Invitations advice

[Cruisefan7]

Ok-I'm getting married in April on Carnival Pride. Back in January of this year, we sent out Save the Dates with the cruise information. We only sent out to close friends and family-the ones we knew who would go, and the ones that we had to invite anyway. We now have 43 people signed up. We also plan on having an at-home reception sometime next summer. My question is this--Do I still need a formal invitiation? And if so, do I send it only to the people who are cruising, or the ones who we sent save the dates to? Or how about sending an announcement of the marriage, with an invitation to the at-home reception (it's going to be outside, and not as formal)? I'm so confused. I don't want to breach etiquette, but it sounds like a lot of things to be sending out to people. any advice?

[MarinerBride]

Yes - you need a formal invitation. We sent actual invitations to the guests we knew were coming, and then a few that we knew couldn't come, but they were close family and we really would have liked them there. For the more extended family and friends, we sent announcements very shortly after the wedding. You could also include the at-home reception invitation with these.

[Pug3636]

If you already know who your guests are and they have booked I don't see a need for a formal invitation. You could always send a newsletter or brochure to guests that have confirmed with updates about the trip or anything they need to know about your wedding day?

[merocket59]

Proper etiquette would advise to send a formal invitation to everyone who received a save the date even if they said they will not be able to attend. You can write the invitation to invite everyone to both the cruise and at home reception and then on the reply card include seperate lines for those attending the cruise, those attending the at home reception, both, or none. HTH

[esbie11]

I agree with pp. Anyone who received a save the date needs to also receive an invitation, even if they told you they can't come. I am not a fan of wedding announcements. They seem kind of gift-grabby to me. If people were invited to the wedding, then they already know you are getting/got married. I wouldn't send them to people who were not invited because to me it says "you weren't important enough to be invited to our wedding but we still want you to know we are married (in other words, send us a gift)." I guess the only exception may be if someone eloped and no one was invited, however I still think that if no one is invited to your wedding you "sacrifice" getting gifts. Just my opinion.

[strawberrypatch81]

I think it is up to you. I am planning on having invitations. Just informal, nice ones and sending them, to those who are invited to our cruise wedding.

 

What I love about a cruise wedding, is the fact that it can be as formal or informal as you like. I love that I will be escaping the formalities and traditional ways of a regular wedding at home. Yet still having a beautiful wedding! :):)

[danielle1458]

Were getting married on a cruise in the beginning of February. We only invited our parents and 2 close friends. With that bring said. We are sending out wedding announcements along with an invitation to our at home reception. Where we have invited all our friends and family to celebrate with us.

 

As far as what wether or not you need to send invites, its up to you. Your having a cruise wedding, so its not traditional by any means. Maybe just a flier with information about your trip (which would help with saving on postage, as my invitations are going to cost around a dollar to mail, plus return postage for the RSVP card.)

 

I have also seen invites done at places such as shutterfly for reception invitations which were cute and sweet little picture invites.

[6rugrats]

I agree with pp. Anyone who received a save the date needs to also receive an invitation, even if they told you they can't come. I am not a fan of wedding announcements. They seem kind of gift-grabby to me. If people were invited to the wedding, then they already know you are getting/got married. I wouldn't send them to people who were not invited because to me it says "you weren't important enough to be invited to our wedding but we still want you to know we are married (in other words, send us a gift)." I guess the only exception may be if someone eloped and no one was invited, however I still think that if no one is invited to your wedding you "sacrifice" getting gifts. Just my opinion.

 

No, wedding announcements have absolutely nothing to do with receiving gifts, and actually, neither should a wedding invitation.

 

You send announcements only to people to whom you did not send an invitation. They are not a request for a gift and should never be seen as such; they are merely a way to let people know you are married. No one should see a wedding announcement as a "slap in the face". They aren't an insult.

[esbie11]

No, wedding announcements have absolutely nothing to do with receiving gifts, and actually, neither should a wedding invitation.

 

You send announcements only to people to whom you did not send an invitation. They are not a request for a gift and should never be seen as such; they are merely a way to let people know you are married. No one should see a wedding announcement as a "slap in the face". They aren't an insult.

 

But in a traditional sense (since destination weddings have so many exceptions), it seems pointless to send announcements to people just to let the know you got married. Anyone that I have a relationship with, be it a friendship or family, knows I am getting married. If I am not close enough to someone for them to know I am getting married in the first place, then why is it necessary to send them an announcement to let them know you got married? In other words, if I don't associate enough with someone for them to know about my wedding/marriage, why would they care I got married? If I got an announcement from someone who I hardly talk to or know letting me know they got married I would seriously think to myself "Why do I care?" If I was really a close friend of yours, I would have known ahead of time. My point has nothing to do with etiquette, just my own personal feelings about them (hence the "just my opinion" at the end of my first post):)

[6rugrats]

The OP did not ask whether it was pointless to send announcements. She clearly asked an etiquette question about announcements, which has been answered.

 

What seems pointless and silly to one person, is quite important to another.

[Mary loves to travel]

here's another thought:

 

as part of the picture package purchased on the ship, 100 wedding announcements with a picture of the bride and groom were included. my daughter ended up sending one to everyone to who she'd originally sent an invitation. I had several people comment to me that they were surprised to get the picture & thought it was really nice.

 

just another thought.

 

--Mary