Category — Tips

Your ultimate guide to how to address your guests on your invitation envelopes!

Traditionally, there are inner envelopes and outer envelopes.  The outer envelope is mainly for mailing purposes addressing it to the main guest.  The inner envelope is for the host to clear out who they are inviting.  This is also a good, polite way to tell the guests that you are either inviting or not inviting children and plus ones.  Outer envelopes are more formal, including the first name, title, and the last name, and the inner envelopes are generally less formal.  Please note that if you do not include the children or plus one in the inner envelope, you’re implying that they are not invited.

Hope this guideline helps for you to properly address your wedding guests!
(All “Ms.” listed below can be interchanged with “Miss”.)

Giving wedding gifts to the couple sometimes be stressful and even pricey, especially if you’re attending all three engagement party, bridal shower and the wedding.  How much are you suppose to spend? Are you suppose to only choose from the registry or find something more personal between you and the couple?  Do you give cash instead of gifts, knowing the couple’s situation?

Here are a few etiquette tips on giving wedding gifts to the couple to ease your mind.

+ There are no minimum or maximum on cash gifts.  You need to look at your personal budget and the relationship to the couple.  Here’s a rough guideline for you if you have no idea how much to spend.  If you are a co-worker or a distant friend $75-100, relatives and friends $100-$125, close relatives and close friends should be $100-$150.

+ If you are invited with a plus one, there’s no traditional rule to this, but it’s customary to give a bigger gift since the couple is now paying for the two guests.

+ If you know you’re a part of all three big events such as the engagement party, bridal shower and the wedding, make sure to budget your financials in advance.  It might feel weird to give them a big gift at the engagement party then bring a small congratulations card to the wedding.  Think about how much you want to spend overall, and budget them 20% engagement party, 20% bridal shower and then 60% wedding gift.

+ It is customary to follow the couple’s wishlist on their registry.  However if your financial situation doesn’t fit with their wishlist, you might look at the registry as a guideline and find something elsewhere.  Don’t get offended though if they have exchanged your gift something else later!

+ If the couple are a really close friend of yours, and you would like to be creative on the wedding gift, there’s no rule saying that you can’t.  I personally loved all the creative gifts our friends got for us, but we’re pretty artsy like that.  One tip I would give you though is to keep it somewhat small.  If it’s a huge painting for them, unless they absolutely love it, it might stay in the attic and will become an awkward subject between you guys.

+ There’s nothing wrong with sending the wedding gifts in advance, or shortly after the wedding.  It’s a hassle for you to bring a big gift to the wedding in your lovely dress, and it is also a hassle for someone at the wedding to move all the gifts to a locked room, and then to the car at the end of the night and then deliver it again to the couple’s home after their honeymoon.  Mailing the gifts is the cool thing to do.

+ There is nothing wrong with cash gifts, as well as giving them a check.  Some couple might even prefer it, to contribute to their new home renovations, honeymoon, baby fund, savings, etc.

+ Please, please, write add a card with your name on the gift.  There’s nothing more awkward in not knowing who sent the gift, and being vague on the thank you card.

+ If you’re attending a destination wedding, it is okay to give a smaller gift since you’re spending much more on the traveling expense.  But make sure you do give a gift.

General rule of gift giving, give something or as much that you are comfortable with.  You don’t want all the weddings you go to be financially stressful every time.  Have fun with gift picking!

We all go to a wedding for the same reason, to celebrate the union of the couple and show our support and blessings.  The more closer you are to the couple, the more you want to do for them.  But the reality is, there are times when the wedding collides with other events in your life.  You may have a business trip, you may have kids, you may have an engagement party for your family, your babysitter bailed on you last minute, you may have someone in the hospital that you need to take care of, and the list goes on.  And plus, the wedding trend has changed a little bit that the bride and the groom aren’t in a hurry to go to their honeymoon.  They like to stay until the end of their wedding night to have a good time with their friends and family.

Instead of not showing to the wedding at all, these are few possible tips on how to leave a wedding early.

+ Check that you have a legitimate reason to leave a wedding that they’ve spent thousands of dollars and over a year of planning.

+Let the couple know your situation long before the wedding.

+Let the couple know that you will only be joining the ceremony, and that they should recalculate the number of plates they will report to the caterer.

+ Offer the couple to give up your seats for someone else if it’s a small wedding.

+ Show them your frustration for your unfortunate situation.

+ General rule is that you should stay until everything that the bride and the groom has paid for has been served.  Most of the time it would be your meal, desserts and reception favor.

+ Another good cue to leave would be after all the special events.  First dances, cake cutting, speeches, bouquet toss etc.

+ When you let the couple know that you will be leaving the wedding early, it should never be on the day of.

+ Tell them a specific reason for you changing your schedule, instead of saying “Something came up.”  That just sounds like an excuse.

+ If you know that you’re leaving early, don’t carpool with others.  It’s already a sensitive issue that you’re leaving early, you don’t need to take a whole big group with you.

+ Write them a congratulations/sorry/thank you card after the wedding to show your deepest apologies.

+ Try your very best to cancel the other event!

Remember, these are only tips on how to make a well-mannered wedding exit, ONLY if you absolutely have no solution for you to avoid it.  You should always try to stay at the wedding as long as you can.  These couples only get one wedding in their life time!

The couple’s romantic dance alone with the bride twirling in her gorgeous dress.  Show off your high heels!

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Grab a handful of confetti and gently blow it towards your photographer! Naturally cute look <3

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Loving this emotional picture with the groom kissing the bride’s forehead, and the bride clenching onto him.

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We all know you have an awesome DSLR or digital camera, and have great photography skills, but the hired photographer should be the only one clicking away during the ceremony.  If you must take pictures, take it way before the ceremony, or after the ceremony, or anywhere from behind the photographer.

Reason being:

– Your flash can interfere with the main photographer’s photos.

– The sound alone can ruin intimate moments.

– If the bride gets her photos and you’re in the background with your huge camera, she’s not going to be happy!

– The photographer might not have the best angle, trying to cut you out of the photo.

– Extra people out of their seat during the ceremony just creates extra noise and chaos.

Ways to avoid it:

– Have someone announce that you would appreciate everyone to stay in their seats during the ceremony to respect the couple, and the main photographer.

– Have a note on each program asking guests for their cooperation.

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