When it comes to wedding invitations, there are certain questions that are asked quite frequently. The goal of this article is to briefly answer several of them:

• Where to buy invitations for a wedding?  Brick and mortar print shops and bridal retail stores have been around for years providing brides with access to those large wedding stationery books that can be viewed on premise or maybe even checked out to take home. A much more convenient option has become popular in the last few years thanks to the Internet and online shopping offered by many retailers of invitations. You can shop their vast online inventories when it fits YOUR schedule. Gone are the days when you were required to leave your house to do your wedding invitation shopping. If you are shopping online, it is recommended that you order samples before making your final selection and then request an online proof before the final printing. Even if it costs more, it’s worth it to have peace of mind.

• How to make wedding invitations? Making your own invitations for a wedding can range from using a complete DIY kit to using online templates or software programs for printing them on a computer printer. Here’s the question to ask yourself…will this really save you money? As the saying goes, time is money, and how much time will you be spending by creating your own not to mention the possible frustration. Most couples don’t realize that having invitations professionally printed doesn’t have to mean more cost. Printers actually have many quite affordable designs that are beautiful not to mention the time you are saving by having them do the set-up work and printing while you devote your time to other tasks until they are delivered to your door.
   
• How to write wedding invitations? The most important details that need to be listed in your wording are your names as the wedding couple; time of your ceremony, day of the week, month, date and year; and the name and physical address of the location. The time and location of your reception may or may not be included directly on your invitation depending on space. A separate card can be enclosed to share your reception details if space is limited. The invitation should be worded as coming from whoever is paying for the wedding or hosting. This could be you and your fiance or parents.Even if not hosting, parents’ names can be listed if you so choose. Any special wording or verse is up to you since there is an abundance of samples available online.
   
• How to address wedding invitations?  Addressing invitations really depends on how many envelopes will be used to mail each one. Traditionally, they came with inner and outer envelopes. The inner envelope being left unsealed with all the invitation pieces enclosed and is addressed to the specific names of guests invited from that household. The mailing envelope is the outer or larger envelope which is handwritten with the guests’ formal names and address. More modern wedding invitations now include only one mailing envelope so all specific guest names should appear on there along with the address. Some invitations don’t actually come with a mailing envelope but instead have an outside wrap that folds around the invitation pieces to become its own mailing piece. No matter how many envelopes, everything is written in the same handwriting and ink color with no abbreviations except for non-professional titles such as Mr., Mrs., Jr., etc. All numbers should appear in numeric format. It is also suggested that all hand addressing be done before the envelopes are stuffed. Including a pre-printed return address on your wedding invitations will ensure the return of any that are undeliverable.
   
• When to mail wedding invitations?  It is suggested that invitations should be mailed a minimum of 4-6 weeks before your wedding date directly at a Post Office location and all at the same time. This is unless your wedding is planned around a holiday or if it will take place at an away destination. In these cases, guests will appreciate having more time to plan and possibly make necessary travel arrangements. You may even consider sending out save the date cards 4-6 months ahead of your invitations to give guests even more preparation time.

We’ve only covered here what are probably the most frequently asked questions about wedding invitations. There are many more resources you will find online that will be helpful as you shop for, design, order, assemble, address, and mail your wedding invites.

When it comes to traditional wedding invitation wording, the principles tend to be quite different from normal, everyday writing.  These special etiquette guidelines apply to punctuation, spelling, abbreviations and capitalization. 

In regards to proper wording, punctuation and capitalization for the verse on your wedding invitations, here are tips to keep in mind.

• The use of punctuation with a verse can be quite unique.  Periods do not appear at the end of sentences but only after title abbreviations such as Mr. and Mrs.  Commas are placed between the day and date and also the city and state. They are also allowed within sentences when necessary.
• Despite sentences not ending in punctuation, the first word of each sentence is still capitalized as in normal writing. Each line of a verse is not always considered its own sentence since complete sentences may continue to the next line.  This will be reflected by having only the first word of a sentence being capitalized.
• The first letter of all title abbreviations, proper names, days of the week and months are capitalized.  The year, written out as a phrase, most often has only the first letter of the first word capitalized.

  For a more modern look, there are examples in which nothing within the invitation verse is capitalized OR just the opposite where every letter in the verse appears in an upper-case font with the true capital letters being slightly larger. 

• Dates, years and times are spelled out instead of listing them as numbers.
  • Friday, the tenth of June
  • Two thousand and eleven
  • at two o’clock in the afternoon

  Numbers are acceptable when listed as part of a street address (i.e. 10 Main Street).

• There are many ways to phrase the line that actually extends the invitation to guests.  If the word ‘honor’ is used, it is most commonly spelled as ‘honour’ for more formality as in a religious ceremony – ‘request the honour of your presence’.  The spelling as ‘honor’ can be used for an informal or more casual wedding.

Abbreviations have certain rules, as well, when it comes to your wedding invitation wording.  Some of these etiquette guidelines pertain to both your invitation verse and when addressing the envelopes.

• Mr. and Mrs. are non-professional titles that are acceptable abbreviations.
• Professional titles such as Doctor should be spelled out.
• Words such as ‘Street’, ‘Avenue’, ‘Trail’, etc., should be written out along with state names.
• Symbols are not appropriate so the word ‘and’ should be spelled out.

As you can see there are several traditional wedding invitation wording etiquette rules so hopefully these tips will sum them up for you.  The important thing to remember is that if you find yourself in doubt, there are many sample verses to review as examples.