ORDERING
Due to the custom nature of our business, it is requested that you make contact no later than 6 months before your wedding. Availability is limited during the peak months of the wedding season, so the sooner you contact us, the more likely we are to accommodate you. For more information on timelines and the custom design process, see our Policies and Design Process pages.
WORDING
- Use words instead of numbers when dealing with times, dates, and years.
- There should be no abbreviations used in the wording of your invitation. Spell out the complete address, including Street, Avenue, etc.
- Zip codes should not be included in the address.
- When wording the time on your invitation, use phrases such as “half past three in the afternoon” instead of “three thirty p.m.” -or- “six o-clock in the evening” vs. “six o’clock p.m.”
- If you are using your full names in the invitation wording, make sure they are completely spelled out. Do not use a middle initial, it is better to leave it out.
- The phrase “honor of your presence” should be used only if you are getting married in a place of worship.
- For any other questions you may have, visit www.verseit.com.
ENCLOSURE CARDS
- Reception Cards: If your reception venue is different from your ceremony location, you should include a reception card with your invitation. If your ceremony and reception are at the same site, you can chose to send a separate card or include the reception info on the invitation. For formal weddings, it is proper to send a separate reception card.
- Response Cards: These cards contain valuable information when planning a wedding. The card asks guests if they are planning on attending the wedding and may also offer a choice of entrée for the guests to select in advance. The front of the envelope (or back of the postcard) should have the printed name and address of the person collecting the response cards and the return postage already attached.
- Accommodations Cards: The purpose of an accommodation card is to provide your out of town guests with a selection of hotels in a range of prices. These cards often contain information on bridal party group rates if you have made arrangements with your local hotels. You can cut printing costs and paper usage if you can combine this card with your direction/map card. This card is an appropriate place to include information on local activities if you anticipate your guests will have time to soak in the local culture.
- Map/Directions Cards: Direction and map cards are a great way to ensure your guests arrive on time and in the right place! This card can be a simple affair if your event is in one easy to find location, or it can include a map and directions from the church to the reception hall if your event requires. You want to be sure that your instructions are clear and error free. This card is often where accommodation and local activity information is included.
ADDRESSING
Artsy Occasions cares about the environment, so we take on an Eco-friendly approach by only offering one envelope instead of an outer and an inner envelope. The products we use were designed to eliminate the unnecessary need of two envelopes. Use the following guideline for addressing invitations using only one envelope:
Married couples living in the same house:
Mr. and Mrs. Robert McGregor -or-
Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Sally McGregor
Married couples where the woman has maintained her maiden/professional name (names should appear alphabetically):
Mr. Ian Chase
Ms. Monica Stewart
Unmarried couples living in the same house (names should appear alphabetically):
Ms. Megan Adler
Mr. Jared Pelletier
Family invitation (with children under the age of 18; children 18 years or older should receive a separate invitation):
Mr. and Mrs. Robert McGregor
Cori and Eric -or-
Mr. and Mrs. Robert McGregor and family
Family invitation with children who may bring guests:
Mr. and Mrs. Robert McGregor
Cori and guest, Eric and guest
Unmarried couples living in different residences:
Mr. Vincent Osborne and guest -or-
Miss (Ms.) Lauren Bishop and guest
MAILING
- Wedding invitations and other formal invitations should be mailed 6-8 weeks prior to the event.
- Shower invitations and other casual party invitations should be mailed 4-6 weeks prior to the event.
- Make sure to take your fully assembled invitation to the post office to get weighed before mailing them. It is important to put the correct postage on the invitations so you don’t have to re-stuff and re-address the returned invitations or worse yet, so your guests don’t receive them with postage due!
SAVE THE DATES
- Save-the-Date announcements should be mailed 6-12 months prior to the event. This amount of time is used for guests to make travel arrangements and to mark it on their calendars so they can make proper arrangements for time off, etc.
- Save-the-Date announcements should be sent to every guest that is receiving an invitation to the event.
WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Wedding announcements should be sent the day of or shortly after the ceremony.
- Under no circumstances should a wedding announcement be sent out before the ceremony.
- Wedding announcements should only be sent to family and friends who did not receive an invitation to the wedding due to limited space or long distances.
