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 protocol is in place because a formal wedding invtation lets your guests know through the paper stock, the type style and the wording that this is not a casual event. For a more formal wedding, your invitations need to match the tone.

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. This leaves for the old style paper 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 second envelope is used for the reply card only.

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 your guest is certain to bring a date or companion it is acceptable to write “and guest” on the invitation when you do not know their name. Usually this limits the amount of unknown guests brought along by others.
• 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.
• Generally, formal wedding invitations are produced at a printing company, and the envelope is addressed by hand by members of the wedding party.

Wedding invitation etiquette is a must for the formal invitation. This implies the importance of the special occasion to those involved, unlike other invitations such as wedding shower invitations which are far less formal and more festive.

I was only invited to the church wedding. This is not the first time it happened. The previous one was my husband?s ex-girlfriend?s wedding, so I can understand why she did not invite me. We were not close at all, and she did not invite everyone. Do you think you will invite your previous boyfriends or girlfriends? I guess if we are still in touch as friends, I would love to.

In this case, would your partner still go for the wedding? My friends told me there was no way he should go since I was snubbed. I seriously did not mind if my husband went for the wedding dinner. My reasoning was that if he did not go, it meant that he could not let go of any emotional baggage. I let him decide, but in the end he decided not to go due to work commitments.

As for yet another one, I guess she was on a tight budget, so she only invited people who were the closest to her, which included my husband. Another one invited people to her daughter?s ROM but did not invite me, but she kept telling me about it, so I just smiled when she talked about it.

Understandably, inviting people to your wedding is an intimate affair, and you would like to share it with people who matter the most to you. When the budget is taken into consideration, people who are not ranked in the first tier will have to be back-ups.

So how do we tread carefully and not make anyone take offence at being omitted? To ensure that your guests do not bring their partners, the invitations should state very clearly who you are inviting. Usually guests would understand that you are inviting them only and not their partners. If they insist on bringing their partners, just explain that due to a tight budget, you can only invite them.

Most probably if you do not interact with their partners at all, the partners would not want to come for the wedding as well, so this is not a major problem. However, I do interact with those people who had failed to invite me, just that I am not that close to them. Perhaps I should examine the way I behave. Maybe I have been too anti-social! I shrug off this non-invitation as a snub, but I am someone with an elephant?s memory.

However, this means that I also have to tread carefully when it is my turn to hold my wedding dinner. I cannot afford to leave anyone out. Since I am going to a new workplace next year, the pool of people I have to invite will double, so I have to closely consider my budget and decide whether I really need to invite everyone.

A few years ago, one colleague got a friend to ask everyone of us whether we would like to go for her wedding. I think this is a great idea, since you get to choose your response, and people won?t feel miffed that they are not invited, and people don?t have to feel compelled that they must go. It makes people happier and easier for the bride. In addition,?learn to stretch your dollar?so that you won’t feel restricted by tight budgets. So I guess, just ask!