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Wedding Etiquette Questions
Other than friends, the groom's family and my family, who should receive wedding invitations?
Send invitations to the members of the wedding party and their parents. It is also appropriate to include the officiant
and his/her spouse. All children over the age of sixteen should receive their own invitation. Plan to order an additional
twenty-five invitations to allow for the unexpected. It is less expensive to buy extras now.
The wedding and the reception are at the same location, do I have to order a reception card?
No, all you need to do is include a line on the invitation saying “Reception immediately following” You may choose to include
a room if the reception is in a different room then the ceremony. “Reception immediately following in the ball room”
Our ceremony begins at 4:30 in the afternoon, how do I state this on the invitations?
There are two different ways to write the time when it is not on the hour. The first is “half past four o’clock in the afternoon”.
The second which is less formal is “four-thirty in the afternoon”.
Should I have a return address printed on the back flap of the invitation's outer envelope?
Yes! The U.S. Postal Service suggests that all first-class mail have a return address. It gives the wedding guest an address
to which to send a reply (if you don't use reply cards) or a gift. Also, it ensures that you will know if the invitation
does not reach its destination as it will be returned to the sender.
Is it acceptable to send gift registry cards with the invitation?
It is not proper to include with your wedding invitation any card that mentions gifts you expect to receive. Let friends
and family spread the word on where you are registered.
What does the M_________________ mean and do I need to include it?
The M is the beginning of a title (Mr., Mrs., and Miss). This is the line where your guests include their name on the response
cards. This is important because other wise you would have a lot of replies but not know who they are from.
How do we determine the respond by date?
Talk to your vendors, find out if they require and exact head count and when. Traditionally the respond by date is about
two weeks before the wedding. There are people who will send it in late. Do not hesitate to call some of your guests whom
you have not gotten a reply from to determine if they are coming.
My fiancé and I have had several showers and other parties given in our honor. Therefore, some friends have given us more
than one gift. Can we write one thank you note to cover both gifts, or does each gift require a separate note?
Gifts given at separate parties require separate thank you notes. If you use preprinted thank you notes to immediately acknowledge
that a gift was received, always follow up with a hand written note to the gift giver. These notes should be written no
later than two months after the wedding.
How do you address the outer envelope of an invitation to a married couple if the woman has kept her maiden name?
If the woman kept her name, address the envelope with both names on the same line if space permits:
Mr. William Greenberg and Ms. Laura Vargas
28 Brookview Avenue
For an invitation to an unmarried couple living together, list their names alphabetically on separate lines without "and":
Mr. William Greenberg
Ms. Laura Vargas
28 Brookview Avenue
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