E-Vites -- Embrace the Digital Wave!
[3 minute read]
While beautiful and elaborate paper suites are traditional and make for a great keepsake, digital invitations are on the rise for a number of reasons!
In times past, everyone had little paper address books with everyones mailing addresses in them, but that’s not really the norm anymore. You likely already have either the cell phone number or e-mail address of most, if not all, of your guests already, so digital invites will save you on time chasing down everyone for their address!
*BONUS!
Paper invitations can get expensive, and consider that postage adds up really fast too! If you are including a paper RSVP card in your suite, traditionally you should also include a stamp on the RSVP envelope, which adds to your cost as well. Most digital invitation services still have a minimal fee per invite, but are a fraction of the cost of a hard copy.
If you’re considering ways to limit your carbon footprint and want to lean towards a more zero waste wedding, not only will digital invitations save you the paper and postage, but the emissions for mailing and delivering all of the mail.
They’re fast! You can track how many guests have opened the cards, as well as who has RSVP’d, and send reminders to guests who haven’t opened them if they need a little nudge.
It makes for a professional, clean and classy way to notify your guests if you have any messages that need to be spread. Are you having an outdoor ceremony and many need to notify guests of a venue change if the weather doesn’t cooperate? Using a digital invitation service will mean all of your guests can be notified with a few taps of the finger.
One of the biggest questions I get from my couples who are considering digital is, “What about my older guests who don’t understand?” If you have guests who don’t have access to digital platforms, you can always print off a handful of paper invitations for just those guests! Don’t make any assumptions though - I was once hired to plan and execute an 80th birthday celebration and one of the requests was that invitations be sent digitally (about 250!), and only about a dozen needed to be printed and mailed. Consider that many of those guests were in the Birthday Boy’s generation!
Our favourite platforms are GreenEnvelope and PaperlessPost - both services offer a diverse array of designs for many types of events and are competitively priced and user friendly. Another great option is With Joy which also acts as your wedding website among many other things! Check out this blog post by our good friend Hasti at La Vista Events to learn more about With Joy.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good paper invitation. I proudly display invitations on my fridge and use them as a keepsake to look back over the years, I’m just saying if a paper invitation doesn’t feel right for you, consider all of your options before you rush into a decision. In all aspects of your wedding planning, you should do what feels best for you, not what you feel is expected of you. And if paper invitations aren’t high on your priority list in the budget, then digital invites just might be a great way to save some cash in the process!
Here’s a cute invitation Pontos threw together on GreenEnvelope for his wedding to his Fiancee, Ellie!
