Wedding stationery is critical in delivering correct information and setting the stage for your UK wedding day. You need the proper wedding stationery etiquette to ensure your guests feel appreciated while getting informed. Besides breaching the rules, proper etiquette ensures guests understand your celebration.
So, how do you navigate this minefield with seemingly voluminous words? This guide offers what you need. We'll start by listing what is involved when you hear "Wedding Stationery" and go down to the etiquette of responding as a guest. Read on for these and more.
Wedding Stationery… What's Included?
Wedding stationery is more than just wedding invitations, although they are the most important. There are your seating plans, wedding programmes, menus and other things you haven't considered. Here's a complete of things you can include in your UK wedding stationery.
Engagement Party Invitations
Save-The-Date Cards
Wedding Invitations
Directions Card
RSVP Cards
Ceremony Only Invitations
Invitation Acceptance Cards
The Wedding Programme
Place Cards
Events Itinerary
Wedding Menu
Seating Plans
Order of Service Cards
Thank You Cards
Please note that not all of these are necessary for your celebration. You can also combine some of them, such as your wedding invitations and directions card. Etiquette is most important for wedding invitations, invitation responses and thank you cards, so we'll look at those first.
UK Wedding Invitation Etiquette
Wedding invitations include all the information guests need about the wedding. The first UK wedding invitation etiquette to apply is the timing of your invitations.
Your invitations for local weddings should go out at least eight weeks before your wedding. For destination weddings, guests should receive your invitations at the latest 12 weeks before enabling them to plan appropriately in advance.
If you include an RSVP card, paying from postage and stamp prior is considered good etiquette.
Now, to your wedding invitation wording. The first rule to remember is that for formal and semi-formal weddings, you should avoid using abbreviations and write out full names and titles. Then, you can break the entire thing into categories.
The three major categories to fill out are who, where, and when.
· Who: Who is getting married, and who is hosting?
· Where: Where are you holding the wedding?
· When: When are you holding the wedding (Date and Time)?
Other things you could include are:
· Your reception card or a line, including your reception venue and time.
· Who is invited (Adults Only, The Whole Family or a Plus One)
· Response Card or RSVP Card
· Dress Code
· Information on How to Get in Touch with You
What Should Your Wedding Invitations Say?
Now that you know the categories to fill, next is to determine the tone of your invitation. Most UK weddings fall between the formal and semi-formal categories, so the following tips should suffice:
For Wedding at Religious Venues
Mr and Mrs Oliver Bancroft
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura Bancroft to William Dalton
For Non-Religious Venues
Mr and Mrs Oliver Bancroft
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura Bancroft to William Dalton
Traditionally, the parents hosting the wedding should have their names on the invitation. If they are the parents of the son, then the above samples can switch the line to "At the marriage of their son". Both parents can also be on the invitation if they are both hosting, or it is your preference:
Mr and Mrs Oliver Bancroft
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura Bancroft to William Dalton
son of Mr and Mrs Jack Dalton
PS: For a Jewish wedding, "And" is used instead of "To" between the bride and groom's names on the invitation. If a Roman Catholic mass is part of your invitation, you could include "and your participation in the offering of a Nuptial Mass" after your names.
Where Are You Holding the Wedding?
After listing who is getting married and who is hosting, it's time to tell your guests where. This part is simple: specify the venue and the town. However, it would help if you wrote out the county for places with counterparts elsewhere in the country.
Specifying the suburb or satellite town for your wedding might also be best for big cities like Manchester or London. Destination weddings outside should include the country.
So now you could have,
Mr and Mrs Oliver Bancroft
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura Bancroft to William Dalton
At Saint John's Church, Deptford
When Are You Holding the Wedding?
The avoiding abbreviation rule applies to location (as you might have noticed above), date, and time. So for your "When", you need to write out the full date and time:
Mr and Mrs Oliver Bancroft
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura Bancroft to William Dalton
At Saint John's Church, Deptford
On Saturday the twenty-seventh of July two thousand and twenty-four
at half after four o'clock
Other rules to pay attention to are: if the day of the month is from the 21st to the 29th or on the 31st, add a hyphen when spelling it out: thirty-first. You can also remove the "On" in front of your "When" starting with just the day.
And The Reception
This one is pretty easy; just put:
And afterwards, at Clarence Hall, The Admiral Hardy, Greenwich
RSVP Etiquette
RSVP is French for répondez s'il vous plait which means please respond. The acceptable notation for this is:
R.S.V.P.
28 Park Road
London
WC36 7MB
You can also add more information and tell your recipients when you want to receive their RSVPs:
R.S.V.P. by the thirteenth of July to 28 Park Road, London WC36 7MB
Bringing It All Together
Mr and Mrs Oliver Bancroft
request the honour of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Laura Bancroft to William Dalton
At Saint John's Church, Deptford
On Saturday the twenty-seventh of July two thousand and twenty-four
at half after four o'clock
And afterwards, at Clarence Hall, The Admiral Hardy, Greenwich
R.S.V.P. by the thirteenth of July to 28 Park Road, London WC36 7MB
Responding to Wedding Invitations
Every wedding guest's first duty is to reply promptly to the wedding invitation. To reply, you can send an invitation response card along with a written response.
You can choose a formal or personal response for your written response, depending on your relationship with the couple. Formal responses are written in the third person, while personal responses are written in the first person, both brief but sincere. Check out some samples below:
Formal Response
Mr. and Mrs. Rowan Adams
Accept with pleasure
(or regret that that they are unable to accept)
Your kind invitation for
Saturday, the twenty-seventh of July
Personal Response
Dear Oliver and Martha,
Rowan and I are delighted to accept your invitation to attend Laura and Williams's
Wedding on the twenty-seventh of July.
Yours Sincerely, Emily
Or
Dear Laura,
I am so sorry that I can't join you and Williams for your wedding. I have to be in Sydney on business,
but you two will be in my thoughts on your special day.
Love to you both,
Emily
Thank You Cards
Sending thank you cards is an essential part of UK wedding stationery etiquette. You are to send these within three months of your wedding day. That way, you can tie up your wedding events without delay, and guests can receive them while memories are fresh.
Along with your thank you cards, you can include personalised notes of appreciation. These notes can follow the tone of your invitations or depend on the recipient and the gift received.
Other Wedding Stationery/Wrapping Up
For other wedding stationery we didn't highlight here, the key is maintaining consistency with your style. Details like your dress code can also go on the bottom left corner of your wedding invitations if you have one. In general, remain clear and concise while paying attention to your wording and proofreading everything.
Wedding stationery etiquette adds sophistication to your communication. It reflects your thoughtfulness and attention to detail as a couple or guest. By incorporating these rules, you'll make a lasting impression, ensuring the wedding is memorable.
Are you planning a UK wedding? We'd be delighted to help with your wedding stationery needs. Here at SJ Stationery Shop, we offer high-quality, customisable wedding thank you cards, invitation acceptance cards, and other wedding stationery. Check out our shop to see our designs, or contact us with any requests. We'd love to hear from you!
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