Wedding invitation etiquette

Until we got engaged I didn’t realise how many aspects of a wedding are traditional, or how an invitation is more than just a means of informing people about the details. I have since been informed by my lovely fiancée that a wedding invitation is a memento of the event so it must be well designed and look amazing.

We avoided the hassle of stamping and posting hardcopy invitations and instead went paperless. The invitations are emailed (although you can also design paper invites) which makes tracking easy, though some didn’t seem to make it to their intended recipient. You can’t use the excuse that the invitation is in the post – but it could be in the spam folder!

The paperless invitations were a hit as they were exciting to open and looked great with nice design options. You buy coins as credits on the website, with the final cost depending on how many invitations you send. Ours cost less than $80 to design and deliver which was still cheaper than hardcopy. They’re better for the environment too!

It’s hard to know who to invite to which part of the wedding. Out of town guests usually warrant a full reception invitation because they’re travelling, but this can come at the expense of local guests. Do you invite old friends over more recent friends? Do you invite children and partners? I also take into account whether the person invited me to their wedding, when we last spoke and if we are likely to see each other in the future.

It’s also difficult to know whether to invite extended family you haven’t spoken to in years or if their spot should be taken by friends. You also have to include people like photographers and videographers on your guest list – even if you don’t know them, they need to be fed! We decided to invite over 100 people to the meal and then the rest to the ceremony and a massive dance where all guests are welcome.

We’ve ended up with around 80 percent of full-reception invitees able to make it to our wedding. Many of our invited guests are from out of town, and given the busy time of year it isn’t surprising that some can’t attend.

How do you choose who you invite to your wedding? What type of invitations have you gone for? Does an invitation have to be stylish or is it simply a way of letting people know the details?

About the author:

Scott Donaldson is technology novice compared with some of the other Consumer bloggers. He still has fond memories of Sonic the Hedgehog on Master System 2 and Alex the Kidd built in, but has generally put his fascination with technology behind him since then. He studied sociology, marketing and journalism and is intrigued by social situations - how people behave and why they buy what they do.

Scott has written for several sports and personal blogs and websites, allowing him outpour his passion for the Southland Stags rugby team.