Comments on: Do I Really Need That? The Stationery Edition

By: M3

M3 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:01:04 +0000

Molly, I have seen the ceremony invitation with a “Reception immediately following” line at the bottom that makes it all clear.

By: Molly

Molly — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:04:30 +0000

Thanks for posting this. My mother and I were just having a tiff about reception cards. I said we didn’t need them, because the reception is to be in the same place, but mother insisted that people would expect to only attend a ceremony and then leave.

I feel vindicated!

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:22:01 +0000

M3, I am also not familiar with the “escort” cards with which Twistie is so familiar. I did not have an “escort card” upbringing, apparently, and was married young enough that it was something I didn’t encounter. Yet people got fed, nonetheless.

A Neat Trick for Twistie and anyone else who may have a moment of stationery/stationary panic: You are stationAry when you pArk; you use stationEry when you need papEr. And it’s OK if you have to say the whole thing so as not to get tripped up by the fact that “paper” has an “a” AND an “e”; fortunately, “park” has only the “a”. Not that I have to say the whole mnemonic, or anything.

Oh, heck, of course I do. But now you can, too.

By: M3

M3 — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:35:05 +0000

Aw, that is a really neat image, Pencils! An interesting history lesson, too.

I still don’t quite understand the type of “escort cards” Twistie is referring to….I guess it’s just a tradition with which I’m not familiar.

By: Pencils

Pencils — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:45:11 +0000

M3–that’s what escort cards are. Usually the guest’s name is written on the envelope or on the outside of a folded card and the table # is written on the inside. If there are specific place settings at the table, then a place card is at the setting to tell the guest where to sit. Historically, escort cards were for gentlemen, to tell them what lady they were to escort into dinner. The man’s name would be on the outside, the lady’s on the inside.

At my wedding, I had escort cards to tell the guests their table, but no assigned seats once at the table. I was quite pleased with how my cards turned out; my dad did the names in calligraphy, and I decorated them with tiny ribbon & paper flowers I got at an amazing discount at Kate’s Paperie. One of my favorite photos from the wedding is of the candlelit half-denuded escort card table, with my and my husband’s cards in the center.

By: M3

M3 — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:31:47 +0000

I’m a bit confused….I’d always thought that “escort cards” were those handy cards provided to guests upon entering a reception, directing them to the table where they’ll be seated. In the above, it sounds like a separate invitation for the “and guest” folks.

By: class factotum

class factotum — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:02:29 +0000

Slightly off topic but hey. You are so right about funerals. If I had to do it again with my dad’s funeral, I would have asked to see the cheaper caskets in the back. Or, better yet, I would have gotten one for $800 from Costco (thus saving oh, $3,000 or so — not money my widowed mother could have used for anything else, like RENT), except, of course, my mom and I had no idea that these options were available to us.

I have told my mom and my fiance that I do not want to be embalmed and that I want the cheapest casket available — cardboard, if possible. The funeral home guy will tell you that the good (ie, expensive) caskets and vaults keep water from getting into the casket (then you are supposed to imagine your loved one decomposing faster) but honestly? I don’t care if my body is preserved. If there is a second coming and a rapture and we are all resurrected from the dead, I want Cindy Crawford’s body. I don’t care if mine is full of worms.

(They are supposed to use the money they save for the post-funeral party. Which will NOT have a cash bar. It’s either open bar or wine and beer for everyone. Even if I’m dead, I’ll think cash bars are tacky.)

By: Twistie

Twistie — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:44:58 +0000

(face palms)

You know, I know that. Somehow, though, my brain entirely failed to notice I’d done that. Thanks. It should be all fixed now.

By: smm

smm — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:06:27 +0000

Very useful post, I almost hate to say this but someone will: it’s StationERy. (It says as much to the right of this comment). My mnemonic device is the word “papER.”