Putting rehearsal dinner invites in with wedding invitation?

[turtledazzle]

Hi all,

I thought I would ask for your opinions. We''re planning to send out invitations in the next week or so, and we''re debating whether or not it is OK to put the rehearsal dinner invites in with the wedding invitations. My FI wants to do this, but I''m not sure. Part of me feels that it will decrease the formality and coherency of the wedding invitations ... and the other part would be happy not to have to address and stamp more things. About half of our guest list is invited to the rehearsal dinner ~ all family, wedding party, OOT guests, and a few really good in-town friends.

What do you think? TIA!

 

[turtledazzle]

Here is what our wedding invitations look like ~ silver lettering with a silver border with some scroll-work.

 

[turtledazzle]

And this is my design for the rehearsal dinner invitations. The RD is at a well-known Southern restaurant that uses the gingham tablecloths ~ we wanted a fun, informal (and relatively inexpensive) RD. FI''s father is graciously paying for it, but we''re doing all of the planning and invitation stuff.

 

[jcrow]

i always heard of doing the two separately. they are two separate events usually on two different nights. and usually the groom''s family hosts the rehearsal and thus sends out the rehearsal invites.

 

[laine]

I wouldn't put the rehearsal dinner invitations with the wedding invitations, I think they should be mailed separately (and probably not quite as early as wedding invitations). To save you some of the addressing, I think it would be perfectly appropriate to print out the addresses for the RD invites.

ETA: Both sets of invitations are really nice looking. The wedding invitations are really elegant, and the RD ones are adorable, but they definitely don't go together. Send them apart so people will appreciate both more.

 

[zoebartlett]

I've been to a few rehearsal dinners and I've never gotten the invitation for it at the same time as the wedding invitation. Usually these are sent out afterwards.

ETA: I forgot to comment on the invitations themselves. I love them! The wedding invitation is gorgeous!

 

[turtledazzle]

Jcrow & laine ~

Thanks! That''s exactly what I thought ... then FI got me thinking of an easy way out

FI''s father is hosting, but we''re doing all of the invitations and mailing them.
FI also mentioned maybe doing the RD invites as post cards (we did these for the Save the Dates) ... but that seems a little too informal to me as well. I think we''ll do them on card stock in envelopes ... and maybe take Laine''s suggestion of printing out the addresses! Thanks again!

Oh, and I''ve read that the RD invites usually go out about a week after the wedding invitations ... does that sound about right?

 

[jcrow]

i think it depends on how soon you send out the wedding invites. i know our rehearsal invites were sent out much later than the wedding invites. definitely longer than a week for us. but, then again we sent out the wedding invites earlier than usual.

 

[turtledazzle]

Date: 3/10/2007 12:36:50 PM
Author: zoebartlett
I''ve been to a few rehearsal dinners and I''ve never gotten the invitation for it at the same time as the wedding invitation. Usually these are sent out afterwards.

ETA: I forgot to comment on the invitations themselves. I love them! The wedding invitation is gorgeous!

Zoe ~

Thanks so much. We ordered them from here. I couldn''t bring myself to spend too much money on the invitations ~ they just weren''t high on my priority list. FI and I both liked this one, so the decision was made! Some other invitations we looked at in this price range kind of felt a bit thin and sometimes cheap ... but these are fairly thick and have a decent feel to them. For about $300 we got 100 invites with lined inner envelopes, return addressed outer envelopes, respond folders with return addresses, and thank you notes. (And we got them one week after ordering!)

 

[laine]

I would the the rehearsal dinner invites might also have a bit more information (phone # or email, I assume) than you want to share with the world on a postcard, so your idea of card stock and an envelope sounds great. I don''t really know about the timing, but I''d say at least a week later, if not more. I guess it depends if people will need to be making plans based on the invite, or if they''ll all be in town anyway.

 

[cara]

I''m with the crowd here. Since your RD invites are so different in formality I''d send them separately later. Also less chance of messing up and inviting the wrong person. If they were of similar style you could include them.