I’m about to get into something controversial here: Electronic invitations. Personally, I think they can see me in hell and die a slow death. There are a great many of you who don’t feel that way and are using them for everything from weddings to backyard BBQs. Of course, this is just MY opinion and it doesn’t have to be right. So don’t get your panties all in a bunch if you’ve decided to completely eschew the postal system in favor of a web invite.
I personally see electronic invitations as the fuckboy of the invitation world. Sure, they get the job done. You got the info. But is anyone taking you or it seriously? Are they excited about it? Are they even apt to arrive on time?
Electronic invitations have always said to me, “I want to invite many people at one time, but I don’t want to spend the money on printing and stamps, nor do I want to spend time gathering addresses from Whitepages. So I’ll just send this to *insert really high number of people* and attach my registry information.” That could just be my interpretation.
There is something about a nice, addressed envelope. You open it and you know that the sender meant this for you. They thought about you as they were stuffing, sealing, and addressing. Something just feels really nice about that and I love it.
When planning an event, I build in the cost of the stamps to my budget. To do a simple invite on A6 paper will not cost you extra at the post office. I’ve heard people say things like, “Stamps cost too much. I’ll send it electronically.” But you want gifts from these people and you can’t spend $.50 on a stamp.
A paper invite also says to me, “I’ve taken some care with this event and it is NOT to be missed!” Now, we hope that’s true. We hope it’s not foolery and Costco food platters once you arrive. But there’s a glimmer of hope that it won’t suck because your host has sent out a nice, thoughtful invitation.
For more casual events, fine. Go ahead and send the evite. But for your gift-giving occasions, please do take care to send an actual invitation. This is part of the cost of entertaining.