INVITATIONS, RSVP’S, & THANK-YOU NOTES

You'll want to make sure and keep track of invitations, RSVPs, and Thank-You notes for your entire guest list in your wedding planner to stay organized. Updating one master list is best to ease the task of your correspondence record-keeping.

INVITATIONS

- Enclose any enclosure cards inside the invitation.

- Enclose the invitation inside the inner envelope.

- The front of the inner envelope should face the back of the outer envelope.

Addressing the Outer Envelope

Address the outer envelope with the guests’ full names, such as:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith
Address

*Initials are never used

When addressing an invitation to an unmarried couple, it should be addressed:

Ms. Mary Smith
Mr. John Smith
Address

When addressing an invitation to someone who is a widow, the invitation should be addressed to Mrs. John Smith.

- It is a good idea to order 25 extra invitations and order extra envelopes. It is much cheaper to order them when you place your order, as opposed to having to go back and reorder extra invitations and envelopes. You want to have extra envelopes in case a mistake is made when writing out the invitation.

- If you don’t want children at the ceremony or at the reception venue, it is better to spread the word to friends and relatives, as opposed to writing it on the invitation. Always add postage to the response envelopes.

- Invitations should be mailed six to eight weeks in advance of the wedding. The response cards should be returned three weeks before the wedding.

- Designate someone to make follow-up phone calls to guests the week of the wedding who have failed to send in their response cards.

- It is considered poor taste to include a gift registry card with your invitations.

- It is no longer necessary to have a tissue insert with your invitations.

RSVPs

It is a good idea to keep track of your RSVPs by creating a Master List with these headings:

- Date invitation was sent

- Name and address of guest

- Response-yes, no, how many

- Gift received

- Thank-you note sent

All invitations should be mailed out on the same day.

It is a good idea to designate someone (the week of the wedding) to call people who have not yet responded. Too many couples assume that guests are coming and end up paying money for no-shows.


THANK-YOU NOTES

It is best to order thank-you notes when you order your wedding invitations. If thank you notes are written before the wedding, and the bride is using monogrammed stationery, the monograms should be the following:

- Surname in large font in the center

- First name is to the left

- Middle initial to the right

After the wedding, the monogram is as follows:

- The initial of the couple’s surname in large font in the center

- Bride’s first initial is to the left

- Groom’s first initial is to the right