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Are directions cards really needed?

Joolie567Joolie567 member
First Anniversary First Comment
in Wedding Invitations & Paper
Hello!

Our wedding is being held in PA where it is coincidentally 6 hours from my fiance's family in MI & 6 hours from my family in NJ + we have out of state friends.  We're DIY'ing our invitations, but we are totally confused on how we would even provide a directions card (or if we even need to include one).  We're counting this as a destination wedding since we don't live in PA either.  Any suggestions on how to do this & if so could you possibly provide a link to an example?  We have a wedding website with directions + most people have a GPS - what about omitting this card enclosure entirely or just listing the address with a local map screen shot printed?  

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!
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Re: Are directions cards really needed?

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    CMGragainCMGragain member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Directions cards are not necessary.  Just skip them.
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    AddieCakeAddieCake member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    No. People have to look up how to get to places they have never been all the time. There is no need to provide people directions just b/c it's a wedding. 
    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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    huskypuppy14huskypuppy14 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    Funny story: my sister sent my bridal shower invitations recently, and received an RSVP from one of FMIL friends.  The friend asked why there were not any directions. My sister said, "oh I thought most people have a GPS or will look it up on the computer. The woman said, oh I'll just ask FMIL then. 

    I'm not sending any direction inserts in the wedding invitations, so I hope it's not a problem. It is on our website, so anyone can look there if they need to.
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    MyNameIsNotMyNameIsNot member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    Direction cards are never necessary.  

    If you do them, you would just give directions from the major highway or intersection, or from the hotel where most of your guests would stay.  You wouldn't give directions for the whole road trip.  
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    ScoutFScoutF member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    If you have a website, you can put the directions on there and mention the website on a different insert (if you have one). I also looked into doing direction cards and I'd recommend Wedding Map Maker if you decide to do them but they aren't necessary.
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    princessleia22princessleia22 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment First Answer
    If you do them, just do directions from major highway to venue. We were going to do them for my sister's invites, but her FI thought it was just a waste of money since most people have GPS or can find directions online. So, it may be nice to include, but definitely not needed. 

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    tammym1001tammym1001 member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment
    We included a map with our invitations, but it was only because the parking lot for our venue has a different address than our venue. It would have been confusing for people if they drove to the venue and saw there were no parking spots. If we hadn't had that situation we wouldn't have included directions.
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    emmyg65emmyg65 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    We did them, but only because we got married at my in-laws' house, which is in the boonies and kind of hard to find. We thought it'd be helpful to provide landmarks, like "turn left at the large stone house."
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    melbensomelbenso member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment
    I didn't include a directions card, but I did include directions to our wedding location from the closest major highway on our website.  Instead I included a small insert that said something to the effect of "For  directions, maps, and other information, please visit www.melbensoswedding.com"
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    hyechica81hyechica81 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment First Answer
    i might just include directions from church to venue since venue is in another town 20 minutes away and where it is its hidden from the road. i also might include directions to the hotel because the hotel is also kinda hard to find
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    Cookie PusherCookie Pusher member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    We're including a small insert with the GPS coordinates and basic directions to our venue because it doesn't have a physical address - it's a gazebo in the middle of a large garden complex. If you look up the garden, it gives you the address to the main office - which is on the other side of the complex from where our ceremony and reception are going to be. If it was somewhere more simple, we wouldn't be including anything.
    ~*~*~*~*~

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    Jen4948Jen4948 member
    First Anniversary First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its
    They're a kindness, but not required.
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    amygrant20amygrant20 member
    Name Dropper First Comment

    Actually in my view direction cards are not necessary in era of GPS. Well if you have to, use Google maps to give directions from a major landmark that is closest to the venue of the wedding.

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    ilitwinilitwin member
    First Comment
    I tortured my Fiance to design a map/directions info insert since Google maps doesn't quite get you to our venue and half of our guests are over 65 and the last thing I want to deal with is Granny coming late because she is lost.  There were indeed a pain, but I think the payoff of having your guests find your wedding easily is clearly worth it.  We also put my parents and his brothers cell #s on there in case someone does need urgent last minute directions.
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    ilitwinilitwin member
    First Comment
    Oh and I just asked the venue to give me the directions which they happily supplied coming from every possible direction.  But agreed that is most of your guests are coming with a smartphone or GPS you could skip it.  Google it yourself and make sure the directions are accurate and if not, then you should probably do it


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    Coalette2013Coalette2013 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    We did directions on our website. We were in a similar situation where we got married in east Tennessee and the families were coming from Virginia and middle Tennessee, 5 hour drive for each. 

    We did include a map insert in the invite. But the map was solely for parking around the venue since it was in a small city and there was no designated lot for the venue. Many of our guests found these helpful since they had never been there before and didn't have to stress about where to park. 

    I think either way you will be fine :)


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    tammym1001tammym1001 member
    First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its First Comment
    ilitwin said:
    Oh and I just asked the venue to give me the directions which they happily supplied coming from every possible direction.  But agreed that is most of your guests are coming with a smartphone or GPS you could skip it.  Google it yourself and make sure the directions are accurate and if not, then you should probably do it


    So much the bolded! I went to a wedding last year and we used mapquest to get directions to the venue based on the address. It turns out that the directions given online and with GPS didn't actually take you to the venue, but to another location that was associated with the venue. The bride and groom were frantically texting and calling everyone the day of the wedding to give them directions so that everyone could get there. 
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