Registry Ettiquette

 Registering for gifts can be one of the more fun tasks to complete when planning your wedding. But how do you politely let your guests know where you are registered? 

There are 3 proper ways to let your guests know:

1) Word of mouth- your mothers will likely get calls and emails from family members asking where you are registered. Make sure you parents are equipped with website links to send out if needed. 

2) Bridal Shower Invitations- It's the only invitation that's proper to list your wedding registry information. 

3) Your Website- It's very easy these days to set up a website with your wedding information. It makes it an easy place for guests to see hotel information, maps and registry information  You can set on up for free at www.theknot.com

Free Wedding Invitation Download- DIY

To celebrate 5 years in business we are happy to offer a FREE wedding invitation download. 

Simply down load THIS file. It's in Microsoft Word format so you'll need to be able to open and edit .docx files. 

Open the file, edit the text and print! '

Travel with me!!! Travel Inspirations to match our newest Travel Postcard Save the Date.

Featuring Etsy Picks...

'Travel with me!!! :)' by elenaburtseva

Vintage South Africa Travel ... SkippiDiddlePa... $6	Travel brooch: Let's go.... Dianthusa $15	Vintage Superhero Comic Lugg... GreenDoorTradi... $84.99
Retro Globe Map Replogle 12 ... 1RustyRabbit $75	5"x7" Printable Tr... Especia $1.8	Vintage Tan Leather Camera S... Trustfund21 $48
Travel the world bottle cap ... JewelBoxAccess... $11	Italy Photography, Cinque Te... EyePoetryPhoto... $30	Vintage Travel Postcard Save... CottontailPres... $1.75
Travel Journal - leather, ha... AlunsinaJourna... $32	Oh Darling Let's Be Adve... degnodinota $25.5	7 travel alarm clocks, insta... tinyminds $65
Travel Charm Bracelet - 6 Ch... busybeezchicka... $34	Vintage 1980s Travel Fox Sho... ArtDecoDame $69	LAKE LOUISE Tank Top 80s Cro... ShopExile $35
Vintage 1976 Leather Travel... RebootVintage $35

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Romantic Wedding Inspirations Featuring Members from the Etsy Wedding Team

Most brides these days look to Etsy to purchase wedding items from the talented designers and artists on Etsy. But how do you know if the shop your purchasing from is giving top quality customer service? Check out the Etsy Wedding Team It's a team of wedding vendors that have been hand selected. The Etsy Wedding Team is a highly selective group of artists who make hand-crafted wedding accessories, décor, fashion, flowers, jewelry, and stationery of superior quality.

Here is an inspiration collage featuring a some of the most romantic wedding ideas.

Wedding Card Box, Gift Box, Bling Card Box, Rhinestone Money Holder - Custom Made- By LaceyClaireDesigns

Ornate Wedding Invitation with Rustic French Style Sample Set FREE Shipping within the US- by Cottontail Digital Press

Personalized Wedding Hanger for Mother of the Bride, Mother of the Groom, Double Decker RUSH ORDER- by DivineWine

Ready to Ship- The Original Gardenia Hair Flower for Weddings as seen in Southern Weddings Magazine in Ivory with Alligator Clip- by dkdesignshawaii

Wedding Dress Label Tag With Decorative Border - by MondeDesign

How Many Wedding Invitations Do I Need?

 

Putting together the guests list is one of the hardest tasks to complete when planning a wedding. Gathering addresses can seem like detective work at times.  But once your list is complete you can breathe a sigh of relief. You now have a list of addresses for thank you cards, and later holiday cards. 

Many couples soon mull over how many invitations to order. Traditionally it's 1 per household. So if you have 150 guests on your list, you may only need to send out 120 invitations. 

Situations:

Children under 18 are always included with the parents on the invitation envelope.

If your 18 year old cousin still lives at home with your aunt and uncle, all 3 names will be on the same envelope.

If your 21 year old cousin is married and lives with your aunt and uncle still, consider sending 2 separate invitations to the same address.

If your grandmother lives with your aunt, consider giving grandma her own invitation. She's special after all. 

Two of your friends are roommates and both are invited to the wedding. They should each get their own invitations. 

If your aunt and uncle have full custody of your cousins' child, the child's name should be included on the envelope with your aunt and uncle.

GATHER YOUR GIRLS!!!! Etiquette for Bridal Shower Invitations

Having the support of your good friends can help you get through those stressful moments when planning a wedding. You need someone to bounce ideas off of and someone to talk you off a ledge when the color of sashes you wanted are out of stock. So when it comes time for your bridal shower you look to your girls to throw you a nice party. 

Traditionally it's the job of the Maid of Honor to host your bridal shower. But more and more these days it can be a sister, or extended/future family. The bridal shower usually happens 1-2 months before the wedding and is usually an afternoon affair. The host of the shower will usually make all the arrangements and ask you for a guest list. 

Wording on the invitation can be casual and RSVP information can be written on the invitation with a phone number or email address.

This is also the one time it is acceptable to include the registry information. You can either write it at the bottom of the invitation or  have a separate insert card with the registry information on it. 

Sample Wording Below....

You're invited to a 

BRIDAL SHOWER

honoring

NAME of BRIDE

on

September 1st, 2013

at Noon

The Home of Hostess Name

1234 Santa Monica Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca 90067

RSVP to Hostess Name by August 20th

HostessEmail@Emailaddress.com

How to properly address your guests on the envelope

For many couples the most daunting task is organizing the guest list of names and addresses. Making sure all names are spelled correctly can be even more of a tedious task. But many couples ask me just how to write out the names on the envelopes.

Tradition
Traditionally everyone's name who is on the envelope is invited to the wedding.

Married Couples: Mr. and Mrs. Michael Curran 
Married Couple with children: Mr. and Mrs. Michael and family
Married Couples with different surnames: Mr. and Mrs Michael Curran
Married Couples and other relative: Mr. and Mrs Michael Curran and Mrs. Amy Curran

Single friend and their known guest : Mr. Charles Dunkin and Ms. Emily Fae
Single friend and their guest (Who's name you do not know): Mr. Charles Dunkin and Guest
Single friend and their child: Ms. Emily Price and Ms. Emma Price

Modern:

With modern etiquette you still want to write all invited guests on the envelope but names don't have to be written so formally.

Married Couples: Mike and Adrianne Curran
Married Couple with children: Mike and Adrianne Curran and family
Married Couples with different surnames: Mike Curran and Adrianne Carey
Married Couples and other relative: Mike & Adrianne Curran and Amy Curran

Single friend and their known guest : Charlie Dunkin and Emily Fae
Single friend and their guest (Who's name you do not know): Charlie Dunkin and Guest
Single friend and their child: Emily Price and  Emma Price




Address:

Right after the names you'll want to list the street address on the next line. For formal invitations you will NOT want to abbreviate the street/avenue/boulevard nor the state.
For more modern invitations you can abbreviate. The zip code also goes on a seperate line for more formal formatting.

Formal Address:
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Curran
1234 Santa Monica Boulevard, #A203
Los Angeles, California
90067

Modern/Casual Address:
Mike and Adrianne Curran
1234 Santa Monica Blvd., #A203
Los Angeles, CA 90067

Where the "Magic" Happens

I recently was asked to show my work space to The Etsy Wedding Team.

Below is my home office and work space. I'm fortunate enough to work out of my home and I'm very proud of the space I've set up. I truly belie that having an office you enjoy being in helps you be more productive. I worked for years in "Corporate-Land" and it's very refreshing to have a work space that I can decorate, paint and love to live in.

Making Labels - Mail Merge for Brides and Grooms

Making labels (or Mail Merge as it's called in Corporate-Land) is a handy life skill that everyone should learn. I used to work for a national corporation and only 3 of us could make labels. So I became the go-to person for the entire companies mail merge needs. After 5 years of making labels I feel confident I could do this in my sleep.

Making labels for your wedding invitations is a great way to save on a calligrapher and still have a formal/fancy look.Making labels is easy as long as you carefully follow a few steps.

You'll need : Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, Avery or Generic Labels (I prefer the clear ones)
(I believe this can be done in Microsoft Open Office as well)

Follow these steps to make wonderful labels for your envelopes.

• Make an excel sheet with your addresses. You'll need 5 columns.

• Columns A: Names (Spell out the names and titles EXACTLY as you'd like them to be on the invitations
• Columns B: Street Addresses. Here you will write the house/building number, street name and until/apartment number. Remember, a comma goes after the street name ONLY if there is a unit/apartment number
• Columns C: City. Just spell out the city, no need to any commas or abbreviations. You'll need to spell out Los Angeles, not write "LA"
• Columns D: State. You can either abbreviate these (CA for California) or spell them out. It all depends on how formal you'd like to be. For our example I'll 
• Columns E: Zip Codes. Just write them as is. Note: New Jersey thought they'd be awesome by having "Zero" as the first number of the zip code. If you have any zip codes starting with Zero you'll notice Excel will make the zero disappear. You can make it stay by right-clicking on the column and select "Format Cells" and select "Zip Code". This will now allow the Zero to be the first number in the zip code
• **IMPORTANT **Now in Row 1 give a title to each column: "Names" "Street Address" "City" "State" Zip" (See picture below) Save your spreadsheet and close Excel.

• Gather the clear address labels you bought and notice what Avery # They have on them. For this example we'll use 18663

• Open up Microsoft Word and being the Mail Merge Process
• Click on "Mailings" then "Mail Merge" then "Labels"
• The next screen will then ask for the label number. For our example I scrolled down an selected 18663
• Once you hit "OK" you should now see a blank Word sheet with empty squares.
• At the top click on "Select Recipients" then "Use Existing List" Browse for your saved list. 
• Once you open the list the next window is only asking for which tab on the spreadsheet you'd like to use. For most people it will be "Sheet1$"
• You'll see all the boxes,except for the first one, fill with «Next Record»
• In the first box you will now design how the label will look.
• Click on "Insert Merge Field" from the top and now insert the date in the order you'd like it to appear. Don't forget to put a comma between the city and state. (See sample below)

• Now you'll need to format the 1st label. Select any fonts and paragraph spacing that you'd like. I chose to make the names a script font and the address a serif font. You don't want to get too fancy with the font for the addresses as the post office will need to be able to easily read the address. You don't want to risk all of your invitations returning to you because the post office found the addresses not legible. 

• Once you have the formatting correct, you'll need to update all your labels. Click on "Update Labels" then click on "Preview Results". You should now see the first page of labels. If any changes need to be made to formatting. Edit the first label again ,then click on "Update Labels" then "Preview Results". 

• Once you are happy with the labels click on 'Finish and Merge" then "Edit Individual Documents". Go through all your labels and make sure everything looks good and is formatted correctly.
• SAVE YOUR FILE- you never know, it's always a good idea to save
• Print onto your labels and enjoy! 

• Now that you are a MailMerge Label-Making master you can add "Mail Merge" as a skill to your resume!