I never really realized how much went into picking out wedding cards until I had to do it myself. I didn’t see any reason to think that wedding invitations would be any more difficult to pick out than birthday invitations, anniversary cards, or any other routine forms of greeting for special occasions. After all, although people ideally only have one wedding, a lot of the aspects of it are still pretty routine. You hire a band just like everyone else, you dress in a similar fashion, you have similar choices for food, and you even pick out a similar location. Some people get extravagant, consulting wedding planners to help them find exotic destinations and themes, but your majority of weddings follow some pretty well set traditions. Since that is the case, why should it be so difficult to pick out a wedding card?
In reality, wedding cards are extremely difficult to pick out. I never really thought about it before, but there are many different fonts, many different possible wordings, and even many different styles of paper that can be used. Do you want your wedding cards to look formal or would you prefer them to have a more modern, laid back appearance? Do you want them to be extravagant or do you want simple wedding greeting cards? And that doesn’t even get into wedding thank you cards. Should they match your wedding invitations or should they be completely different? Should they come with a great deal of elegant wording or should they be blank to allow you to come up with your own personalized response to each gift giver?
To tell you the truth, it was very difficult for me to make up my mind on these issues. It isn’t that I’m very picky. I have just the opposite problem. All wedding cards look more or less the same to me, so I couldn’t choose which one to send. Since my wife is legally blind, she was not much of a help in the matter either. In the end, we decided to consult her mother and let her make the final decision. That way, at least someone would be extremely happy with the wedding invites and it would make her feel appreciated as well. I have to say that the cards that she picked wouldn’t have been my first choice. They were a little too formal for my tastes, and seemed stilted and insincere. Even so, they were definitely appropriate for the occasion and it was nice to have someone making the decision for us.
One of the most fun and memorable ways to tie the knot is to take off to Las Vegas and do it without anyone knowing. More and more engaged couples are deciding to forgo all the planning that goes into a formal ceremony and elegant reception for the romance of eloping. If you have been engaged for some time and your family and friends are awaiting a wedding, you’ll want to send out elopement announcements once you return.
Sending them out before you decide to jet off to a little chapel in Vegas or a beach front resort will likely cause ill feelings among those who were planning on attending a big affair. It seems to be better to mail the elopement announcements once you’ve returned as the wedding has already taken place and they’ll be more excited that you took the plunge and fulfilled your dream. Most people are more inclined to accept the idea that you’ve eloped if they hear about it after the fact.
Many of the recipients of these surprising announcements will want to have a way to celebrate with you. Many couples who send out elopement announcements decide to hold a reception for their close friends and family members. This reception can be something as simple as cocktails and appetizers. Another popular choice is to have an informal
barbecue or potluck dinner.
If there are a number of people that you want to share your big news with, yet you don’t want to invite all to the reception, consider have two different versions of the elopement announcements printed. One is for the people you want to attend a party in celebration of your marriage and the other version of the elopement announcements are meant to simply announce your wedding has taken place.
Take into serious consideration that since you did make a decision to not have a traditional wedding with all the trimmings, that you should make a note in the elopement announcements that you don’t want gifts. Many people feel it’s necessary to purchase something once they find out that the ceremony is over. However, if you do suggest no gifts in your elopement announcements they will feel more comfortable not sending something.
Another way to let everyone know that you’ve taken the plunge and taken on a spouse is to take advantage of your local newspaper. There is generally a section in most papers for personal news including births, deaths, marriage and elopement announcements. If you want to forgo any type of celebration and you want instead to focus on married life, sending out elopement announcements this way is a perfect solution.
