Although some couples are looking to embrace technology and save money by sending electronic wedding invites, sending postal wedding invitations is still the accepted way to ask guests to come to your wedding.
An official printed invitation received through the post adds to the formality of the occasion and distinguishes it from just another party. Sending formal invitations in the post also increases your chances of getting definite replies.
Here are eight tips on sending out postal wedding invitations:
As a general rule around 2-5% of your entire wedding budget will be spent on your wedding invitations, but be careful as this should include postage as well as the invitations themselves and printing costs.
Measure your envelopes and check how much a complete invitation weighs before you send them out. There’s nothing more embarrassing than your guests having to pay a fine and extra postage to receive your wedding invitation.
You may be surprised how big and heavy an invitation can become if you use thick card and include a reply, card, gift list details and accommodation information. To qualify for the small letter rate, your invitations should fulfil these criteria:
- Maximum size: 1.3cm x 2.4cm
- Maximum thickness: 0.5cm
- Maximum weight: 250g
You may have chosen tiny little wedding invitations because they are cute, environmentally friendly, and suit your wedding theme, but Australia Post recommend that envelopes should be bigger than 13.8cm x 8.8cm to avoid them becoming trapped in machinery or other letters.
Don’t expect to receive all your replies back right away. Even if your guests send their reply by return of post, domestic post can take up to four days each way between country locations.
Most guests will take a few days to check their diaries, buy a reply card and get to the post office. Some guests might wait to reply until they have booked accommodation or travel, and there will always be some that don’t reply at all and have to be called in the weeks leading up to the wedding.
When to post your wedding invitations depends very much on when you are holding your wedding, and whether you have already sent save the date cards. Generally you should post your invitations eight weeks before the big day, but if you are getting married in high season, or you haven’t sent save the date cards, you might want to do it sooner.
If you are inviting out of town guests, or even friends from other countries, make sure you post them a save the date card and plenty of information about accommodation and the local area around six to eight months before the wedding. It’s fine to send them their official invitation when you send everybody else’s.
Make sure you put a return address on the back of the invitations to avoid misunderstandings. Your friend may be offended that they haven’t received an invitation, and you might be offended that they haven’t bothered to reply, when in actual fact the envelope is simply lost in the post.
Have coloured address stickers printed to match your stationery; this looks smart and saves you a lot of writing. If you do get invites returned to sender, call your guest as soon as possible to explain why they haven’t had an invitation and find out what went wrong.
