What Are Those Other Cards? -- Your Invitation Enclosures

Your guest opens up her mailbox, and sees a lovely envelope addressed to her. Inside is her invitation to your wedding! What a lovely way to tell her how much you want her to share in the joy and celebrate you and your fiancé’s exchange of wedding vows.

But wait! There’s more! What are all the other things that’s in the envelope?

One of the two most common types of enclosures is the Response card, also known as an RSVP card, (French for Respondez, s’il vous plait, or please respond). This card (with its pre-addressed and pre-stamped envelope), allows your guests to easily let you know if they will be coming.

The other most common enclosure is the Reception card. It gives them information on the time and location of the reception. If the ceremony and reception will be held at the same location, the Reception card can be omitted as long as reception information is also included on the invitation itself. Something along the lines of "Reception immediately following ceremony" will usually suffice – and save you money.

Maps and directions are also popular enclosures. The easier you can make it for your guest to attend your wedding the better. Even if your guests live locally, a map with good directions is thoughtful and much appreciated.

One other common enclosure is hotel information If you have several out-of-town guests, an easy and inexpensive (doesn’t cost you a dime!) courtesy is to book a block of rooms at a nearby hotel. Include the name of the event (ex. Smith-Jones Wedding), the hotel’s reservation phone number and room rates (hotels will often give a discount) on coordinating cardstock. Whether your guests choose to stay at this location is up to them, but you’ve conveniently and thoughtfully put the information right at their fingertips.

A less common enclosure is the Within the Ribbon card. This card, which is about the size of a business card, is not sent to every guest, but only to those particularly special friends and family members. This card is brought to the ceremony and shows the ushers that you and your fiancé want to ensure that these special guests are seated up front. These cards are not necessary for grandparents or siblings, as they are traditionally seated up front, or for parents as they traditionally have the honor of sitting in the first row. Within the Ribbon cards are usually used for very large and very formal weddings where many guests are expected and reserving enough room for seating special friends and family members is a must.

The purpose of the invitation and its various enclosures is to provide all necessary information a guest will need to easily and comfortably attend your wedding and share in your celebration.

By Jean Neuhart, the owner of Weddings From The Heart.

Bridal Shower Themes -- Trendy to Avant-garde

Tired of the old paper-plate-ribbon-bouquet type bridal shower? Looking for new ideas to make your bridal shower a hit? Start with a bridal shower theme! A theme makes the shower planning easy and sets a fun mood for the guest and the bride.

Gone are the bridal shower rules of following proper etiquette and protocol. Today's showers are all about entertaining amusements designed to fit the bride's personality. Anything from a from wild bachelorette soiree to casual coed barbecue is acceptable. What about your bride? Does she like adventurous fun or perhaps she prefers a more formal structured setting. Whatever your brides personality, you'll find unique bridal shower themes in this list of theme suggestions:

Trendy Wedding Showers - Everybody Is Doing It!

Jack and Jill Wedding Showers - The groom and his buddies join the ladies for this one. These parties are casual affairs held in the afternoon as barbecue or in the evenings as a cocktail party. Considerations for both the bride and groom go into planning coed parties. Do they have a favorite team? How about a sports-themed event at a favorite local sports bar. How about a stock-the-bar or stock-the-garage theme in addition to stock-the-pantry -- gifts for her and gifts for him.

Spa Bridal Shower - Treat your bride and party guest to a day of pampering at a local spa. Many spa's accommodate such an event and will be glad to offer suggestions for planning it. If the cost is out-of-reach consider an at-home spa bridal shower. Stacks of white towels, manicure and pedicure supplies and a hired massage therapist will do the trick.

Round the Clock Shower - Each guest is assigned a time of day, such as 7 AM, 12 Noon, 10 PM. Their gift reflects what one would be doing at that time of the day. Perhaps guest assigned 7 AM gives an omelet pan, the 10 PM guest could give pampering bath items or lingerie.

Room of the House Shower - Each guest is assigned a room of the house and chooses a gift that is appropriate for that room.

Honeymoon Shower - This theme centers around the couple's honeymoon destination. Decor, food and gifts reflect the destination such as a luau theme for Hawaiian or tropical destinations; outdoor gear for adventurous outdoorsy ones. Other items may include maps, travel guides or luggage.

Lingerie Shower - Guest give the bride gifts of lingerie, often very sexy lingerie. These events run the gamut from mild to quite racy. In addition to the living room, lingerie showers can be held in a banquet or favorite bar and have been known to include a surprise visit from a dancer of the male persuasion.

Unique Wedding Shower Themes - Memorable Showers as Unique as the Bride!

Mystical Bridal Shower - Hire a fortune teller or palm reader for a metaphysical shower experience. This is usually an actor who sets the stage for fun with off-the-wall predictions about the bride and guests.

High-Tech Shower - For the high tech couple, create a cyberspace-age atmosphere. Use blue light bulbs to mock the techno blue glow of computer monitors. Use floppy disks as coasters and give custom-made mouse pads personalized with a photo of the couple, their names and wedding date as party favors. forget paper invitations via snail mail; email invitations instead! Guests could give gift certificates for high-tech shopping.

Health and Fitness Shower - Is your bride a fitness fanatic? Reserve the rock-climbing wall at a local sport center or take this coed shower to a park or beach. Organize a golf, tennis, volleyball or racquetball tournament. Great for Coed showers too!

Stock the Bar Shower - Forget the pantry, how about stocking the bar. A great idea for couples who frequently host parties.

Wine Tasting Shower - Organize a wine tasting event in honor of the bride. This can be held at a winery or local cafe. Guest could bring wine and bar related gifts.

Stock the Garage - Brides need power tools too! Maybe the happy couple will be buying a fixer-upper or planning a house remodel? Is the bride or groom a car buff? How about car cleaning and maintenance supplies.

Bridal Shower Cruise - If you are lucky enough to live near water, a shower aboard a local cruise or tour vessel is a great setting for a fun event. Even better if the bride or groom is into boating.

Christmas Shower - This is perfect for winter weddings. Guest will bring a Christmas tree ornament or other Christmas related gifts.

Memories Shower - Each guest brings a memento to represent a special or funny experience shared with the bride. Another option for a coed shower is to play videos or display images of the bride and groom as children. Guest can share remembered childhood stories and events.

Garden Shower - Perfect for a June Bride into gardening (or hopes to be). Hold the event in a garden setting and have the guest bring gardening related gifts. A fun twist is for guest to come wearing a decorated sun shade hat. The best hat design wins a door prize!

By Terri Hunziker of GamesAndLetters.com

Diamonds are Cheaper in Summer Time

The following was provided by Freddy Diamonds:

It is hard to believe it is already August. My wife woke up this morning, and we were talking about two of our single friends, one of which is always reading bridal magazines.

My wife explained to me that she was told by her firend that Summer is the best time to buy a wedding dress. I explained that it is even a better time to buy a diamond.

The reason is simple, most people are going on vacations, getting their kids ready for school, buying school clothes, things like that. The last thing anyone is buying is a diamond. Therefore, all the brokers, importers, and retailers have to wait until fall for engagements, and for the holidays.

Due to these reasons, if you are considering buying a diamond summertime is generally the best time to buy.

Difficult Invitation Wording Situations Part 2

This is a follow up to our last posting about difficult wedding invitation wording situations:

There can be more situations that create difficult-to-word situations. Because weddings are so diverse and so personal to any couple, you are bound to encounter invitation situations that are hard to address in writing. As couples want to say the right thing without offending anyone, we wanted to bring you solutions to your most-asked questions.

As tradition states that the party who is hosting the wedding should do the inviting on a wedding invitation. Traditionally, this would be the bride’s parents. However, what happens if the groom’s parents are hosting or if the bride does not have parents. There are two ways to remedy this wording problem. If the groom’s parents are hosting the wedding, then you can use wording similar to this:

Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth McDonald
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of
Miss Elise Brennan
to their son
Jason Harold McDonald

Another way is to word the invitation so that the couple is hosting their own wedding. See the example below.

The honour of your presence
is requested
at the marriage of
Ms. Valerie Atwood
and
Mr. John Thomas

Some couples also struggle with invitation wording when they want to let their guests know that children are not allowed. Many times, couples will have printed, “Adults Only,” or “Adults Only Reception.” According to etiquette, this is not correct. If you do not want children, simply do not invite them. Another option is to have a family member or close friend spread the word.

What if you want to provide registry information to your guests? It is not traditionally acceptable to provide gift registry information on your wedding invitation. However, more and more couples are turning to the internet and establishing their own wedding webpage. Your wedding website can include information about how you met your fiancé, the proposal, the wedding party and even your gift registry. Travel and accommodation information can also be included on your wedding webpage, along with local attractions. More and more couples are using their wedding webpage so that their guests can obtain registry information and much more.

Situations may seem difficult when trying to explain them formally, on a wedding invitation. The best advice to remember is to say on your wedding invitations what you are comfortable with, and use etiquette to guide you along. If you say what is best for you and your fiancé on your wedding invitations, you can’t go wrong!