Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Maintaining Proper Etiquette For a Wedding Invitation

How much notice is enough?
These days it is typical and expected that a bride will send out a "safv the date" notification prior to the wedding invitation itself. These are usually sent out between three and four months before the wedding will occur. But if you are going to plan a destination wedding or have multiple guests who will be travelling great distances to attend, this kind of advance notification should be sent even before that. In this case, you can not give too much advance notice. No one will ever complain about knowing too far in advance when the nuptials are going to take place. Every wedding invitation should be sent at least six to eight weeks in advance. You should include a self-addressed, stamped RSVP card in each wedding invitation you send. You will need each of your guests to respond to your wedding invitation well in advance of the actual date so that you will have a proper head count for your wedding planners.

How creative can I be with my wording?
Creativity with any wedding invitation is a wonderful thing as long as you remain entirely clear in your wording. This means making sure that all the relevant information is included on the wedding invitation. Your names, the date of the wedding, the location and the time are all required on the wedding invitation. Anything else you wish to include is entirely at your discretion. Just make sure that the invitation itself is not so busy that the details get lost.

Keep your invitation as simple as possible
Every wedding invitation should always include the full names of the people who are being married and the full names of the hosts. It should also include the date and location of the wedding. That's all you need. You do not include "no children" because this information is conveyed on the outside envelope by the names of the people to whom the invitation is being extended. Do not include any gift registry information on your wedding invitation either. This can be included in your wedding website if you wish.

Wedding invitations should include NO abbreviations
All words such as Street, Apartment and Post Office Box should all be written out completely. This is also true for the name of the city and state. The titles Mr. and Mrs. are allowed to be abbreviated.

Name the people who are being invited
The names of all the people who are being invited should be written on the outer envelope. This is the place where you write "and family" if you are inviting the parents AND their children. Married couples should be addressed as Mr. and Mrs. A married woman who has retained her maiden name should be addressed as such. Her husband's name would go on the next line.

Remember that titles matter
If the woman is a doctor, her name comes first on the invitation so Dr. Susan Smith and then her husband's name on the next line: Mr. Mark Davis. If the woman is under the age of 21, she should be addressed as Miss. If a male is under the age of 21, he is addressed as Master.

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