Wedding Invitation Etiquette
When you're organising your wedding invitations, there are some things you should definitely do and some things you should definitely not!
Wedding Invitees
First and foremost, don't forget to send invitations to all the members of your wedding party and to both sets of parents. Even though they don't necessarily need to send back a response, they might like to keep a copy of the invitation as a memento.
For families with adult children (18+), send separate invitations to the adult children and their parents - even if they are living at the same address. It is also proper invitation etiquette to send a wedding wedding invitation to your officiate and their partner.
If you do not wish young children to attend your wedding, be subtle when addressing your wedding invitations. Leave the children's names off the invitations to get the message across to your guests rather than saying ‘no children’. Also, let your close friends and family know that you are not inviting children to your wedding so that they can help spread the word. And be consistent - it is not good etiquette to allow some children and not others as it will offend guests with children who have not been invited. This applies to both the ceremony and reception.
Wedding Gift Registries & Requests
Proper wedding invitation etiquette doesn’t include gift registry information on your wedding invitations, requesting ‘cash only’, ‘no gifts please’ or ‘please donate to xyz charity’. Let your close family and friends know where you are registered so that they can spread the word amongst your wedding guests or alternatively if you have created a wedding web site, include your registry information on your website.
Wedding Invitation Responses
Don't wait until the last minute to start contacting people who have not responded to your invitation yet. You're on a deadline to get final numbers to your vendors, and you'll have more important things to do in those last days before the ceremony.
Set a response deadline – usually two weeks before the ceremony – then wait 2 to 3 days after the deadline to start calling everyone whose response you have not received.
Consider buying special pre-designed 'wedding' stamps from your local post office for all your wedding stationary. Australia post also has the facility to personalise your wedding stamps and have your own image printed on postage stamps. Whether you use wedding-based stamps or ordinary stamps, ensure that each card is pre-addressed and stamped with the correct postage as a courtesy to your wedding guests.
If you are going to allow guests the convenience of responding via email, it is recommended that response cards are included with your invitations just in case they do not have access to email or if they are traditionalists and would like to respond via telephone or post.
Preparing Wedding Invitations for postage
Don't use labels. Hand address all of the invitation envelopes. Whilst using labels will save you time and may help prevent mistakes, they don't look very elegant or as personal as a hand-addressed envelope – better left for the office stationery.
Check postage costs. Don't guess the postage as some invitation shapes (eg. square-shaped invitations and envelopes) incur additional postage costs. Take a completed wedding invitation in its envelope to the post office and have it weighed so you can determine the exact postage you will need
