This article is written by Ellie Coverdale
Choosing stationary and addressing wedding invitations is one of the better wedding planning tasks because you’re giving your guests a little preview into the wedding theme and details. In addition to the key information, you also have to give hints of the design and formality of the wedding. To make sure you’re doing it right, there are certain things you should know and mistakes to avoid. Keep the wedding plans on track by avoiding the 7 wedding invitation mistakes outlined below – not only will this help you have a great wedding with all the guests you want, but you can avoid an awkward faux pas or wedding etiquette failure.
1. Waiting too long to send invitations.
This is one of the most common mistakes because it’s easy to get sidetracked with other wedding preparations. However, it’s very important to dedicate the time you need to order your invitations, address them, and mail them out. The general wedding etiquette states that wedding invitations should go out two months before your wedding date. That means you should have two months in addition to that time (so four months in total) to order the stationary, proofread the invitations, and finalize everything before you send them out to the guests.
2. Bringing up the gift registry on the invitation.
According to Nancy Phillip, a wedding blogger at Academized and Uktopwriters, “it’s a big wedding invitation faux pas to send the registry information with the invite to the wedding. Instead, you should wait for guests to ask about where you’re registered before giving that information, or include it on a wedding website if you have one.”
3. Including the wrong postage for the invites.
Wedding invitations are generally thicker and heavier than standard letters and cards. Before you mail them all out, you should bring a completed envelope to the post office and ask them to weigh it so you can find out if you have the right amount for postage. The last thing you want is to have your invitations returned to sender because you didn’t include enough postage.
4. Providing a suggested dress code for the wedding.
Your wedding invitation tone and design should indicate to your guests what kind of ceremony it will be and by extension the dress code. You shouldn’t mention the dress code on the invite; instead, be clear about how formal or casual the special day will be.
5. Not giving accurate directions to the venue.
It’s almost guaranteed that some of your guests will be from out of town, so proper wedding etiquette suggests that you provide direction cards. You don’t want anyone to get lost or bother you for directions on your wedding day, so be sure to include driving directions to both the ceremony and the reception.
6. Including details of the reception on the ceremony invite.
You should provide a separate reception card with the wedding invitation, especially if it will be at a different location than the ceremony. According to etiquette for wedding invitation, it’s especially important to do this if the reception guest list isn’t the same as the wedding ceremony guest list. If the reception and ceremony are in the same place with the same guest list, you may include a phrase saying that “reception immediately following”. You should also add the date for RSVPs on the wedding invitation or reception card.
7. Having spelling mistakes on the invitation.
It’s very important to have a friend with good writing and editing skills to review your invitation text – maybe ask more than one friend! As per Tanya Weisman, a writer at Best British Essays and Write My Australia, “surprisingly, a lot of invitations go out with mistakes that the stationer and the couple have all missed. This includes everything from the spelling of names to the addresses of the venues.”
Etiquette for wedding invites is helpful for answering some questions about what should be included on the invitation and what is best left out. You don’t need to follow every single etiquette rule, but by avoiding these common mistakes you can make sure that your family and friends are aware of all the appropriate details without feeling uncomfortable thinking about your special day details.
About the author
Ellie Coverdale is a lifestyle writer at Australian Reviewer and Paper Fellows. She enjoys sharing her tips and tricks on different lifestyle and wedding planning topics. She is always plugged in to the latest news and developments in lifestyle trends. She also teaches writing skills at Assignment help.
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