Are paper wedding invitations not sent out now now?

[RosieMilkJug]

Are card wedding invitations not a thing anymore more? We’re going to a wedding next weekend and all we’ve had is a link to a website which was emailed out to everyone last year. We’re definitely invited before you ask!

I know the cost of stamps is astronomical but a proper invitation on the mantelpiece is still a lovely thing to look at. (And to remind me of the time of the actual wedding)

Yes, I had one of these you RSVP though the website too.

I'm will be sending paper invites. Although I will include a QR code to our wedding website, my contact details will be on the invites for those who can't access the site. I haven't heard of just receiving a link!

The original email disappeared into the ethereal archive and now I’m scrabbling around on the website. If the invitation was in front of me I would be looking at it every day and all the important details would be indelibly printed on my mind.

We did online invites only, DH is very techy so made the wedding website. Very useful when our original venue pulled out last minute and we had to change venues and make sure everyone knew!

It's a nice thing and I enjoy other people's stationery but we prioritised giving our guests a great time, had a fairly big headcount by UK standards and paid for it ourselves

What did you do for older guests? I think I have a fairly big head count for the UK (150) but still planning on having invitations. My grandparents are 80 plus and some other older family members aren't very techy (just curious) 🙂

My aged father would be slightly agitated if I didn’t send him a card invitation for my daughter’s wedding. Chances are that most of the elderly relatives would go to the church on the wrong day.

I’ve recently been sent a card invite but I cannot find an acceptance. The card stall had dozens of regrets and quite a few evening acceptances but not a single daytime acceptance card.

It's still a nice idea, I do enjoy wedding stationery!

We didn't have many elderly guests to be fair, my grandma only came to our (much smaller) religious ceremony and even though we did online invites for that as well, I just spoke to her personally to confirm the address, helped her book transport and so on.

Plenty of guests in their 60s and 70s but all used to using WhatsApp, email etc. Lots came from overseas too so we suggested on the website and just checking in with family and friends (us, my MIL as well) which hotel we recommended, how to get to and from the venue.

We did decide about invites with our guests in mind - personally though I do love wedding stationery I also have to remember to bring the invite with me or I'll forget the address and wedding information so I find it quite helpful having something online to check easily

We had a proper paper invitation to a wedding only last year (although we were asked to RSVP via a QR code, which was a first for me!).
I love a beautiful, printed, "stiffy" invitation, and they are lovely mementos.

Yes they are a thing I got one last year

Just write a short letter! I still have all the lovely acceptance letters from our wedding 36 years ago - reply cards weren't a thing then.

We didn’t do paper invites. We had a small wedding, were keeping costs down and loads of guests were from abroad. any of the paper invites I liked, I didn’t feel I could justify the cost. No one missed them from our wedding but I can accept that these are rare circumstances

I did a a brief one page paper invite for all guests. Older relatives had a stamped addressed rsvp card to return with meal choices.

Everyone else had QR code/ link to wedding website.

Evening guests just getting website link via WhatsApp (with nice invite graphic)

I got married in 2024. We designed our invitation on indesign and emailed it out. We did have a few printed which we sent to old people and close family. But no point paying fuck loads for printing and postage in this day and age.

My mum is 83 and never off her iPad. If there’s something she can’t do she just asks one of us. The internet has been around since the early 1990s so I imagine the vast majority of adults can manage to click on a link and check the Accept button.

Well done to your mum! My grandparents only have a landline home phone so unfortunately no, they couldn’t click on a link.

im 76 and think this is am amazing idea. If I had a paper Invite I would end up putting it away somehow but with a website I would always have access to it

We sent them a few years ago although it was just a small wedding.

Its not a given but they’re still a thing.

All the weddings I’ve been to in recent years have still had paper save the dates and invites through the mail. Most have had a website as well (with QR code on the invite).

We’re getting married this year and not sending paper invites or save the dates. I made a save the date photo invite that we WhatsApp or emailed to everyone and just “touching base” for acceptance. I do love a paper invite, but it’s £100 I would rather put into spending on the day.

When I was young printed cards were a bit of a 'posh' thing. WH Smiths used to (maybe still do, I don't know) sell pads of paper invitations in a few designs that you just wrote the details into. Most weddings I went to then then used those.

We’re getting married next year and I’m doing paper invitations which seem pretty common still, though I’m not doing a wedding website and am requesting email responses which I suppose is quite Gen X of me.

I remember my mum teaching me how to write a wedding response letter, maybe because I couldn’t believe the ‘correct’ wording and asked her three times if I’d got it right. But I don’t think anyone would care these days how you worded it.

For those who only used e-communication, did you send out any email reminders shortly before the wedding?

I’ve never wanted a “Like” button more.

The last wedding I went to was all managed by App.

Given the environmental waste at weddings (I am not judging, just stating a fact) it seems strange that paper invitations should be abandoned for this reason.
Maybe it's just easier to have one method, and use it to track dietary needs etc, rather than have some friends reply with a card, some with a text etc.
A lot of people don't bother to reply to anything now-weirdly enough more people did in the past, when we didn't have apps/websites etc.

We had an email save the date , and a proper invitation card through the post
Actually , a whole envelope full of information with a smaller card with the a code to rsvp via a website