When are invitations for a formal wedding mailed?
Approximately three to four weeks prior to the ceremony.
When should invitations and announcements be ordered?
Approximately two - four months prior to the wedding.
Should the church and reception invitation be sent out by the bride’s parents or should it be sent out by the bride and groom?
This depends on several factors such as age and financing. If the bride is under 30, you should mention the parents on the invitations, especially if the parents are helping with the wedding plans. If the bride is over 30 it depends on how much the parents are involved in the wedding. If they are contributing financially they should be mentioned in the invitation. If they are not and will be attending as a guest, the invitations should be sent out by the bride and groom.
Wedding Addressing Etiquette – Some Simple Tips
Article from getting married news!
If you are looking to carry out your wedding planning and arrangement correctly it is important to understand that there are rules of wedding addressing etiquette that apply to the way your invitations should be presented. Given that this is a vital part of any wedding plans we thought it might be helpful to provide you with some tips. The etiquette surrounding the addressing of invitations is comprehensive, so we have chosen to talk about the most likely problems that will come about in an average invitation.
Inner and Outer Envelope
You may have chosen not to use an inner envelope and that is very much modern practice, but here we assume that you have adhered to the tradition of inner and outer envelopes. There are distinct differences in wedding addressing etiquette for each. For a married couple the outer envelope should be addressed thus:
Mr and Mrs John Smith.
The inner should simply read:
Mr and Mrs Smith.
This is standard practice and should come naturally.
When one of the couple has an occupational title they will take precedence, regardless of sex. For instance the outer should be addressed:
Dr Julie Morris and Mr John Smith.
The inner will simply omit the Christian names.
Unmarried Friends ‘plus Guest’
This is one of those wedding conundrums that always baffles – how to address an invitation to a single friend who is entitled to bring a guest? The answer is quite simple – you address the outer envelope to the named friend, and the inner with the addition ‘and Guest’.
More complex is the method of addressing same sex couples, an occurrence more common these days. The correct manner for male same sex couples is:
The Messrs. John and David Smith
For female same sex couples it would be:
The Mesdames Julie and Rachel Morris.
Families
The trick to getting the wedding addressing etiquette for a family correct is in remembering who you are inviting! The outer should be addressed as already outlined to the parents; the inner should include – additionally – the names of the children.
If children are not invited then a tricky situation arises. It is customary to leave the names of children off any invitation where they are not invited, and the implication should be apparent to all.
Some extra tips
Do not feel that you need to engage an expensive calligrapher to produce your invitations; the modern computer and printer can easily be used to produce attractive and interesting wedding invitations and it is a perfectly acceptable method.
Finally, keep it simple. The rules of wedding addressing etiquette may be set in stone, but there is no reason why you should not simply use common sense.
(Source: galapartiesinc.com)
