Invitation Practicalities
Stationery orders should include plenty of spare wedding invitations to allow for mistakes when writing on them, and enough to send out a second batch once refusals have come in - reprints will be extremely expensive.
INVITATION ETIQUETTE: WHO SHOULD RECEIVE A WEDDING INVITE?
All guests who are invited to the entire wedding day.
Guests who are invited to the reception only, but an explanatory insert should be included in the envelope.
The best man, bridesmaids and ushers.
The couple's parents, except where any parent is doing the inviting.
It is good etiquette to send an invite to the person conducting the wedding ceremony if he/she is to attend the reception.
ORDERING WEDDING INVITATIONS
It is generally estimated that around 20 per cent of invitations are refused, but this cannot be relied upon in the planning stages.
Beware of over-ordering: a common mistake is to order an invitation for each guest, forgetting that many recipients will be couples.
Once all the details have been finalised, a proof will be sent for approval. It should be checked extremely carefully, particularly any dates and the spellings of names.
At least four weeks should be allowed from the time the order is made to receiving the printed stationery.
Allow more time if the stationery is to be printed in spring, ahead of the busy summer months.
A calligrapher can be hired to address the invitations and envelopes.
Any matching stationery required - for example thank you cards or matching headed paper for thank you letters - should be ordered at the same time as the invitations.
