occasions event design

Dear Jana,
My daughter is getting married this Spring and has set up a web page that has a gift registry, a place to RSVP, and information about hotels, directions, etc. Can we put this web page address on the invitations and save paper avoiding a separate insert and response letter and envelope?

Trying to be Green

Dear Trying to Be Green,

I recently came across this problem while planning my sister, Jessica’s, wedding. The stationary companies will try to sell you an entire stationary suite to send out with your invitations including maps, hotel information, and RSVP cards. In this day and age, a website is a logical solution which saves paper and still gives your guests all the crucial information.

However, I don’t think that the invitation is the best place to put the website. It is nice to uphold some formalities, and no one likes to see www.mywedding.com on an invitation, what will be next, Google ads? Include your website on the save the date instead. Save the dates are less formal than the invitations and many guests would like to book hotel rooms and activities early especially if the wedding is in a popular tourist destination or on a busy weekend. Just make sure your website is up to date with current information before you send it out to people.

For Jessica’s invitations, we decided to withhold the RSVP cards entirely as a through back to the days when everyone knew that RSVP means “please respond.” Response cards are convenient for the guests, but waste paper and money. We figure (or hope at least) that all of our friends and family know what it means and will call, write, or email us a response. If not, we are willing to track down the stragglers before the wedding so we can give the caterer a final head count.

If you have any questions about invitation etiquette or proper wording, I suggest consulting an expert at a stationary shop. Sue at Merci for Stationary and Fine Things in Denver helped us out enormously. It is definitely worth it to go into a store and see all the invitations; you can not get the full effect from a photo on a website.

For some eco-friendly invitation ideas, the internet is a great place to search. There are plenty of choices that are beautiful and sophisticated. I found some lovely letterpress invitations on bamboo paper at Smock Paper. Recycled paper is another tree friendly option. Invite Site has very nice 100% recycled papers that you can print yourself or they will print for you. The very ambitious can make their own paper. It has to be hand lettered so it may not be the best choice for 150 invitations but for a small wedding, escort cards, and table numbers it would be perfect. Instructions can be found here.