Wedding Pet Peeve #1

The invitations have long been sent and 95% of the responses are in {with about 1/3 coming in via my online RSVP form}, but I’m still getting these in the mail…

one of many “Return to Senders”
Invitations coming back because of incorrect addresses come in second on the aggravation meter only to invitations disappearing completely {which, thank gosh, hasn’t actually happened… it was just very slow mail}. After all the excitement and all the huge $$ you spend on your beautifully designed and perfectly worded invitations, the last thing you want to happen is hearing they were lost in the mail or finding them back in your mailbox with a ugly yellow sticker all over your pricey calligraphy. {note: invite shown does not feature the pricey calligraphy because this particular guest kind-of asked for an invite after they had already been sent… another subject for another day, but it’s OK because I like this girl lots. special note: the address was wrong because said girl wrote it on a napkin after a very long and drunken DCL brunch and was a little intoxicated, forgetting her address.}

I went into total freak-out mode every time I heard that someone had not gotten their invite, panicking that my billion dollar invites were not fit for mailing or that my post office completely effed up with the hand-canceling or lost my bin or set them on fire somehow.

All in all, this story has a happy ending… the invites got to everyone, though sometimes really slow. I had to resend a few because my slacker/drunk friends hardly know their own addresses, but they eventually got their invites and will be there with bells on. And I still haven’t heard from about 15 people or so, but they’re mostly business associates who I’m sure got them but just haven’t answered… no worries.

Here are my tips for avoiding total invitation meltdown:

• Use email: I actually emailed my Save-the-Dates, which saved lots of money and included a request for everyone’s address. I got most of my addresses this way, and it guarantees {most of the time} that you’ll have the correct mailling addy for all your guests. I also put in a special note to send their address even if they thought that they wouldn’t be able to make it so that I could add them to my holiday card list.
• Set up an online RSVP form: I got a free form tool from mycontactform.com and posted it on my blog. Eventually, I paid the $30 to have a year-long subscription for the service because I had so many responses, but it’s totally worth it. About two days before the RSVP deadline, when I had only received about 50% of my responses, I emailed everyone to let them know that they could respond online and gave them the link. I also asked them to let me know if they hadn’t received a formal invite in the mail because some had been returned. This worked like magic.
• The “of courses”: Make sure you take a complete invite to the post office to be weighed and buy the correct postage {note: weigh several invites… even though you think they’re identical, I had slight variations between invites that moved some up to the next weight class! This could have spelled disaster if I hadn’t checked before sending them.}

Good luck!

xo
Bekah