Question on Wedding Stationery

[Mayflower25]

Hello Ladies,

I''m puzzled and overall just overwhelmed about all the components of wedding stationery. Let me first set the tone of the wedding I''m having, before I pose my questions. FI and and I are having a Catholic ceremony with full mass in the afternoon followed by a formal reception (cocktail hour and dinner) at a vineyard. The drive is approximately 25 minutes from the ceremony. Our intent is to have a very classy and modern, black tie event, yet intimate (<100 guests are expected to attend, including the bridal party).

I''ve already selected the invitations that I would like to use, and I''m already exasperated at the cost (~$1600 for invite, response, and reception cards / 50 sets), but I feel its a choice that I cannot budge on.

Now, for my questions:
- Is it possible to combine the reception card and direction card? I''d like to avoid having to pay another $500+ for a customized map, etc. Many of our guests (~50%) are coming from out of town, and while the drive is easy, I''d like to make sure they get where they need to go. On the other hand, most people have the common sense to mapquest the directions ahead of time.
- Do we NEED to have programs? Our Ceremony is Catholic, but many of our guests are not. I expect attendance to be even lower than our reception. Is the additional expense necessary?
- Is it necessary to order our Thank You cards from the same stationer, so that they match the invites exactly? I was hoping to get simple cards from Crane & Co rather than have to order a "custom" set so they match. Will anyone notice?
- Lastly, I have reserved room blocks at 2 hotels for OOT guests. Where can I include this information, or is another card required?

Please provide your true opinions. I would like have our invites stay consistent with our theme and keep things simple for my guests. What do you think is most important, as a guest? Thank you so much for your time and opinions!

 

[DietCokeBreak]

Hi Mayflower!

I''m not an expert, but I would say that most anyone coming from out of town will mapquest in advance. You could direct them to a wedding website with directions, or you could have a separate mailing later with directions and hotel info. I wouldn''t put anything about directions or hotels in the actual invitation mailing-- it will keep costs down and allow you to still have that formal feel to the invites so that everyone knows this is a formal affair.

As for the program, you could probably do without it. On the one hand, non-Catholics might follow the ceremony better, but on the other hand, what is there really to follow? All weddings are basically the same. Even at the Eucharist, they might miss a few beats at the beginning, but most of the prayer is said by the priest. And everyone knows the Lord''s Prayer (though you might hear some "For thine is the kingdom"s trailing off at the end!).

Just my two cents

 

[cara]

I personally would like to have a pre-printed map and/or direction card. It helps, and I forget my mapquest stuff often enough when traveling. I did pay for a separate direction card to mail with my invites, but combined the reception card and wedding invite on one sheet. It is permitted to add "Reception at 6 pm/Gallo Vineyard/1600 WineCountry Rd" at the end of the wedding invite. Though sometimes there is not enough space on the invite for separate ceremony and reception venues, hence the reception card.

You could combine the reception card with the direction card front to back if your printer can do that, thought technically one is an invitation of sorts and one is supplemental information.

I also really, really prefer to have something to hold with an order of events at weddings ie. a program. Especially at long religious ones, so I know where we are in the ceremony and how long it is going to take. But these can also be homemade - no need for the same paper or style as the invites. Go cheaper, just give me something to hold and spell-check it!

Absolutely not necessary to have matching Thank You cards. Buy whatever you want and just send them promptly so they don''t pile up.

I would include the hotel reservation info on the direction card "Rooms have been held for the Smith Wedding at Hotel Fancypants 1-666-555-7777".

One alternative, my roommate sent a separate mailing with a mapquest printout and other information (ie. hotels) after the invites were mailed. She had to pay for more postage, but this was much less than printing maps on the same stationary as her fancy invites.

 

[Pandora II]

I had hand-engraved invitations, but didn''t do RSVP cards (they''re not usual in the UK) or separate reception cards as everyone who came to the reception also came to the ceremony.

I had a website and put the address on my STDs, all the information regarding directions etc went on the website and my mother contacted those who weren''t likely to be internet-savvy.

The Orders of Service I did myself - I bought prefolded cards on ebay, designed the layouts in CorelDraw complete with monogram etc and ran them through a laser printer. They looked very professional - the prefolds really helped.

My invitations were very traditional formal white ones so it wasn''t difficult to match things up - if yours are very fancy it may be harder to DIY.

 

[Lanie]

I''m Catholic too, and I will have many non-Catholics at my wedding mass. I think it''s a good idea to have programs so that they can follow along. If anything else, it''s nice to just look over everything while you are sitting there waiting. I went to a wedding once where there were no programs and I felt like it was missing something.

No need to have matching thank you notes...they are nice, but def not necessary.

I don''t have a solid answer for reception card/directions card. We are doing 3 inserts: Reply card, Accomodations card (with map of hotel, church, and ceremony all on same map), and Reception card. I''ve seen just reply cards and reception cards, but with a website that had directions and a map. These days, Mapquest is so prevalent. Plus after every wedding I''ve been to, people are always talking about where to go next, so those few who don''t Mapquest can always ask.

Or you could have a map to the reception site on the back of the programs. There are so many different options!

But yes, paper is ridiculously expensive!!! Good luck!!!

 

[jcrow]

- Is it possible to combine the reception card and direction card? I''d like to avoid having to pay another $500+ for a customized map, etc. Many of our guests (~50%) are coming from out of town, and while the drive is easy, I''d like to make sure they get where they need to go. On the other hand, most people have the common sense to mapquest the directions ahead of time.

---- you can provide the reception info on the wedding announcement. and have a direction card separate. there''s no need for a map if you provide directions in text format.

- Do we NEED to have programs? Our Ceremony is Catholic, but many of our guests are not. I expect attendance to be even lower than our reception. Is the additional expense necessary?

---- programs are totally not needed. forgo them!

- Is it necessary to order our Thank You cards from the same stationer, so that they match the invites exactly? I was hoping to get simple cards from Crane & Co rather than have to order a ''custom'' set so they match. Will anyone notice?

---- sure, do simpler thank yous. they can match, but not be matchy-matchy... you know? and you probably find cheaper stationery other places. crane tends to be pricey.

- Lastly, I have reserved room blocks at 2 hotels for OOT guests. Where can I include this information, or is another card required?

---- what about including room info on the directions card?