Lotus Moments sent me some great Weddings Stationery tips that I thought would be great to post here. Your stationery and invitation tells alot about your style and event, so make sure that it is a reflection of your wedding story. Customized and individualized invitations can be as simple as a particular font, the way you package it together, or a beautiful color of ribbon. Lotus Moments is sure to have what you are looking for!
Addressing invitations
Weddings are steeped in tradition and, as tradition gives way to progress, it’s difficult to know the “proper” way to blend tradition with current situation. Traditionally speaking, invitations have been mailed with a formal outer envelope containing address information and an inner envelope with just the recipients’ names handwritten. This tradition is being forgone more and more these days as brides are creating innovative new ways to invite their guests to celebrate with them.
Aside from the addressing standards set in place by the post office, social conventions make addressing your envelopes even more complicated. Titles, marital status, and adult children living with parents can cause you untold headaches when preparing your list for mailing. In general, use the following standards:
Tradition states “Hand write and abbreviate nothing.” The person who established that tradition obviously wasn’t inviting a guest list of 200. For additional reasons as well, tradition must give way to progress where addressing is concerned. The post office prefers mechanically addressed mail to handwritten and following addressing conventions, such as abbreviating directionals and using numerals in an address can drastically improve the time it takes for your invitations to be delivered. Today’s automation processes will spray the preferred information onto your envelope anyway, which defeats the purpose of a handwritten piece. Improve the appearance of your invitations by having them addressed professionally.
Utilizing a professional mail house can save you much time and effort and assure that your invitations will not be delayed during delivery. CASS certification is a process whereby all of your addresses will be standardized for optimum handling, for instance Street abbreviated to St and corrected abbreviations for unit and apartment numbers. Once your mail list is optimized, you’ll want to consider the overall appearance of your envelope. Some mail houses offer elaborate scripted fonts that can still be read by automation equipment at the post office for the best of both worlds—beautiful calligraphy and ease of delivery. If you’re really pushing time limits, you can even have the mailhouse include the barcode for you, but for obvious reasons, most brides aren’t opting to make things THAT convenient for the post office.
Creating a unique invitation and getting it in the mail in time to appease all of your family members and friends really isn’t as complicated as it may seem. You can be as involved in the process as you wish to be, but as standards for addressing envelopes become more and more specific, it’s best to just leave this to the professionals. While your addresses should be consistent, your invitations don’t have to be the same as everyone else’s so shop around to find a vendor who can create for you an innovative invitation that perfectly expresses your personality who also provides mail services. Having your invitations created, prepared, and mailed at one location can alleviate untold headaches.
By Tammy Sposeto, Lotus Moments,
http://www.lotusmoments.com/
