Invitation Etiquette for 2021 Weddings

If this past year has taught us anything it’s that planning a wedding during a pandemic is hard. As health officials track the spread of the COVID-19 virus, event regulations are constantly in flux, which has meant sometimes waiting until the last possible minute to make any final event decisions. The good news is that widespread vaccination is on the horizon, and there is hope that restrictions will start to lift later in 2021. However, it’s likely that, at least in the first half of the new year, gathering sizes will remain limited.

You may be wondering what this means for your wedding mailings:

How can you keep your guests properly informed?

We’ve found some solutions to this problem that may help take the stress out of your 2021 wedding save the date and invitation mailings.

The “Un-Invitation”

As we all know too well, these are unprecedented times. This means we may need to break some etiquette rules we would never dream of breaking before. Case in point: the un-invitation. Something we would never suggest doing in the past and, hopefully, will not be needed in the near future.

These become necessary if, for example, you’ve sent out save the date cards six months in advance and find that four months later, when it’s time to send your invitations, COVID-19 regulations have changed and you now have to reduce your guest count. Whether you need to postpone, reschedule, or delay your wedding plans, many couples have found themselves in this position, and fortunately, your guests will not be shocked to hear the news. It may be disappointing to not be able to attend an event you were looking forward to, but most guests are understanding and know that safety must be the number one priority. 

 After you’ve made the tough decision to narrow down your guest list, you will need to inform those guests who are no longer able to attend. The best way to communicate this is through a heartfelt note explaining the situation… something like this:

This can be done via email or sent by mail and doesn’t have to be long; short, sweet and sincere is the best way to go. If you plan to host a renewal ceremony or party with all of your original guests sometime in the future, feel free to mention that in the note, as well.

A Wedding Website Card

When the time comes to send out your invitations, whether you’ve reduced your headcount or not, regulations could still change in the time between mailing your invitations and your wedding date. This could mean anything from switching to a larger venue to accommodate more social distancing or moving from an event indoors to one outdoors, not to mention any safety precautions that could be required - face masks, distancing, testing, etc. The best place to put this information is on your wedding website. 

Your guests should have received the URL to your wedding website on your save the dates, but after clicking through to your registry or booking hotel rooms, many people may not think to check it much after that. Since it is so important for guests to be up to date on any changes, we suggest including a card in your invitation suite directing them to your website again. This is a little different than a traditional “web card” that is sometimes included with invitations that reminds recipients of the URL. Here, you will want to alert your guests to why they should check your website frequently. Here is an example of some wording for this card:

Ideally, nothing will need to change in those 8 weeks between mailing your invitations and the wedding date, but adding this card allows for flexibility, should you need to make adjustments to adhere to current event guidelines. This card also eliminates the need to deviate from traditional wording on the actual invitation. 

I hope these tips help you feel comfortable sending out wedding save the dates and invitations in 2021. Even though your wedding may look a little different than what you had originally imagined, it will still be special, and when this pandemic is over, you will have a beautiful invitation keepsake from this momentous occasion.