What do you want guests to notice about your wedding invitation in their stack of mail? The wedding invitation envelope is the very first impression guests have of your wedding day. Here are 6 decisions to make when ordering envelopes to ensure your wedding invitations are perfectly dressed!
1. PAPER
Coordinate color and paper type with your wedding invitations. You may match them exactly, or choose a paper that simply complements the invitation. A darker color envelope paper will need to be engraved, blind embossed, or foil stamped.
2. DOUBLE VS. SINGLE
This is a matter of personal style (with a dash of cost consideration). Double envelopes, traditional and lovely yet a bit more expensive, consist of an outer and inner envelope:
The outer envelope is slightly larger to fit the inner envelope and pre-printed with the return address and guest addresses (optional). It is sealable but not usually lined.
The inner envelope will fit inside the outer envelope and contain the wedding invitation plus other enclosures. This envelope is addressed to guests by name only not mailing address, and is not sealed closed, but may be lined.
Double envelopes originated from earlier times as a way to protect the invitation from the grime of hand-delivered mail. They work well in traditional wedding invitations, or as a personal preference for an inner envelope that allows you to be more precise about who’s invited.
3. LININGS
These are a wonderful option for customizing wedding invitations with an instant pop of color, pattern and style that hints at what’s inside. Linings are a purely decorative feature, however, since Cohen Printing Paper wedding invitation envelopes are thick enough to prevent show-through. If you’re using double envelopes, typically only the inner envelope uses a lining.
4. PRINTING
Return Addresses can be printed on the back flap using any printing process except raised digital. Cohen Printing also offers guest addressing using digital printing as an easy and elegant alternative to professional hand calligraphy. You can choose from a wide selection of beautiful calligraphic and block typefaces.
5. EXTRAS
No matter how you choose to address your wedding invitations, we strongly recommend ordering extra envelopes for add-ons, mistakes, moving guests, and re-do’s. Usually 10 to 15% of your invitation order quantity is a good guideline. If you’re hiring a professional calligrapher, find out what they require.
6. POSTAGE
Larger format invitations do cost a bit more in postage, as might invitations with several enclosures. So it’s a good idea to pre-weigh a completely assembled, sample wedding invitation at your local post office to determine actual postage–you don’t want invitations returned for insufficient postage! We also recommend bringing invitations, once stamped and sealed, to your post office in person to ask that they be hand cancelled by a postal worker. This keeps them off of the machines that could leave marks.
Oh, One More Thing!
Give yourself (and your calligrapher and assemblers) time to properly address your wedding invitation envelopes. Emily Post recommends counting back two weeks from your scheduled mailing date, and maybe a little more for unexpected delays.
Stay tuned for an upcoming post about assembling wedding invitations. As always, please ask us if there’s something more you want to know about wedding stationery. You can also visit our store or visit on the web cohenprinting.com.
