Miss Peacock, Chicago
Age and Occupation: 26, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Internet Whiz
Engagement Date: December 5, 2006
Wedding Date: September, 2008
Blogging Since: December 13, 2007
Venue: St. Clement Church, Cafe Brauer (or a big church wedding and a fancy party at a cafe in Lincoln Park.
About Me: I am a grad student with a secret obsession for all things wedding related. I also love to read, travel, drink champagne and go for walks with our dog, Maisy, and Mr. Peacock. We are planning our very vintage wedding in the greatest city in the world, our hometown of Chicago. I am so proud to be a Bee!
What To Do… The Reception Card
April 18th, 2008 @ 11:26 am by Miss Peacock
I might be alone here, but creating our invitations has definitely been my favorite part of planning. I love paper and I love beautiful design. Receiving wedding invites in the mail is one of my all time favorite things. I had considered designing them myself, but after a few test runs with engagement party invites and save the dates, I wisely chose the supremely talented Margot of Atelier Isabey to design them for me. Due to our long engagement, we had to put it off for sooooo long. I could not wait to get started.
We are in the middle of round two of revisions. Can I just tell you how exciting it is to see Margot’s email and know that there is a magical little PDF just waiting to be opened? I can’t really show you what we are working on, but here is my primary inspiration from her samples.
The first invitation that she created for us had all of the details for both the ceremony and the reception on one card. I liked this because we didn’t need to buy a “reception card,” which seemed a little unnecessary anyway because we aren’t inviting anyone to the ceremony but not the reception.
However, the more that I looked at the card, the more I thought, “Gee, that’s a lot of text!” The font was also a little on the small side and making it bigger might make the font even more overwhelming. The problem is that we are already over budget and, although the cards are affordable, it’s just another thing putting us in the red.
I need help! What would you do?
16 Responses to “What To Do… The Reception Card”
I think having the information on one card is a good idea. It’s simple and will help people to keep the information together. Maybe you can edit the text a bit. Or can the invitations be printed on a slightly larger card?
Keep it all on the invite. Saves paper (yay for the environment!). Tell the designer your concerns about the font size- she (or he) should be able to work to solve it!
I think people enjoy seeing one card only. We usually throw the invite in the car while were headed to a wedding and when there are 80 inserts its just kind of annoying…so to save some green, go with the one card!
PS I’m advocating for 1 card and I made 2…so I’m a hypocrite 
I like it all on one card. Save money, trees and time . It’s a win-win!
Can you ask the designer to change the spacing/font size and show you a few other options (for all info on 1 card)? I’m guessing they have some tricks and other options that might be more appealing?
OMG - her invitations are so beautiful!
I like everything on 1 card too!
We did letterpress and, b/c of the cost issue, put everything on one card. We did square 6×6 and it really doesn’t seem to be that much text to me. If the outside design of your card is as intricate as the card above, it may be that that is overwhelming the card, not the text. Could you do a 5×7 card rather than a tea length card? That would give you a wider workspace. Also, could you make the font a touch bigger (like 11 to 12) so that it is easier to read? I hear so many complaints about invitations being impossible to read, that I think that should be the first consideration for all brides.
I am going to respectfully disagree, and maybe it’s just because I’m totally in love with my own reception card :). We’re having a nuptial mass and that’s super important to both of us and I like how only having the mass on the invitation highlights that importance. But I have also seen lots of invites (like your inspiration) that have all the info on them too. I agree with Natalie about changing the fonts and spaces a bit.
It’s totally not eco friendly, but I’d do two cards because I prefer the cleaner look of minimal words on an invitation, and if you’re reception is at a second location it’s technically proper to include a separate card. I’m big on etiquette, archaic as some of it is.
Definitely one card… and it really looks beautiful and not like too many words, imo.
Keep it on one card. Save paper and money…
one card. less stuff for your guests to lose.
We also used one card, just because we had a directions insert and the rsvp and hotel information. It seemed too much clutter, especially with our minimalist design.
I vote for one card, because really the reception card is usually the same size, if not smaller, than the RSVP card so it’s also easy to lose.
I suppose worse comes to worse, the people who lose it can follow the people who didn’t after the ceremony.
I agree, one card save money and trees, plus like you say it’s kind of unnecessary when every one is invited to both. How about a larger card or less text? Good luck, I’m sure you’ll find something you’re happy with
hi, margot is custom making my inviations too! she is lovely ~ great to work with and very talented. all of my info is on one sheet. i think your invitation is beautiful –not too crowded at all!! esp. if you are already over your budget, i would stick to one.
There is definitely a clear winner here! THANK YOU guys so much for the input
