We’ve featured a lot of clever wedding invitations and save-the-dates here at Manolo for the Brides. For example, there was the playable video game wedding invitation and the brilliant stop motion wedding invitation. Then you have your less techie invite options like the passports and the lollies and even the save-the-dates embroidered onto hankies. (I loved that one!) Here is yet another clever save-the-date, this time created by a certain Jessie and Amy.

Cute, right? I am not ashamed to say I’m kind of jealous, but I think that’s okay. My own save-the-dates were plain old picture postcards, and my wedding invitations were simple gold seal-n-sends. They got the job done. And I’ve known plenty of brides and grooms whose wedding stationery was DIYed and contrary to what you see online 99% of the time, did not look professionally produced… and they were fine with that. Which is not at all to say that going all out is better or simple is better – whether you email everyone you know to tell them to save that date or hire a sky writer to do it for you, the end result is the same.

My one concern, however, as we see more and more uber clever wedding DIY here and elsewhere is that brides- and grooms-to-be who don’t have the skills or equipment to produce a stop motion short or design their own letterpress invites or even those who can’t afford to hire someone else to do it for them are going to feel a bit inadequate. Like they are letting their wedding guests down by not providing handpainted monogrammed flip flops in everyone’s sizes so they can kick off their shoes while they enjoy a menu of 18 different custom cocktails invented by the groom.

So I’d caution anyone who’s thinking “I can’t believe I sent out plain old save-the-date magents!” that for every couple who designs their own wedding invitations, there are maybe 100 couples or more who used store bought stationery. And then take that and apply it to every other facet of the ceremony and reception.

Here’s hoping you all look this happy today.

A couple days ago, my good friend and compatriot (not to mention partner in crime) Fabrisse sent me a link to an article on Slate. In it, the author, one Daniel Engber, complained about couples failing to allow him a ‘+1′ on invitations to their weddings.

He was horrified when a couple he knew sent him a singleton invitation and refused to allow him to RSVP for two because he had a girlfriend. Now I don’t know how serious the relationship might have been. I don’t know what their living arrangements were. These things do matter in the question. I do know, however, that even if an etiquette mistake had been committed in the invitation, Mr. Engber definitely committed an etiquette goof when he attempted to RSVP for more people than were included on the invitation.

Remember: if your name is the only one on the invitation and there is no ‘+1′ added, you are the only one for whom you can reply.

To apparently add insult to injury, when Mr. Engber’s brother was getting married, the happy couple again failed to ask Mr. Engber to invite a guest along to the occasion.

Now this time he does not mention a steady girlfriend, so I can only guess that somewhere along the line they broke up… or else he thought he might want to bring someone else.
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A recent post on Bride.net got me to thinking about how wedding guests interact at receptions. I’m not talking about groups of friends or relatives who already know each other, but rather the table of singletons who only know the bride or the couples who have no one else in common and are all stashed at the same table. As many of you surely know, sitting at a wedding reception table with seven strangers can be a bit intimidating.

The icebreakers are meant to make the process of getting acquainted easier on the guests and give them something to do when they’re not watching the first dance or watching the cake cutting or listening to speeches, etc. Some suggestions included putting out Fortune Telling Fish or having wedding guests play guess the Jelly Belly flavor.

It is certainly an interesting notion. And I do like Fortune Telling Fish!

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I cannot deny that this hand-lettered wedding stationery suite from Betsy Dunlap Calligraphy is nothing short of amazing. You might be wondering why the lettering is all catawampus, but there is a method to Ms. Dunlap’s penmanship madness. The curve of the lettering on the invite actually follows a blind impression map of the Mississippi River, which is just the sort of amazing level of detail when you’re working with a real person instead of a printing machine.

Me? I love it. I’m thinking it might take me a bit of time to suss out what everything said, but that’s because I’m used to looking at type, not handwriting. But I think I have at least a minute or two to spare for something so unique and pretty.

What say you?