Tips & Tricks I have Learned from 22 Years in the Business

(Thanks to the guidance of the late George Raymond of Cartier, Inc., as well as (my Bible) The Crane’s Blue Book of Stationery.)

The best wedding papers are engraved on paper made from cotton. Paper has been made from cotton for nearly two thousand years. Unlike paper made from wood pulp, introduced in the late 1800s, cotton-fiber papers do not decompose, so your invitations will last forever as keepsakes. This is the reason that our U.S currency is made from cotton!

Wedding papers are usually 40-pound papers with a fold along the left-hand side of the invitation.

Wedding papers can be either plain or paneled with a blind-embossed border. As a general rule, script lettering styles look better on an invitation without a panel. Black ink is the correct choice for most formal invitations.

Engraving from a copper plate offers you the most beautiful and distinctive look. Copperplate engraving dates back to the mid-seventeenth century when it gradually replaced calligraphy, which up to that point was the original method.

Thermography is another method of printing. Its appearance is similar to engraving and is a less expensive alternative. If cost is a factor, you may want to consider thermography instead of engraving, as opposed to using a lower quality paper.

Wedding invitations are always phrased in the third person. Initials should never appear on a wedding invitation.

The words “Black tie” should not appear on formal invitations. The time of day (after six o’clock) and the venue determine the dress code. Although some people know when to dress formally, many do not. Therefore, you may wish to include “Black tie” on your invitations if you are not sure that all of your guests will know how to dress formally. “Black tie optional” or “Black tie preferred” is never viewed as proper protocol.

It is said that it is good luck to be married on the half hour. The minute hand is moving up, and that is considered a good omen. It is even better, however, to be married at noon, when both hands are in the praying position. Twelve o’clock noon is simply expressed as “twelve o’clock”. Your guests will assume that the wedding is not taking place at midnight. In the same way, due to the immediacy of the event, the year line need not be included on wedding invitations. That, too, is assumed.

And now the tricks…
If you plan on enclosing reply cards with your invitation, a trick I learned is to number the back of each card in small letters, written in pencil to correspond with your numbered guest list. In this way, if you cannot read the handwriting when the reply card is returned, your number on the back of the card will indicate who it came from.

Do not use tented place cards as your table cards. Tented place cards should be reserved for their originally-intended use – showing their guest where they should be seated at the table. If you use table cards that come packaged with a separate card for the table number, plus an envelope with each guests’ name(s), you can make any last minute changes on the day of your event. In other words, if you have to change a guests’ table due to illness or a last minute no-show, you are not restricted by a tent card which already has the name and table number calligraphed on the same card.

When addressing an invitation envelope you may be asking for trouble if you simply address it “and Family”. Try to find out the names of the children, if they are indeed the only family members who you intended to invite.

*Please be careful not to order envelopes with a glossy finish. The calligraphy ink will not absorb properly and you will run the risk of smearing, as well as not getting the proper color intensity.