One of my friends is getting married and since she knows I was very budget conscious, she sometimes she asks me how I did certain things. This week we spoke about addressing her envelopes. I told her that I used labels, and she said that she wasn't going to do that because she thought it was impersonal.
First of all, I completely acknowledge that she has the right to her opinion and that her comment was not some passive-aggressive comment directed at me. It's her wedding and I support her.
However, I wish to address the general idea that the use of labels is "impersonal." I am not attacking my friend, or anyone else for that matter, but I've seen this comment a lot in the blogosphere and the wedding forums and I wish to give my opinion on the matter.
There is nothing more personal than being invited to someone's wedding. You could throw an intimate 10 person wedding or a 500 person wedding where the bride and groom only knew like 100 people there, it would still be personal. In either scenario, guests are still witness to the legal joining of two people in matrimony. They saw the ceremony, ate the food, mingled with the couple's friends and family... they will be in the wedding photography FOREVER.
So I reject this idea that the manner in which your invitations or save the dates actually matter. They may matter to you, and you may prefer the aesthetics of calligraphy and choose to pay for it. Or you may choose to hand address them yourselves. That's great, that's your choice, and your choice is more likely than not about the appearance of your envelopes than it is about personalization. But it's completely insulting to say that using labels is impersonal. It's not an appropriate excuse for a thinly veiled criticism. Just because somebody decided to print out a name and address instead of paying for a calligrapher or crippling his or her hand from writing it out does not mean that it wasn't meant especially for the recipient. The fact that guests are holding an invitation at all is what makes it personal.
And perhaps, in my case, using labels meant more people could be invited, or that I didn't drive myself crazy hand addressing 80 invitations.
New Year, New Blog!
16 years ago
4 comments:
also - who remembers what the envelope looked like after opening? I don't even save invitations.
I think it's easy to get caught up in all the wedding hoopla when you're in the midst of planning. I remember caring about the stupidest things... ok, but not labels. That's just plain ridiculous- labels or handwritten, an envelope's an envelope! The only thing that really matters is what's inside the dang thing.
@rjoyce - exactly! i can barely remember my own stationary, let alone anybody else's!
@sweet t - that's true, i definitely got caught up in stupid things as well. but i feel like comments like "that's impersonal" is really uncalled for. it's not, and even if it is, who cares?
I just finished a post about this very thing. I too printed my labels and they look gorgeous and the font matches the invites as well as all the other wedding printed materials. I don't think anyone gives a rat's behind, nor do they consider it "impersonal." Sheesh. What people try to shove down our bridal throats is amazing! Do what you want!
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