Thursday, May 28, 2009
How to Decline a Wedding Invitation
If you have been invited to a wedding and you can't or don't want to attend, sometimes declining the wedding invitation is the only option. In some cases it will be easy to explain why you don't want to attend, but in many cases you may not want to.
Regardless of the reason you probably want to politely decline the wedding invitation to keep on good terms with the person.
What is the best way to do this? Here are a few tips:
1. Act Now - Whatever you do, it is important not to delay replying to the invitation. A wedding isn't like a party - the couple have many things to plan and they need to know how many people will be there. So you cannot just ignore it if you don't want to go - at least, not if you want the couple to speak to you again!
2. Declining A Formal Wedding Invitation - If the invitation is formal it will be worded in the third person. E.g. "Mr & Mrs William Brown invite Ms Jennifer Scott to the wedding of their daughter Bridget to Jeffrey Thomas on Saturday, May 20th ..."
This kind of invitation requires a written reply. If there is no reply card or it is blank for your own note, this is a suitable form of words:
"Ms Jennifer Scott regrets that she is unable to accept the kind invitation of Mr & Mrs William Brown for Saturday, May 20th."
If you happen to know the bride or groom well, simply returning the card or sending such formal regrets can seem very cold. In this case you may want to call your friend so that they hear it from you first. Or send the couple an informal note a few days before you mail your formal regrets to the bride's parents.
3.
Do You Have A Good Reason? There are two types of reasons for declining wedding invitations: good reasons and bad reasons.
Good reasons are the ones you should tell them about, where you very much want to go to the wedding and you are genuinely upset that you cannot. This would be something like an important previous commitment, for example another wedding or family reunion that you already accepted to go to, an expensive vacation you have already booked, or medical reasons (yours or close family).
All you need to do here is call or write a note explaining why you cannot go, or add a line on the reply card. If the reason is a question of priorities then it is often better not stated. This includes situations where you don't want to spend the money (unless the wedding is a great distance away), you don't want to take the kids out of school, your ex-spouse is going, you don't get along with the bride/groom or their family, you went to 6 weddings this year already and you'd like to do something else with your weekend, you just don't like weddings, etc.
In this case you can simply send a note saying "Thank you for the invitation to your wedding. I'm sorry I cannot be with you on your special day but I hope you have a wonderful day and a very happy life together." If you know the couple well, it is also a nice touch to send a congratulations or best wishes card right before the event. Say again that you are sorry you cannot be there and hope to celebrate with them after the honeymoon. You could send a gift too, but this is a matter of choice.
Whatever your reasons for saying no, remember that in most cases the couple will invite more people than they can accommodate. They are expecting and even hoping that some people will turn them down. So unless you are very close to them there is no need for explanations and certainly no reason to feel guilty about declining a wedding invitation.
Labels: wedding invites
Monday, December 8, 2008
Inexpensive Wedding Invitations
If you are planning a wedding on a budget, one thing that you probably want is inexpensive wedding invitations. The guest list and invitations are one of the first things you need to think about when planning your wedding. If you have already investigated the cost of having your invitations professionally printed you probably had to be picked up off the floor as it can be extremely expensive!
So what is the best way to create
inexpensive wedding invitations? One thing that many brides do is to buy a wedding invitation kit or a set of pre-printed cards where you can fill out the details yourself.
Another alternative is to design your own invitations from scratch on your computer. You could use clip art or, to make it more personal, a photograph of the two of you. Almost anything can be scanned in and used in your design. The possibilities are endless, and you can make it as beautiful as you want.
If your printer will not handle printing onto high quality card, then why not create your design on your own computer and when you are 100% happy with the design, find somebody with a higher specification printer. You may find that they can print onto pre-cut small cards. If not you will need to use a paper cutter to keep the edges perfectly straight. If you work in an office you will probably find one there.
One area that you can definitely save money is 'save the date' cards. You do not need to send these as well as the invitation. You can send your 'save the date' notice as an email announcement. Or, you can start on your invitations now and send them out real early.
Although it is traditional to include an RSVP card, you don't have to do this. You can also save postage costs by making this a postcard and/or leaving people to provide their own stamp. If you do not receive a reply you will have to call people but you usually need to do this for a few forgetful guests anyway.
You should try to send your invitations at least two months before the wedding. Even if you sent a 'save the date' notice, you will want to be receiving the replies as early as possible so that you know numbers for catering.
You don't need to skimp on style when you are planning a budget wedding. Put in a little time, and you will find it is not difficult to create elegant inexpensive wedding invitations.
Labels: wedding invites
Friday, August 29, 2008
Deciding Who to Invite to your Wedding
Deciding who to invite to your wedding can be one of the most stressful parts of planning your big day. Due to constraints such as your budget and the size of the venue as it is not always easy to decide who is coming to your wedding.
It is not always practical to invite everybody you know to your wedding but at the same time you may worry about offending people by not inviting them.
The reality of the matter is there is always going to be a limited number of people that you can invite to your big day and they hould be your friends and family that are closest to you.
Remember that this is your day and you want to celebrate it with those people whom you care about the most and who you want be there to share this special occasion.
When you look back on your wedding in the years to come it is nice to think that the people who you wanted to be there were there for you.
Throughout your life people come and go but those who are special to you at the time of your wedding are the ones that you need to consider adding to your invitation list.
The best way to start is by writing a comprehensive list of everybody who you would consider inviting to your wedding. If your parents are helping you to pay for the wedding you should also check with them to see if there is anyone that they would like to invite.
Once this has been done you should think about the cost of having those people and start reducing the list accordingly until you have your final decision that you feel happiest with. Sometimes you may be able to have day guests and evening guests and invite the people that you know the best and feel the closest to during the day and the others at night.
Whatever you decide, the most important thing is that you and your fiancee are happy with the final outcome.
Labels: wedding invites, wedding planning
