In the last few weeks, I have talked through how important the invitation is, how to word the invitation but many people get tripped up on what to include WITH the invite suite. Today we are talking through the “extra” cards you include in an invitation suite to help your guests fill in the rest of the information gaps. These cards also keep the questions to you, your forever love, and your parents to a minimum—hooray!
The cards that most often get included in a suite are the RSVP card, a Details card and an accommodations insert. Let’s break down what is most important for each:
The RSVP Card
This item is a separate card that guests mail back to you to let you know if they will be or will not be attending your wedding. These cards are traditionally a one-sided card with the RSVP date, a line to fill in the name of your guest, and a “yes” or “no” to circle or a check box to mark off. Other items that can appear on the card can include a meal choice or a spot to have guests write in a song for the DJ to play.
(Helpful tip: To avoid an uncomfortable conversation or unexpected guest, you can write the expected guests’ names on the RSVP before sending it out. This will help your guests know who is invited, especially guests with children of a certain age or a possible plus one. To make it clear for guests who can bring a date, you can pre-write the guest’s name and the wording “& Guest”, “and plus one”, or have a line for a number of guests and fill in the correct number for them on the RSVP to help them know if they truly have the option to invite a date. We will explore the wording of this in the upcoming Wise Wedding entries. )
RSVP cards are most often sent with an accompanying envelope addressed to the couple (or the person in charge of guest count) and a stamp. For more casual weddings, an RSVP postcard can be used as well. Remember to include a stamp with either choice for your guests.
If you are asking your guests to RSVP through your wedding website, you can still include an RSVP sized card with no envelope in the invite suite. This typically one sided card would contain the address and how-to directions to RSVP on your website. You can also add this information to the details card to cut costs.
Your RSVP date should be set 1 month prior to your wedding date. As discussed in Wise Wedding: Tackle Your Wedding Paper Goods Timeline, always check with your event space and caterer for when they need a final guest count.
The Details Card
Your details card or insert is an additional card to include with your invite and RSVP card. This strictly informational card helps guests understand additional expectations or helps draw attention to anything about your wedding/weekend that they need to be aware of ahead of the day. Many couples now have a wedding website that addresses these concerns and contains the same information. The details card can include this website address, as well as the information you think your guests might miss if they don’t visit your website.
Often these cards are sent with the invitation but can be sent ahead of the time with the Save the Date if important information is needed to conveyed sooner. Such information could be to book accommodations or flights ASAP for a destination wedding, if your wedding date is over a holiday, or is in the same city as a busy event such as Mardi Gras or the Super Bowl.
Other items to include on the details card(s) include:
If your reception is in a different location than your ceremony, formal etiquette says to leave the address and that information off your invite and place the reception address on the insert.
Wedding website address
Accommodations and if you have room block information such as a date to book by or a code provided by the hotel to give a discount to guests.
Transport information, such as shuttle busses to the wedding or airport location
Attire. Here you can let know guests to wear a “casual cocktail” or if you have a mostly grass location to advise them to wear sandals or flats, etc.
Parking or driving information if it is out of the norm or would be hard to find. This could include parking garage information for city locations, signs to look for, or special instructions for locations such as a friend’s house, national park, or more secluded location.
Special instructions for the venue, time of year, or whether instructions (such as if it rains where the ceremony will be held ).
Registry information. Though it is not traditional to include registry info with your invite, the details card would be the best location to do so.
Other items you can include in your details insert are special wedding weekend activities such as a welcome cocktail party, wedding brunch, or afternoon picnic. If not all guests are invited to these events, include them on different cards and insert them into your wedding invitation suite.
Make sure to include a heading on your card for guests to easily identify. This can be as simple as the words “Details” or something like “More information” or “We’d Like You to Know…”. If the card is more themed such as directions or weekend details, use those headings for guests to see.
Design of your Details Card
The fun thing about your details card is that since you are not fitting it into its own envelope, you can design it in a more “fun” style and shape. The only rule of thumb is to keep it smaller than the invite to give the invite precedents. You can have a half-circle, a folded card, or a two-sided, skinny card—it’s up to you! Allow the design to be functional, but compliment the vibe of your wedding and invitation suite.
Accommodation Cards
Not all weddings have multiple items for the guests to be aware of. One of the more important pieces of info to get to guests is the accommodations. This information can be on a separate card or the oppiste side of the details card if need be. This separate card can be helpful if you have multiple hotels at different price points or for destination weddings to include airports and rental car information.
Website Cards
As discussed earlier, I’m seeing more couples are choosing to have a wedding website as a one-stop place for all things wedding weekend information for their guests. To help your guests know the address you have a few options:
As previously mentioned, include it on a RSVP style card and have guests RSVP on your website.
Include the address on the details card with wording such as “Find all wedding weekend information at www….” or “Please visit or wedding website for all information at www…” This is best for more traditional weddings where you use your details card to list only important information such as booking accommodations and reception address. You then can use your website to list such things as directions to the venue, registry information, and other items for your weekend on the website instead of the details insert.
Include a separate wedding website insert card with just the website address for guests and wording such as “For more information, please visit: www….” This insert card would be the smallest of the insert cards included in your invitation suite.
The last item you can insert is a map for your guests. This is especially a fun detail for destination weddings or if the majority of guests are from out of town. I will discuss maps more in the upcoming weeks.
If you have any questions on insert cards or interested in me designing your wedding suite, contact me here!