Invitations

     If your wedding is small - just the immediate family and a few friends - a phone call or a personal note would suffice. But if you are going to hold a formal affair, it is best to stay with the traditional invitation format.

     Written invitations are usually engraved or thermographically printed. Invitations prepared this way should be sent 3 to 4 weeks before the wedding, and it could take as long as eight weeks to engrave or print the invitations. it would be wise to request that envelopes be sent to you as soon as possible. That way you can have them addressed and ready to mail as soon as the invitations are printed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
     Persons who are not invited to a wedding, either because they live far away and could not attend or because the number of guests invited to the wedding was very limited, are usually informed through an announcement that the wedding has taken place.

     Announcements, similar in size, shape and form to invitations, are always sent after the wedding has taken place. They can be sent after any kind of wedding, even an elopement.

     The wording of an announcement is only slightly different from that of a wedding invitation. The year is always included, and the name of the church may be left off, although the city and state where the ceremony took place is included. Announcements usually take this form:

Mr. and Mrs. Robert J. Yancey
have the honour to announce
the marriage of their Daughter Sally Ann
to
Mr. Roderick William James
on Saturday, the third of June
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty
Los Angeles, California

THANK YOU CARDS
   Note-size stationery and envelopes should be available in good supply for Thank-You notes. Remember that each      donor spent time and thought in the selection of your gift. In your note, always try to include a reference to the gift.

     Your department store, bridal salon, stationer, caterer, jeweler, florist, or photographer could help you in your stationery needs. In addition to announcements, invitations, and thank-you notes, some places offer wedding cake boxes and personalized matches. Announcements and thank-you notes with photographs of the couple on them are becoming increasingly popular.

ORDERING WEDDING INVITATIONS

1 Keep in mind the number of invitations you purchase. It will often be only half the number of guests, assuming most of your guests will be invited as couples. And it would be wise to order 25 more then called for.

2. Always put the return address on flap of outside envelope.

3. You will provide the stamp for the R.S.V.P. envelope.

4. As awesome as it may seem, all invitation items should be counted and checked at time order is picked up.

REMEMBER TO BUY STAMPS