Please choose from the following areas:
Need help with your wording? Can't find what you're looking for? Let us know and we'll be happy to help! Email us or give
us a call at 281.323.8935 Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. central time.
If you're not sure what to say, you're welcome to use any of the examples on our site as inspiration or contact us and we'll see if we can spark your creativity.
If you're not sure how to say something, feel free to browse the etiquette guide below for answers to some commonly asked questions.
Have a photo you need to upload to personalize your photo card? Check out our photo guidelines below the etiquette guide for more information about suggestions and requirements.
Bridal Shower Questions
Can I include registry information on the shower invitations?
Traditionally, registry information is to be spread by word-of-mouth, so if a guest wanted to know where the couple was registered, she would call the hostess.
However, the registry info can be included on the bottom of the invitation, in a smaller font than the rest of the text, or on a card inserted in the envelope.
Who should host the bridal shower?
Immediate family members do not traditionally host showers, as this may be interpreted as a solicitation of gifts. Immediate family members include mothers, mothers-in-law, and sisters.
When should I mail bridal shower invitations?
Invitations sent to out-of-town guests should be mailed 4-6 weeks before the shower and approximately 2-4 weeks prior for guests in the local area.
When should I send thank you notes for the gifts I received at my shower?
Out of respect for your guests and for your own sanity, we recommend sending out your thank you notes immediately after the gift is received. (Let's face it, you have a lot going on when
getting ready for a wedding, so if you can keep a handle on those thank-you's you'll have one less thing on your To Do list!)
Wedding Invitation Questions
When should we order our invitations?
Wedding invitations should be ordered at least three months in advance. If you' re considering an engraved invitation, you should order them four to five months before the wedding.
Before placing your invitation order, it is crucial that you have confirmed your wedding details such as date, time, locations, and approximate number of attendees.
When should we mail our invitations?
Wedding invitations should be mailed about 6-8 weeks prior to the wedding.
What color ink should we use for our invitations?
Formal invitations should be printed in black, charcoal or dark gray ink.
Whose names are included on the invitation?
The bride's parents are usually listed at the top of the invitation since they are typically the ones hosting (paying for) the event. If the groom's parents are co-hosting,
then you may also want to place their names at the top. If the groom's parents are paying for only a few items, they can be honored by listing them under the groom's name,
such as "son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith" .
How should I word my invitation if we are paying for the wedding ourselves?
If you have a good relationship with your parents, you may still want to honor them by listing their names at the top of the invitation (either the bride's parents or the bride's
and the groom's). Another way to word your invitation is to issue it yourself, such as:
Jane Elizabeth Smith
and
Jason Ross Thompson
request the honor of your presence
at their marriage
How should we list divorced parents on the invitation?
Only the people who are financially contributing to, or in some other way supporting, the wedding are listed on the invitation, but the bride and groom will ultimately
decide who they want to include. It is not uncommon to list all of the parents and their spouses or just the birth parents on the invitation.
Do I have to spell out the middle names of the parents and the groom?
Formal invitations should have the names spelled out; initials shouldn't be used. However, if you don't want to include the full middle name, then it's suggested
that you omit any reference to it (all or nothing, no initials).
How do I indicate that valet parking will be provided?
We suggest that you print "Valet Parking" on the bottom left or right of the invitation. However, if you have reception cards, it would be appropriate to print
it on that rather than on the invitation itself.
When should I use a reception card?
If the reception is at a location separate from the ceremony, you should include a reception card. The reception card should coordinate with, or be a smaller
version of, the wedding invitation.
How should I word invitations to the reception only?
We suggest something like the following:
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Smith
request the pleasure of your company
at the wedding reception
of their daughter
Jane Elizabeth
and Mr. Jason Thompson
How do I determine the "reply by" date?
This date is usually two weeks to ten days prior to the wedding. However, you should check with your caterer or reception facility to determine when they require the
final headcount as this may affect your "reply by" date.
Is it okay to combine a wedding announcement with an invitation to a late reception?
Because your wedding is a separate event from your late reception, you should send separate mailings for each of these.
How should I word a formal marriage announcement?
Wording for a formal marriage announcement would be:
Mr. and Mrs. Robert James Smith
have the honor of
announcing the marriage of their daughter
Jane Elizabeth
To
Mr. Jason Ross Thompson
Saturday, the ninth of April
Two thousand and five
Houston, Texas
How many invitations should I order?
We recommend that you order 20-25 more than what you think you need. You may have unexpected additions to your guest list and you may want a few in case you make some mistakes.
Ordering a small amount of invitations after your initial order is completed can be expensive, so preparing with extras will save you time and stress!
Birth Announcement Questions
How do I include my baby's nickname on the announcement?
If you want to share the baby's nickname on the announcement, place the full name on one line and then the nickname, in quotation marks, on the line below that.
What's the proper way to print "Jr." on my baby's announcement?
Traditionally, you'd print the baby's full name, then a comma, and then "Jr." (for example, Jonathan Travis Brown, Jr.).
How do you list unmarried parents on the birth announcement?
This is up to the parents, but it's recommended that you list each name on separate lines, placing the mother's name first.
What if I want to put the baby's siblings on the announcement? How can I incorporate them?
Siblings can get recognized along with the parents, either on a separate line or along-side them.
Should we include grandparents' names on the birth announcement?
Traditionally, the grandparents are not listed on the birth announcement, but if you want to have them included then that's totally up to you! In doing so,
you should list the parents' names first and then print the grandparents' names on the subsequent line(s).
What statistics do we show on the announcement and how should it be shown?
People will want to see the baby's weight, in actual pounds and ounces (you can round the ounces), as well as the length. If you don't have a lot of print space on your
announcement, then you can place all of this on one line. If you have room to use two lines, then the weight info will go on one line and the length should go on the other.
How should I word an adoption announcement?
You'll want to include the baby's name, birth date, and adoption date on the announcement and you could do this in a number of ways. One suggested way of wording the
announcement is to put the baby's name on the first line, birth date on the second line, announcement wording on the third line (such as "was adopted into our family"),
and the adoption date on the fourth line. For example:
Caroline Renee Miller
born May 5, 2009
was adopted into our family
February 29th, 2010
When should birth announcements be sent out?
In a perfect world, birth announcements are sent out as soon after the baby's birth as possible, preferably within the first six weeks. However, we don't always live
in a perfect world, so if you find that time has gotten away from you and you're beyond the six week time frame...well, let's just say you wouldn't be the first one to
stretch that time line! The important thing is to let your family, friends, and coworkers know about the new addition(s) you have to your family. To alleviate some of
the stress of trying to send out birth announcements with a new baby around, we offer a service for shipping the envelopes to you early. Want to know more? Keep reading!
Can I pre-order my birth announcements?
Yes! We know what a busy and exciting time it is to have a new baby (and how little time you get to yourself), so we offer birth announcement pre-ordering. To do this, just follow these easy steps:
- Pick out the announcement you'll want to use and select the quantity you need.
- Go ahead and select your font(s) and ink color(s) and you can enter any portion of the text that you know you'd like to use, that way you can just email us the baby's statistics when he/she is born! If you don't know what you want to say yet, that's okay too; just type "Pre-order pending text" in the message area.
- At the end of the personalization process, type "Envelope Pre-order" in the Special Instructions area, along with any other notes you may have for your announcements.
- You may select any additional or related items to go with your order, such as thank you notes, address labels, etc. If you purchase other items and would like to receive them when you get your envelopes, please specify that under "Special Instructions". Otherwise, your items will be shipped with your announcements.
- Once the baby arrives, email your baby's information (and birth announcement wording if you didn't specify in your original order), along with your name and order number, to orders@rutherfordpapers.com. Congratulations!!
There's a small, $9 fee for birth announcement pre-ordering to cover the shipping and handling costs of getting your envelopes to you early.
(This fee is in addition to the standard shipping charges for your order.)
Guidelines for Photo Cards
Photo cards are a great way to personalize your card and create a memorable keepsake. In order to help make your cards look great, we suggest that you keep the following
points in mind when selecting a photo:
- Choose a photo taken with a camera that has 3 or more megapixels (generally, pictures coming from camera phones won't look as good as you want them to).
- For optimum quality, a digital camera should be set to the highest quality settings.
- If you're scanning a picture, set the scanner's resolution to at least 300 DPI.
- Keep in mind image orientation - a vertical photo works best on a vertical card and a horizontal picture should be used for horizontal designs.
- If you're going to use a picture taken by a professional photographer, you have to either own the rights to the photo or have the copyright holder's permission and the reproduction of the image can't violate someone else's rights. When you submit your order, you agree to indemnify Rutherford Papers and defend and hold us harmless from all actions; liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses, including, but not limited to, attorney's fees and costs, arising out of or relating to: (a) our possession or reproduction of the image and (b) any breach of your representations in the previous sentence. (We don't think you'd mean any harm in using a particular picture, but copyright protection is serious stuff!)
- Check the designer's specified photo requirements.
Given the last point, you're probably wondering what requirements the designer of your card has laid out. Well, ask and you shall receive...
Boatman Geller - Photos must be submitted in JPEG format with dimensions of at least 1200 x 1200 pixels. Rectangle format is required for rectangle photo shapes.
Your photo will print exactly the way that it's submitted. Please include detailed instructions under "Special Instructions" if your digital photo(s) is to be cropped or
zoomed. Boatman Geller does not offer color correcting or image rotation. Photos submitted in horizontal format will print horizontally and photos submitted vertically
will print vertically. In an effort to meet the quality standards you expect, any photo submission that doesn't meet the stated requirements will be held and called upon.
We aren't responsible for delays resulting from the questioning of orders. Pixilated (grainy) images due to the submission of a photo smaller than the requested
dimensions / pixels are not the fault of Boatman Geller or Rutherford Papers. Photos taken by a professional photographer require consent before printing. Boatman Geller
and Rutherford Papers assume that any photos submitted have been given consent for this use. We reserve the right to reject photos with copyright information.
Checkerboard Digital - Photos must be submitted in JPEG format. We recommend using a photo with the highest DPI to ensure a smoother, better quality (file size must be less than
10 MB). Photo editing is not available, but if you have specific requests or concerns about cropping or re-sizing, you may note those under "Special Instructions" when personalizing your order.
Dinky Designs - For best reproduction quality, all photos should be a minimum of 1200 x 1200 pixels. You should send a JPEG photo file in a size that is larger than the actual
photo space for the card you selected to allow for placement and possible cropping (if the picture is too zoomed in, then it may look funny if it needs to be cropped to fit in the space
allowed). If you have specific requests or concerns about cropping or re-sizing, you may note those under "Special Instructions" when personalizing your order.
Inkwell - Please submit a high-resolution, printable JPEG file (we recommend using a photo with a resolution of at least 300 DPI). If you have specific requests or concerns about
cropping or re-sizing, you may note those under "Special Instructions" when personalizing your order.
littleday press - The final result can only be as good as the quality of the photo provided, so please submit a high-resolution, printable JPEG file (we recommend using a photo
with a resolution of at least 300 DPI). Your submission of photos indicates that you own the rights to the photos and littleday press has permission to reproduce them. Photos can be
converted to black and white for no additional charge.
Modern Posh - For best photo quality, images should have a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Every picture is corrected for color, sharpness, vitality, and contrast,
as well as red-eye reduction if necessary. Black and white or sepia tone effects, and cropping are free services included with your order. Should you need additional photo editing or
retouching, such as removing a blemish or scratch, more complex edits are available starting at $25 per photo (call for a custom quote). Please note that our photo cards
contain pictures of various sizes and orientations – some are tall, some are wide and some are more square in shape. Take note of your chosen design when picking
a suitable photo. Leave room to crop the photo to the photo space on the card if necessary.
Noteworthy - Photos must be submitted in JPEG format with a minimum resolution of 150 DPI, but preferably 300 DPI or higher for best results. We cannot guarantee
the quality of any photo/order that doesn’t meet these requirements, so please email us if you have questions or concerns. We can’t crop or edit the photo for you, however
retouching, such as removing a blemish or scratch, more complex edits are available starting at $25 per photo (call for a custom quote). Please note that our photo cards
we can accommodate changing color photos to black and white or sepia tone - free of charge - if requested.
Prints Charming - For best photo quality, images should have a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Please note that the photo areas on some of our cards contain various sizes
and orientations that may not perfectly fit your photo. Basic photo processing, including color correction, sharpness, red-eye correction, and black and white or sepia
tone effects, are included at no additional charge. Premium photo retouching, including the artistic removal of unwanted marks or objects, is available starting at $25 per photo
(call for a custom quote).
Take Note! Designs - For best photo quality, images should have a minimum resolution of 300 DPI. Please note that the photo areas on some of our cards contain various sizes
and orientations that may not perfectly fit your photo. Basic photo processing, including color correction, sharpness, red-eye correction, and black and white or sepia
tone effects, are included at no additional charge. Premium photo retouching, including the artistic removal of unwanted marks or objects, is available starting at $25 per photo
(call for a custom quote).
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