Inner Envelopes

yusi196

Is it OK not to do them? What did you do?

I <3 Seabass

I'm not doing inner envelopes because I'm doing pockets. We had the guests' name printed on the tab that holds the pocket closed, the same as it would be on the inner envelope.

cvl105

I didn't do them, but I had pocketfolds. I've gotten invites without them...didn't even phase me. Save your money...and some trees! )

caketime

Totally fine.  I just did it as a regular invite and put who was invited on the outside.  I did line ours for $20 cause I thought it gave it some punch but no need to.  I doubt anyone even had a second thought about no inner.

yusi196

I'm not doing pocketfolds. I'm doing invite with inserts and a belly band holding them. But like Chelsea said: save $ and trees.

yusi196

Caketime, what do you mean you "lined yours". Forgive me for the ignorance, lol....

uppereastgirl

Yes, it is okay not to do them, but depending on your crowd, people may notice and find it untraditional (or think you cheaped out).  Some people are sticklers for tradition and propriety.  Younger people likely won't notice/care because they haven't seen as many formal invitations in their lives.It is totally okay to not do them with pocketfolds, as the pocket is basically the outer envelope.

mbcdefg

You don't need them. I'm not doing them, either. Here's what I read somewhere: The original reason behind them was because letters often got dirty when they went through the mail, and the outer envelope would get all icky. That way, when the invitation arrived at its destination, the person/servant bringing in the mail could discard the dirty outer envelope and present the recipient with a nice, clean (inner) envelope. I'm sure the bridal and stationery industries today just push inner envelopes to get you to spend more money. Ditto for tissue paper inserts.

uppereastgirl

Lined means that the envelopes have a liner.  Here's an awful picture of my invitations, but you can see the liner: http://tinyurl.com/qnnd62

Angie550

I 2nd chelsea...I am doing pockets and not having inner envelopes. Uppereast - did you line the envelopes yourself? I am thinking of DIY'ing this but I dont want it to look like a 5 yr old did it.

uppereastgirl

"The original reason behind them was because letters often got dirty when they went through the mail, and the outer envelope would get all icky."That still happens though?  Maybe less so with hand-cancelling, but things can show up mangled (you should see the response cards from my coworkers who sent out their responses from our office-- yuck).  I would have been sad if after spending all the time and effort on nice invitations and calligraphy and such that an envelope got ruined on the way to a guest.  The inner envelope gives that added protection.

uppereastgirl

No, our stationer did it.

I <3 Seabass

Aside from the cost of the actual inner envelope also think about how you're going to address them and if that's really something you want to invest in, if not skip def. skip it.For some reason the last couple of invitations that I received with an inner envelope were very sloppy when it came to addressing the inner envelope. One was written in sharpie and the other was written in regular blue pen and said "Steph & guest". It really just took away from what would have otherwise been a rather nice invitation.

neilly18

I had inner envelopes, but did not pay the extra to have them addressed. So all the invitess appeared on the outer envelopel. My feelings about envelopes is that noone will be offended no matter what route you choose and it will long be forgotten in a matter of moments.  

mbcdefg

That still happens though? Maybe less so with hand-cancelling, but things can show up mangled (you should see the response cards from my coworkers who sent out their responses from our office-- yuck). My understanding was that it originated back in the days when mail was transported via horse and carriage, or people just riding on horseback through the dust, so there was a higher chance of the envelope getting filthy than with today's modern machinery and trucks/planes that aren't as exposed to the elements *shrug* Who knows if that's really true, but that's what I've read. I would have been sad if after spending all the time and effort on nice invitations and calligraphy and such that an envelope got ruined on the way to a guest. The inner envelope gives that added protection. I can absolutely see your point. I guess it all comes down to your personal preference. Invites weren't very high on our list of priorities, so for me I just don't care enough about them to spend the extra money on inner envelopes. Of course, I don't WANT the outer envelopes to get ruined, but if they do then that's sucks but whatever. I wouldn't blame someone for wanting to spend the extra money and effort on really nice invites and a nice presentation - I agree, receiving a mangled invite in the mail is a bad first impression.

yusi196

Thanks everyone for your points. Invites are not really a high priority to us and they end up in the gargabe anyways. Most of my invitations will be addressed to couples and some will be addressed to John Doe and Guest. So I think I will be safe. I only have one invitation where I'm putting Family and since they are traveling from Georgia, the 5 of them can come. Mbc....the vendor I'm working with isnt pushing for inner envelopes which caused me to poll you guys because I was really surprised.

caketime

I got it from the company that way, basically a color inside your envelope.  I thought it would be expensive but it was very cheap and looked nice.  Don't think it's a good DIY though as it could look very kidlike if not done properly.  I just had our calligrapher do the outside since I could not run them through my printer.

soontobemrsdavis

It is def ok not to do them. I didnt do them and i did NOT have pocketfold invites.