Wedding Invitation Etiquette - Learn how to Invite
The wedding invitation etiquette simply put would be the manner in which the invitating
is carried out so that it conforms to social or official norms without hurting any sentiments or looking out of place.
There are two styles, the traditional and contemporary.
The traditional way of wedding invitation would be something like this:
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Ronald Anderson request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter Gayle Anderson to Marcel Keith Wilson on Friday, the seventeenth of February at four o’clock in the afternoon at………..
In contemporary wedding invitation, you sound less formal something on these lines:
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Ronald Anderson request you to share the celebration of endless love, share and companionship, as their daughter Gayle Anderson exchanges her marriage vows with Marcel Keith Wilson on Friday, the seventeenth of February at four o’clock in the afternoon at….
There is a marked shift in the wedding invitation etiquette from the conventional to the contemporary.
In my wedding we decided that we would not be dependent on our parents for anything from our wedding expenses to the wedding invitation.
All we needed from our parents were their divine blessings. Our parents were very understanding and let us kids take on the initiative and work of the marriage.
In case of my friend Jane, a divorcee who married Ken, from Florida, we learned that the usual wedding invitation etiquette was that she could use her maiden name for the invitation. She could do away with her married name.
Here you will find a lot of information which will tell you how to carry on wedding invitation etiquette.
Intensive research on this subject led me to understand that a proper etiquette would be to plan out on a guest list. Then we have to decide on the design and style of the wedding invitation.
In my invitation, we had the outer envelope with marigold flower designs on the background and the inner invitation envelope was designed on the model of a cathedral.
We send a reception card to a select few, along with the invitation. In the response card, which was like a feedback form, we asked our guests to be clear with what kind of food, music and party was expected for the wedding.
Of course one should not forget about the thank you card, which is a token of appreciation and heart felt thanks for being a part of the auspicious occasion.
My husband and I took time to handwrite thank you notes on the card for each one. It took time but we made sure that everybody who attend the wedding received it. A handwritten message carries a lot of weightage.
Ah yes, we digressed from the wedding invitation etiquette and sent a wedding invitation to the Lord. He did not turn up because he had other issues to take care of but we felt His presence through out the wedding. My husband is His best wedding gift to me.