Important Wedding Invitations Protocol
Designing and wording your wedding invitations will most likely consume much of your time. You may be so preoccupied with finalizing your invitations that when the date of sending comes, you will be cramming posting and mailing them. In your haste, you might neglect some important wedding invitations protocol that will prevent you from any form of embarrassment or finding yourself in an awkward situation. There are some set rules on sending invitations like to whom should it be addressed and who should have
The very first thing you ought to make sure is to send your wedding invitations to all the members of your entourage especially to your parents, both yours and your partner’s. Obviously, you do not really expect them to send back a reply, but you can be sure that they will love to have a copy of your invitation as a keepsake.
In cases wherein you wish to invite the whole family, you may need to count more than one for each family especially if they have children age 18 years old or above. You need to address your wedding invitations to the parents and their adult children even though they share one address. Protocol sets it so and you need to follow it.
If you are wary of having misbehaving children disrupting your ceremony and reception, you can purposely omit their names on the invitations. By not including the children’s names, your guests will get the message. You can also tell your friends and family so that they can help pass the word around. Make really sure to be firm on this, it will not be nice to let other children attend and some not.
Many couples put in “no children” in their wedding invitations. Nowadays, it is fairly acceptable especially for formal weddings. However if you have other options that are more discreet, then this should be your course of action. Protocol makes sure that the fine sensibilities of any person will not be upset or disturbed in any way. Wedding invitations protocol do not also encourage gift registry details especially requests like “cash only” or “please donate to this charity.” It is best to let your closest network be your channels to let your guests know where you are registered. If you have a website, you can provide this information so that your guests will be guided accordingly.
Make sure to contact your guests, who have not given their response yet. Do not use the last hour to do this because you will surely have many finishing touches to accomplish. It is best to identify a deadline date for responses, ideally two weeks before the wedding. However, before you call your guests, wait for 2 to 3 days after your deadline. Your caterers and other partners will need the information way beforehand to make the necessary preparations.
When you send or mail your wedding invitations, include potage stamps to make it convenient for your guests to mail back their reply. You may opt to purchase customized wedding stamps in the nearest post office for all your wedding invitations. In Australia, you can make your own personalized wedding stamps. You can even have your picture imprinted on the postage stamps themselves. If you accept e-mail responses, it is still wise to include stamps just in case they do not have access to the net or prefer to it the traditional way, which is by post or a call.
In addressing your wedding invitations, do not use pre-set labels. It is still best to have it printed or handwritten so that your invitations will look classy and personalized. Moreover, do no second guess postage costs. Have your invitations weighed especially if you have an odd-shaped invitation. Some couples even test-mail their invitations to make sure they arrive intact and without any creases. Your wedding invitations really require the best attention to detail because it will serve as your official announcement of a wonderful event in your life, that is your wedding.
