Spring Up!

Featured in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia Edition of The Knot!

 

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‘Signing’ The Blues & The Ins and Outs of Inner & Outer Envelopes

My client chose blue for her invitations, kind of apropos to feel the blues as I write them as Summer begins to wane and the Olympics are no longer my background music!    

As you can see she chose the classic outer and inner envelope style.  You can find out more about how to address these two envelopes from both Martha Stewart  and Crane & Company.  As Crane & Co.’s blog explains, long ago, Wedding Invites were delivered by the Bride’s footmen to guests homes.  The guests’ servant removed the pristine inner envelope bearing only the guest name from the outer envelope. 

“Though footmen have since been replaced by postmen, the inside envelope is still de rigueur. It gives something as important as your wedding invitation a certain je ne sais quoi.”

Having addressed many envelopes, both formal and informal, I often tell my clients, that this is the first opportunity to present your guests with the ‘style’ of your Wedding, whether formal or casual.  If your Wedding is informal, the inner envelope is an opportunity to write your guest’s nickname or the name you’ve come to know and love them as.

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Sitting Pretty

Congratulations to William and Kate.  

I suppose our invitations got lost in the Royal Mail…

And Congratulations to all my recent clients who share their Wedding Day with the Prince and Princess as well those whose special days are soon to come!

I’ve seen many variations of place cards and escort cards, and many creative ways in displaying them.  I believe that when it is ‘your’ day, you should bring yourself, and your personality through every aspect of your Wedding, including through the place and escort cards.

However, there is traditional etiquette that is worth noting.  I turned to The Wedding Planner Whisperer herself, Lauren Sozmen of Loli Events, for some advice on dealing with this special ‘deck’ of cards.

Lauren reminds us that ‘the escort card table is one of the first things that your guests will see when entering the reception. It is worth spending time thinking about it; use your colors, be creative and set the tone for the party to come!!’

One of my clients, Judy McDermott O’Keefe, did just that by placing wooden gift tags on paper mache trees from the West Elm David Stark Holiday Collection. Tables were not mere numbers but cities, and guests had a great time ‘finding their city.’

Stephanie (nee) Driscoll combined her favors and escort cards. Stephanie used Green Post tags (composed of recycled paper with wildflower seeds that when planted, grow) and put them on wine bottles to demarcate table numbers as well as guest names.  

Although Gabrielle {nee} Obermeier used traditional tent cards, she too used the opportunity to seat guests at ‘meaningful locations’ rather than typical table numbers…

Whatever creativity you do use, Sozmen says that ‘etiquette for the escort cards should follow the formality of your event. If guests were addressed as Mr. and Mrs. John Smith on the invitation then the escort card should be in the same format. A more casual invite and escort card would be Kate and John Smith.’

If someone is bringing a guest you should do two separate cards.   Sozmen feels that is never ‘right’ to ‘write’ “John and Guest.”

If a husband and wife have a different name then it is best to put the woman’s name first.’

And in regard to Placecards, Sozmen goes onto to note that ’place cards are only necessary if you feel strongly about where your guests sit at their table or if you are having a small intimate and formal event of 50 guests or less.’

And unless yours is a kind of casual cocktail party, your Wedding MUST have escort cards!    It makes the mood more of Royal Affair rather than that of a High School Cafeteria.

For more etiquette rules and guidelines check out this page from Crane & Co.’s.

Hope you’re sitting next to someone special!

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