applicable starting times
- Are plus ones and/or children also invited
- Transport to and from the venue – are you providing transport, can you suggest appropriate transport options, does anyone need to know where to park?
- Accommodation, for people travelling
- Dress code
- How to RSVP
- Favourite Song (For the DJ to play at the reception!)
What SHOULDN'T Go on a Wedding Invitation?
You can make your invitations as detailed or as simple as you like, but a handful of things are best left off the invite:
- Reference to a wedding registry. If you have one set up, great! But let your guests enquire about it themselves or include it in your wedding website if you have one.
- The phrase: “No kids”. Ouch. It’s perfectly acceptable if you’d like your wedding to be adults only, however there’s a way to phrase this politely. Let any parents know well in advance that a babysitter is required- after all, they deserve a night to socialise and celebrate too! A really popular choice these days is to hire babysitters or a separate creche area for kids.
- Hard to read fonts – your font choices may be pretty, but are they legible? Think about how you can make your invites more accessible for any guests with vision impairment.
Whats the Difference Between an Invitation and a "Save the Date"?
Between all the bookings that need to come together for the big day, it would be a downright shame to send the invites out late in the game and find that some of your nearest and dearest can’t be there to celebrate with you! A “save the date” is a heads up sent to your guests well in advance of the wedding to ask them to keep the date free. It also serves as an exciting little prompt that they’re invited and to look forward to more information!
How to Say "No Gifts" on a Wedding Invitation
Weddings traditionally involve gifts, but if you’d prefer not to accept them you can make this clear and polite in your invite. A phrase like “we are thrilled to celebrate our special day with you and your presence is a present enough!” is a sweet way to say that gifts are not expected. Some guests may insist on gift giving, so a wishing well or small table at the reception to accommodate should always be included.
There’s a lot to consider when it comes to invites – so take a deep breath and celebrate when they’ve winged their way out into the world! See our Pinterest board below for some invite inspo!
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