Is it ok to send electronic wedding invitations?

As the internet comes to play a bigger part in our lives, it also plays a big part in our wedding plans. Many couples search online to find their dream wedding location, recommended suppliers, and their perfect dress. Heck, you’re on a wedding website now! But have you ever considered electronic wedding invitations?

Here are three reasons to have electronic wedding invitations:

Budget friendly

Costs quickly add up and every penny counts when you’re planning your wedding on a budget. Professionally printed formal invitations can be expensive, especially when you include the postage, and then there’s the stamped-addressed envelopes for the RSVPs! If you’re able to put together an electronic invitation by yourself, there will be no design, delivery or printing costs.

Going green

Many couples are choosing to tie the knot in a ‘green’ way, and saving paper is a pivotal part of such eco-friendly celebrations. While saving invitation paper may seem like an insignificant contribution to solving a massive problem, e-mailing your invites also saves the energy that you would have used for printing.

Multi-media

One benefit of sending electronic wedding invitations is that you aren’t limited to including just pictures and words. Instead you may want to add animation, music, or even a video message personalised for each of your guests. Electronic invitations can easily be e-mailed, or you can use a social media site to set up your wedding as an event with an e-guest list and a profile page.

And three reasons to think twice about electronic wedding invitations

Chances of getting lost

Sure, the post can never be 100% reliable but there are so many variables that can lead to your electronic invitation being mislaid. Are you sure you have the correct e-mail address? Will their inbox be full? Is there a chance your invite may be deleted as spam? All these things are quite possible with electronic invites.

Limited RSVPs

It might seem simple to reply to an electronic invite – it’s just a matter of typing out your response and clicking ‘send’ after all – but couples who distribute their invitations via e-mail are actually less likely to receive a reply. This is thought to be because most people see an e-mail as being informal and with less need for a RSVP. It is also very easy to forget about an invite that isn’t sitting on the mantelpiece as a physical reminder. On the other hand, sending a printed invitation with instructions to RSVP online does seem to have a high success rate.

Reduced formality

There is a certain old-fashioned charm associated with receiving a formal printed invitation through the post, adding a sense of grandeur and excitement to your celebration. Having an invite dropped into your inbox, or posted on your social media account gives far less sense of occasion, with your guests being more inclined to disregard it.