Wedding stationary. What is what?

Question

Save the date, announcements, RSVP (What does this mean??). What is it that I need to send out? What goes with what? Is there a website that explains this in detail? Do I need to send notes to people I want to be in the wedding? May I just ask them? How soon should I send these? How soon should I get a response?

Answer 1

If you have people coming from far away, or if you're having a destination wedding, it's a good idea to send 'save the date cards.'

Once you're ready to order 'invitations' you will also need 'RSVP' cards so people can get back to you on whether or not they're coming.

Some people like to order matching or co-ordinating 'thank you cards' or 'informals' when they order their invitations. Thank you cards are self-explanatory. Informals are basically the same except they don't say "thank you" on the front. Instead, you get them monogrammed. If you get informals monogrammed with your married initials, you can't use them until after the wedding.

If you are moving out of your parents house you may also want to purchase 'at home cards.' These are sent after the wedding as let your family & friends know the name you will be going by and your new address.

Invitations are typically sent out 6-8 weeks before the wedding date. Pick an RSVP date that allows you to get back to the caterer with a head count. Save the date cards are typically sent out once the date & venue are set. It is nice to send these with hotel information.

Lastly, if you're very confused, there are many sites that can help you with this. Just Google "wedding invitation etiquette" and I'm sure you will find some good ones. You can also purchase a wedding planner book. There are some good ones at the bookstore.

Answer 2

Save the dates are announcements of when and where you will be getting married. They let guests know the date and place with enough time for them to make travel arrangements. They can be postcards, magnets, emails, etc. If your guests are all local, this is probably unnecessary.

Your "invitations" are actually quite a few pieces of stationary. There is the invitation itself, which invites folks to the wedding (please no registry information here). There is the reception card, which lets folks know the details of the reception. There is a RSVP card/response card which allows folks to say whether they will come and who they are bringing. Plus, there is an envelope (stamped) for the response card. Sometimes there is a map or direction card. This all goes inside the "inner" envelope, which all goes inside the "outer" envelope. Many pieces of this are optional, and there are tons of websites to tell you exactly how to word everything and what order to place them in the envelopes (yes, there's an order). Try verseit.com

The announcements look just like the actual invitation, but they say you WERE married not that you WILL get married. These get mailed out after your wedding, or the day of, to let people who weren't invited know that you were married. Handy for distant relatives.

Just ask the bridal party in person to be in the bridal party.

Answer 3

Here's a breakdown for you hun of everything you mentioned:

Save the dates: These are sent out to people who you plan on inviting but you think will need more notice than the usual invite which is sent out a few months before the wedding. Mostly these are used for out of town guests or anytime alot of travel will be involved.

Announcements: Some people send out engagment announcements a few weeks after the engagment. There really isn't a point to them IMO. Wedding announcements can also be sent out with invitations. They are different from an invite because they are basically saying "we wanted you to know we are getting married, sorry we couldn't invite you to recpetion for whatever reason." They are also used after when people elope instead of inviting family for the typical wedding. I don't do these either simply because the only purpose I see is to troll for gifts.

RSVP: I forget the actual phrase but this is the card that you put into the invite. It can be a postcard or can be put in a self-addressed stamped envelope. This is how people write back to you and confrim that they are accepting your invitation to come to your wedding. A new trend now is to set up a wedding website where people can RSVP and a special voicemail box that they can call to say whether or not they are coming.

Invitation: should be sent out a month or two before the wedding and formally invites people to come to the wedding and the reception

Some people do send special cards to the wedding party to ask them to be in it but I have always given and recieved the request in person.

Thank You Cards:
these are usually nicely done stationary where you and the groom do handwritten thank yous to anybody who gave you a gift during the wedding process and send out

So:
you get engaged, a few weeks after you can send engagment announcements

as soon as you set a date for the wedding you send save the dates to anybody who needs extra notice

a month or two before you wedding you send out formal invitations to everybody you want to come to the reception and the ceremony with an RSVP card or info on a webist or telephone number. You would also send out marriage announcements at this time if you are doing those

wedding

within three weeks after the wedding you should have sent all of your thank you cards

Answer 4

Save the date cards are generally used for out of town guests, and lets them know that they should not book other vacations, etc. on that date. They're sent a long time in advance of the wedding (like a year), but have very few details, since you wouldn't have these ready quite yet.

An announcement is generally intended to tell people who are not invited about the event. I personally find this distasteful, as I feel that anyone important enough to receive an announcement would be important enough to invite...but that's me.

RSVP means "Respondez Sil Vous Plait", which is French for "please respond" Usually, a response card (asking for the RSVP) would be included in the invitation, along with a pre-addressed and pre-stamped envelope, so that responding is easy for the guests.

The most important items to include are the invitation itself, along with the response card. This lets your guests know about the event, and gives them a chance to let you know if they can make it. Some people also include reception cards, which I understand are intended to provide a time line of events for the evening.

Another item you can buy along with all of this are programs. These often are done for more formal church weddings, and list the names of the attendants, you minister, and provide a time line of events for the extended ceremony.

My best suggestion is that you go to your local stationery supply store. Look through all of the books there, and take the time to sit down with the employee who does the ordering for these items. He or she will have lots of advice on what is commonly done, and what's the bare minimum vs. the ultimate extravagance.

Answer 5

Ok save the dates are invitations of sort sent out about a 8 months to a year before the wedding if you are having a big formal wedding and you have a lot of out of town guests its good to send these. I did at mine and it helped people plan who needed to use that time as there vacation.

Announcements are sent out after you are engaged and planning a formal wedding if its a small family get together under 30 don't bother save the money for something else in the wedding. Announcements are also good if you plan of having a engagement party you can combine the to or send them out as save the dates in a way before the invitation to the engagement party.

RSVP means: The term R.S.V.P. comes from the French expression "répondez s'il vous plaît", meaning "please respond" (I got this from another yahoo member) Often today people don't RSVP or respond a yes or a no to an event unless its a formal request like a wedding and you send it with a self addressed STAMPED envelope according to edict with your wedding invitation when you mail it out (also can be sued for engagement party and rehearsal dinner if inviting out of town guests to join in addition to wedding party members *recommended)

As for asking people to be in the wedding just ask them you don't have to write anything formal. If you want to do something nice ask them to lunch or coffee and treat, then ask them.

You can get more info on this stuff in a bridal planner book at a book store or you can look online or in bridal magazines they often explain it in a case by case detail.

Congratulations

Answer 6

when planning a wedding one of the most important things that you need to know is how many people are going to go.. not exactly how many people you are inviting and that is where the RSVP's and save the date cards come in. The save the date card is a card where you send before the invitation so you tell everyone the big day! on the invitiation itself you send the RSVP, this is a little card where the person who you send the invitation too replies saying if she can go or not and if they are going with a date. (you can aske them not to bring one, its okay!)
go to www.theknot.com or google... they have al the checklists that you need and tips and tricks, go to www.bodaclickusa.com they have tons of vendors where you can get quotes online and stuff...

I have planned various events, if you need anything let me know! i'll be happy to help you plan it! no cost to you!

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Answer 7

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Answer 8

get a wedding planner, she will explain not only everything, but give you good advice about how to plan to the smallest details. It may be costly, but it's worth it because they're super organized.

Answer 9

http://verseit.com/