Invitation Antaomy

[AnitaT]

Hello,
I am bewildered. What is the etiquette on inner envelopes, paper sashes or the use of tissue paper in an invitation? When do you use what? Is it necessary to use an inner envelope? FI and I had decided against an inner envelope in an effort to be green. But, today I received a friend's lovely invitation with an inner envelope. It looked nice. So now I am not sure...am I breaching an invitation norm if I decide against an inner envelope? I have also seen some invitations with paper sashes and ribbons and others with sheets of tissue. Can someone shed some light on these conventions please?

Thank you,
AT

 

[LtlFirecracker]

A worker at a pretty traditional stationary shop told me that inner envelops are not necessary. She stated they come from the days of horse back. The mail would get really dirty, so when invitations were delivered, the person delivering them would remove them from the dirty outer envelope and give the recipient the inner envelope. These days, mail (for the most part) stays in pretty good shape, so they are no long needed. They do look nice, but are not necessary.

As for the tissue, that keeps the ink from smearing. It depends on how your invites were done. Mine were letter press and there were no smudge issues, so I did not use them. But I had a friend who did DYI on her printer and did not use tissues, the ink smudged off all over her envelope. I would take the sample of the invite you are using and put it in an envelope and see how it does.

Also, I did RSVP post cards. They were a huge cost savings, but I have gotten a few back and my return address has partially come off. I will have to see if a significant amount get lost in the mail, if they do, than I will probably regret going the post card route.

BTW: I just had the invite and the reply card in my envelope and nothing else. People have told me they are beautiful and have had no issues with me leaving the other stuff out.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

double post - sorry

 

[AnitaT]

I am thinking of using letterpress invitations too. I love the way they look and feel.

That is very interesting about the inner and outer envelope history. I had no idea!