Invitation Confusion

brettdresseur

My invitations are confusing me. Other than the calligraphy vs. labels problem, when I was about to purchase my invites I was assaulted by extra items to buy.

Do I simply need to include an RSVP card along with the invitations or do I need to purchase additional materials? What are tissues used for and do I need them? Here are a link to my invites in case it helps. Thanks!  http://www.theamericanwedding.com/shopping/prod_detail/product_detail_v.asp-prod-2402

Wow, I have been lurking here for a while but now I feel a part of the community. I'm coming here to find answers instead of going to my cousin, and she is a certified wedding planner. Thanks again Knotties!

squirrly

I would get the matching RSVPs. 

Tissues were from way back when it took ink a long time to dry and were there so that if the ink smeared while the invite was in transit, it smeared on the tissue, not th inserts.  I'd skip tissues now.

As for additional materials. . . depends on what you need.  Are you doing other inserts?  I'd be sure to order a few extra envelopes, for sure.  If you give me a rundown of the extras you're not sure about, I can give you a better answer.  But, it will likely be a couple of hours, as I just got up to take the dogs out & am headed back to bed for a bit.

JanoBean75

Ditto Squirrly on tissues and envelopes.

How's this:

• Invitations and mailing envelope = must (unless your invitation is seal and send)
• Inner Envelope = optional. When used, it is to specify who is invited in addition to the head of the household.
• Reply set = should have (tradtionally a guest would use their own stationery to reply, but most people don't do that and do expect the reply card and self-addressed stamped envelope.
• Reception card = should have if your reception is in another location. If it's being held at the same site as the ceremony, add "and afterwards at the reception" or "Reception immediately following" at the bottom of your invitation and skip the separate card.
• Accommodations = optional. Nice to have, but if you're sending Save-the-Date announcements, you can include this information then or on your Web site (if you have one). This is what I'm doing.
• Directions = optional. Again, nice to have, but not a necessity. I'm probably including directions to the reception and back to the hotel(s) as a take-away at the ceremony. Same stock as everything else.
• At Home card = optional. These are cards that indicate to your guests where you'll be living and what name you'll be using after the wedding. Not many people do them, especially if they are already living together.
• Within the Ribbon = optional. I consider these quite formal. Nowadays, people usually do a "reserved" sign instead of these cards. They are smaller than a business card and simply say "within the ribbon." Very important guests that receive these cards hand them to the usher who then takes them to their reserved seats up front. These seats/pews are usually decorated with a ribbon. I'm doing reserved cards -- to make sure that our parents and the WP's SOs have a place to sit.

noodle_oo

Oooh, your invitation is so pretty!

Our ceremony and reception are all at the same hotel, so all we are doing are:

Invitations
Response cards with addressed/stamped envelopes

I also am planning to order matching thank you cards, but mainly because they are pretty cheap and I like them. 

We did save the dates with hotel info and directions, however everyone is local so I'm pretty sure they can figure that stuff all out on their own if they don't look at the website.  Hope this helps!

LauraT25

JanoBean broke it down really nicely.  If it helps, what I did was buy the invites (outer envelope was included), inner envelope, reply card and reply envelope.  I probably could have left out the inner envelope.  The reply envelope is addressed and we will put stamps on them.

I also printed a separate insert card with accomodations information and included our website.  It's a plain white business card from Vistaprint with font and color that matches the invites, they cost maybe $15 including shipping, and I don't think anyone will think they're 'cheap' or anything, since they're just a simple insert.

Our reception is in the same place as the ceremony, so we didn't need the reception card.

LauraT25

I just saw below you're having a black-tie wedding.  I probably wouldn't do a Vistaprint accomodations card, then.

brettdresseur

I love Knotties!

Jano you helped out a lot! You helped me figure out that I only need to purchase the RSVP card.

JanoBean75

Glad I could help!