OK, so you spent hours at Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond to put that bridal registry together and you want to tell everyone to check it out.  After all, why did you put yourself through all that if it wasn’t to tell your guests what you want for gifts.  Bridal Registries are wonderful things and very helpful to your guests but they should never be part of the wedding invitation.  Once again, word of mouth is the best way to get the word out.  With the world of wedding websites being so popular – this is another great way to get the bridal registry to your guests.  You can say something like, “For more information about us and the wedding , please visit our website at WWW. . . .”. This way you have invited your guests to view all details about you and your wedding.  When they get to the website, they make the choice to look at your registry sites.   You have made it available to them but they make the ultimate choice to view it.  Once again, subtle and polite.

Weddings are expensive affairs and most invited guests who are able to attend will send a gift.  But remember, as the person doing the inviting you should never EXPECT a gift.  It is the ultimate choice of your guest.

Until next time . . .

Checkerboard Invitation

The truth of the matter is that size, weight, shape and thickness play a role in how much you will be charged to mail your wedding invitation or announcement.  The dimension requirements are as follows:

• Minimum height is 3.5″ by a maximum a of 6.125″
• Minimum length is 5″ by a maximum of 11.5″
• Minimum thickness is .007″ by a maximum of .25″

The envelope length is the dimension parallel to the address.  This is a given for most wedding invitation envelopes but if you are using the french flap envelope where the flap is on the vertical side, you will be charged extra. It is considered a “nonmachinable surcharge” by the US Postal Service.

Letters that meet one or more of the nonmachinable characteristics below are subject to the surcharge.

• It is a square envelope
• It is too rigid – does not bend easily
• It has clasps, string, buttons, or similar closure devices
• The length divided by height is less than 1.3 or more than 2.5

Birchcraft Square Invitation

Special Attention for the Square Envelope

The minimum size for a square envelope is 5″ x  5″.  This is usually not a problem for the wedding invitation industry since most of them are 7″ x 7″ or larger.  However, as stated above, the square envelope is subject to the nonmachinable surcharge.  In general, the nonmachinable rate will increase your postage from the 64¢ for the the 1-2 oz rate to 84¢ because of the nonmachinable factor.

For most of the wedding invitations that we sell the 2 biggest factors for postage are weight and shape.  The 64¢ is most common because of weight and the 84¢ because it is square.  The thickness is usually not an issue even with the popular pocket invitations.  If concerned about the thickness, simply flatten the contents of your envelope by running your hand firmly across the back of the envelope several times.

Copper Pocket

You should always check with your local Post Office before mailing your invitations.  My suggestion is to take them to the window and have them weighed and measured before mailing.  Never drop in the drop box without having them checked first.  You don’t want to have any embarrassing surprises.

One final note about mailing. Don’t forget to stamp your rsvp envelope with a 44¢ stamp.  It is the proper thing to do.

If you have any further concerns about mailing your invitations, contact your local Post Office.  They will be happy to help you. And don’t forget to ask to see the current Love Series stamps.  These are stamps that coordinate with a love theme for the 44¢ and 64¢ stamps.  A nice touch for a wedding invitation.

Whenever I work with a wedding invitation customer, whether it is in person here in Minneapolis or with one of our online customers, I am always questioned about the need for all those pieces of stationery that go in the envelope with the invitation.  Today I am going to go over the basic pieces and will hopefully shed light on the confusion.

• The Invitation

This is the starting place.  The invitation’s purpose is to invite the guests to the event.  It should be the largest piece of the set and it gives the basic “who, what, when and where”.  It is usually inviting your guests to the wedding ceremony but there are cases where it could be inviting them to the reception. It often comes as a single “card”.  But is can also be a “folder” where it opens up without  any writing on the inside.

• The Envelopes and the Liner

Most often invitations will come with 2 envelopes, an inside envelope and an outside mailing envelope.  The liner is a colored insert that lines the inside envelope. It is a decorative piece that usually corresponds to the colors within the invitation design.

• The Reception Card

The reception card tells your guests the specifics concerning the reception.  From an etiquette standpoint it can be eliminated and the information is placed on the invitation if the location is the same as the ceremony.  If it is a different location, it should be on a different card.

• The Respond Set

This piece comes in 2 parts. The respond card comes with a preprinted return envelope that is returned to you with details of how many people will or will not be able to attend your wedding.  With appropriate wording it can also furnish information regarding your guests’ choice of entrée.  We have some great suggestions on how to get a better response with this card.

• Additional Enclosures

The other 2 optional pieces that are frequently enclosed in the wedding invitation are the Direction Card and the Accommodations Card.  The first gives your guests information on how to get to your wedding location and the other gives information about hotel options in the area.

These are the basic pieces to  a wedding invitation ensemble.  You have probably seen these pieces during your shopping or when you received an invitation in the mail, but now you will hopefully understand the individual purposes of each piece.

Stay tuned for future blogs where I will go into more depth regarding wording of these pieces of the invitation ensemble.  In the meantime, if you have a particular question be sure to contact me directly and I will gladly respond.

Complete with General Store, Schoolhouse, Jail, Post Office, Sawmill, Millinery and Dress Shop and so much more.  This village would not be complete without a church and what a lovely church it is.  It is a non denominational church named Saint Boniface.  This church was originally built in the late 1800′s and was located in Hastings.  To avoid demolition, the church was taken apart brick by brick and relocated in the Log House Pioneer Village in 1997.  The church has been available for weddings year round for the past several years.  This past year the modern day geothermal heating and cooling system was installed making the church a comfortable venue for seating approximately 200 guests. If you are interested in a small country church atmosphere for your wedding, be sure to check out this location.  For more information about the site and contact information for wedding details go to Weddings at the Village.

If you decide on St. Boniface as the right place for you, be sure to bring your own Preacher since there hasn’t been one on staff for a very long time.

Until next time. . .

But, wait a minute!  Now also comes the time to respond with the gracious thank you note.  In one of my other blog posts I spoke about the task of writing thank you notes. Writing Thank You Notes.  Today, I am going to talk about the difference between the “Thank You Note” and the “Informal Note”.   If you have been shopping for wedding stationery, you have probably noticed these 2 terms for this piece of social stationery.

Informal Note

Both the Informal Note and the Thank You Note have writing on the front of the folded note but the Informal Note differs because of what is written on the front.  To put it simply, the Informal Note is personalized with your name or names. It is just like the sample shown here with Isabella and William Kennedy.  The inside of this note is left blank in order for you to write a personal note of thanks to the sender of your gift.

Thank You Note

The Thank You Note differs because it simply says Thank You on the front.  It is not personalized.  The inside can be blank or preprinted with the thank you verse.  Now before you go running off saying that your prayers have been answered and all your notes can be preprinted without a bit of effort from you be sure you understand how this works.  Or should I say, supposed to work.  In over 30 years of selling wedding invitations and Bar Mitzvah invitations I have found people who want to buy these preprinted thank you notes to save time.  Well, not so fast!  These preprinted notes were originally designed to act as an acknowledgment to the sender that you have received the gift and will be sending a hand written thank you shortly.   That’s right.  You still need to write that handwritten note.   The only reason you would send out these preprinted thank you notes is if you have received an overwhelming number of gifts or you are enjoying an extended honeymoon and your hand written thank yous will be delayed.

Now I want to share some thoughts with you about which piece of stationery is the best to buy.  You can probably guess that the Informal Note is my preference but I am going to give you some reasons that you might not have thought about.

By putting your names on the front you are making a statement as to how you want to be known after your wedding.  Brides, this is where you tell people you are taking the groom’s last name  – or not!  That goes for you grooms as well.  Yes, some grooms have chosen to reverse this tradition.  Not a lot but some.    In my example above, Isabella is taking William’s last name.  If she is not taking his name it could read “Isabella Johnson and William Kennedy”.  She could also say “Isabella and William” which simply means she may not have made up her mind on this subject or she just prefers a less formal style.

One other point in favor of the Informal Note is overall usage.  With a note that says “Thank You” on the front you will be unable to write anything but a thank you on the inside.  However, with the Informal Note, you can use it as your personal stationery and BOTH (yes, grooms can write notes too!) of you can use it to write any variety of messages.  That sounds like much more value to me.

Well that is the story of the Informal Note versus the Thank You Note.  Hopefully, you are now a little bit more informed about the difference and how each works.

One final thought for you.  Remember to write those thank you messages and do it in a timely manner.  Within 60 days of the wedding is acceptable. Don’t forget that your gift was sent by someone who took the time to choose and send your gift.  The least you can do is spend a little of your time responding with a gracious note.

Until next time – Happy Writing!

Woodland Hill Winery

The vineyard is located overlooking the Fountain Lake.  The grounds are lush with a beautiful array of flowers and mature oak and pine trees.  There are plenty of spots to sit and enjoy the countryside.  What a great place for an outdoor wedding just west of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  It is such a picturesque setting.

Inside the Tasting Room we had a chance to taste several of the wine selections that they offered.  Thanks to our server, Madeline, we learned all about the grapes and different wines. We were particularly impressed with this family operation that uses all Minnesota grown grapes along with the rhubarb and apples grown on the 7 plus acres of farmland.  Dan and I enjoyed relaxing out on the lawn while sipping our wine and overlooking the vineyard with an occasional visit from the vineyard mascot, Vinny, a people friendly Irish Setter.

Before leaving the vineyard we had an opportunity to speak with Terri, a close relative to the owners, about wedding ceremony and reception opportunities at the vineyard. No matter what the size of your wedding, the family at Woodland Hill is ready to assist you with rental fees, catering options, beverage selections and sample menus. The bride and groom can exchange marriage vows at a prepared spot just at the gates of the lush vineyard while there is plenty of space for your guests to witness your wedding vows.

Woodland Hill Wedding

With all this talk about the wedding I can’t miss an opportunity to talk about wedding stationery. If a vineyard is your desire for a wedding ceremony and reception setting we even have the perfect Save The Date card for you to announce the date to your guests.

Save The Date card

A colorful card with grapes flowing across will enable you to set the tone for the upcoming nuptials.  We can easily follow with several ideas with a vineyard theme on the wedding invitation.  It is a great theme with lots of options for the wedding stationery.

One additional perk available for your wedding at Woodland Hill is the beautiful white wedding carriage.

Wedding Carriage

Perfect transportation for the outdoor wedding.  You arrive in style in your horse draw carriage.  If you are interested in this added touch be sure to ask their wedding coordinator. Katie Dickerman is the Woodland Hill wedding coordinator and she can be contacted at Katie@woodlandhillwinery.com.  We did not have an opportunity to meet her yesterday but I am sure she would be available to answer any of your questions and give you more information.

If you have never visited this vineyard before you have a great opportunity to check it out every Friday in August from 6-9 PM.  They are going to have live music, food and wine for $15 a person.  It includes all you want appetizers and a glass of wine. It sounds like a great way to unwind after a long week at work.

To your good health or as the Germans say “Prost”!

Stay tuned and see where the Miata takes us next time.  It is always fun to find new places and meet interesting people.

When you are planning that special event you work on many different aspects for that special day.  Most often you are thinking of how many people will be coming.

How many dinners will I need for the caterer?  How large a wedding cake will I need?  How many party favors will I need?  So many of your details evolve around the number of people you are inviting.

The happy surprise for many event planning brides or bar mitzvah planning moms is that invitations are looking for the number of addresses and not people.  Unless everyone you know is single, the quantity of invitations needed is smaller than the number of people invited.

Since one of my objectives in my business of selling invitations is to get you the best for the least amount of money, I am always pleased to tell my customers that I will be saving them even more money by reducing the number of invitations they thought they needed.  Everybody loves to hear that they are not going to spend as much money as they originally thought.

So. . . when figuring the number of invitations you need to order, remember to count “mailboxes” instead of “noses”.  This is a common mistake.  My follow-up to a customer who says, for example,  they need 300 invitations is, “So, does that mean you are inviting 600 people?”  At which point many of my clients answer, “Oh no, just 300 people.”  Then the light bulb goes on and they are pleasantly surprised.  Happy Day!

Now that we have that figured out I need to give you a note of caution.  Don’t cut that number down too far.  To be as accurate as possible you should count those “mailboxes” and add 15 to it.  In other words, you should have 15 invitations that you don’t know what you will use them for.  It is your cushion.  If you do run out, the reorder is usually about 5 times more expensive because printers don’t give you the add on price for reorders.  You go back to the original price as if it was a totally new order.   Ouch!  Another costly mistake.  Be prepared and save.

Until next time. . .  Happy Ordering!

Remember!  Send me your concerns about invitations.  I’ll be happy to “address” your issues.

I have always said that the wedding invitation sets the tone for your affair and the wording of the wedding invitation is one factor of the wedding stationery message.  The British English spelling of “honour” is the more traditional spelling for the wedding invitation and conveys a sense of formality to the event.   Most invitations fall into the formal category and therefore should use “honour”.  If your event is less formal – say a small country church with a barbecue reception, “honor” might be the more appropriate wording.

Also, whichever version is used, be sure to be consistent with the reply wording.  For example,  “The favour (favor) of a reply is requested. . . “.

I hope this explanation helps you to find the correct word for your invitation.  Remember, both spellings are acceptable.  Use the one that is comfortable for you and the message you are trying to convey.

It would be my “honor” if you would visit my blog again soon and I will discuss the difference between “honour of your presence” and “pleasure of your company”.

No formal dress required.  

Thanks for visiting.  If you have a question about wedding stationery etiquette that is troubling you, or you are just curious, send me an email.  I’m always happy to help.

However, when we think of wedding gifts we can feel overwhelmed by the volume of notes required to acknowledge all those gifts or helpful assistance during those months of planning.  No need to fear.  Writing those notes can be a relatively simple task.  The hardest part is setting aside a little time to accomplish the task.

First, let get organized.  This will help to make the task a little easier.  As you receive your gifts be sure to document them.  Keep a list of your gifts.  This is not only helpful in writing thank you notes but it is also helpful when you see the gift giver at a later time or especially if they visit your home.  The list is simple.  Make three entries – -  who, when , what.    Who sent you the gift, when you received it, and what was it are the key components to your list.  Make sure you sufficiently describe the gift so that duplicates or similar items are credited to the correct gift giver.  Once you have these three pieces of information, your thank you notes practically write themselves.  For example:

Dear Aunt Trudy,

Thank you for the beautiful wedding gift you sent us.  Jack and I will enjoy using the elegant silver serving tray when we entertain for the holidays.  It was so kind of you to think of us.  I enjoyed meeting you at the wedding and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Sincerely,

Mary

Short, sweet and simple.  Acknowledge the gift and reference how you both will use it.   If the gift is money, you can simple call it a “generous gift” and again briefly reference how it will be used.

Ladies, in my above example please note that Jack can also write some of those notes.  Grooms are not exempt from the task but timing is important so the notes should be written by whomever can get the job done in a timely manner.  The appropriate timing is within 2 months of return from the honeymoon.

One last helpful hint. . .  Once you have written those notes, don’t discard that list.

It comes in very handy when the gift giver visits your home.  Not only will you get extra points with the new relatives but you will avoid possible embarrassing moments by subtly displaying the gift when they visit.  Don’t worry. . .  you can put the metal squirrel nut cracker back in the closet after they leave.  I know I did.

Happy note writing ‘til next time.

Dan & Kathy Dixon, owners
Invitations For Less