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Q: I’ve been looking at ways to save invitation costs. Can I forego sending invitations to my friends and neighbors and just spread the news word-of-mouth, and only mail invitations to people out of town?
A: Everyone on your guest list should receive an invitation — even the parents, grandparents and siblings of the bridal couple, as well as the officiant to the ceremony. Doing so will ensure that everyone has the same information about your wedding at hand, and that no one feels left out of your event. You’d hate to assume that your aunt knew she was invited to your wedding, but that she felt she couldn’t attend because she didn’t receive an invitation in the mail. Also, invitations usually include respond cards that guests fill out with their reply and return to you. When each guest receives an invitation, they will also receive a reply card — and you’ll have a more definite way of determining how many guests will actually attend your celebration.
Q: We have been thinking about making our own invitations with our home computer and laser printer in order to cut down on the invitation budget. Do you have any tips?
A: If you are artistically inclined and are aware of the time and costs involved in making your invitations from scratch, creating your own invitations is a special way to introduce your wedding. However, it’s a myth that making your own invitations will be less expensive than having them professionally printed. After the purchase of the paper, all components (layers, ribbons, stamps, inks, embossers, hole punches), ink cartridges and envelopes, you won’t have saved much at all. And that isn’t even counting the relative cost of the time it will take you to print and assemble each one. Overall, invitations made on home computers and printers tend to look less professional and therefore less formal than professionally printed ones. Professional printers can offer you raised or engraved lettering, a wide variety of lettering styles and ink colors and even rush service, if necessary.
Q. How do you decide how many invitations to send out?
A. Well, the first considerations are whether you want a small wedding or a grand one -- and you'll choose your site accordingly. Then you'll need to find out how many people can comfortably fit into those locations. Your parents and the two of you need to make wish lists of potential guests, then merge all the lists to see how many people you have and whether you need to bite the bullet and start cutting. As far as who should get an invite, a family can get just one (though children 18 and over should get their own), as can a married couple and a couple who live together. As a general rule, about 25% of the people you invite will be unable to attend for various reasons.
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