Invitations; More Than A Simple Invite!
by Don Gerrity

Preparing invitations to your wedding day is much more than just using proper words. There is much more involved than just a simple invite to your guests. You probably will find that setting an invitation list for your wedding day can be a hard decision process. Most of us have budgeting limits that we must follow. For those with a limited budget and a large family, or many friends, it can prove to be a very difficult task. Below is some advice on the topic and we hope that it helps you in your invitation preparation. (See Budgeting Tips for more information)

Use A Notebook For Tracking All Wedding Functions & Planning

Keeping all your information in one central area can help you keep track of every aspect of your wedding day preparation. Your invitation planning should also be here. Make sure to have an invitation list for your planning to keep track of everything.

Decide If Children Are Invited

It is a matter of personal preference if children are invited to your wedding day. If you choose not to invite them how do you inform guests? The proper way is to simply not invite the children on the invitation. If your invitation reads, "...and family" it will include the children. If it is your wish that children do not attend make sure that your invitations are individual to each guest.  

Getting Out Of Hand? What Is The Proper Way To Narrow Down Invitation Lists?

For those on a budget this is not an easy task. You want to invite everyone but you know that you cannot do so. What is the proper way to narrow down your invitation list without offending anyone?

TWO Words: "Family First". Start with the immediate family and branch out from there. Once you have invited all the family members then move on to the next on the list:

"Closest Friends". When it comes to fellow employees, make sure that you do not invite some but not others. This can cause bad feelings towards you even though it may have been unintentional. If you work in a place where there are only a few fellow employees and are thinking of inviting some but not others, you should consider not inviting any. In such cases, an explanation of why you cannot invite them is usually responded with "we understand". In any case, you should invite your supervisor/boss and their spouse only.  

You may want to send out two different sets of invitations. The early batch you send out has an RSVP date earlier then the next batch. First send out invitations to your family members. Once you get them back you can see who will not be attending and use their place for another guest such as a friend who you previously were not sure that you could invite. This worked out really well for our own wedding.

Keep in mind also that not all the people you invite will make it to the wedding...even if they responded with a RSVP saying that they are coming. Life plays unexpected games with us and something as simple as an illness can prevent guests from attending. This can usually give you a few extra places to work with and a few extra invitations to send.

TALK TO YOUR RECEPTION / CATERING SERVICES !

What do they have to do with an invitation list you ask? They need to know the numbers but it's more than that! When we were planning our wedding we found out early on that when planning a wedding many unexpected things "pop-up". This was one of them and we thought that we should share this information with you and hopefully help you avert a situation like this.

There are two things to consider in regards to your hall catering services:

Size of Hall - Make sure that you get a "good grip" on the invitation list and know how many people are going to attend. Of course, you can not be exact but you should be close within 10-20 people. If you place a deposit on a hall that ends up being too small for your guests you could lose your deposit when you need a bigger hall.

The Cost of  "Under Attendance" - If you book a hall and catering for a set amount of people and half do not show you may be obligated to pay for the unattending guests plates even though they do not show up! Most catering services need to know a more exact number. Make sure that you discuss with the catering service the need to re-adjust the number of guests a few weeks before the wedding day. Most will allow this but others may not.

Are children free? Or is there a discount for children? - If you are on a tight budget limit you should ask the catering service if children meals cost the same as adults even though they are not eating as much. This can be valuable information to include in your invitation preparation.

Don and Joanne Gerrity - WeddingCanada.com founders