What to include in your wedding invitation suite - White Cherry Invitations

What to include in your wedding invitation suite

What to include in your wedding invitation suite

Congratulations on your engagement to be married!

What an exciting time for you both, you have a wedding to plan! 

When it comes to your wedding invitations, there are a few things you need to think of, including how many different cards you need to include and what to say on each of them.

Below I have listed all of the cards and elements that you should or could include in your invitation suite.

Invitation Card

Yes, of course, the wedding invitation wouldn't be an invitation without the main invitation card itself.

All wedding invitations should include the following details.

- Who's hosting (you, your parents or other?)
- The names of the guests you are inviting
- The request to attend the wedding
- The names of the couple getting married (first names only or full names?)
- The date (including the day of the week)
- Ceremony time & location (including address)
- Reception time & location (including address)
- Dress code
- RSVP date & instruction on how to respond

RSVP Card

The RSVP card plays a vital role in helping you coordinate and plan your wedding.

It provides you with so much information you will need to know about your guests for your wedding. Such as:
  • who is attending
  • who is not attending
  • your guest's full names of those attending or not
  • the full names of any plus 1's if you have offered to invite them
  • any dietary requirements your guests may have
  • meal selections (if this is applicable)

Then there are optional requirements your wedding may have, which you can request answers to on the RSVP card.

  • a song request so you can compile a list of favourites for your DJ / Band
  • where your guests might be staying the night if you have bus transportation organised
  • whether your guests will need a seat on any bus transportation, you may have organised
  • this may also be the discreet card to mention that your wedding is an adult-only affair
  • if you are holding a pre or post-wedding event and they need to confirm their attendance

Therefore you will need to include the following (at least) on your RSVP card

  • options to select if they can attend or not
  • space to write the full names of each guest attending/not attending
  • space to write the dietary requirements of each guest attending
  • instructions on how to respond, either by returning the RSVP card via the enclosed, self-addressed/stamped envelope or via a nominated email address/phone number
  • a self-addressed envelope (preferably with a postage stamp applied) so it is easy for your guests to complete the card and pop back into the post for you

RSVP cards can be designed in 3 ways

  • As a card that is to be completed and put into a reply envelope and posted back to the couple
  • As a postcard that is to be completed and posted back to the couple like a postcard (therefore no envelope)
  • As a card that is more like a set of instructions, advising how your guests can reply via email, phone or via the wedding website.

Also I suggest the reply date for your guests to respond by is 4 - 6 weeks before your wedding date.

Read more here about "Why the RSVP card is so important."

Wishing Well Card

The wishing well card is a card that is generally a poem communicating that you would like to receive a monetary gift

Wishing wells are a popular trend; however, it is still never easy to ask your guests to give you money even though their gift of cash would be a blessing to your wedding or honeymoon budget.

Check out a selection of wishing well poems here that can choose from or get ideas from to create your own.

Gift Registry Card

A gift registry card can be included instead of, or even in addition to the above mentioned wishing well card.

This card provides the details to where the couple may have a list of pre-chosen gifts registered for guests to choose from and buy for the couple as their wedding gift.

This card can either be designed by your stationer to match your invitation suite, or it can be a pre-printed card provided by the gift registry store.

Information Card

I call this card an information card as it can contain any additional information you might need to communicate to your guests.

As all wording throughout your invitation suite is customised for your wedding, this can be whatever you need it to be. Such as:

  • Accommodation suggestions and booking instructions
  • Transportation information from specific locations, including timings and pick up / drop off locations
  • Pre or post-wedding events such as drinks the night before or brunch the day after
  • Parking information
  • Location details and directions if your ceremony and/or reception is in an unfamiliar area
  • A map
  • Destination wedding information
  • Wet weather details
  • Requesting a child-free wedding
  • Instructions for your wedding website and what your guests can expect to find out there

Read here for a detailed understanding of what to include on the information card.

Bridal Shower Card or Kitchen Tea Card

I think this is an excellent idea if you can coordinate it in time.

I have had brides in the past request an additional "Information Card" to be made into their Bridal Shower or Kitchen Tea invitation. It simply gets added to the layer of cards within your invitation suite.

And for this type of card, not every invitation suite would have it included, as only a selected number of guests would be attending this type of event.

To have these cards included in the right invitation, I would instruct you to nominate who receives them on the guest list you provide me.

RSVP Reply Envelope

This piece of stationery would accompany the RSVP card you wish to have returned to you with your guest's acceptance (or regrets).

This is generally printed with your return address for your guest's convenience.

My top recommendation with reply envelopes is to include a postage stamp on the envelope so your guest can return the RSVP card quickly and easily. Not everyone has an odd postage stamp floating around at home. Make it easy for them to make it easy for you to receive your RSVP replies quickly.

The Main Envelope

This is a given, but I wanted to mention everything that is included in a wedding invitation suite, so its on the list.

Generally, this is a standard white envelope in the correct size for your wedding invitation. For example, if your wedding invitation is 15cm x 15cm in size, the envelope will be 16cm x 16cm in size.

Please note that for ALL WHITE CHERRY INVITATIONS orders, the envelopes are made to match your wedding invitation in colour and with a matte/metallic finish.

Guest Name and Address Personalising

It is always a good idea to include your guest's details within the wedding invitation suite somewhere, whether it is on the invitation itself, on the envelope or both. This will make your job easier when it comes to posting them, saving you hours by not handwriting every address on every envelope.

And it will also make it crystal clear who is invited if they are personalised. Sneaky plus 1's or unwanted children will find it harder to assume if they are invited.

Note - White Cherry Invitations includes FREE guest name printing and addressing with every order of wedding invitations, so its a no brainer. Still good to know though as you will need to compile the guest list - which you can download here if you want it.

Pocket or Belly Band

Ok, these are elements which are important but often not spoken about or explained why they are important.

Simply said - they hold everything together!

Pockets are generally used to hold the insert cards such as the RSVP, wishing well and information cards in a neat little space inside your invitation. And these cards are all layered to sit behind the other perfectly.

Belly Bands are mainly used for a flat (not folded) invitation which wraps around the suite, holding the invitation and all insert card pieces together.

If you have more than one insert card, you should look at including one of these to ensure your invitation suite is functional too.

Postage Stamps

As the postage stamp is the last thing to be added to an invitation suite, these are generally forgotten until you go to post your invitations.

In Australia, wedding invitations will post for $1.00 - $2.00 each.

The postage guide in Australia (as at September 2019) is

130mm x 240mm x 5mm thick and up to 250g in weight = $1.00 each
This would cover RSVP envelopes, A6 sized thank you cards and save the dates and 130mm x 190mm flat invitations.

Up to 260mm x 360mm x 20mm thick and up to 125g in weight = $2.00 each
This would apply to all square 160mm x 160mm invitations.

Larger, thicker and heavier than this is additional as per Australia Post.
This would need to be checked for hardcover invitations.

My advice is to take one invitation to your local post office and ask them to confirm with you how much the invitation will cost to post. Generally the above will be correct, but this is my disclaimer to say you should still check before you post.

And of course, if you hand-deliver them, then the postage cost is $0.00



Ok wow, thats it! I hoped this helps you with the planning of your wedding invitations and what you may need.

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to either email me at hello@whitecherryinvitations.com.au or comment below as I am always here to help.

Until next time,
Bel x