| Invitations
Your invitations will help dictate the
tone of your wedding. If you are having a very casual affair,
you should not be using a very formal invitation. And, obviously,
if you wish your wedding to be very formal, you should not
use a cutesy, informal invitation.
The plainer the invitation, the more formal.
You can get away with white on white design or beige on
beige and still be formal but those with openings, pictures,
lots of color or themes are all considered more informal.
You should set up your guest list so that
you can record who is attending, what meal they have chosen
(if there is a choice), what their wedding (and/or shower)
gift is and check off spaces for sending thank you notes
for wedding (and/or shower) gifts. This way, you will have
a complete record at your fingertips that can be easily
updated as you progress toward the big day.
Many people do not understand how an invitation
should be addressed. First, you should never use an address
label on an invitation. They can be handwritten, calligraphy
or computer calligraphy (if you have a good quality printer).
Sometimes you can match the type face on the envelope to
the type face in the invitation. Type color can also be
matched but remember, the most formal invitations are in
black or dark blue type. The outside envelope should have
formal names. The inside envelope should have whatever name
you call the person. For example, Jack and Betsy Smith should
have the outside envelope read, "Mr. and Mrs. John
F. Smith" and the inside envelope read "Jack and
Betsy" or "Grandma and Pops" or whatever
you normally call them when you talk to them. Please note
that the word "and" is not abbreviated. The same
holds true for any street names and states. No abbreviations
are used.
Also remember, if you are using return
cards for responses, you must put a deadline on them at
least a week before your deadline for hotel rooms. And always
make the room deadline a week before it actually is because
many people wait till the last minute. If you are not arranging
hotel rooms, your deadlines should be a week before you
need to give the reception site their preliminary count.
Don’t hesitate to call anyone who doesn’t
respond to your invitation. You must know how many people
you’re feeding. It’s not fair to the chef to give them a
count of 150 and then have 180 show up, after not telling
you they’re coming. And it’s not fair for you to assume
that someone’s coming and include them in the count, only
to have them not show up and leave you to pay for an unused
meal. This can really throw your budget out of kilter.
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