In today’s modern society, wedding invitations can be given via word of mouth, telephone, or email. The main goal of the wedding invitation is to make sure that all your guests know the who, what, when and where of your wedding and reception.

Even though wedding invitations are like many other kinds of invitation, there is almost always more formality to them. Because of this association, wedding invitation etiquette has been established to help you navigate the ins and outs of inviting guests to your wedding. This etiquette exists because formal wedding invitations convey the formality and the tone of the event through the paper, font and style of the invitation. The more formal your wedding, the more formal the invitations need to be.

The Look And Feel of a Formal Wedding Invitation

Proper etiquette for a formal wedding invitation does not allow for inviting guests via email or phone since these methods are relatively new. It calls for the traditional style of printed invitations. Formal wedding invitations usually have the following characteristics:

  • They are printed on heavyweight ivory, cream or white paper
  • They use a classic letter style such as Roman
  • Formal invitations are usually engraved and most likely written in the third person style.
  • There are usually two envelopes with the invitation. The first envelope is the outer envelope which holds everything pertaining to the invitation. The other envelope is used by the guest to return the reply card.

Other Helpful Tips

There are other helpful rules of etiquette for formal wedding invitations which should be considered during the planning stage.

  • For the more formal wedding ceremonies, your don’t need to be as creative.
  • If you’re quite sure that your guest will bring a friend, it’s perfectly acceptable to use the term “and guest” on the invitation if you don’t know their name. Generally, this will limit the number of unforeseen guests who tag along.
  • Ceremonies held in places of worship require a more formal setup and thereby more formal invitations than a ceremony held in a nature setting or a home.
  • Most formal wedding invitations are printed by a professional printing service and then the envelope is hand addressed by either the groom or bride.

Wedding invitation etiquette is a must for the formal invitation. This lets the invited guests know the importance of this special occasion, whereas a wedding shower invitation, for example, is much less formal and more playful.