Wedding Invitation Etiquette in 2024
sofia sayer
When it comes to wedding invitations, there are many etiquette rules to follow to ensure that you are being respectful to your guests and providing them with all of the necessary information. Below I will outline some tips to keep in mind when creating your wedding invitations. But, I like to tell my clients that they CAN make up their own rules for some things. It is your wedding day, and really it is all about you!
Unique details a couple needed on their custom wedding invitation suite including meal choice and music choice!
When You Should Mail Your Wedding Invitations: I recommend mailing your invitations 4 to 8 weeks before your rsvp by date. If you have a wedding planner, check with that person to see if you need specific information by a certain date: such as meal choices. If you have many out-of-town guests or are planning a destination wedding, you may want to send them out even earlier so that they have plenty of time to make travel arrangements. Furthermore, if you sent out Save the Dates (which is not a requirement) you have wiggle time.
Addressing Guests on Wedding Invitations: Make sure that you use formal titles and full names. For example, instead of writing "Bob and Jane Smith," write "Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith." This adds a touch of formality to the invitations and shows that you are taking the event seriously. I also recommend for the nicest visual appearance to completely spell out states instead of using abbreviations, but this is not required.
An elegantly designed wedding return address which features all details spelled out such as “Lane” instead of “Ln.”
RSVP Cards vs. Details Cards: More and more my my clients choose to use a “details” card instead a “rsvp” card that will be mailed back. The Details card can have any information you want to put on it. Common information would be a website to rsvp and view wedding details, dress code, registry information, or even things like parking information. Many guest like to have something in their hand to bring to the wedding so that they remember details like parking.
This wedding invitation we custom designed featured a details card and a mail in RSVP card. Fun wording was used on both to express the bride and groom’s personalities.
Specifying Number of Guests Invited to Your Wedding: This is not as common of a concern for most bride and grooms, but if it is a concern, don’t stress! The best way to handle this is to write a line on the rsvp card that says: “___ # of guests are reserved in your honor.” You would fill in the blank by writing the number you want attending from each guest you are inviting.
By following these etiquette rules, you can ensure that your wedding invitations are beautiful, respectful, and informative, and that your guests will have all of the information they need to attend your special day.